Well I am trying to beat all of this . . . noise in our lives. A few years ago I started blacksmithing as a hobby. That slowed down a lot for a number of reasons but dang, it is time to get back at it.

So last night I got the forge running hot again and hammered out a new bottle opener. I know I know, beginner stuff and not something to brag about but IT FELT GOOD to be back at it. I cant wait to get home from work, and make another and then some hooks, and maybe some nails . . .

I will kick this depression in the teeth

1st bottle opener by redstone71, on Flickr

That is cool!!!

And it matches your keyboard

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Nice job.

I would love a hand forged bowie!

Love the opener and the meme since I have recently spent hours watching Forged in Fire !

I am looking getting into forging too, especially the nails for some woodworking projects.

What kind of forge are you using ... coal or propane ?

I actually have both. But I use the propane forge most of the time. I am just not real good yet at coal forge heat/fire management. I either burn the steel or have trouble getting hot enough.

Speaking of heat, I was afraid of burning off the loop I had made for the opener while getting it hot enough to twist, so I dumped a wad of mud on it and it worked fine. I was surprised how well it worked. A coal fire is much better at isolating a piece and only heating what you want, so it would not have been an issue. Mr. Hank Hill would have been proud

Great meme! Love the opener - that's cool as hell. Use to be RR spikes about everywhere, getting harder to find. Keep up the good work!

Here's one you don't normally see either. Ukranian Fella takes old Mosin barrels and makes knives. Evidently some of the WW2 battlefields over there still have craploads of Mosins laying around or easy to dig.

Creating something out of actual stuff instead of electrons in a computer screen is cathartic.

What I was thinking too about the coal forge ... watched guys who knew what they were doing on Forged in Fire and saw them burning up their steel.

Like the mud idea, will have to remember that.

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
What I was thinking too about the coal forge ... watched guys who knew what they were doing on Forged in Fire and saw them burning up their steel.

Like the mud idea, will have to remember that.

I went to a gathering and we had two coal forges going, one was hand crank the other had a small blower from a kids party inflatable. The hand crank was a beating but we got it working pretty well, but damn, the smoke had me coughing and dizzy (the forge we were at had piss poor ventilation). That little blower on the other forge kept it so hot they were cooking their steel and burning through the coal. It was truly a tale of two forges.

I am going to run mine on a variable speed blower, but thats a few weeks away yet.

Would love to see your setup redstone if you have a chance to post some pics.