Fiery Friday, Forging a Decorative Hook

Hello Everyone,

    For this week's Fiery Friday I thought I'd show you how I make a small decorative hook to hang a coat, hat, broom, or whatever suits your fancy. This weekend Jennifer and I will be at our local Tractor Supply for a Farm Swap, so I've been busy forging items to sell and this is one of them.

I am starting with a good length of 3/8" square stock. After it's at a yellow heat I forge a point on the end, alternating every other blow while turning the piece 90 degrees. I'll continue this until I get a nice point on the end.

The next step is to bend the tip into a little scroll. Placing about 1/8" over the end of the anvil I"ll bend the tip down. Then flip it 180 degrees (As shown in the picture) and tap it back upon itself until it starts to roll up into a little ball. I'll have to repeat these two steps a few times until I get a nice little roll on the end.

After I take another heat, I will quench the nice little roll we just made to protect it from getting deformed. Now using the bending forks in my hardy hole I bend the hook back upon itself until it looks good. The idea of using bending forks instead of just bending over the horn of the anvil is that you can see straight down at your piece and see how it is progressing without having to flip it perpendicular from your view every now and again. It makes this process a little quicker and easier. After the actual hook part is in place it's time to cut it off the bar and work on the top of the hook.

Once it is cut off the longer bar I'll taper the end just a bit. This taper creates a nice rounded plate to drive the screw through (once we drill the hole of course). Here in the picture I've put the newly tapered end over the anvil with the rest off and begun to flatten the end white making a nice shoulder and keeping the mass to the back side of the hook.

Next comes the twist. This seems to be the part everyone loves to see. After heating the hook to another yellow heat I clamped it in my vice and using my twisting wrench (an old wrench with a handle welded to the business end to give an even grip) twisted it around one full turn. While it's still in the vice I'll straighten it if it needs it and we're done.

Here is the freshly forged hook. All I need to do now is drill a hole to mount it, wire wheel off the scale and apply some bees wax.

Correction: I gave the wrong date for the June Farm Swap, it is June 26th. Sorry about the confusion.
Reminder: Iron Oak Farm will be attending The Great Farm Swap tomorrow Saturday, May 29th and Saturday, June26th, from 11am to 4pm, in the Tractor Supply Company parking lot on M-15 in Ortonville, Mi. The venue includes chicken owners, crafters, 4-H rs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Local Vendors, Farmers, vegetable sales, and animal breeders. It's a free event!
We will be selling our mohair and blacksmith art. (We might bring a few chickens as well, if we can tell if they're roosters by then) So come check it out, the last Saturday of May and June.

For questions e-mail Iron Oak Farm at JenniferAnnMurphy@yahoo.com
or visit TSC website at http://www.tractorsupply.com/
TSC Ortonville is located at:
700 South Ortonville Road
Ortonville, MI 48462-8872
(248) 627-3708