Finally back in the forge

After almost 4 months without access to the forge I'm finally able get back in there on a regular basis. So on my first few days in I decided to try my hand at a new project, bottle openers. I made a few with pineapple twists for the handle and they turned out quite nice. The small tab that goes under the lip of the caps still needs a bit of fine tuning in my opinion but I took to my local pub and had a few of the bartenders try them out and they worked, in their words, great.

New Handles

Yesterday I went to an antique tool show in Pickering. There were lots of very neat wood working tools and a rare few metal working tools. I saw a lovely anvil from 1928, about 25 kilos, but at $350 it was a little steep for me, plus I don't really need another anvil right now.

One thing I did find, was a guy selling ash hammer handles for $2 each. I don't need any handles for my hammers at the moment but I do have a couple rail spike hatchets that need handles so I grabbed a bunch. So with these new handles in tow I could finally finish two of hatchets I have lying around since December.

So here are two finished hatchets and a couple spare handles.

New Sign

I got a small piece of slate from Lee Valley. I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it, but then I figured why not a make a simple little sign to use when I photograph my work. I've never worked with stone in this way before but I think turned out quite nicely. You can see the results for yourself below.

Using BBQ skewers for the first time

Last night for dinner I used my BBQ skewer for the first time to make steak and steak and veggie kebabs. They turned out great and the hot metal from the skewers helped cook the meat from the inside as it was being cooked from the outside.

A few more finished knives

Finally putting up some pictures

It's been ages but here are a bunch of knives that I have made in the last little while.

Kebab Skewers

A new item from the forge is this 12" kebab skewer. It is forged out mild steel with a decorative twist to act as heat sink so the handle loop stays cool while grilling and will come as a set of 4 skewers.

These skewers came about because cooking on fire, whether it be a gas or charcoal BBQ or wood in fire pit while camping, is one of my favourite ways to prepare food. Wanting to combine blacksmithing and cooking I started to think of metal cooking implements, in the past I have made BBQ forks but that was it in terms of practical cooking tools. So using the BBQ as my jumping off point I eventually came to kebab skewers.