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I Forge Iron

What did you do in the shop today?


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My wife is quite the fly fisher and fly tier. She was out fishing today with her group and caught 10 Rainbow Trout (catch & release area). I played in the shop while she was away and came up with this. Made from all small pieces of scrap. The base is from a long forgotten project and is 7/16 inch thick plate with the hole already in it. The rod is rebar and 13 inches tall and the hook & earthworm from small pieces of round rod. I had initially intended for it to be a trade item at our next BOA meeting which was to be a critter of choice. I thought an earthworm is a critter. When Debi came home she saw it on the counter and said oh my gosh, I love it and it's mine, you can make something else. I guess I'll make a stupid dragon or snail.

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Got a late start in the shop because of ICAR classes for work.

Going to get 4 roses done before the other 3. Shaping them is a bit of work and I actually prefer to just do 3 at a time. Then just need some cleanup on this spider. Wanted to see how these nails looked on this one before I committed to them for this ones sort of twin.

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The inductor works well enough to bend the legs and smaller stuff. It really only gets things to a medium red heat. Overall it saves me a lot in torch gas for all the little critters I make, and is convenient, so for me it's been worth it. 

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I finally got my new forge with ribbon burner operational, and this is the first project from it.  Having never tried to make a bottle opener, I decided to give it a whirl.  From left to right, the first prototype, second prototype and sorta-finished project.  The first prototype didn't go well because I messed up on punching the slot.  Didn't have a proper slot punch, so I improvised.  Bad idea.  Second prototype I modified the slitter I had used on the first one, but I still punched a sloppy slot.  Third one, I made a proper slot punch and managed to keep it pretty much in the same place to get the slot punched.  Now all I need to do is build a bunch more of them.

 

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Since I don't have any bottles to open, it's anybody's guess.  The first one would only open a bottle by breaking it.  The second likely would open one with a little effort.  The third, I have no doubt will open bottles just fine.  It's going to our UPS driver today, so I'll have to ask him on his next trip if it works OK.

Thanks.

 

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Very nicely forged twists there! The tabs on the openers look a little small, but I guess testing will decide that. I have often wondered what the advantage is in using a slot punch for bottle opener loops. I have done hundreds of these and always used an ordinary tapered round punch. After all, you want a round hole, use a round punch! Perhaps, using say 12mm square bar, you may save a small amount of metal by aligning a slot punch along the material, but I'm not sure it's a significant difference.  Just wonderin'.

In the shop today I made a couple of lifters for fishing out small objects that like to bury themselves in the forge charcoal. Things like key rings and small troll crosses etc. I also made some BLT wax according to directions given to me by Das. 50% beeswax, 25% turpentine, 25% boiled linseed oil. It cooled to the consistency of soft butter and is easy to apply with a brush. I used the mix on one of the lifters straight off the forge ( a dull, matt finish). I removed the scale from the other one before applying wax and I prefer that finish. Both finishes seem to repel water so we'll see how they last.  Here's a pic of the two lifters and the BLT. (My wife laughs at my BLT label - she says that means Beetroot, Lettuce and Tomato)

 

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Thanks, Aus!  Being a bottle opener noob, I just went with somebody's instructions and hoped for the best.  The parent stock was 1/2" (12mm) square, and I beat it down to 1/4"  thick before punching.  The middle one's tab is virtually non-existent due to my boo-boo in punching the slot, but the third one has a nice robust tab that won't wear out on the first six pack.

Nice looking lifter-outers you got there.  I like the flat twist in the middle of a round bolt.

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