Home Forums Gear Free Classifieds Hand forged original wrought iron bottle openers

and just for the hell of it I'll take 3 of the openers.
pm me the address to mail the money.
Ronnie

Wow, those are awesome looking Blackfrog. Thanks for the pictorial.

Happy new year!
I was working out there today, about 15 degrees and 8" of snow coming down.



I'll be shipping out more on Friday and keep working down the list of orders. Thanks again to everyone for the patience!

***I do have another 'misfit bottle opener' avaialable.***
Forged very nicely, but this one has a blurry double-frog stamp that I'm not happy with. Black finish with the new year 2014 on the side, and ready to ship out now. PM me if your interested in getting a black one right away and don't care too much if the frog stamp isn't the greatest.

That is something I haven't tried to make.
Usually you need some pretty beefy stuff to make andirons that'll stand up to fireplace use.
And without a striker (guy swinging a sledge for you) or a power hammer, I don't really have the ability to work stuff that big by myself.

....not yet anyway.

The latest "misfit opener" is spoken for!
.....but I'm sure with all the openers I'll be forging in the next weeks that there will be a few more.

I received the bottle openers and wanted to tell everyone that the photos really didn't do my openers justice. The work is very high quality and I am well pleased. I bought one for me and another for a hunting buddy.
Like Eric, I ordered the flame colored ones and wanted to give Todd a shout out for producing some fine pieces. If anyone else is considering one of these, I would recommend Todd without reservation.

Thanks!!
It is hard to try to capture the colors on camera to show people what they are really like in natural light.

With this cold snap I was going to put off forging for a few days until it warms up some.

Screw that.
Suck it up, buttercup.
Life is short, put on your big boy pants and get out there.



I'll have more openers shipping out this week, I'll be PM'ing the people that will be getting the incoming deliveries.

PM sent - VERY cool product and thanks for taking the time to detail how it's done. I love learning about stuff like this.

Here's some more shipping out today/tomorrow for Fire members:



And with doing this many openers, I also get more openers where the grain within the wrought iron splits out on me.
Just like driving a nail near the end of a wood board and it'll split sometimes.
Each one of the rejects is a lot of wasted time, and a lot of bad words said.
This was my reject pile a few weeks ago, and has grown quite a bit since then:



I get asked about the finish as well. The black finish is an oil finish that is burned into the surface of the metal. In old times they used bees wax burned into the metal. I don't care for using bees wax because it has a tendency to stay a bit tacky to the touch and attracts dust that doesn't look very nice.

The flame finish is where I thoroughly wire brush the finished forged opener and then using a torch heat up certain areas to bring out the temper colors of the metal. It is a finicky process because too hot and you miss all the colors, too cold you don't get enough colors.... It takes a gentle touch and some practice.

With either the black oil finish or the flame color, I apply one coat of Renaissance Wax (real high quality stuff that museums use) followed by a coat of carnuba wax.

Be aware that nothing is a permanent coating on metal. I expect that you would see usage wear on this opener over time (which I think looks cool). Just like worn blueing on the underside of a rifle receiver from being cradled in a hunter's arm over countless miles. But if you ever want your opener "re-finished" down the line, just let me know and I'd be happy to do it free of charge. Or I can tell you how to do it yourself if you prefer.

I will take 2 of these with the flame colors. Please PM me your info on sending you funds.

Thanks,
P & Y

+1

I just received mine also. Excellent workmanship!

Thanks.

PM sent for three of them.

I also get questions about the lettering or personalization.
The stamping set (letters and numbers)that I use for these are characters that are 1/8" high, all upper case.
I do have a 1/4" set, but I find they are too large for these openers and don't look right.

If someone wants the year and/or initials or name, they go on the sides. Year on one side, and initials/name on the other.
Or just the year, or just the initials/name, up to you.

Stamping a long string of characters is difficult. Trying to do the stamping when the metal is still around 1000 degrees, trying to hold the opener steady on the anvil, hold the individual character stamp in correct position, alignment, and orientation, and then strike it with the hammer, not too hard, not too soft.... That's tough to do and be consistent. Really is a three-handed operation, I do my best. But that inconsistency also gives it a neat hand-made feel to it.

Here's one for a 'Fire member that turned out very nice. This is 1/8" characters on the side.

I received mine today Todd did a wonderful job on my flame colored openers they look much better in your hand then in pictures.

Thanks again Todd for fabulous work

Jay

I will take 1 silver and 1 fire colored. Will send you a pm as well.

Got mine yesterday! awesome product, anyone who orders will not be disappointed!

Thanks again Todd!

Wesbone

I'll take 2. Flame colored.

PM Send for payment information.

Thanks.

My 2 came in yesterday's mail. They were for my 2 youngest sons.
We opened the package and the rave reviews were a'plenty from all present.
You have a hit item there Todd. Not only is the design and workmanship suberb but story and manufacturing process that go with them will insure a cherished item for a lifetime.

Now I would like to order one more if possible. PM will be sent.

DonW

Thanks for the very nice words!

I'll keep forging these until my supply of the salvaged wrought iron cemetery fencing runs out. After that, I can still forge these out of modern steel and they will look about the same, but have a slightly different feel in your hand. And they won't be quite as cool as 100 yr old wrought iron....