beammeupscotty Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 I recently ran across an image on the web of some keychain bottle openers. The openers were nice, but what really intrigued me was his surface texture and finish. I had never seen anything like it before and OP was kind enough to include the modified hammer he had used to make them in the image. I have been Jonesing to try it ever since I found the pic and yesterday I took a hammer, made the necessary modification and ended up with this test piece. I think this texture is amazing! It has a very Japanese look to it. I can imagine making a very simple opener like in my picture and giving it as a gift in a beautiful and simple wooden box, maybe with a sliding lid and plain cotton batting inside for padding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Can you post a pic of the modified hammer? Did you just stick a few bead welds on a hammer? It looks very cool... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Can you post a pic of the modified hammer? Did you just stick a few bead welds on a hammer? It looks very cool... No time to take my own pic right now but here is a link to the originator's post on bladeforums which shows the hammer in question. http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1178799-Keychain-Bottle-Openers-Forged-Texture-with-Copper-Rivet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergely Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 That's cool. I knew I get all the hammerheads from the scrapyards for a reason. :) Thanks for the idea and the link. Bests Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 The finish, by the way, is just a forge finish, brushing any loose scale off with a soft wire brush... in my case I used a brass wire brush. I brushed it while it cooled to below scale forming temperature, then I quenched it. I reheated it a bit with a propane torch, then applied paste wax, wiped off the excess and let it cool. The thing that is so cool about this texture is that it works on multiple levels. It is visually interesting as well as being highly tactile. Make the hammer by doing the grooves with a cut off wheel in a side grinder. I then polished the hammer face on a Craytex wheel on a bench grinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheltowee Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Nice leaf opener. Would you post a pic of one of your horse head openers too? Thank you ausfire! Here's the horse head one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Nice work, Shel. I like the twist. Stock was 3/4 x 1/4 ? I always find 1/4 is a bit light to get the strength needed after the ring has been drifted out to size.And I'll have to try that textured hammer idea. Thanks for the blade forum link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Du7ch Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 I love all of the openers you guys posted! I have an idea I'm going to attempt soon as a gift for the mother in law... she's a big fan of owls so I'm thinking an owl shaped bottle opener with a spiral corkscrew on the bottom as she's a wine-o and my father in law is a big beer drinker. Hopefully will have them designed and attempted in the next few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Du7th, I would really like to see that owl bottle opener when you've made it. I was asked to make a fire poker with an owl handle. Made a few drawings, but attempt #1 finished up in the scrap bin. Haven't got back to attempt #2 yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01tundra Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Make the hammer by doing the grooves with a cut off wheel in a side grinder. I then polished the hammer face on a Craytex wheel on a bench grinder. If you get time could you please post up a picture of the hammer head? I've made one similar but can not get that level of detail out of it. On the other side of the hammer head I laid random beads of weld from my mig with the gas turned off and it does well. I think I need to cut my grooves deeper on the other side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 If you get time could you please post up a picture of the hammer head? I've made one similar but can not get that level of detail out of it. On the other side of the hammer head I laid random beads of weld from my mig with the gas turned off and it does well. I think I need to cut my grooves deeper on the other side. Here you go: I'd estimate that the grooves are cut at least 1/16" deep, maybe even a bit deeper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01tundra Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thank you sir. My hammer looks similar, but the grooves are not as deep or wide. Time to get the grinder back out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beammeupscotty Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Thank you sir. My hammer looks similar, but the grooves are not as deep or wide. Time to get the grinder back out. I used cheap cutting discs from Harbor Freight. The slots are about the thickness of the disc. You just need to not be afraid to cut slowly so the disc really gets deep into the face of the hammer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 I was at Horrible Freight last night, picked up a "disposable" hammer for just this purpose. Thanks for the pix! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireInTheForge02 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Here's some that i do. coated in brass, with the mouths chiseled out with a chisel ;) hopefully i can get photos up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Good effort there, Owen. Nice to see the ears on your horses. :-) P.S. What happened to your fingers?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireInTheForge02 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Darryl, Jane at the hammer in put tape around her fingers, and i thought that the tape would help against blisters. i was working all day on Sunday as well, so my fingers were quite sore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Darryl,Jane at the hammer in put tape around her fingers, and i thought that the tape would help against blisters. i was working all day on Sunday as well, so my fingers were quite sore.OK. I noticed in the photo it was your left hand. I know you're right-handed so I thought you may have got a burn. I can imagine how sore your hands would be. You had some pretty heavy hammering with that axle drift.Anyway, your openers turned out well. They'll make nice little Christmas gifts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmoleaf Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 First opener attempt...and about my 6th thing made, after some tongs and some assorted hooks. :P Inspiration was to have opener somewhat like a big old skeleton key, and wanted the source material--rebar-- to still be apparent. On the first, one, I formed the loop on the end first...which made it a bit harder working on the tooth part. Second one, I flattened the end area first to do the tooth first. I'm generally ok with the loops, not so much with the teeth. Transition from the flat area to the round handle is messy. Needs some sort of clean line there. Also, the profile of the tooth end isn't very intentional looking. I also didn't clean up the hot cut/inside edge of the tooth enough. The tooth was difficult. Used a hot cut to make diagonal though the flat area, then opened it up by working it around a round rod in the vice. In hindsight, should've hot punched a hole first, then hot cut over to it. I wire-wheeled them to brighten them up....nobody wants to use a dirty-looking opener. Well at least they actually work, and I learned some things for the next attempt. Thanks for looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJS Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Those have some character, and a lot of potential. Try using the horn and a rounded cross pein or straight pein to get a nice smooth transition. And your right punching a hole and slitting to it works nicely for a this kind of process, isn't absolutely necessary, but smooths the bottom of the crotch. You just have to clean up the transition to legs so their smooth too;-) I could see a Beer Dragon made out of that, punch eyes and some nostrils, could look very Cool:-) Could make it look like the dragon on the prow of a Viking long ship... Lots of potential like I said;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuge Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 I agree with SJS, the two pieces show a lot of character and a real intuitive understanding of the material. Keep it up man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LastRonin Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Building on SJS' comment about elmoleaf's openers being made more "dragony"; chisel/punch in some details on the handle loop to make it look more like a tail. I just worry that the really sharp looking lower jaw would be likely to chip the bottle edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elmoleaf Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Decided to ignore the football game and instead make another attempt at skeleton key style openers. Steps were: 1. upset end of rebar. 2. flatten out upset area into un-centered rectangular area. 3. taper opposite end for loop and form loop. 4. hot punch hole thru rectangular area and enlarge hole. 5. hot cut two times to remove material at/adjacent to hole. 6. fussing about etc. to clean up opener end and get distance/angle correct. 7. Bit of filing and clean up to remove square edges at loop and opener end. Forming loops and working inside diameters is done with rod clamped in a vice, as I don't have a true anvil with horn. Thanks for all the feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Du7ch Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Had a nice session with Thomas Powers, here's the 2 bottle openers I made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RogueRugger Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 @Du7ch: And it appears that you had a try with some chiles! An excellent pairing with the bottle openers and a very nice start overall.( No doubt they are red AND green for a true Christmas serving.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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