Forged bottle openers.
I told BD1 I'd do a thread on the bottle openers I was making at the Grange Fair, so here it is. There are a number of different designs on how to do this and I'm going to eventually try several different styles. For now I'll do a basic step by step on how I do the basic punch and drifted openers. This will take a few posts.
I like to work with long stock in the forge if possible and then cut the piece off near the end so I don't have to mess with tongs any more than I have to. This one is made from 1" x 1/4" flat, but I've seen other stock used as well.
1st thing I do is knock in the corners on the bar. Some guys like to drift 1st, then knock in the corners later on the horn, but I have trouble right now keeping the ring even and symmetrical if I do it that way.
After knocking in the corners, I hot punch the hole trying to keep it centered from both the sides and the end.
Next I start drifting the hole larger. It's important to make sure the piece is evenly heated or the piece will "drift" towards the hotter side. You can use this to help recenter an of center hole slightly, but you need to do it as soon as you can as it gets harder and harder to correct as you go along. If you need to get the hole to shift one way, cool the opposite side and it will tend to move towards the hotter side as that stretches more. Drift used is simply a piece of 1/2" mild steel tapered to a long point on one end and tapered to a short flat on the other so if the end mushrooms some, it will still push thru the drifted hole. I drive the drift thru using the pritchel hole on the anvil.
Next I go up to my big drift. It's a piece of 1" mild steel. Again with a long side used to drift, and a short taper so if I mess up the driving end it still will go thru. I only drift part way thru at this point. that lets me use the drift later to clean up things without going too big. For this I used the 1" round hole on my swage block since the hardy hole on the anvil I'm using is 1 1/2" and it distorts too much it I drive it thru there. Eventually I'll get around to grabbing some 3/8" or thicker plate and drilling a 1" hole thru it, so I can use it over the hardy hole on the big anvil. On my small anvil where the hardy hole is 1", it's not as bad as far as distortion is concerned, but you do have to make sure you change sides each time you drift. That's a good idea anyways, but with the square hardy, it gets ugly in the back if you don't flip it over each time around.
Next I neck down the area behind the punched hole. I use my fullering tool, but you can use the edge of the anvil to do the same thing, or top and bottom fullers in a hardy hole, or a spring fuller. Of course you can skip this if you want. it's just aesthetics.
.
No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!
Ronald Reagan