survey says: ?

i think the stock i used was too thin, as the hook and point came out way too small. oh well.

nice work i love square profile stuff...do almost everything i can in square stock rather than round...

if the stock is too thin you could jump it up and make it thicker...thats what i do when making tongs and similar things that need to be mostly fairly thin but need a bit more metal in places to facilitate whatever i need to do with it...

I like mine to be as lite as i can stand. Looks good for a first try.

I think it looks great! Good job

I wouldn't be complaining about that effort!

It looks very good for a first effort. One way to get more material where you want it is to forge weld the poker end back on itself (faggot weld).First taper the end flat, then weld it back onto the body, now you have a loop, cut the loop and you have two prongs, the size of the parent stock, to draw out to the dimensions you want. Hopefully that was clear.

That looks pretty good, what size stock is it made from ?? I just recently made one for the mother in law very similar to that...they wanted it 4 feet long for the fire pit...and since my forge welding skills are very minimal and I didn't have time to mess around with trying, I flattened the poker end of 3/8 stock since I was cutting with hacksaw so it would lose less metal when I cut down the center. I'm not sure if that really saves all that much metal...but if you're splitting with chisel or hardy then you lose next to nothing.

As long and you're not using that hook to drag trees around the yard it should work for what it was made for.
Thanks for sharing !!

Edited September 4, 200817 yr by craig

Often we are our own toughest critics - nice job on the fire poker first attempt and lots of good suggestions here for future improvements.

Woodeye

Forgewelding the end to itself is a common method of having 2 pieces "full sized" to work with.

I'd shorten the handle and sell that as a wood stove poker; it's just right for one like my front loader!

Good job buddy!

That looks great for a first attempt, highlander. My first attempt is still in the scrap bin. LOL

That will be a keeper. As you progress at what you do, you'll be able to see where you are at now and where you were.

It still looks pretty darn good. Keep it up.

thanks everyone! i still dont have all the tools i need to make things work the way i want them to. i dont have any hot chisels, ive been using cold chisels for hot work and it doesnt turn out well.. :-p

Looks good Id be happy with it make another and you can probably see improvement in what and how you do it . I 'm going to try one of these myself. What size square stock did you use ?

Edited September 5, 200817 yr by longhunter

In the software world, we call this a beta version. ;-).

Good job on the first version. You will learn that you will probably need to do several tries at things until you get the one you like. And even then, as soon as you finish one you like, you will think of 5 more things you could have done to improve it.

You will also start looking at other peoples projects and even commercial items and start thinking that way. "Oh, maybe if you changed this and did that..."

That would be called blacksmithingitis.

Have fun at this hobby.

this poker is 1/2 inch square steel. it is about 3 feet long

Nice job. It's plenty heavy enough. I forge pokers from 3/8 sq. , unless someone wants it heavier. Most folks don't. As far as you thinking it's too light, I've never had anything come from my anvil that I was satisfied with. I'm sure a lot of others have the same feelings.

Yeah, I think that should be plenty sturdy enough too...but if you're still worried, just try it out !!

Nice job. It's plenty heavy enough. I forge pokers from 3/8 sq. , unless someone wants it heavier. Most folks don't. As far as you thinking it's too light, I've never had anything come from my anvil that I was satisfied with. I'm sure a lot of others have the same feelings.

Donnie, do you mean "wasn't" satisfied with ? ;)

Excellent poker John, I just found this now, must have passed over it before. Really like it

There is nothing wrong with that!. Remember it is a "poker" not meant to drag a tree around as Craig said...LOL. I use the same size stock as that (3/8ths?) in my fireplace tools. The only difference being I weld a piece on the parent stock for the side hook and forge the points out of the full 3/8ths stock. That leaves a slightly thicker section at the junction of the two hooks and plenty of material to form the points.
Great job for a first one!

Terry

I use 3/8 square.
Forge out the handel end first.
Draw out a point about 3" long.
fold back about 5" including tip. I will give it 2 shots at forge welding, and if that fails, I will Weld about 1 1/2" of the fold. I will give it a good orange heat before the weld, and you will be surprized at how much penetration you get.
Then I draw out the welded section to make the main point, and with carefull peening, you can get the weld to all but dissapear.
The bring out the hook and put a little S in it.
Finished 2 yesturday for last minute xmas gifts for my neighbor.