What is the purpose of the two slots in the blade section?

Aesthetics, that end is supposed to be a wax scorer, and makes it look vaguely harpoon like. On a lot of them I do, that bit is raised a good bit more and tapers down behind it so it sticks out. You can then flip it over and use it to scratch the wax on your "Vintage" beer or Makers Mark before peeling it off..

There's a guy that makes similar ones on the craft beer sites, but he's backed up something like a year or more on orders, and I kept having people come to me and ask if I could make one like his. I wasn't willing to do exact copies, but I modified it some, and they sell well. The only pieces that really put me in an ethical dilemma.

His idea is cool, and sort of original, so it bothers me a little, but I don't feel guilty doing my version of a bulldog bottle opener or a bill epps style dragonfly, as long as it's my version, not just copies of somebody else's work. I dunno, but they sell faster than anything else I make.

If copying his design gives you pause (in which case, kudos to you for listening to your ethical conscience), then develop some other feature to accomplish that wax-scoring function.

Of course, this will require the purchase of the large amounts of craft beer and Maker's Mark bourbon for research purposes….

Was wondering if you were weakening the blade for a reason; aesthetics works especially as it's not supposed to see hard use.

More ex-harrow element openers. Some experimenting. Need some better looking letter-cutters  

And finally I made some appliable carnauba, so these are the first with carnauba finish, hurray!

Bests

Gergely

Edited August 20, 20169 yr by Gergely
adding info

Don't remember where I first saw this idea... maybe here, maybe facebook, maybe a craft show... don't remember, but wherever it was, I have always wanted to try it.  So, this afternoon, after a great show at my weekly farmers market/artisan's fare, I was feeling good and decided it was time to try it.  I didn't take the width of the cutting wheel in account, so my dice look a little squished, but it was fun and think it turned out decent.

 

Had enough time to get this and a pair of tongs made, copied it from a YouTube video (mark aspery, I think). I've made a few of em now and given them away, next time I make one I'll think of a few things I can do different to make it my own

 

Heap, that looks great, love the idea of incorporating dice in em

I like the dice in a cube twist Heap, lots of potential with that one. It needs more aggressive wire brushing though, the scale really looks out of place on dice.

I like the figure Donniev, I'm not sure what it is but I like it. Sort of strikes me as an owl elf? Very cool.

Good on ya both!

Frosty The Lucky.

Jeep:   The numbers on a dice add up to 7 on opposite sides.  3&4 2&5 1&6.   You will need to fix that on the next version, because customers will notice.

Starbits

5 hours ago, starbits said:

Jeep:   The numbers on a dice add up to 7 on opposite sides.  3&4 2&5 1&6.   You will need to fix that on the next version, because customers will notice.

Starbits

It wouldn't hurt but I don't know how many people are going to examine it that closely. I for one was not going to but I had to after you mentioned it. 

Frosty- it's a wizard

Well in most modern systems they do (see chirality) and historically in some systems they don't.    OTOH I know a smith that forges dice and makes sets where one die has only 3's and one has only 4's so *ALL* rolls are "sevens".   Dental insurance *not* provided with such dice.

8 hours ago, starbits said:

Jeep:   The numbers on a dice add up to 7 on opposite sides.  3&4 2&5 1&6.   You will need to fix that on the next version, because customers will notice.

Starbits

The worst part is, I knew that... but in the heat of forging, the only thing on my mind was, "Make sure you don't repeat a number on the same die."  I was going to do another one tonight, just to prove to myself that I can measure things correctly and get proper cubes, so I will make sure I keep it in mind tonight. 

Pine country forge how do you make the little cowboy hats?

probably covered in at least one of the 366 hits when you search this site for cowboy hat

13 minutes ago, MrDarkNebulah said:

Pine country forge how do you make the little cowboy hats?

I just use a washer

Oh is it just a washer and the actual price pokes through to make it look like a hat? I'd've never thought of that

Very nice Pine Country Forge, I'll save that one to memory for later.

On 7/9/2014 at 6:16 PM, LDW said:

I just had to post a pic.

 

So many great techniques & ideas here.  The bbq fork opener should be worth a try to drop off at the craft beer store in town.  Openers & corkscrews sell well there.

Consider it borrowed.  The bulldogs caught my eye because, well, they're buldogs....  <3  

Those are fantastic. I have to learn how to do the bull dogs. Think I have some practicing to do.

On 1/16/2016 at 11:28 AM, BIGGUNDOCTOR said:

The top one in the patent drawing appears to have a built in bottle stopper-the round part in the cutaway looks to have an added layer, possibly rubber. Open it, then use the opener to reseal it. 

  Why reseal an empty bottle....?  

Been thinking about Heap's idea with the cube twist dice openers. Had to give it a try. Learning experience. The top two in the photo are not good, as I was inexact in my execution of the çubes. I fared better with the third one, but erred with having two identical dice side by side. The bottom one was just an experiment - my name written spirally with the date in Roman MMXVI and Arabic 2016. You have to rotate it to read.

For next time: Be exact with the cubes - I will scribe the lines with a fine point - exactly 12mm.  Centre punch the dots first to have them evenly spaced before punching larger dots. Ensure all opposite faces add to 7 before final punching.

Anyway, here they are:

 

7 hours ago, ausfire said:

Been thinking about Heap's idea with the cube twist dice openers. Had to give it a try. Learning experience. The top two in the photo are not good, as I was inexact in my execution of the çubes. I fared better with the third one, but erred with having two identical dice side by side. The bottom one was just an experiment - my name written spirally with the date in Roman MMXVI and Arabic 2016. You have to rotate it to read.

For next time: Be exact with the cubes - I will scribe the lines with a fine point - exactly 12mm.  Centre punch the dots first to have them evenly spaced before punching larger dots. Ensure all opposite faces add to 7 before final punching.

Anyway, here they are:

 

 

Those are beautiful, Aus, and why I bow to the masters.  I've forged up a couple of more for my shows, and got the dice correct this time, but then I read that Vikings used to use dice and they made sure that the opposing sides NEVER added up to 7.  Found it on the internet so who knows if its true or not, BUT... I used it as a selling point, and that first one is now labeled as a "Viking" bottle opener, and the price went up by $15.  LOL

Oh, and I can't take credit for the idea... I saw it somewhere... maybe on this forum... It was just my attempt at replicating it.

 

Heap, you got into more than a few people's head- I'm gonna try the dice opener this weekend, I'll post pics