While trying to make a moose head from an old wrench, I got to hunting through a pile of spanners and a few ideas came to mind. Perhaps others have made interesting things by recycling spanners and could share their creations here.

Bottle openers come to mind using ring spanners for the loop end. The lifting tab usually needs a touch of filing, as the ridges on the inner ring make it a bit uneven. I try to find a spanner with the makers name - Sidchrome, Dowidat, Shelley, Garrington etc. Mechanics seem to like them.

I found that if you cut through the ring on top of a ring spanner and fold back the halves you can make longhorn bulls and rams. They look good for buffaloes (of the water variety) because the ridges stand out on the horns.

And just for fun ... the open ender spanners have ready made ears for a cat wall hook. You can involve kids in the making of those. Easy stuff for demos. The one without the hook in the pic is unfinished - I was thinking of forging some paws on the outer edge of the hook before bending it. Just a thought.

So here are a few tries. More ideas welcome!

(P.S. I do my best to find worn out, broken or el cheapo spanners. No valuable tools were harmed in the making of these items. )

 

Beautiful work,

The cat situated second from the right is especially superb.

Marg would go nuts receiving same as a gift.

I suspect that the shipping charges from Australia to the U. S. would be outrageously expensive.

Sigh.

SLAG.

The cats from spammers is a great idea Aus. Likewise with the water buffalo. Very neat ideas. 

Anybody coming to Quad-State from Australia this year?  "Blacksmith's Mail" is often quite inexpensive for things like that.  I was once part of the chain going from Quad-State to Arizona for a smith once.  I did Quad-State to Central NM...

Slag, thanks, and you're right; those shipping charges to and from the States are ferocious. I know from importing brass brushes, my touchmark, carnauba wax and various other items. I would hate to think how much freight would be payable on a 300# anvil. Luckily I got my Hay Budden from Ohio freight free, as we had a container load of tractors coming across and it stowed away. I'm sure you could find an old spanner and knock one of these little hooks out for Marg, Slag!

Das, I have found a few more large ring spanners for water buffaloes. (And Das, I thought spammers were people who deal in dodgy computer schemes! )

 

Ausfire,

Thank you for your response.

Phoooee! 

My suspicions were correct! I am surprised that shipping rates are so high notwithstanding that container shipping has made overseas shipping rates to drop drastically. Which happened starting soon after World War 2  when the labor intensive break bulk shipping was replaced

Yes I'll smith a 'cat' hanger for Marg. But I will copy the exact proportions of your design. They are that good.

Do you require royalties for such use?

Regards,

SLAG.

20 hours ago, SLAG said:

 

Yes I'll smith a 'cat' hanger for Marg. But I will copy the exact proportions of your design. They are that good.

Do you require royalties for such use?

Regards,

SLAG.

Ha Ha! Sharing ideas is what this site is all about. I have learnt so much from others. Go for it!

I have posted a couple of today's efforts below. I was toying with the idea of forging some paws on the outward end of the hook. And I wanted a cat to have a mischievous look so the one on the left has eyes overlapping the edge of the spanner. These were just fun things I was doing after the demos, but judging by the reaction of visitors, they would actually sell very well.

I'm not quite sure what to call them. Cat hooks and cat hangers sound like it's a bit tough on the cat. I think I'll go with 'spanner cats'.

Please post a pic when you make one for Marg.

On September 4, 2017 at 5:38 AM, ausfire said:

 

Das, I have found a few more large ring spanners for water buffaloes. (And Das, I thought spammers were people who deal in dodgy computer schemes! )

 

Ugh. I knew I shoulda stuck with wrenches. Autocorrect knows that one.  

The little paws look great on those guys. They look a bit dodgy themselves like they are up to no good  

"Felids" ?

"Hangovers" ?  (for the mischievous ones).

'Hangups'

SLAG.

Made a couple more spanner cats during today's demo because there were a few kids around. Thought I would try to extend the spanner collection a bit by forging a knife from an open end spanner. I imagine the steel used for a spanner would have to be the right sort of steel to hold a good edge. It seemed to go OK, although I had to keep straightening the spine of the knife, as it wanted to curve away from the sharp edge.

I know I am no knife-maker, but it's sharp and I did test it slicing the tomatoes for our hamburgers and it worked well.  No heat treatment done.

 

Nope wrenches are usually at most a medium carbon steel instead of a high carbon steel as you want them *tough* but not brittle!

18 hours ago, ThomasPowers said:

Nope wrenches are usually at most a medium carbon steel instead of a high carbon steel as you want them *tough* but not brittle!

Fair enough. It was good practice in forging the knife shape anyway. I guess I can't expect it to keep its edge for long. Might be good for letter openers though.

Hoof pick

Nice idea! And the ring end is a ready made hanging loop. Thanks!

I have made some little battle axes out of them. They are pretty c=good sellers. The only pic I have won't load, when I finish the one I am working on I will post a pic.

Those cats are excellent, Aus! Thank you for sharing!

Bests:

Gergely

Thanks, Gergely.  They are fun to play with after the more formal demo, and the kids really like them.

What type of steel do you think they would probably be?

7 hours ago, Dillion Brian Grant said:

What type of steel do you think they would probably be?

Count 7 posts up from yours and you'll see where Thomas Powers answers that question. Unless you're asking about a specific alloy. If that's the case you'll want to contact the manufacturer and see if they'll tell you. 

An ax made from a 1 inch combination wrench (spanner), 12 inches long. 

Neat. So if the nut is too tight you can hack it off with the axe.

Yup!

 

Ausfine  Why the screw holes in the cat openers? It looks like screwing them to a wall would make them impossible to  use without spilling your drink.

Bluesman7, I do believe those are wall hooks, not bottle openers.  

On 11/19/2017 at 10:42 AM, bluesman7 said:

Ausfire  Why the screw holes in the cat openers? It looks like screwing them to a wall would make them impossible to  use without spilling your drink.

Das is right; they are not bottle openers. I just thought the open-end spanners looked like cat ears and would make neat little wall hooks. They are popular with kids and cat owners and I've sold a few of them. And people like the recycling (or upcycling) aspect.