October 1, 200520 yr Hello, I had a reenactor in today, that asked if I had heard of pineapple twists. I think I have but I"m not sure how to make one. He was looking to have me make some blackpowder related stuff for him. He does a lot of trading at meets. This was one of the things we talked about. Anybody know how to do one of these?
October 1, 200520 yr Meco I can't tell you how to do it but at http://www.iforgeiron.com/Tools/Twists.htm pictures 0003 and 0002 show what it looks like. Edit: image added
October 1, 200520 yr Meco- If I remember correctly (and that is at best a WAG :wink: ) you chisel a line down the center of all 4 sides for the length of the area to be twisted. Then make a full twist, then hammer it back to square, then chisel your lines again, and twist in the opposite direction. As I said, I am working from memory here, your mileage may vary. Good luck.
October 1, 200520 yr Here's my way: Take a piece of 1/2" square. Chisel down the middle of all four sides. Make sure the cuts are centered and run for the same distance - I use center punch marks on each side to help while it's hot. Not much depth is needed, just a clean straight groove. Heat and hammer back to square because it will have deformed. Now, you will have a piece of fairly square material with a small thin slit on each side. Heat and twist 1 time for every inch of slit area - in other words, a 4 inch slit area gets twisted 4 times. Hammer the twisted area flat so the piece is square again, then reheat and twist in the reverse direction half of whatever you did the first time - the 4 inch example would be reversed 2 times. You will now see the pineapple effect. You can twist tighter or looser on either first or second pass but take note of the process so you can repeat it. I use the 2:1 ratio because it's easy to remember while I am demonstrating.
October 2, 200520 yr OK - since nobody else "volunteered", I'll prepare a demo on this (me and my big mouth... ). Gimme a day or two - I took a second job to make ends meet so I don't have quite as much time in the shop but I'll get 'er dun...
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.