Yesterday, the day before Memorial Day, was a very rough day, but only because the weather was so crappy. The wind was howling all day and it had such a chill to it that being outside was miserable. It wasn’t like the day before where I spent the majority of the morning outside in the garden and got to enjoy the weather and plant new seeds, even though that afternoon turned to crap as well. It is hard to believe that we are at the end of May and it still feels like winter, not spring.
Despite the bad weather, I was still able to go outside and play around in my new smithy and forge a little something without the wind taking over my project. That smithy is the best thing I have done for this hobby, and because of that, I get to introduce to you a new creation that you may find somewhat interesting. It is a project with no plan and seemed to have a mind of it’s own.
This keychain was made from new 5/8″ square stock. The length was maybe 16″ long before cutting it down to size. I kept it long during the beginning so that I didn’t have to use tongs while working the metal. It makes it so much easier that way if your project will allow it instead of having to handle tongs as well.
I started with upsetting the end of the stock to get a slight bulge on the end. To do that, I heated the end and then stuck it in the vise and hammered the end with a ball peen hammer until I got the bulge I wanted.
From that point, I still had no idea where I wanted to go with this project, or if it even was a project. So the heck with it, I am still moving forward…what tool do I have that I have not used much? One such tool is my spring fuller. So, lets give that a try and see where this little adventure takes us.
I reheated the metal and started working the metal with the spring fuller. Then it led to another spot, which then gave it that roundish ball in the middle. For some reason or another, I moved to one more spot and gave it one more small round little nub.
Okay, now what? Where is this project going? I still have no idea what I am doing with this.
Well, lets cut it off here and make this into a keychain. The length is about 2-1/2″ so it isn’t too big and will fit nicely with the keys. There we have it…an actual project in mind now.
I cheated a little and used a hacksaw to cut it off instead of using the hot cut hardy on the anvil. It’s a little faster this way.
Once cut, I used a cross peen hammer to flatten out the cut end and to give it some texture. This was done of course after reheating the end to be formed.
I was pretty pleased with the looks, especially after not having the slightest clue on where this project was going.
I cheated again and used an electric drill to drill the hole for the key ring. Again, this is sometimes faster than hot punching the hole.
To give it the shinny look, the finishing was done with a wire brush in the drill.
To help protect it a little, I lightly heated the metal above the flame in the forge to where it was a little too warm for the touch so I can rub some Beeswax on it and then dab it with a clean cloth to get the excess wax off.
The final look is what you see above.
There you have it. A project with no plan. This just shows that when you are drawing a blank on what to make, you can just start hitting red hot metal and still making something cool looking.