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I Forge Iron

Folding Corkscrew


jeremy k

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I've decided to give a forged folding corkscrew a try. I have seen a few different styles of these (only in pictures) and figured I should do some trial and error to make one. The picture below is the 1st test piece, or the parts for one. There are a few things that I need to address to get one that will work fine. This will lock closed and lock open

- 1st - I used 1/2" round stock (so I could get 1/2" balls on the ends for the pivot areas, this proved to be to heavy for the loop(spring). I will next time I'll use 3/8" or smaller and upset for the ball mat'l.

- 2nd - The swages I made for the pivot lock had a 1/4" round stock relief in them - to large of lock area. This takes to much of mat'l from the ball during swaging down to a flat tab. Basically this is a male center with a female on either side under compression, with a pin that will get inserted into the center perpendicular to the assembly for location during folding.

Basically, I just did a test run to work out the issues and it worked as I figured - I just didn't know how large of lock area contact I needed - the second one should be a dream. The transision from the ball ends to the handle will be forged out on the next. The "worm" turned out as planned.
The attached picture shows the "bow" or "U" shaped part that is NOT the intended size - I was only concerned with making the folding joint the right size with this sample.
- JK

 

The below picture is only a test for length of the outer part - it is not the correct size diameter of the outer bow

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Most definately - I'll be making them more delicate - the pivot/lock area is what I was more concerned about in triing and getting the sizing right - that too is way to heavy - so it's lighter all around next. I'll post more pics as I get more progress on this project. - JK

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COOOOL, Jeremy!

Did you try it out? My little experience with wine are the $10 and under bottles seem harder to open. Curious how strong the joint is if someone really had to pull. An idea on the design: Maybe similar to a belt buckle design, the screw had a ring on the end that hung off the handle. Could even fuller a small area on the handle part so its not sliding around.

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Rory...for them kind of wines, if they don't have enough pride in their product to put threads on the bottle then they ain't good enough to buy.

Jeremy...another nice piece of work. Might have been easier if ya hadn't tried it out so often while in the works.... :P

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This is the result of the second set of tooling I made for the pivot assembly on this folding corkscrew.

This one is 3.5" x 2.5" closed and 6" open.

This is the process..... I started with a 5" piece of 3/8" round stock - upset each end for enough mat'l to forge a 1/2" ball on each end. The balls got flattened slightly along with a 3/16" rod on one side for the depression(pivot lock). I then forged the mat'l between the balls down to 1/4" round. I then shaped the handle and aligned the ends. Another piece of 3/8" was up set for a 1/2" ball for the center piece that has the "worm" on it. Once the ball was forged I tapered the other end for the shaping of the worm. I will drill a hole through all 3 ends for an axel rod, this keeps the pieces in place during pivoting while the handle acts as a spring to hold the position during open or closed. I didn't drill the hole for these pictures to show that this was completely forged only up to this point. The axel will be threaded on one end and one side of the handle will be tapped, and the axel theaded into the assembly then trimmed to length.

A spring swage was made like the second picture for swaging the ball for the worm.
- Jeremy

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Here's the final assembled corkscrew. The middle picture is of the pivot halfway open so you can see how the handle springs apart. The 3/16" diameter axle is press fit into the center part with a tad of a larger clearance holes in the handle ends. The threading of one end on the axle was not practicle in this application as I thought in the above post. This "snaps" into the open or closed position very possitively, although very easily opened. - Jeremy

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  • 2 weeks later...

I made up some extra parts so everyone can see the step by step process of the forgings.

#1 Starting stock - 5" of 3/8" round.

#2 I upset each end for 1/2" ball material.

#3 I used swage to form the ends into a 1/2" ball.

#4 I draw out the 3/8" round material between the balls down to 1/4" - this will yield a total length of 8-3/4".

#5 I swaged each ball onto a die with a raised bump (3/16" diameter) to form the depression to form the lock on the pivot area.

#6 I started with another piece of 3/8" stock - made a 1/2" ball on it ( this is for the center worm part) and from the ball I tapered it to point that measures 4-1/2" total including the ball.

#7 Then I used a spring swage to flatten and form the 2 raised ares on the tab.

#8 I then forged the worm using a half round depression that was in my swage block.

* the 2nd picture is of the tooling for the ends of the handle part and the 3rd picture is of the spring swage ends that I formed the pivot area on the center part( the worm).


- JK

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Jeremy , so you used the spring swage ( 3 rd picture ) to make the center bit for the swage tool ( 2 nd picture ) ?

Really simple mate , that's probably why i ain't come up with the idea ... :)

Dale Russell


Yes Dale 3rd pic is for the center piece. - JK
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