Smalls Projects for Sale

[BrittS]

So, I guess this is the place to post this, I fairly recently got a job working at a small butcher shop that focuses on farm to family meat products. Long story short they offered me a chance to sell small blacksmith made products in their shop on a small rack. They mentioned making fire-pokers and steak turners but I’d like to offer more but I’m drawing a blank as to what to make. I would like to get as good of an idea as I can as to what to make so I can order steel and quit buying steel from farm stores. I was thinking about little trinkets like leaf key-rings as well. If we’re ever able to get electricity back or our shop and we’re able to get a welder, I’ve thought about steak brands and my mom mentioned doing brand sets that had R for rare MR for medium rare and so on and so forth. I’d like to focus on projects related to fire and or grilling and I’ve thought about doing things like spatulas and tongs, but I don’t know. Any more ideas would be helpful. 

[Frosty]

Hmmmm, Grill type fire tools are what I consider medium small. Making them from RR spikes is popular but make sure you source LEGAL RR spikes.  Spike steak flippers, carving forks, etc. are popular. Buyers like seeing the transition from a familiar object, RR spike to a different recognizable thing which is why I believe spike letter openers and steak flippers are so popular. 

Leaf key fobs aren't very Meat shop oriented but make a few T-bone steak or mini BBQ tool say spatula, etc. fobs might sell, if not they'll tie your work into the meat market. AND you can check that idea off as a non-seller. 

If they'll allow larger forged products, cooking tripods and grills, skewers, etc.  with fire pit tools could be a seller. Forged, down hearth grills and trivets would fit in. Take some pics of them in use so folk know what the heck they're looking at!

Being a meat market they probably cater to commercial kitchens and BBQ joints. I'd visit a few and see what they use for BBQ tools, they'd be larger than home BBQ sets but it might be a good market. Might even get space in a BBQ restaurant to hang your BBQ tools. Hmmmm?

I'm starting to fuzz out on ideas, more as they occur.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

A few thoughts:  Label the steak turners.  Most folk have never seen one and don't know what they are.

Spatulas and forks shold go well with a meat theme.

Label the key fobs, again, folk won't recognize them for what they are.  Or buy key rings and include them with thw fobs.  You can get them pretty cheaply on the internet.

Various types of bottle openers will go well with BBQ activities.

Shish kabob skewers from square stodk (about 3/16") and a shepard's drook end have possibilities. Sets of 4, 6, or 8 would be good IMO.

Short pokers work for charcoal fires.  I'd make them as fancy as I could with twists and finish.

If I think of any more ideas I'll add another poat.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

PS As usual, Frosty and I are thinking along the same lines at the same time.

Edited August 22, 2023 by George N. M.
additional information

[Frosty]

Morning George. You might want to slow down or watch your keys. I'm sorely tempted to buy you a cooks apron that says Kiss the Drook!

Geeze I LOVE a good typo let alone a typo garden. 

Don't change Brother I love you like you are.

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

The main typo peoblem is that we have a new puppy (15 week oid Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Robbie, who was asleep on my lap on the couch and I was typing one handed.  Also, the edit function quickly timed out on me, like in 2-3 minutes.

G

[Frosty]

Blame it on the dog! Heh, heh, heh, Boy is that an old one!

We'll believe the new puppy when we see pics. 

I've almost stopped using the OS edit and do all my editing before submitting a post. It isn't perfect but it works better.

Give Robbie an ear scrunch scritching for me please.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  Depending on your skill level, you could forge small steer or hog heads and attach them to all kinds of things.  Might not appeal to vegetarians but what would they be doing in a butcher shop anyway?  

[Scott NC]

  Ok.  That vegetarian comment came out of left field, sorry about that.  It happens.  I sure hope it doesn't deter anybody else from commenting and giving you ideas.  I'm sure there are plenty. 

  Scott

[Frosty]

No, it's a valid observation Scott but folk visiting butcher shop eat veggies too. I only know a couple mostly carnivores two died youngish of heart issues. How about a BBQ tool with a Broccoli finial? Ooh, Peppers should be  popular and you can curl the tops for hanging hooks! Heck onions, peppers, carrot, celery(?) a bean. I've seen the bean shape used in forging, don't recall where though.

As for vegetarians not grilling I'll have to grill you some squash, eggplant, pineapple, potato, sweet potato, etc. sometime. There's nothing like a little smoky golden brown and delicious to up the favors. I have yet to get grilled green tomatoes to come out right but I only try once in a while. You'd be amazed how good grilled cantaloupe or water melon is, a little caramelization really tickles the taste buds.

I could be wrong of course, BBQ tools for vegetarians may be a dead end market but you just NEVER know until you take a slash at it.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Shainarue]

Omg grilled pineapple and angel food kabobs drizzled with a bourbon caramel sauce. #drool#

I think y'all are on to something with the veggie toppers. I could see them on skewers used for kabobs for sure. Gonna have to jot that down in my notebook. 

Another idea for the rack would be a decorative handled mop brush. 

[BillyBones]

Eggplant? My only reason to ever have an eggplant would be to use as a target. There are people who really eat those things?

How big is the small rack they are allowing you to use would be my first question. A rack that is 1' long would limit the possibilities a lot more than a rack 10' long. 

Do any of the patrons there cook over an open fire or will it mostly be focused on the back yard grill/BBQ? Open fire opens up the opportunity for spits, tripods, cooking chains, S hooks, poultry cookers, marshmallow/hot dog fork, etc. 

S hooks would also be handy at the grill to hang those tools with. Small shovel for cleaning out the grill, serving forks, ladles, long handle spoons. You can also make smaller spits that fit on a grill. One note about shish kabob skewers, they need to be long with something like a wood handle. Mine are about 10" - 12" and to turn them i have to use tongs becuase they get so hot. 

Business card holder so that people who may want something you do not have room to offer can contact you or maybe a suggestion box so the patrons can give you their own ideas. 

 

[Buzzkill]

1 hour ago, BillyBones said:

Eggplant? My only reason to ever have an eggplant would be to use as a target

Sounds like Scott from Kentucky Ballistics.

[BrittS]

Thank you all so much. I could be wrong but I would assume it will probably all be grilling instead of cooking over a wood fire, but I could be wrong, it tends to be a fairly large spread of different people outside of the farmers and producers that already have beef there. I’ve thought about the hotdog forks but forgot about that when I made the post. The skewers are something that I think would be fairly easy, they could be sold as sets and last time I had a kabob, they were premade on a wooden skewer and all the stuff on them fell off. I’ll have to try one to see, but I could see a twist being extremely helpful, except for trying to skewer the stuff on. 
     Scott, I would like to try to forge steer heads or goat head in, but I’ll have to research a little more as to how. I’ll hopefully be getting a chili forge fairly soon, I’m on a waiting list for one, but I’m in no hurry to get one or even to forge right now as it’s been over 100 for a couple of weeks and it looks like we’ll get a break for the weekend and then it’ll go right back up. Something else I would like to try would be candle holders and make the candles if I could figure out how. Because it’s a 50/50 custom and retail market, there is quite a bit of suet or kidney fat that they have saved for candle makers and soap makers and so I thought it’d be kinda cool to be able to use a byproduct from the same animals they buy meat from and have something a little more elegant as well. (I hope that made at least a little sense, it made sense in my mind but now that I typed it, it doesn’t seem to make much at all) The business card holder is something that I’ll have to think as to how to make it look good but I’m planning to have one.  I know this is probably way to optimistic, but I’m hoping to get enough of a business and a shop built up in 15-20 years to eventually quit a regular full time job to eventually do this full time. I know it’s possible, my dad did the same thing with shoeing horses, but I’m just hoping I can really find what style of forging I want to do and make a business out of it. 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Candles are easy to make. We made a lot of them to go with candle holders. All it takes is tallow (suet), paraffin wax about a 50/50 mix a double boiler and cotton string (chalk line). Melt the tallow & paraffin together, dip the string in it and pull it straight, let cool. We would do about 2 dozen strings cut to the length we wanted at a time. When the strings were cold from being in the refrigerator dip them in the melted wax mix quickly pull them out and hang up to harden, repeat that to put on as many layers of wax to make the candle diameter you want and viola you have candles. The secret is to have a double boiler deep enough to wax the length of string (wick) tall & skinny works best. 

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

PS We would make 2 at a time if we wanted say a 6 in candle start with about a 14 in string. Tie a weight (nut or washer) to each bitter end. Drape the string over a dowel to hold them apart and dip both at the same time. hang em up to harden then repeat for the thickness.

Added bees wax to the mix is a nice touch and smells good.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[George N. M.]

A selling point for forged skewers is that they are square in cross section which grips the food better and there is less liklihood of the food pieces staying in one position when the skewer is rotated.  I have found that about 12" of 3/16" stock works well.  You use up about 2" with the shepard's crook end and a twist which leaves 10" for food.

You can also make custom hooks from which to hang the skewers.

GNM

[BillyBones]

12 hours ago, Buzzkill said:

Sounds like Scott from Kentucky Ballistics.

I was channeling him... 

6 hours ago, BrittS said:

I would like to try would be candle holders

 Candle holders are a great project to make. With cups i have used round pipe or pieces of sheet just cut and bent. Spike type a duplex nails ( nail with 2 heads if you do not know)  works great. Spiral a piece of small stock with a bent up taper for a spike. They can be single or many, stem style, the kind that you can carry. They can be just a couple inches high to several feet tall. Candle holders are a great way to try new techniques and practice others. There is just so much variety. My wife said i am not allowed to make anymore for the house.

A point that needs to be made about cooking utensils. If they are going to be used for food make sure that they are free of small crevices that can trap food. It is a spot that is hard to clean and can build up bacteria and what not. And you really do not want to make some one sick, thats just bad mojo. 

[anvil]

Howabout dinner bells. Fun project and its something to call folks to dinner when its time. I make mine out of coil spring

[Frosty]

Good one Anvil. How about wind chimes? The only tricky part is tuning them and that's just a matter of trimming the length on a grinder or with a file. YOu can get as creative as you'd like with twists,  clapper, wind catcher and hanger. Of course the chime needs an appropriate hook to hang it from. (not to be confused with the hanger which is attached to the wind chimes themselves)

Size = volume.

Frosty The Lucky.

[BrittS]

Actually I made a triangle a while back, I assume that was what was meant by a dinner bell and that makes sense that you used a carbon steel, I made one with mild steel and it didn’t have much ring. 

[arkie]

16 hours ago, BillyBones said:

A point that needs to be made about cooking utensils. If they are going to be used for food make sure that they are free of small crevices that can trap food. It is a spot that is hard to clean and can build up bacteria and what not. And you really do not want to make some one sick, thats just bad mojo. 

And......If you plan on coating the utensils post-forging for cooking, serving and/or eating utensils be sure to use food-safe coatings such as beeswax, canning paraffin, etc.

[BrittS]

I’ve used beeswax but I must not be doing it right because the pieces I’ve waxed still rust. I try to heat the metal to the point it smokes but I don’t know. What can I do to prevent this from happening?

[BillyBones]

You can use cooking oil as well. Like seasoning a cast iron skillet. 

 

[Frosty]

It needs to be a polymerizing oil to make a lasting finish, this is where bees wax is lacking it doesn't polymerize and remains soft. Olive oil polymerizes easily, even olive oil Pam works well. 

Other common finishes are NOT food safe, Boiled linseed oil especially has additives to make it polymerize quickly in open air. Read the labels on what you're thinking of finishing products that are intended for food contact.

Frosty The Lucky.

[gewoon ik]

Beeswax if stored inside has the ease of burning away and costumers can apply their own finish with whatever they prefer.

I know a commercial company that does that to their steel skillets and pots.