metalanton Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 this is my go-to wedding gift lately Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 How do you make the corkscrew? Sorry for my ignorance, i'm just starting out. Also, any tips on making bottle openers for a beginner? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Nice work! what metal did you make the cork screw out of? i've been wanting to try one but they usually seem to be made of high carbon steel thinner wire or something. i like the beefiness of yours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 5 hours ago, MrDarkNebulah said: How do you make the corkscrew? Sorry for my ignorance, i'm just starting out. Also, any tips on making bottle openers for a beginner? A good tip I can give you can help with the forging of the small tab that lifts the bottle cap. If you're not very confident making punches and drifts, find yourself an old ball pein hammer. A small one. Make a wrap handle for it (or use the wooden handle if it has one) and use the ball end as a former for the lifting tab. I do all mine like that and it works very well. Like this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Nice opener and corkscrew! So is the chain hold down in that pic held down by weight or putting your foot in something? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metalanton Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 I make the corkscrews out of the shank portion of a 5/16" grade 8 bolt (grind off the zinc coating before forging!) 4140 would work great as well. I think you could make a strong enough corkscrew with mild as well, so just try it with whatever you have on hand. here are the steps: 1. using an edge of the anvil that has a 1/4" radius take a bite about 3/4" away from the end of the bar. one hit and rotate 90 degrees and repeat the rotations on those same faces.. the goal here is to isolate the stem you are creating to one quadrant of the end of the bar not creating a stem that comes out of the center. keep this stem square as you work, as it gets smaller it will be easy for it to start forming a diamond, if so just turn it into and octagon and back to square again. you are using a rounded portion of your anvil face because you want the transition from the base to the corkscrew to be round and soft because this area is very prone to cold shuts later on. draw the stem out until it is a 1/8" square about 4" long. Now take the corners off the square and planish round. 2. now sight down the spear you have created and put the quadrant that the stem comes out on the lower left corner. For a clockwise screw bend the stem 90 degrees over very close to the base so that it crosses the lower right quadrant in this position.. this step is important for getting the coil to start close to base. 3. With scrolling tongs loop the stem clockwise in a large circle of about 1" beginning the coil 4. place this large circle in the step of your anvil and starting at the base hit it with light blows to compact the pigstail, while simultaneously rotating the bar. repeat this until you form a pigstail that is tight, compact enough to fit in a cork, and round and has about 3-4 coils. 5. now take a chisel or a screwdriver and starting at the base wedge it between the coils and open up about an 1/8" throughout the entire coil. 6. Normalize and finish as desired.. the base can be made into a tenon to fit into the handle of the corkscrew, or it can be riveted through the handle. I myself just drill a matching hole in the handle and fillet braze it with bicycle brazing wire that is sweat soldered into the joint and practically disappears once wire brushed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 10 hours ago, Forging Carver said: Nice opener and corkscrew! So is the chain hold down in that pic held down by weight or putting your foot in something? Thanks It's attached to the anvil block on the left and has a stirrup on the bottom of the chain on the right. Works well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted November 25, 2015 Share Posted November 25, 2015 Alright thanks. So is an anvil block the thing I see lots of guys hang off their horn? Also by stirrup I suppose it is a foot pressure type hold down? Also thanks for the instructions metalantown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 When using a hammer head as a struck tool like Ausfire has, you want to draw the hardness out of the struck end to avoid chipping, and flying shards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Or use a soft faced striking hammer like lead or brass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Had a little 3" piece of 1/4x3/4 mild that needed something done with it..... And since I was already working on some trailer hooks and a pair of ring tongs, it seemed like a good time to make another bottle opener. The ring tongs started out as one of those 80% tong kits from Quick-n-Dirty Tools, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 9 hours ago, DSW said: Or use a soft faced striking hammer like lead or brass. I was thinking about making a brass hammer, but I have heard that when using a softer hammer than the steel you are striking it will create a hollow in the hammer. I think it was Moony who told me this. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Soft steel will work too, but drawing the temper on the hammer being struck allows you to use any hammer you have to hit it with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Metalanton, thank you for the instruction. I will give it a try soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 On 11/5/2015, 7:22:58, MrDarkNebulah said: As a guy just starting out, those things are insane! They look awesome. Man I hope I can get there some day. The secret is a little knowledge and a lot of practice. Now you know how he did it start trying till you can. Want to bet you do it a little differently when you find the sweet method? I can think of a couple methods that don't include sanding or grinding but might be less efficient. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDarkNebulah Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 How do you draw the hardness out, just heat it up to red and let it cool naturally? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 3 hours ago, MrDarkNebulah said: How do you draw the hardness out, just heat it up to red and let it cool naturally? That'll do it. Easiest way is to get it up to a nice orange/red and then let it sit in the forge after you've shut everything off for the day. That'll allow it to cool slowly as the fire dies and all the heat dissipates. As soon as you get it hot enough to change colors, you've removed the heat-treat and any hardness it might have had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Actually I learned the hard way. I was trying to make a carving knife from a drill bit and I did not anneal it, just heated it up and started hammering. I kept thinning out the shank section and eventually it just snapped. It was either tungsten or it was because I forgot to anneal, but I think tungsten you can't even forge if I remember correctly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Forging Carver. The problem you might have had was that you let it get too cold while forging. If it was a high speed steel (HSS) drill bit they need to be kept very hot while forging. Carbide tools/chunks cannot be forged as are made with powdered carbide held together with a binder. Back on bit more on topic. I see most of the bottle openers are of the loop design, as opposed to the hook/claw style. Is that just a style preference? Obviously they can be displayed easier by hanging, but they also take a bit more finesse to make. I may have to see if I can find the dragon opener that was posted yeeeears ago on here where the mouth was the opener. I have a mess of .375" Ti that I would like to try some openers with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 10 minutes ago, BIGGUNDOCTOR said: I may have to see if I can find the dragon opener that was posted yeeeears ago on here where the mouth was the opener. I have a mess of .375" Ti that I would like to try some openers with. I have this one saved that I think someone did as a demo at the college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forging Carver Posted November 27, 2015 Share Posted November 27, 2015 Yep my drill bit said hss on it which I had no clue what that meant. Those dragon openers are really cool! I know that in mark aspery'so first book he shows how to make a wizard bottle opener. Anyone have pictures if they tried to make it? I would get right to the cool openers as you can probably make a good deal of money on them. Only problem is that I need to motivate myself to make all the punches and chisels and I need to mount my vise. Right now I have a machinists vise that seems pretty sturdy and the jaws are flat with no teeth. It seems pretty old it doesn't seem like it is gonna break anytime soon. I'm still looking for a post vise on eBay but can't find a cheap one. Out here in jersey there is nowhere where you can find a post vise, well at least where I am at. Thanks for the help everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGUNDOCTOR Posted November 28, 2015 Share Posted November 28, 2015 The dragon I liked was very different than those, it was very Nordic. I believe all of the old pics were lost in those posts though. Look on the NJ craigslists, a guy has a 200# Hay Budden for sale, and he mentions post vises too in his ad. When using a machinist vise try to hammer over the stronger stationary jaw. Finally got this posted after trying too for the last 5 hours.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Quint- Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 Made this the other day, first thing I've ever actually forged. Hoping to get better with practice, but I really enjoyed the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 58 minutes ago, -Quint- said: Made this the other day, first thing I've ever actually forged. Hoping to get better with practice, but I really enjoyed the process. I like it Quint. It's retaining the rebar yet it looks like a functional opener with forged ends. Good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted December 3, 2015 Share Posted December 3, 2015 A very neat rebar opener there! Not easy stuff to forge. You did well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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