A door handle for the inside of the forge door. I did not need to worry about closing the door until now….the -7 degree temps made me decide that being able to close the door from the inside would be a good thing.I made some Christmas wreath hooks to go to Common Grounds Coffee Shop in Nashville, Indiana so the owner can hang up…well, Christmas wreaths…or I guess anything that needs to be hung on the door, including but not limited to unruly children and adults….as long as they weigh about the same as a Christmas wreath.This particular paw print is for a limited edition Uga bottle opener made from this scrap end I was about to cut off and throw away.Here are some cubicle hooks made from some scrap / off-cuts from MetalsSupermarket. This was 13” of 1/8” x 3/4” flat bar. Holding a coat or hat for folks in the office will be a great use for these small pieces of scrap.In the process of forging out a white oak leaf from a piece of scrap angle iron. Now upon first glance you might have been thinking red oak leaf, but the ends are more rounded in a white oak leaf compared to red. But I can see how one might think this is a red oak leaf because a couple of the lobes are not rounded yet….oh, and I guess it is a red color.Yet another style of hook. This one inspired by John Switzer at Black Bear Forge.Made a shoe horn for someone this weekend. i had no idea shoe horns were still a thing that people use, but after a specific age or if you can’t bend over for some other reason, shoe horns are quite useful. And I guess it is quite hard to find a high quality, hand made shoe horn any more. So if you are in need of a shoe horn…find your local blacksmith! Maybe this is what I will start making folks for their retirement gift. And It can also double as a tiny little shovel 👍Another forge cat. I think we will keep this one outside. Here is finally an outside cat guaranteed not to eat birds…well, maybe it might eat those metal owls I have been making…. The completed forge cat. Now, if it can only get rid of those forge mice. I think this cat will be useless for that.In every piece of angle iron hides a forge cat.A new cowboy hat and coat hook….not a cowboy coat, just a regular coat. I guess it could also be used for your lasso. Yep, that is what it is. Hat and lariat hook.Time to make the candy canes for Christmas….in March? Is this part of March Madness, or maybe Christmas in March? No. These are for our visitors to Nashville, because buying a Christmas ornament while on vacation is a thing. These will be available for sale in a local shop.Back to the basics. A simple leaf hook. For holding leaves of many shapes….as well as a bunch of other stuff, like hats, shirts, and dog leashes. Really, anything you might want to hang up.First item…coyote print bottle openers. 5” down, 55” to go. Or, I can have 1 bottle opener that will open any bottle down the length of a bar. Maybe I will make a couple more of the short version.I got this bar of 1/2” x 1 1/4” steel from the local steel shop because they have a lot of these pieces left over from a big job. Now what the heck am I going to make out of this. I really have to watch those impulse buys.A pair of GS-style bent knee tongs made at the historical (or hysterical) Forge at Blacksmith Cottage. These are a shameless copy of the tongs made by master tongsmith Glen (the hot steel hustler) Stollmeyer. If you would like to purchase a set of tongs like this that look a whole lot better, Glen’s website is GSTongs.com. I have several pairs of Glen’s tongs and the are pretty great.Another view of my new tongs. These are my first tongs made from scratch. They took me about 4 hours to make so I am going to show them off with multiple photos. This shape not only lends them to picking up hot steel anywhere along the length, but they also lend themselves to scratching one’s back, assuming you let them cool off first.The double owl hook. Perfect for hanging cloaks, pointy hats, or even wands.Screech owl close-up from double owl hook.
Here are a few leaves made using a new leaf stake from Blacksmith Supply and a new fuller that I made for this purpose.I started forging this new style of leaf for hooks, key fobs, and Christmas ornaments. Then winter storm Elliott hit. I thought, it is only -7 degrees, but I really wanted to work in the forge today. Well, I have done dumber things…but usually not that cold….brrrrrrrrr. Won’t be doing that again…at least until I forget just how cold that was.To make a deer print I needed to make a couple of custom punches first. These are made from mild steel until I am happy with the shape. The next step will be to make a permanent set from tool steel.Here looks like a good spot to hide an ornament. Well…not really hide per say.It is that time of year when we start hiding candy canes around the village of Nashville, Indiana. Hopefully, it is also the time of year when people start finding them!A few more random hook experiments for the wall of misfit hooks.Another random leaf…serving no purpose…just hanging out being a leaf.A steel or forge rose made from a kit from Whitlox Forge. I added my signature leaf to the project, but it was not really my thing…unless I can add a hook to it. Then it could go on the wall of misfit hooks. But look…it is glowing red…now that was cool…well, really hot…and I won’t tell you how I figured that one out.A wild turkey track bottle opener for retirement beers to go along with the turkey hatchet. The hatchet could be used as a bottle opener, but….after a few beers, that can become dangerous.The finished project…the turkey hatchet. Ready just in time for Thanksgiving! Well, more like spring turkey season. But it will also work on most any woody object. Run Woody! Run!I am trying out adding a few wildlife inspired embellishments. This hatchet will be a gift for our wild turkey biologist so I am adding a few turkey tracks. Hmmm. I hope he does not visit this page before I can give it to him. Wait….what am I thinking. No one visits these pages 😁.Making another hatchet head.A simple drive hook made from a railroad spike. No other fasteners are required. Just take a hammer and pound it into the wall. Railroad spike hook to hold .my extensive collection of…well, anything that you can hang up.A couple of more hooks for the wall of misfit hooks.Making a few items to give away at our annual DFW conference. There seems to be a need for a lot of bottle openers. I am not sure why that would be the case….Completed knife using reclaimed barn wood as the handle material. After a thorough chopping test, I can definitively say, ”It will KALE!” Now that the blade has been hardened and quenched, I am on to tempering. I hope my wife does not need the oven for the next 4 hours. I guess I could throw a chocolate cake in there with it, just to use resources wisely. Yeah…that is an excellent idea.Heating up the knife during the hardening process. Looking to achieve a bright cherry color for this 1095 steel. Mmmmm…cherries. Great. Now I am hungry again.A parliament of owl bottle openers.An owl bottle opener. The are very handy when Hogwarts students need to crack open a bottle of their favorite celebratory butter beer after passing their Ordinary Wizarding Levels. Of course they could just use magic. Maybe it would be useful for those who did not pass…but they would not feel like celebrating. But they would feel like getting drunk so this works out perfectly!Heating up a section of 1/4” flat stock in the old charcoal forge to make an owl shaped bottle opener.A couple of fishy bottle openers for the new year.
A slightly different style of fishy bottle opener forged on Christmas morning.A bit of Christmas lunch grilled on the forge.A few forged icicles.A mantle hook for hanging Christmas stockings.I thought I had better make a few more candy canes using this most excellent bending jig from Glen at GSTongs………but I may have went a bit overboard!Making a few more bottle openers.What do you do with a crappy pair of tongs? Make it into something useful, like a hook. These were bad tongs because the area where the rivet was and the transition to the jaws is too thin. This caused the tongs to bend when they were being used. Just a bad design. So be aware of details like these when you go and purchase new tongs. And I highly recommend trying a single pair before you buy a set of them…and yes I am speaking from experience. Now I have to figure out what to do with the other three pairs.A fireplace set for a departing friend with a fireplace and no poker….which is like having a, well, a fireplace with no poker. Yeah, I got nothing. Anyway, another friend at work put the broom on the handle. A bit of teamwork on this one.I thought I would try to make something new…the chopsticks not the pad thai. The pad thai was made by our Staff Cook, Sal Monella.The wall of misfit hooks continues to grow….Another successful hatchet test. Limbs everywhere…..Be wary! We are coming for you!Hatchet #2. Hatchet #1 died a spectacular death during extensive testing splitting wood, chopping trees, and de-limbing a downed tree. A small section of the forge weld was not welded and peeled back like I took a can opener to it….which is why we test out these things.First hatchet using forge welding techniques. I had been using a commercial ax to split small pieces of wood for my forge, but a hatchet will be much more useful. So, I made one.Tempering the bit after quenching. Only the bit of the ax was quenched. This cheek, eye, and poll were not quenched to keep if from getting too hard. The heat from these unquenched areas ran to the bit, tempering it to a nice straw color in the process.I used the gas forge for this to keep the forge welds cleaner. This also made the forge all nice and toasty on a 12 degree day.To create the ax head, I started with 13” of 1045 with an 4” piece welded to one end. This wound up being a bit long and I cut a bit off of the bit. Next time a 11” piece with an additional 3” welded to the end will be about right.A couple of owl hook ready to nest in someone else’s home.I tried my hammer at making a cat hook. I need to work on that a bit. I think my cat looks a bit owlish. Not sure if it is such a good idea to put a cat hook so close to a bird hook, but I think the owl can take him.I needed a straight peen hammer. I thought hey, I am a blacksmith (well, I have some blacksmith tools and a forge)…I have this old 2 lb hammer head I can reforge into a straight peen. Maybe not the best idea I have ever had. Seems to be a lot of work. I guess I will just keep pecking away at it…Converting this ball peen hammer head into a straight peen hammer for doing small fine work. Ok. I really modified this one because the 2 lb hammer was a LOT of work. This smaller hammer was much easier..Simple hook for hanging tongs and other tools.Happy New Year! First project of the new year…hammer hooks! Gotta get those hammers off the floor, anvil, dog chew toy, etc. and get them a proper home.
Blacksmith Cottage