A spoon forged from a 16d masonry nails and a fire striker forged from a tire tool.

Great job. About what size is the spoon?

A smallish teaspoon. This was auctioned during a fundraiser at my wife's family reunion, so I no longer have it in my posession to measure. Lady that won it was going to use it as a sugar-bowl spoon. bart

A spoon forged from a 16d masonry nails and a fire striker forged from a tire tool.

Nice on both pieces! I'll have to try a spoon in the near future.

Is the striker made from a regular old tire tool, like lug wrench on one end blade on the other? I've twisted the blades trying to use them for large screwdrivers before so I didn't figure they'd be hard enough for strikers.

How did you harden and temper that material?

First, thanks for the positive comments. I have only been doing this for a year or so.

In answer to your question, the tire tool is indeed one of the "L" shaped too with lig wrench on one end and hubcap tool on other. I picked it up at a flea market so do not have any idea who made it, or it's composition. I can tell you that it is high carbon. I have made a couple of knives out of it and they both hold a good edge (my opinion). Are all such tools of similar steel? Who knows?!

For the knives, I annealed, shaped, normalized x 3 and hardened. I then tempered to bronze by holding the back of the blade against a red hot "chunk" of steel. Oh yeah, quenched in used motor oil.

For the striker, I forged to shape then brought the whole striker up to cherry red. Quenched 1/4 inch of the edge by holding in water until the whole striker lost color. I then sang one verse of "Old McDonald" before quenching the whole striker in water. I know that sounds dumb, but it worked. Throws lots of big, bright sparks.

The spoon was not quenched, since the masonry nails contain enough carbon to harden somewhat. I have read that they contain anywhere from 30 to 95 points carbon. I saw an old box that stated steel content as "1095". I have made small "blacksmith" or "patch" knived from the 16d nails from the local Lowes that hardened enough to hold a decent edge...better than "high" carbon rr spikes in my opinion. I have made strikers from these as well. They will spark, but not as well as the ones made from the tire tool.

Sorry this is so long...bart