[nostalgia]

Not sure where this belongs, so I hope this forum is ok.

Last week I spent a few days with my blacksmith friends up in Altamont NY.  Last year I made taphandles.  This year I went with a bottle opener theme and I thought you folks might like to see some pictures.

This one is probably my favorite design.  A flattened twist with a fishtail curl on the end.



Here's a similar one, with an un-flattened twist and a curled point.



This one I'm most proud of, for the type of work it involved.  The two pieces are forge-welded together at the end.  They were heated up just to the point the surfaces were molten, then hammered together to form one piece.  Pretty cool stuff.



Here's what the smithy looks like.



And there may or may not have been some kilted hammer juggling



-Joe

[bo]

Very nice! I'll be that was fun to make.

[denny]

Very cool!

[dbeechum]

*Starts eyeing the backyard* wonder where I can build a forge.

[weithman5]

just watch out for an anvil that has ACME on the side, especially if there is Wil E. Coyote near by.

[Hokerer]

Nice.

Weaze is gonna love that last pic

[Janis]

Those are elegant openers!  Very nice!  Thanks for sharing your photos.

Cheers,
     Janis

[tschmidlin]

Very cool.  My uncle is a blacksmith about 20 minutes from there (Delmar), was that some kind of festival?  If so I'll bet he was there, he traveled to Seattle a few years back for one here.

[woadwarrior]

Nice work. I need to build my forge one of these days.

[tankdeer]

Wow. Those are rad. Well, all except for the skirt... I mean kilt. 

[tonyp]

very very cool, I'd like to order the set of 3 please!

About 15 yrs agos I was at an SCA event and commissioned a utensil set (knife, fork, spoon) that had the same twist as your opener. I still have them but they are mostly decoration now. It was awesome standing there watching as they were created, the smells, the sounds and the sheer amount of craftsmanship was amazing.

sounds like you had a great day and it shows!

[euge]

Not having handled one the first looks like it performs very well. Nice.

[phillamb168]

So who's going to start the home blacksmithing thread?

[hopfenundmalz]

The first thing I thought was that the guy in the club who is big in SCA would like one. 

Where is Oscar?  He might be in line for some.  Or decide to make his own as he seems "handy".

[nostalgia]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.  These are a lot of fun to make, and the first two are straightforward, even for a novice smith like myself   The only finicky part is getting the hook right to grab the bottle cap.  It helps to have a test bottle nearby while forging.

-Joe