Almost Practical Blacksmithing

[gfish]

Saturday I finally hung the coathook I forged on the first day.

A month or two ago the handle on our refrigerator broke. Not a big deal, but I wanted to fix it. Since it was cheap plastic crap, fixing was out of the question. So instead I decided I would replace it, with something designed a bit more for the ages. Like, say, solid, hand-forged steel. Today I finished it.



Tricky work for a n00b, but I'm quite pleased with the result, and it was an excellent learning exercise. Onward and upward.

Comments

[gfish.livejournal.com]

If I'd had some on hand, I likely would have. Right now I'm mostly using welding stock from Lowe's. I have a whole bunch of nice 1" and 1/2" square stock now, but it's coated in a lead based primer that I have yet to deal with. That's my next project, if only to be able to use the larger sections to make some hardie tools. Using a cutoff chisel by yourself leaves a lot to be desired.

Actually, it's probably for the best I used round. I noticed as I was drawing out the spirally bit that it was twisting in the process. That would have been pretty ugly on square stock.