Here is my first hook, and I think I had a little to much heat. This is just my 6th fire with the forge. I have some better metal to work with now so that might help some. I need all the input I can get.

13 minutes ago, Thats Hot... said:

Here is my first hook, and I think I had a little to much heat. This is just my 6th fire with the forge. I have some better metal to work with now so that might help some. I need all the input I can get.

 

Hey, we all start somewhere. Save this, so you can see how far you go!

As far as design goes, you might want to try bending the end of the hook to the outside, rather than to the inside. As you've done it, it's likely to snag anything hung on it.

13 minutes ago, JHCC said:

Hey, we all start somewhere. Save this, so you can see how far you go!

As far as design goes, you might want to try bending the end of the hook to the outside, rather than to the inside. As you've done it, it's likely to snag anything hung on it.

I am not sure where my head was when I bent the big part of the hook. I looked down and said ..... this won't work when fishing..

 

1 minute ago, Thats Hot... said:

I am not sure where my head was when I bent the big part of the hook. I looked down and said ..... this won't work when fishing..

 

That's the first lesson: keep your head in the game. A mistake with a hook is no big deal. A mistake with hot metal and flesh is a big deal.

Here are a few made from copper

I think this qualifies as a hook, but not maybe what you were asking for. 

It is made out of coins. 

Mike, Nice work on the copper. Roundabout what temp did you twist that fourth one? 

Teeny, I'd say it qualifies as a hook. How much did you spend in materials?  

thanks, the notifier didn't  work so I just noticed this. 

If I remember right that is about $7.50 worth of coins.

I am not of fan of using coins anymore as you get better results with sheet metal. coins are risky to twist or hammer unless they are glowing. it is really easy to tear if you do it cold. so other than the actual welding all the work was done at roughly between 1300-1700f . 

 

Nice work with the coins.  What kind/size of billet did you hammer them into?

Unfortunately, these days, they don't have any metal of value in them, only the denomination stamped on the surface. 

4 minutes ago, arkie said:

Nice work with the coins.  What kind/size of billet did you hammer them into?

Unfortunately, these days, they don't have any metal of value in them, only the denomination stamped on the surface. 

Thanks. I typically end up with a rectangular billet, then I forged it to a teardrop shape before bending and flattening. 

The nickel in the coins give people the biggest issue. they look at the copper and think I can anneal this and work it cold. which only makes things worse as the nickel is super hard when cold.

But if the Coins were gold I couldn't afford to mash them with a hammer...

That's Hot---First hook suggestion: re-heat the outer section and twist it so the counterbend is on the outside and charge more for the ornamental twist...

Teeny, that more than qualifies as a hook ... it's beautiful. I cannot imagine how you got a bunch of coins to look like that. Is this mysterious process beyond the reach of the average Joe? Would you be kind enough to just briefly outline the procedure. Did you melt the coins together in a crucible or what? I have no doubt first efforts would fail, but I would like to try something like that. Where to start??

7 hours ago, ausfire said:

Teeny, that more than qualifies as a hook ... it's beautiful. I cannot imagine how you got a bunch of coins to look like that. Is this mysterious process beyond the reach of the average Joe? Would you be kind enough to just briefly outline the procedure. Did you melt the coins together in a crucible or what? I have no doubt first efforts would fail, but I would like to try something like that. Where to start??

that hook is done using the same principles as patternwelded steel the big difference is the non-ferros material used. The very basics of it is you clean your coins, stack your coins, heat your coins, smack your coins. I've never had any mokumogane turn out right for me and I've tried with coins and sheet metal. I always get it too hot and blow out the brass.

44 minutes ago, Michael Cochran said:

that hook is done using the same principles as patternwelded steel the big difference is the non-ferros material used. The very basics of it is you clean your coins, stack your coins, heat your coins, smack your coins. I've never had any mokumogane turn out right for me and I've tried with coins and sheet metal. I always get it too hot and blow out the brass.

using flux of some sort?

38 minutes ago, Culver Creek Hunt Club said:

using flux of some sort?

Thank you Aufire.

 Absolutely no flux, it would get in the way of a good weld. 

Hop on the  Mokume Gane page and you will see the steps. It is straight forward. The main thing with Mokume is the weld zone needs to be clean and it needs to be under compression when heated. So build a small jig to hold them, then heat till they just barely start to sweat then gently hammer, or better squeeze them together. There is a learning curve but you should be able to get them to stick fairly easily. If you want help PM me, I am happy to help.

Coins do work but the raised faces make for lots of ugly unwelded spots where air gets in and spoils the weld, if you use them I reccomend flattening the faces. They are great for practice as they are cheap and a reasonable shape but if you want nice clean material plan on using sheet stock someday.

I have only used American coins as they tend to be nickel alloy faces and some with copper cores. I have heard some Canadian coins work but not sure about Aussie coins. Someone on the Mokume page may know.

 

Does this qualify?  Its a hook, and we made it.

Gulp....you win......

Well, at least you won't poke a hole in your hat or coat collar when you hang them up!

You'll need studly studs in the walls to hang that baby from. How many and what size screws?

Frosty The Lucky.

Found a couple of these down in the basement, the last of a batch I made almost 30 years ago. They are copies of a Shaker design for a hook for pulling taffy, but they make decent coat hooks.

I love this thread. Thanks to everyone sharing.

some hooks

On February 4, 2016 at 3:33 PM, yesteryearforge said:

Here are a few made from copper

How do you take such good photos? Do you have one of those really good cameras?

The biggest concern with photography is lighting, as that is what makes photographs possible. Even a so-so camera can take good pictures with some experience, and some of the new phones have great cameras.  With metal items you can get bad reflections if the light/flash is not diffused. When we were taking pictures of machineguns that we were selling we used light reflectors on the strobes, and also bounced light into shaded areas to brighten them up. By eliminating shadows the pictures were far better, than just a normal picture. An overcast day is perfect for lighting as the sunlight is very diffused and soft.  Aperture settings will also come into play, if you can adjust them. Smaller apertures will give a deeper depth of field bringing more into focus. A bigger aperture will tighten the area that is in focus if you want to highlight just one area, and blur things in the background. 

Lots of info out there on photographic forums.

The biggest concern with photography is lighting, as that is what makes photographs possible. Even a so-so camera can take good pictures with some experience, and some of the new phones have great cameras.  With metal items you can get bad reflections if the light/flash is not diffused. When we were taking pictures of machineguns that we were selling we used light reflectors on the strobes, and also bounced light into shaded areas to brighten them up. By eliminating shadows the pictures were far better, than just a normal picture. An overcast day is perfect for lighting as the sunlight is very diffused and soft.  Aperture settings will also come into play, if you can adjust them. Smaller apertures will give a deeper depth of field bringing more into focus. A bigger aperture will tighten the area that is in focus if you want to highlight just one area, and blur things in the background. 

Lots of info out there on photographic forums.

Oh you're music to my ears Bigguns! I was beginning to think I was the only one here who'd done any photography. Lighting and framing can be more important than focus. Depth of field too! Just licking and sticking a single ply of tissue paper over the flash makes a decent field expedient difuser. Oh I miss my speed light. I had a GREAT Halloween costume using my speed light.

Please feel free to let me know if I get things wrong talking about photography will you?

Frosty The Lucky.