Nice and cool morning so I decided to light the forge & see if I could make progress on an idea I had.
I wanted to make some bottle openers shaped like the Folger-Adams Brass prison / jailers keys .
I've spent the last 22yrs as a prison guard at the state penitentiary.
I figured these would make interesting retirement & X-Mas gifts if I can get them the way I want them.

Day ones progress.....

Nice!

Propane-fired forge?

Yeah, no place for a coal forge in my shop as it's primarily a woodworking shop.
I dipped my toe into the blacksmithing so I could add some interesting hand forged pieces to the wood carvings & furniture I make.
Nice to be able to light it off when I need it & shut it off & leave when I'm done.
It's limiting compared to coal but I'm only working with small items.
I leave the sword / knife play to others.
Bottle openers, drawer pulls, gate handles, simple hinges & curtain hold backs are as far as I've gone .

I visit the Sugarcreek Forge & spend time with Uncle Jesse when we're out there.
So much to learn. Might be why I'm so interested in it.

Looks great!

Very nice.

Ah, that damn anvil again. I really want it. Don't...click...on...ebay...

Speaking of EBay, I cut out a tool holder for my anvil stand after seeing one in Flea-Bay.
I also bought a through the wall exhaust fan to vent the heat & pull in clean air.

^^

^^^^



HA , Okay that was a good one!!

I actually refrained from using one from our Key watcher system.
But I could see how a person could make a fully functional key giving time.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

quote:

I actually refrained from using one from our Key watcher system.

Yes, I'd cheat. But making it from scratch is what you set out to do. <applause> I tried several times to make bottle openers with old .45ACP 1911 barrels, but could never get the right indentation
right.

What size is the firebrick standing upright on edge across the opening of your furnace?

It's a 9"x4.5" half brick.
I use a full brick on the back.
It was designed as a full pass thru Forge to accommodate longer & odd shaped items.
Brick , metal, Burner & LP with regulator was $200.
Pretty cheap.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

Only had an hour to devote to it today but it's coming along.
I'll keep this as something to refer back to & take measurements off of for the next ones I make.
But I have three already spoken for by a couple co-workers.
They've given me steel when I was getting started .

Day 2

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

That's impressive.

Awesome. This past Friday spent 3 hours at a local blacksmith guild shop learning some basics and forging a bottle opener. Learned a ton and really enjoyed it, but forging is a lot more work than I ever expected. It takes real skill to do it right and I’ll likely keep trying. Lots of time too to do it right.

What you’ve done here is impressive and well executed.

You have only 90 minutes left to finish your key and round 1 will be over!

I can almost do magic with with piece of wood on the lathe but not even close to lighting a forge to do something like that.

Majorly impressive....

The skill sets of people on this forum is truly amazing.

With the scattered showers we're having I got to spend some more time with the forge today.
Starting on a couple more of the prison key bottle openers.
Only spent an hour & :15min working but they move quick enough.
Each of these 11" blanks will make two bottle openers.
I'm going to open each end up before separating them. You can see how far back the heat moves down the steel.
So it's nice to have some "handle" to work with.

** you can see the "breath of the dragon" as they call it. The blue flame licking out the opening.

I know it's sacrilege for a Harley guy to say this but I'm not dreading winters approach as I usually do .
I think I'll have some projects to keep my mind off the snow.

I'm still not finished with my first attempt but it'll serve as an example to get measurements off of.



Still don't know how to post videos so I posted it to YouTube
https://youtu.be/oS86N0N5Vts

Nice work. I really enjoy these threads.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff Yarchin:
I really enjoy these threads.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one.
Love seeing what others are up to.



Cooling down.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GrumpyBiker,

quote:

Originally posted by GrumpyBiker:

A very nice anvil stand you have there. When I had my anvil, it was on a massive wooden stand. I wrapped a 2" wide strip of gray leather around it, fastened at the corners and also fastened in between at various spots to make pockets for the various tools. Yours is a bit more elaborate and nicer. Also, some nice tongs you have there.