Need blacksmith-made puzzle
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Subject Author Date
Need blacksmith-made puzzle spaco 06-20-2007
Posted by spaco on June 20, 2007, 11:49 am
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I am looking for a puzzle design that a blacksmith could make during
demonstrations to the public. I don't want to make the type that are
bent up from wire. They are all fine puzzles, but I want some designs
that require some amount of forging and no machine work. The idea here
is that the puzzle could be made in front of an audience and then handed
out or sold after the demo.

While I'm at it, how about some ideas for other things that people make
as demonstration items for the public? I am most interested in
things that can be made in 10 minutes or less, since the attention span
of most "watchers" is rather short. I also like to make each
demonstration a little history or semi-technical "lesson" for the
audience. For instance, when I make Strike-a-lights (fire starters; ie:
flint and steel, I demonstrate heat treating and starting a fire with
the tool.

I make:
Strike-a-lights
Nails
S- hooks
Chain
Candle holders (several types)
Forks
Leaves
Miner's lamps
Plant hooks
etc,etc, etc.

Pete Stanaitis

Posted by Carl on June 20, 2007, 12:19 pm
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When spaco put fingers to keys it was 6/20/07 11:49 AM...

> I am looking for a puzzle design that a blacksmith could make during
> demonstrations to the public. I don't want to make the type that are
> bent up from wire. They are all fine puzzles, but I want some designs
> that require some amount of forging and no machine work. The idea here
> is that the puzzle could be made in front of an audience and then handed
> out or sold after the demo.

There's the two 'horseshoes' linked with rings at the tips holding a
ring captive around them. I expect you've seen it.

Crude quickie drawing:
http://c-76-19-175-241.hsd1.ma.comcast.net/simplepuzzle.gif


> While I'm at it, how about some ideas for other things that people make
> as demonstration items for the public?

I often do a ribbed leaf on the end of 1/2"sq.
Curl the tip back on itself just so, cut the leaf off, draw out the stem
to as point, curl that up into an eye. Voila! A key fob. That opens
bottles. Maybe five minutes. With talking. Two, maybe three heats.

- Carl

Posted by spaco on June 20, 2007, 10:50 pm
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I have made a couple of those horseshoe puzzles, but they take machine
welding and some fixturing (the way I do it anyway).
The ones I have seen for sale often use 4 ought shoes (pretty small)
but the smallest I can easily get are about 1's; a little big.

Thanks for the leaf/Key fob idea.

Pete Stanaitis
------------------

Carl wrote:
> When spaco put fingers to keys it was 6/20/07 11:49 AM...
>
>> I am looking for a puzzle design that a blacksmith could make during
>> demonstrations to the public. I don't want to make the type that
>> are bent up from wire. They are all fine puzzles, but I want some
>> designs that require some amount of forging and no machine work. The
>> idea here is that the puzzle could be made in front of an audience and
>> then handed out or sold after the demo.
>
>
> There's the two 'horseshoes' linked with rings at the tips holding a
> ring captive around them. I expect you've seen it.
>
> Crude quickie drawing:
> http://c-76-19-175-241.hsd1.ma.comcast.net/simplepuzzle.gif
>
>
>> While I'm at it, how about some ideas for other things that people
>> make as demonstration items for the public?
>
>
> I often do a ribbed leaf on the end of 1/2"sq.
> Curl the tip back on itself just so, cut the leaf off, draw out the stem
> to as point, curl that up into an eye. Voila! A key fob. That opens
> bottles. Maybe five minutes. With talking. Two, maybe three heats.
>
> - Carl

Posted by Carl on June 21, 2007, 1:44 am
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When spaco put fingers to keys it was 6/20/07 10:50 PM...

> I have made a couple of those horseshoe puzzles, but they take machine
> welding and some fixturing (the way I do it anyway).
> The ones I have seen for sale often use 4 ought shoes (pretty small)
> but the smallest I can easily get are about 1's; a little big.

Hmmh... I've never seen one that actually used horseshoes.

Visualize this:

Start with manufactured solid rings available at tack and leather shops

Take two bars of appropriate length and put offset rat-tails on each
end. bend them 'round into 'horseshoes' or some interesting shape with
the ends the right distance apart and bend the rat-tails into loops
around the rings (I'm seeing them looping to the outside with maybe a
dainty little reverse curl on them)

Enough forging to be interesting to watch, but quick enough for all but
the most television-addled of the public to stay for.

"OH! Darn! I forgot to put the center ring on it!" <quick turn around
and it's on> "there that's better."



> Thanks for the leaf/Key fob idea.

I've learned enough from your posts, it's only fair

Posted by Prometheus on June 21, 2007, 7:20 am
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wrote:

>I am looking for a puzzle design that a blacksmith could make during
>demonstrations to the public. I don't want to make the type that are
>bent up from wire. They are all fine puzzles, but I want some designs
>that require some amount of forging and no machine work. The idea here
>is that the puzzle could be made in front of an audience and then handed
>out or sold after the demo.

Well, I don't know if you'd get much for selling them, but I found
nail making to be pretty facinating- and there is a simple, common
puzzle that could be made with the hand forged nails.

http://www.puzzle-factory.com/bentnail.html

I don't recall how long it took when I watched you making nails when
you showed me, but IIRC, it would probably fit into that 10-minute
window you've set for yourself. I doubt one of the old nail puzzles
could go for more than maybe five bucks, but there's not a lot of work
involved, either. If you made up a dozen or two in advance, I'm sure
they'd sell out pretty quick- as an example, without any demonstration
my wife sold about 200 little wooden reindeer she cut out with her
scroll saw the Christmas before last. She was charging a buck a piece
for them, and people couldn't get enough of them. The little stuff
usually moves really quickly, if you don't mind doing a whole lot of
the same thing.

Of course, you need to take that with a grain of salt- by temperment,
I'd never be able to do that myself. I'd get two or three done, and
want to move on to something else.

>While I'm at it, how about some ideas for other things that people make
>as demonstration items for the public? I am most interested in
>things that can be made in 10 minutes or less, since the attention span
>of most "watchers" is rather short. I also like to make each
>demonstration a little history or semi-technical "lesson" for the
>audience. For instance, when I make Strike-a-lights (fire starters; ie:
>flint and steel, I demonstrate heat treating and starting a fire with
>the tool.

Probably can't make much chain in 10 minutes, but that seems like a
winner to me as well. Even after having seen it done, I'd make a
point of stopping to watch it again if someone was demonstrating it.




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