And Gifts from the Flames
Things for people who are not me
Back to things I made the past few months! These last two bits were items I made for other people. That has no bearing on anything, but after the fact it is nice to have a category to pretend I did on purpose.
So first! A test piece that was decent enough to give away!
Bottle Opener Karambit
Ahh the karambit, the knife Navy SEALS’ wives use to open their Amazon packages. It’s a funny little knife, but I had seen a lot of people making them (such as John at Old Hickory Forge here) and I had a bunch of old 1/2”-3/4” box wrenches or spanners my dad had picked up for me from a local used tool man. Plus, I really wanted to practice making a bottle opener. Why? I don’t know, I don’t drink anything that requires a bottle opener, but it seems to be something that people do.
The blade came out well, nice and sharp and hard. I didn’t have a very angular bevel, going instead for an apple seed, or rounded bevel. If you cut the blade in half the cross section would look sort of like an oval that tapers to sharp edges. That is good for strength and a little worse for cutting, but most importantly it is a lot easier to get off a flat platten for a belt grinder, plus using the slack side a bit, for me. I think I need to make a rounded jig or holder for getting a good flat bevel on curved edges, particularly on double edged knives. It is something I need to practice.
I am a little dubious of having the opener on the bottom like that as well. I dislike how when you open the bottle you are moving the edge nearer your wrist. Then again I gave this little guy to my brother in law, and after a lot of badgering he sent me a video of him opening up a beer. (I spent a surprising amount of time nagging someone to consume some alcohol…) He didn’t report any issues, and he has some pretty damned thick wrists, so I suspect it isn’t a problem.
So overall, it is kind of a handy little knife to hang on a nail somewhere you might be opening boxes or sacks, an occasionally a beer. I have a bunch of the wrenches so I will probably make a few more, although I am thinking I might make a few straight blades out of them as well, as the steel hardens up nicely and there is a fair bit of material there to work with.
Mother’s Day Dinner Bell
This one I made to solve a few problems, primarily that of getting the kids home from the neighbors’ yard for dinner without going over to yell at them.
The short version is it is made from a 3/4” bar, shaped and curled around the horn of the anvil. The… interesting… part of the process is that the curves of the heart only just fit into the forge, and once bend the pointy bit only just fits in for a few inches. At the time I tried to do it end to end, starting with one curve, putting in the bend, then doing the other curve. That was really awkward, and I think if I do it again I will do the curves at both ends then get the bend in the middle it. Still, one of those cases where an open coal forge is a lot easier to use than a contained gas forge.
I was lucky in that the bell rings nicely; from what I have heard that is not at all guaranteed. What was surprising to me, however, is that it rings in at least four different tones depending on where you strike it. I don’t pretend to understand how or why that is the case, but is it kind of neat to get different notes from the same piece of metal. If I can figure it out I might be able to make a bell that plays a tune if you put in the mallet thingie and rotate it around. That’d be pretty cool!
Still, I am happy with how this turned out. Makes for a pretty cute Mother’s Day present.
And that’s about it. I am currently working on making a spear socket jig (or big lunk of steel to shape it on) and I plan to make some pila. That isn’t actually related, as most pila seem to be made with a mild steel shaft with simply a flattened end with two holes for pegs to hold it into the shaft, according to my copy of Roman Military Equipment. I picked up a crap ton of ~2’ rebar that I think will be decent to work into the proper shapes. Annoying to work off the ridges to get them nice and smooth, but good for practice, and having a half dozen to toss around. The spear socket shaper will be good for making more heavy headed spears, as well as a bill hook with a socket (for easy mounting on a shovel handle), and similar sorts of projects.
Thanks for reading as always, and more to come1!
Holy crap, a whole essay without a single footnote?!
That bell is awesome. Do we get to hear it?