Absolutely outstanding! Production-level forging like I've never seen before. You most definitely should create additional videos. You have a cinematographer's eye!
I love the approach you take. As a leather worker I have realized after some time that I can't retire trying to hand sew everything that is demanded of me. My forearms and elbows simply cant take it. I think it is the same for smiths. You don't really retire from forging all by hand. This is why old smiths used apprentice strikers. Your approach with dies is a great idea. It allows you to make a volume, support yourself, and make money. Well done.
Iduno I still use my 4.5 lb hammer after 24 years and all its done is turn my hammer arm into a tree trunk. I do do a lot of stretching and exercises though to prevent joint ware. I understand the sewing thing though.
Wow, that was amazing!! Really impressed with the efficiency in this project. Well thought out with some real neat thinking on the tooling set up. And to finish off with a bottle of our local holy water!! To your good health John. I enjoyed that very much..Tom from IRELAND. Happy St Patricks day for the week that's in it....cheers!
Most bottle opener videos show how simple the process is and that you don’t need much to make one. I want to show this to the newbie blacksmiths and be like, “See how hard this is just to open a bottle!!!” Nice clean forging though. Consistent and beautiful. Good Work!
I own one of these openers.......last bottle opener you, your kids, grand kids and great grand kids will ever need. It should pretty much last for several hundred years ...*bare* minimum :-)
+Mike Regan I've lived in Germany and visited other countries, the best beer is the one you have with friends, especially if it's their turn to buy the round! :)
Awesome video - what was the Paste Wax for? Is that like when they soak things in oil? (forgive me, Im just beginning to get interested in metal working)
I realize that you are a industrial blacksmith and horseshoe is an obsolete task but every blacksmith on you tube should have just one video of a horseshoe creation. Even if its just a door knocker.
So as long as you have all that stuff... you can make them for free!!! :-) One ? though... in the end... why not go back to cherry and quench the head so head and tooth are hardened? I build 4x4 trucks... and when making beefier shackles from 3/8" stock... I open the eyes to 5/8" and weld hardened 5/8" washers to them... then while weld red and hot... quench them. Giving me a pliable body... but hardened so the bolts can never wob out the holes... Just curious... think same idea would apply here. Nice tool!
The steel I use for these is A36, so any type of quench would not harden them. This material is tough though, I've kept one from the first batch as a stress test, still works great.
amazing , i bet you sell those as hand forged ? like the sprinkling of scale beaten in to it , to make it look like its seen a hammer lol $20,000 worth of equipment to make a $3 bottle opener i admire the jigs though.
Edgunsuk they are hand forged so why wouldn't he sell them as hand forged, just become someone has access to the proper tooling doesn't take away from the work and craftsmanship that it requires to turn out a quality product
define hand forged , ps i am a professional qualified UK blacksmith but hay dont bother let me instead copy an paste the definition of mass produced for you ..... mass-produce masprəˈdjuːs/Submit verb past tense: mass-produced; past participle: mass-produced produce large quantities of (a standardized article) by an automated mechanical process. "cheap mass-produced goods" mechanical cannot be hand forged period .
The key word in your definition is the word "automated" Machinery that is controlled by the skill of the craftsman is not automated. Blacksmiths have used jigs including closed top and bottom dies for centuries to mass produce products, does using such things with a team of strikers make the piece hand forged but placing the exact same die under a poser hammer means that it is not hand forged? The world of hand made items includes more things that have seen a piece of machinery than not. A potters wheel is a machine, a foot powered grinder is a machine, a post drill is a machine, a lathe, even a foot powered one is still a machine.
+Piotrek Trembecki I have my design free to download on my website rigoniironworks.com. Look under tools. The block was cut by waterjet. A local shop can help you with the cutting.
