A simple meat turner was my first. I still have it.

My first proper job was putting points onto 18'' lengths of 3/4 round bar for pinning down concrete formers. Then I started making funny little hook things for steeplejacks; I haven't a clue how they used them because they couldn't get me drunk enough to go up the ladders!

18 leaf hooks 2 and a half years ago a whole bunch of gifts for the people who helped me get started

A mini hook/shovel to manipulate my charcoal fire. 1/4" round bar, flattened end, and a twist. I'm not sure who was more impressed. Me or my wife!

My first piece was a poker for the forge. I used that for a a lot of years, then I made on new one and the old one got cleaned up and it hangs on the wall in the shop.

I was gearing up for the whole trekking/reenacting thing, and I needed a firesteel.

I was in the process of burning out a hickory stump in my yard, and it was burned into sort of a dish shape. I used this for my forge. I used a pipe and a hair dryer (I think) and just burnt some dry wood down to charcoal. I got enough heat to bend and flatten a round chainsaw file into a contorted "U" shape. I used the flat spot on the back of a bench vice for an anvil and a ball-pien hammer. I got the finished piece up to non-mag and water quenched it.

I've still got it, and it still sparks every time.

Remember how much fun we were having when we were trying to figure this stuff out?

Don

I made a set of small carving tools; gouges, chisels, etc. Made a one-brick furnace and used W1 tool steel. I think I used a 55lb Cast Iron POS Anvil and for 1/4" stock, it worked OK. Used vice-grips and a 16-oz ball peen. The carving tools actually worked pretty good, too. I still have them in a closet in my carving room. Interestingly, I found a set of "locking pliers" at HF with a 12" long extension between the jaws and the grips. Works great as a set of tongs to hold flat stock.

Edited December 18, 200817 yr by Quenchcrack