Happy Yule and a Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a calm and mellow Holiday.  I hope all the stuff I made that was purchased for Christmas gifts goes over well.  Thanks to everyone who help me get this enterprise up and running.  Eat way too much and enjoy yourself, I plan to.

Saturday Night Not Spent At The Bar

I've been trying to find a design of bottle opener that I find pleasing to my eyes.  I think there will be a lot of proto-types on this project.

Here is a close up of a cloak pin made with square stock and hammered to give it some light catching facets.

A fat man with a beard has been working in his shop and it's not Santa

I was toasty warm in the shop today and got a few Xmas presents done today.  Here are a couple:

The shop hasn't burnt down so I guess the stove install was a SUCCESS and other news

First off,  I'll be at the Christkindl tomorrow at TJ's in Mahtowa, MN.  It's supposed to run from 10 AM til 2 PM.  That's DEC 6 2014.

It was warm enough in the shop that I couldn't see my breath with the stove and the forge going.  Only one clothing layer was needed after the hammering commenced.  The H2O quench bucket finally thawed out.  That made things a little easier e.g.

HBI MKI Bottle Opener

It starts out as a 3/16 x 1 piece of  HR flat. It's heavier duty than I expected.  I think it has possibilities for use in hand to hand combat.

It's been a bit chilly here

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the wood stove up and running in the shop.  Much fun cutting holes in the roof and mucking about with stove pipe.  It was -15 F with a -30 F windchill the other day.  That makes grabbing a bit of iron rather unpleasant in an unheated shop.  You can feel the cold even through the gloves.  I guess that balances out the fact that I only had to run the AC 7 days during the whole summer.  Time to put on another layer of woolly goodness and buck up.

Craft Show Tomorrow.

I'll be at the Carlton High School Show  22 Nov 0900-1400

Look for the ironwork.

Custom Chest Handles

Hopefully once all the hardware is installed you can say "Nice chest baby" and not get slapped.
Whatcha think?

3/8 in steel with a twist and 1/8 x 1 in leaf details. The customer wanted to drill his own screw holes.

I need to clean the shop floor and some spiffy custom work

Some custom orders that should be picked up this weekend.  Notice the sawzall in its natural environment.

I think the 3D leaf is becoming quite popular.  A matching set of plant hangers next to two sets of matching shelf brackets. These are hot off the welder and need a little TLC with a wire brush.  I need to invest in a can of anti-spatter.  That would cut down on clean up time.

As promised. Blackened hinge...not a Cajun dish, but high in iron.

Before:

After:

Smiting Silver----Does that make me a silver smith?

First you start out with this: .925 sterling silver wire

 Then you add some hammer swings, heat and a little hope and Voila!

Sterling Silver Cloak/Scarf Pins.

I'm very happy the way these turned out.  It was fun and I only had to use my wee hammers and the buffing wheel.  I was amazed at how fast the silver work hardened.  Lots of annealing to do, especially on the pin part of the ring.  There is nearly an ounce of silver in each ring.

Custom Made Hinges

I'm about done with an order for some tapered butt hinges.  I'll post another pic when they are blacked from the oil quench.

The only problem with a successful show is......

Replacing stock items before I get to do new projects.
   It was a nice show at the mall in Cloquet.  We were by the door and it was a prudent idea to dress for the cold air coming through.
  There will be more of these

at the show in the Carlton HS on Saturday 22 November 0900-1400hrs.

We hope to see you there!

Shipping and paypal will be forth coming !!

If all goes according to plan, in the next fortnight we'll be accepting paypal and shipping once a week.  Once a week because it is a trek to get to the big city.  I'm thinking Wednesday or the day of Thor to do the shipping.  
   Also....Bonjour to all my French viewers


Hammer Swinger

The rustic towel holder Mk II

I added a little patina to the leaf and made the design a bit more stream lined.  

New Product Unveiling.....The rustic cabin towel holder Mk1

Towel holder

It still needs the mounting holes drilled and countersunk.  After I get done in the shop this afternoon I will post another picture of it mounted.

If anyone has some suggestions on girly blacksmithy things I'd like to hear them.  About 90-95% of the people at the previous craft shows have been womenfolk.  I need more stuff to pander to that demographic.

The Cromwell Show was a success!!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, and especially those who purchased stuff. .  I thought the show was well run and the chow I had was delicious. The foot traffic was good  and there was even signs out front--unlike some other shows I've attended.  I will be back next year.

Shelf Brackets

Well I guess we'll see if I've been BSed or not.  Every show so far I've a couple people say they would buy my plant hangers if only they were upside down and could be used for shelf brackets.  Here they are!!

Cloak Pins for the Cromwell HS Show

A couple of different sized cloak pins that will be for sale tomorrow at the show.

I'll be some fancier ones in the near future.  They make good gifts for reenactors and LARP people.

I like to use them with my wool blankets around the camp fire.

Thanks for the support at the Cloquet show!

I had a great time and it was nice to leave the show with less merchandise than I showed up with.
 There will be a few new items on the inventory due to customer suggestions and I hope to have them proto-typed in time for the show this coming weekend.

Stay tuned for more updates and pics when the proto-types are hot off the forges.

We might get a few t shirts made up.  "Hunch Back Ironworks....A good place to get hammered"

That's all for now
Hammer Swinger

Cloak Pins--One is GOT Maester style

Left to right A classic simple viking style cloak pin for a light cloak, my proto type maester pin and my new to me hammer a neighbor dropped off  that I reground, polished and put a new handle on.  It was christened on the cloak pins.

We/I'll be at the craft fair at the Armory in Cloquet this Friday and Saturday

I hope we we see some local friends there, make some good sales and have a wonderful time making some new friends.

I'll be in the shop this afternoon making props so members of the GENPOP will know what some of the products are used for.  It is amazing the amount of people who have reached middle age and have never cooked over an open fire.  Does anybody have a spare rubber chicken to loan me for a prop on the roasting spit?

Some times youtube does have useful stuff. I learned a cheap(yay!) and simple (double yay!!) way to do steel etching

I'm very pleased with the results.  Salt, vinegar and some DC electricity and away we go.

I you want to give it a whirl

Here is some pots I've thrown.

Pots!

The first batch of liberty strikers!

Kent, this post is for you.

I made a special striker for fun. "Liberty strikes back" is electro etched into body.

I have started a fire with each one of the strikers.  So if you are having trouble getting a fire going you can't blame the striker.  I left the bottom five oil coated from the quench.  It helps prevent rust.  Let me know what you think.

Portable Holes

For Our Dearest Friend,  The Good Lady Ross:

I present the Portable Hole MK II no mod

1/2in hot roll square steel body
1/4in thick 2in dia rings welded to the body

Welcome to Hunchback Ironworks!

Check out the HBI booth at the Rutledge Garden Club Craft Fair, in Rutledge, Minnesota on Saturday, October 4, 2014.

On sale:

Assorted hand forged campfire tripods, cooking grates, barbeque spits, fire pokers, lid lifters, hooks, hinges, plant hangers, hand thrown ceramic pots and more!