something fun - bottle opener | Blacksmith Show and Tell | Forum

RR spike bottle opener w/pineapple twist handle. I got the idea from something someone posted over at IFI a few weeks ago. My first was just like that. It wasn't h,ard but it was time consuming. My brother-in-law gave me the idea to try the over-the-top style, which goes much quicker -- at the expense of some of the artsy, blacksmithy aesthetic of the 3/4 circle type. I've made several of these. They're straightforward, except that if you don't get the lip geometry just right, they'll pop the necks right off your bottles! This particular one has a tendency to do that; I need to file/grind the lip much shorter. Right now I'm basically freehanding the lips. (I do the first bend in the vise, and the second freehand on the anvil.) If I decide to do more, I'll make a little mandrel with the profile of a bottle cap.