Meathook

[Tim Rinehart]

I spend several hours Saturday with one of our local turning club members who's also been learning and developing blacksmithing for about the past year. I've always had a desire to try this, and it looks very similar to turning, you can get in cheap...but there's always "something else you have to have".

So, learned some basics about the tools, forge and different hammers, and then went to work on a piece of 5/16" square bar. Started by drawing out and defining the taper in the end, then the twist, some rounding of the part that inserts into the handle and then forming the hook in the end. We even case hardened the tip, so it should maintain point for a good while. The whole piece (except hook) is coated with beeswax, and buffed out...I guess that's pretty common.

I made the handle from some wormy dogwood, and added some copper dust inlay to the voids to seal it up, and it's a good look with the copper ferrule also. Sealed the handle with a couple coats of spar urethane.

Sure like the looks of wood and iron together...there may be more after I get the swing of things.225359

[Curt Fuller]

I've seen some similar to those that you can order from one of the catalogs. But they aren't even close to as cool looking as yours. I have to agree, the look of the wrought iron and the wood is really sharp. That's just really cool!

[Steve Vaughan]

Very, very nice! I like it and would like to make one!

[Doug W Swanson]

I've seen some similar to those that you can order from one of the catalogs. But they aren't even close to as cool looking as yours. I have to agree, the look of the wrought iron and the wood is really sharp. That's just really cool!

Couldn't agree more!

[Rick Markham]

Tim that's amazing! Having been a meat cutter in a beef "boning room" I can appreciate a good meat hook. That is certainly the nicest one I have ever seen, that's something to be proud of and pass on in the family!

[Billy Tallant]

Nice looking meat hook. That twist sure sets it off & adds a touch of class.

[Dan Forman]

Umm, looks cool, what do you do with a meat hook?

Dan

[Michelle Rich]

looks like it could be used on a BBQ grill to turn meat! very cool twist in the shaft & nice handle. congrats on your first new skills in Blacksmithing

[Greg Just]

Very nice - much better than what can be purchased from a catalog.

[John Keeton]

I've always had a desire to try this, and it looks very similar to turning, you can get in cheap...but there's always "something else you have to have".Tim, Tim....you really should know better than this!! Another vortex in your life - what a ride!

Great work! I have also had a latent desire to try my hand at blacksmithing, having cranked the forge for my grandfather's blacksmith as a kid. I used to marvel at what he could do with just a scrap piece of iron. He would take bits and pieces from various old farm implements and form them into useable tools - amazing to watch, really.

I think there is a whole world out there for forms suspended on iron stands - give it a try!! Perhaps we could do a collaboration piece at some point.

[Tim Rinehart]

thanks all, and JK...you're right about it being another potential vortex...start out thinking it's just heating and beating metal, and then start getting involved in the metallurgical properties of the finished product with annealing, tempering, hardening... and so on.
Fortunately, I don't have to make any real investments early on, my friend lives only 20 min away, and in talking to him, it's actually more productive with the forge (propane powered) to have 2 guys working on things alternating when one comes out of forge, another goes in.
Some sort of suspension or stand is exactly what I've been struggling with on a turned piece started a half year ago...so we'll see how that goes.
The other side of this is that it affords some better techniques for making specialized tools like swan necks that don't always have just the right shape for something you're doing.

[Bill Hensley]

That's the nicest meat hook I've seen. I made some of these but my metal design was much simpler. My wife made me realize one thing early on, you need right and left hand versions. So we have a his and her's in the kitchen drawer. The others I gave to the meat cookers in the family.

Nice job!

[Baxter Smith]

Nice work Tim! I always check out the blacksmithing demo's at historic sites. I have the hand crank forge, anvil, and various tools in my woodshed. All I need is the charcoal and expertise of someone to show me how to use them. So much to learn!! So for now I just use the cutting torch to try and bend metal. Poorly at that!

[Scott Lux]

Very nice.

[Doug Herzberg]

I've been interested in this for some time now. My great-grandfather was a blacksmith and I have memories similar to John's. The tools got passed down another branch of the family, though, and the skill has pretty much died out for us. I would need a mentor to get into it. If you want some fun, Google variations of "homemade forge" and watch the videos. It is amazing, and a little frightening, to see what people are doing out there.

Tim, that's a very nice twist and taper on your meat hook and a nice handle, too. Thanks for sharing.