How I make a bottle opener

[freeman]

Thanks for posting this! I'd been having problems working out how to get this style of bottle opener forged until I came across this.

[clinton]

Thanks guys, putting this board together was not easy for me, I changed design several times to come up with something that worked well.

[DanBrassaw]

Ok I finished my display piece yesterday, I am going to print a little page to attach to the left side of this display, that will explain the process and give contact info. (Oh boy now a need a business card holder).
So this is what I came up with, I was going to just use a hook to hold the story board piece, but it did not hang plumb when I placed it on the hook. So I came up with this idea of a corkscrew type holder, I wanted to keep the piece separate from the board so it can be held. The hanger is a recycled horse shoe, this follows the horse theme. I wanted to try and show some forged items, like the hook and the flower (maybe get some more work)

Every thing on here is forged, the nails and staples are driven and clenched so they will not come out, I drilled the wood to avoid splitting

That looks great! If I may, I'd love to know what tools/processes you used for the rosette on the hook. In one of my books, they have something similar, but the instructions say something along the lines of, "Hammer to shape. Texture with hammer." Never got THAT to work out the way I wanted it to. Do you use a chisel for the lines, and a ball-end fuller (think that's what it's called!) for the "leaf"? Also, why did you go with a separate nailing point, instead of nailing through the middle of the rosette? Just an aesthetic choice? Thanks!

[clinton]

Thanks Dan- I Learned how to do the flowers by looking at posts from LDW on here it is a method that Brian Brazeal teaches. I will try to explain how I do it- The material I used is 3/4 x 1/4 bar stock. Separate about 3/4 inch of material using half hammer face blows far side of anvil on radius edge, Then forge this into a hexagon, make sure you keep it thick do not flatten it out. Chisel the lines to separate the petals, be sure to divide it up properly, the points are in line with the bar, then an x across the other four points (I was not dividing it up right at first and had to go back and look at the pictures to figure this out) Then use the round counter sunk tool (just a round eye punch) for the center rosette. Now you use a ball punch to forge out the petals, a little at a time, I just mark them first then come around with 2 or 3 blows, take a few heats and keep working around, then I will use the eye on the center rosette again to sharpen it up. The final step is use a large ball punch on the back side, place it on a wood stump for this so you don't mess up the face, just pound it down with a few blows to give it some shape
I thought about nailing though the center but I decided to go this way I thought it may take away from the flower to nail in the rosette, and I did not want to mess up and have to start over
_{Also I would like to put a special thanks out to Brian Brazeal- I would never have learned to do this without his teaching, also thanks to Lyle for all the pictures}

[clinton]

I took a few shots of how I made the rosette- this one got a little off when I started doing the petals with the ball fuller, you can work the tool around to make corrective steps as you go- you do not want to just drive it straight in but rather work it around as you go. I think the pictures will give a much better explanation. I found that this bar stock 3/4 X 1/4 inch works best for me, I also made some using 1/2 inch round it just seemed like more work