Poker for My Dad - Four Pictures

[tjdaggett]

I've been told that the true motto of this site is "Pics or it didn't happen". I apologize for the quality; I had to take these quickly on my phone before wrapping the poker for Christmas.

Glenn, this is the one we talked about on Discord one evening.

This is my first project. I have never before made anything in the forge, with the exception of one crude fire rake. I know of a few things that need improving next time around, but I would appreciate your feedback. Here's what I see:
- There are cracks in the handle, which indicate that I did something wrong with the temperature; I suspect the steel got too hot. 
- There is too little material at the point of the hook. I haven't solved that problem yet. 
- The piece overall is not quite straight.
- The twist is not centered. 
- There is a large divot where the handle bends off of the main piece; that is a defect in the stock, which is found. 

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. This piece involved twisting, tapering, bending, and making and applying finish. I used the deadline of Christmas to force myself to get the forge up to minimum working order, and problems with my air source motivated me to find the local farrier school and figure out my coal supply. Looking forward to the next one. 

[anvil]

Nice!