Hi guys,

here is a little guide on how to forge a rams head wall hook. I am not a professional instructor and this is just the way I do it currently.
I made a video and extracted the most important frames (full video on the bottom of the page):

1. Take a sqare bar (here 12mm) mild steel and draw down about 2 1/2 inches to half parent bar thickness




2. Split the set off section with a hot chissel along the middle




3. Fuller inbetween the horns and clean up with a file







4. Taper both horns (fold one horn back so you can work on the other)

5. Twist the horns




6. Fold over about one inch, leave about 1mm space




7. Apply flux

8. Forgeweld




9. Taper the face




10. Cut the mouth with a hot chissel




11. Use a flat punch to create flatspots where the nostrals are going to be




12. Forge the nostrals with a round punch

13. Forge the eyes using an eyeballpunch (To make the eyeballpunch forge a flat sqare punch, punch a dent into the face of the punch and then break two corners of the square)




14. fold over the head using a wooden log, a wooden or raw hide mallet to protect the face




15. Curl the horns

16. Make an indentation with a round punch or a ball pien




17. Cut of the hook from the parent bar




18. Punch or drill a hole inside of the indentaion for the screw




19. Taper the hook and round it of




20. Create a curly cue having the face facing upwards




21. Cool of the curly cue to protect it and then form the hook




Now you can finish it to your desire, I used a wire wheel on an angle grinder to make it shiny.




Here is the video:

If you have questions or constructive critique feel free to express it in a comment or personal message.

Now have fun making one yourself! :)



Yours
- Daniel

Very cool, can't wait to give something like this a try.

Dear Daniel,

What sort of a price would you put on one of these and how long did it take you to make it?

Curiously,
George M.

awsome :)

Very Well Done thank you for the show .

Sam

Dear Daniel,

What sort of a price would you put on one of these and how long did it take you to make it?

Curiously,
George M.

Dear George,

it took me about two hours to make this one, but I had to videotape it... So usually I think it takes about one hour or a bit less to make one from beginning to end. I think I would charge somewhat around 25€ for such a piece, but I doubt that this would even cover all costs. If you want to buy one from me, you can send me a private message and then we could discuss the conditions.


- Daniel

Very Well Done thank you for the show .

Sam

Thank you Sam... and welcome ;)

Daniel
Wow great work
Cheers John

Hi Daniel, That looks great! The only suggestion I would have would be to add two holes for screws, with just one after a while it can work slightly loose and turn (depending on the wall material it is fastened to, some material works loose quicker than others) with two it should hold more securely. Also, for making coat hooks a broader end of hook is usually better for garments- a very pointy end will mishape them, I often will flatten the end out in a bit of a fishtail and curl that over so that there is a little more surface area to support the garment. Or you could fold over a section at the end and forge weld that to create a ball or wider end. This also depends on whether the hook is intended as a coat hook, or a hook for something else. This is not to pick holes in what you have done, simply suggestions of what I have found works! Keep up the good work!

A question from a uninitiated. When you where welding the piece was throwing off many sparks. Every book I read says once the steel is sparking it is too late to weld it because it is burning. Could you please explain why it worked for you?
That is a lovely piece by the way.
Paul

Hi Daniel, That looks great! The only suggestion I would have would be to add two holes for screws, with just one after a while it can work slightly loose and turn (depending on the wall material it is fastened to, some material works loose quicker than others) with two it should hold more securely. Also, for making coat hooks a broader end of hook is usually better for garments- a very pointy end will mishape them, I often will flatten the end out in a bit of a fishtail and curl that over so that there is a little more surface area to support the garment. Or you could fold over a section at the end and forge weld that to create a ball or wider end. This also depends on whether the hook is intended as a coat hook, or a hook for something else. This is not to pick holes in what you have done, simply suggestions of what I have found works! Keep up the good work!

Thanks for your comment, there are some good thoughts in there I will sure consider on my next hook! I know that this hook might tend to turn around but I simply found no estetically pleasing way of adding two holes...

A question from a uninitiated. When you where welding the piece was throwing off many sparks. Every book I read says once the steel is sparking it is too late to weld it because it is burning. Could you please explain why it worked for you?
That is a lovely piece by the way.
Paul

Thanks Paul, usually when your steel sparks you burned it and you can through it away, but when forgewelding you use a flux that forms a protective coating around the steel, that keeps the oxigen away from the steel and thus allow it to be that hot without burning. If you see sparks in the fire your wait for about 5 seconds and then you take it out, it should have optimal welding temperature then. You shall not let it get so hot, that the steel turns liquid already. If you have drops coming of of the steel you made it too hot even for welding and it will kind of shatter like cast iron. The welding temperature depends on the steel and the flux you are using. Pure iron with sand as flux will have a very high temperature, high carbon steel with borax or fancy welding powders will weld at much lower temperatures.

I enjoyed the video. I like seeing videos of this nature to see how others do things. My suggestion is that it appears to me that you work your material at to cold a temperature at times, especially when working the horns. You can develop cracks in it. I have always been told to pull out the material from the fire just before it starts sparking. Sparking means that the steel is burning up, which you don't want. Keep the videos coming and I would include some talking while your hammering. Watch a Brian Brazeal video as he talks while hammering.

This is a well done reference.

Dear Dave,

It has been my observation that it is tough to accurately judge heat by videos. The cameras adjust for exposure and depending on the camera, ambient light, etc. will not show the same color as a live eye would. Often, the video shows the metal at a hotter temperature than what it really is but I've seen the opposite too.

It appears to me that Daniel is a pretty experienced smith and I would be suspicious of the idea of him working metal at too hot or cold a temperature. Anyone who can accurately judge welding heat usually knows one end of a hammer from another.

Lightly,
George M.

Dear Dave,

It has been my observation that it is tough to accurately judge heat by videos. The cameras adjust for exposure and depending on the camera, ambient light, etc. will not show the same color as a live eye would. Often, the video shows the metal at a hotter temperature than what it really is but I've seen the opposite too.

It appears to me that Daniel is a pretty experienced smith and I would be suspicious of the idea of him working metal at too hot or cold a temperature. Anyone who can accurately judge welding heat usually knows one end of a hammer from another.

Lightly,
George M.

Thank you for defending me George, but Dave was right with the work on the horns, there in the end it was too cold. But actually the ambient light is indeed very bright and they still must have been red. Furthermore mild steel can be worked cold to a certain degree... It is the camera as well as the ambient light that alter the visuable glowing colour so actually one can only judge it with his own eyes in a very dark shop.

Thank you very much for sharing your skill and idea! I will try this next week.
Dave

thank you

Daniel when I carve in metal making rams heads, Dragons and others I use a carving block it can be even made out of a piece of angle iron it comes in very helpful when making animal heads. nice job on the video and pictures. These are pictures of my block

Daniel when I carve in metal making rams heads, Dragons and others I use a carving block it can be even made out of a piece of angle iron it comes in very helpful when making animal heads. nice job on the video and pictures. These are pictures of my block

Very cool, thanks for the suggestion!

Dear Francis,

Could you please post a picture of you block in use? I am having a hard time visulizing how it would be used. Also, what is it made out of? I'm assuming steel but I'm not sure from the photos.

Thanks,
George M.