Gergely Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Ouch!! Aus, that hurts!! I'm in a quiet working environment so can't explain my pain as John did! My only help to release this pain is to think about how much more painful it would be not having time for forging all those nice materials. (Which is my constant trouble.) Let me quote Jim here: Forge on and make beautiful things! Greetings: Gergely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 ausfire,those would make some nice candle bases! All you need to do is rivet on candle cups on the top of those clips! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Round these parts real wrought iron spikes would go for a premium and you could pay for many a conference selling them there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 22, 2014 Share Posted May 22, 2014 Ausfire, you really really really need to stop posting photos of your gold hoard! We're trying to like you, but you're making it very difficult. Those clips are the perfect preform for making hatchet and tomahawk heads. They should be a good high-carbon alloy all by themselves and need just to be opened up and flattened out. Bow-tie the blank or do an assymmetrical wrap... If they're thick enough, they'd make dandy bolster blocks for riveting and nail making. I could see two of them going into my vise as smooth jaws. Maybe drill some holes down the middle and used them for making rivet heads. As small as they are, you could mail-order them to other smiths around the nation and make a tidy sum even if you sold them at a dollar each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Jim, they would make good candle bases. Never thought of that. I did use a couple to make a junk dog with a couple of ball bearings welded in for eyes.Vaughn has plenty of ideas for them too. I have never bothered to put one in the forge. I will do so over the weekend and see what happens. I don't know if they are wrought iron like the spikes. Maybe they are more modern?I'm still struggling a bit with the bottle openers. I made one out of an old spanner (wrench) and was just getting it to the right diameter when the ring split on the end. And to make matters worse I jammed the drift in the hardy hole and it took two of us with hefty blows to retrieve it. Some days it's better not to light the forge! Fortunately it happened at a time there were no visitors watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Ausfire, here's a neat way of handling a split end when drifting the opener's eye.... http://www.wulflund.com/smithy-works/forged-products/iron-bottle-opener-hand-forged.html/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Vaughn, I like that wulflund image, nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 Vaughn, I like that wulflund image, nice. Glad I could help. I spend way too much time on the internet doing image searches because I find the most interesting designs. It's both inspirational and addicting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I really like the split. That would go good incorporated on the bottle openers I like forging as the crossed vine look is perfect for the leaf I like making the handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 My first attempt at bottle openers (along with a steak turner for my kitchen, a coat hook for the back of a co-worker's door, his design choice). Unfortunately, I have no bottles, so I have no idea if these will actually function or will require tweaking. So I'm off to the store for some cold ones! Purely in the interest of research, product design, ya' know! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Nice concept, Spanky. I would never have thought to do a rope twist like that and then finish it off with tight curls. Brilliant idea, consider it stolen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpankySmith Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I consider it an honor to have my first attempt stolen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 I had another go at those wrought iron (?) spikes today with the intention of making a bottle opener. Even when very hot they still seem inclined to laminate. Or delaminate I guess. Don't know if you can see the cracks and the fibrous looking ends in the photo. Here's what they looked like: Are these dog spikes the same as the U.S. spikes? We seem to have two types of spike here - the one that actually looks a bit like a dog (ears 'n' all) and the top one which has more of a pan head. I think the dog spike is older and they are the wrought ones. I haven't forged one of the others so not sure what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 After messing around with those spikes I decided I had better do something more productive and here are the two openers I made today. The ramshead opener is made from a piece of 19mm x 6mm flat bar. The other is half of a horse shoe. I kept the groove and the rectangular nail holes. Gave these a bit of a polish and some tempering colour. Not to Frog's standard yet, but he's given me something to aspire to. That makes three now - more to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mitch4ging Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 A good looking pair! Love the color u got out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Outstanding! Show that polished rams head opener around, and just watch the look on people's faces. Very nice work, now you've given me something to add to my "gotta try that" list. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 My only suggestion would be watch how thin you forge the edge of cap tab (part that grabs under the cap). It looks like it almost comes to a sharp, thin edge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 My only suggestion would be watch how thin you forge the edge of cap tab (part that grabs under the cap). It looks like it almost comes to a sharp, thin edge? Thanks for your encouraging comments! Actually the cap tab edge is thicker than it seems in the picture. I think the tip has sunk into the soft material a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 Great to hear, sometimes I've seen people forge that cap tab too thin and comes to a knife-like edge. Polishing it up wasn't so bad now was it? Looks great. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Blythin Posted May 26, 2014 Share Posted May 26, 2014 I just *love* that Ram's Head opener ausfire! I've got to try doing one of those... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stovestoker Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 My first bottle opener. not perfect, still learning. but it works. had a great time testing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Testing every one is important quality control, anything less is just unprofessional. Frosty The Lucky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ausfire Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Yes, testing is critical. They reckon you should make openers in batches of six and test each one on a different bottle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borntoolate Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I beleive somewhere in this post there was a caution about making a bottle opener that can break off the top of the bottle. I took note of that and had the chance to do "some testing" this last weekend. Actually it was a bit too much testing but nevermind. I had a lot of bottle openers that needed testing u see. A safety thing really. One must make certain sacrifices. Anyway..... I was able to do just what I had been cautioned against. To expand on the caution, that I have now proven to myself to be quite possible, if not potentially likely with our hand made items... The question becomes what is the design flaw that makes this likely and how can we avoid it? I think the answer is that if the distance between the small smashed indentation on the handle and the far end of the opener (the inside dimension) is too great then you risk having a bottle opener instead of just a bottle cap remover. Hope that makes sense. Put another way if the inside dimension of the opener end in the axial direction of the handle is to great. Anyone have any guidelines or dos and don'ts in order to avoid this? Does my theory sound correct or do I need to be corrected or refined? Anyone have a max min dimension they shoot for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Frog Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Yup, that was me back in post #106 of this thread. Unfortunately, I think the best answer to your question of opener dimensions is, "it depends". Claw type of openers are different than the hole type. I have a gauge I use as a reference for the type of openers I make. Never measured the actual dimension of it before. After I drift my hole and forge the rim of the eye for a bit, I check the diameter of the hole with my highly accurate and precision measuring tool...... the wide fat top end of my tab tool. :) From doing a lot of openers, I know that if the fat end of that my tool fits in the forged hole, and has just the right amount of rattle within the hole, it will be just right once I forge the cap tab in place. Too large of a hole leads to glass chipping and cracking tendencies (on my openers). The shape and thickness of the cap tab will also come into play. As will the sharpness or rounded edge of the cap tab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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