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Question from a non blacksmith

I wish I was a blacksmith but its not in the cards right now. However, I have a need for some hand held hooks to move sacks of coffee. The guys in the warehouse use what looks like a home made hook with a broom stick handle. The hooks look like this,

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shorter. I have a piece of 3/8 " rebar that is long enough to make 2 hooks if I make a tee handle. I have the woodworking skills to make a handle.So my questions are can I heat the rebar with a MAPP torch enough to bend it? After I grind the end to a dull point can I re-harden it with the MAPP? Also, I was thinking of getting the non-pointy end round enough to thread for some nuts to fasten the whole thing together But I am open to suggestions there. I know I can just buy the damn things but where is the fun in that. I also know that I can buy some steel rod which would make the threading operation more easy to do but I am romanticizing the idea of making do with what I have. Bob

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-- Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times

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Reply to
The Other Funk
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Maybe, but, you're going to need a large sized torch head (rose bud) to do it. You will want to get a nice cherry red to be easy enough to work with.

After I grind

3 points here... First, why grind? blacksmiths use their hammers to FORGE a point. From the looks of the hook, it doesn't have to be anything fancy. Use your average ball pien hammer and have some fun with it. Second, a hook to carry bags doesn't need to be hardened, so you can forego that experince. Third, common rebar is made out of random types of steel, so, hardening would be kind of difficult anyway.

Also, I was

Could you get away with bending an L shape for the handle and just using that? You could bend the L inline and over the hooked end to center to load through your hand. Cheap, fast, and easy.

Another idea would be to bend the handle into an oval shape that would be similar to the handle shape of the website that you provided. (If you have enough material).

Hope this helps, Paul

Reply to
paul_bilodeau1

He should be able to get enough heat to bend in increments, sounds like he has a Bernzomatic hand held MAPP gas torch. Plenty of heat to do small bends.

Well I can understand why he would grind, a Bernzomatic handheld torch is okay for light heating jobs, but wouldn't be good enough to do serious forging. Grinding is a good solution in the circumstances.

We have bail hooks here too, but they have a "T" piece instead of a "D" for a grip.

Rebar should be thick enough for this application without heat treatment.

An easier approach would be like this :-)

Reply to
Chilla

Finding the keyboard operational paul snipped-for-privacy@excite.com entered:

Now this is getting to be fun. I can cobble together a small blower and a charcoal fire. Beating on hot metal is a goal of mine but I will have to plan on when. Second nearest neighbor is less then 50 feet away, I hate suburbia. Bob

--

-- Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times

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Reply to
The Other Funk

careful bob, blacksmithing is a lot of fun and addictive. may you find the thrill of working a substance harder and tougher than you into whatever you can imagine , a life long quest. mark

Reply to
Mark Finn

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