Latest Custom Work from the Forge
Our forge business is twofold- some of our sales are comprised of regular items that we have listed on the website here and in our Etsy store, and some are custom jobs. We often don’t make as much profit on the latter, but we are working on improving that constantly, and boy custom work sure is satisfying! Sometimes, a custom job might be providing a serious upgrade from something that is available mass produced, and sometimes it is providing something that is even more unique in application and is next to impossible to achieve or obtain any other way. Regardless, providing folks with unique, beautiful and functional hand-forged hardware and accents for their project is very fulfilling. Here’s a look back at some of the custom work and prototypes that we made this year- first up is this custom shutter hardware we made for a designer client of our friends at Vintage Millworks in Fairview, TN who made the pair of beautiful oak shutters that the hardware was used to mount, The shutters were for a window in an interior wall.
A dummy pull (background) and functional ring latch made to the customer’s design specs. Every part was hand-forged, and the rings fire-welded.
The rings measured 1-1/4” in diameter.
A fun but challenging part of the build were the hand forged carriage bolts and domed cap nuts. I usually buy the fasteners I use, but the ability to make special and unique fasteners is a valuable capability in our shop.
Elijah and I at work in the forge. We still need to finish the masonry portion of the forge itself, but the double design has been working very well for us!
Starting on a prototype- a circular herb-drying rack inspired by game-racks that go at least as far back as medieval times. Ours is visually lighter than most antiques I’ve seen, but still very stout. Here I am drawing out the main ring and laying out the hook spacing.
Forge-welding the ring. We don’t use arc-welding in any of our products, opting instead for traditional joinery or the ancient art of fire-welding- a “solid state” welding method where the materials are fluxed to clean the surfaces and deprive them of oxygen, and then carefully heated to a near-molten state and hammered together. If it goes well, a molecular bond is formed, and if it goes perfectly, the multiple pieces become essentially as one.
These are now available in our shop.
A recurring custom project has been making name stamps for folks in the tradition of the stamps commonly found on 17th-19th century tools. I chose 1/8” tall lettering, and with each name I am building a full alphabet of letters. The letter stamps are made by forging and annealing (softening) blanks of high-carbon steel, and then punching and filing the letter into the end. A tedious task that sometimes takes me several tries to get right- and my letters still come out looking pretty crude. The letters below are ready for hardening.
These tiny punches are hardened and used in forming the interior portions of the letters that can’t be reached by filing.
After the letter stamps are heat treated, they are stamped into the blank for the final name stamp, and a decorative border is filed. This is a very tedious process in itself, often requiring many strikes for each letter and a do-over if something gets too far mis-aligned.
One of a few drawknives made this summer. Laminated out of wrought iron and high carbon steel just as they used to be.
This one was left with a black forged surface, and finished off with through-tanged beech handles with brass ferrules. An heirloom tool for sure.
Made a few nail headers this year as well. This one is cooling as it waits for finish grinding and filing. I try to add some quick and unique hot decorations to each header.
This fire steel was actually the first I’ve ever made. A request from a friend, it took way too long but turned out great and throws impressive showers of sparks when striking flint.
One of six pairs of custom-sized pistol hooks for a gentleman with a bunch of cool antique revolvers to display, with my much-loved hogleg from Cimarron Firearms for testing purposes.
A batch of really cool hooks in the works. Batch work is less monotonous if you embrace the challenge of getting better, faster, and more consistent with each piece.
Part of a large order (our first wholesale one!) ready to go out to our friends at Patina Home & Garden: Diamond hooks, custom cabinet handles and knobs, and some really sweet dinner triangle bells.
Some very simple and elegant cabinet handles with clinch-type tangs. These are based on historical examples. Only thing I will change on the next batch of these is drawing the tangs out much thinner to make them much easier to clinch.
Tying my first broom for a fireplace set. I need to improve my tooling and of course I need more practice, but it turned out all right I think!
My first full set of custom fireplace tools!
Another prototype. I’ve been wanting to do a take on the old hat/coat hook for years, and finally managed it! Made from flat bar drawn out, with extra material forge welded on for the ball finials.
This batch of 50 forged rope hooks was another excellent exercise in consistency and forge welding. These were fun to make!
Made a few fancy bench hooks (planing stops for woodworking benches) this year, another item that I try to decorate a little differently each time. I greatly enjoy filework.
Hope y’all enjoyed that look at a few of the custom projects that came out of the shop this season!
