Not a precious metal but still smithing.

Thanks Tela.  I’ve been shooting for more refined.  I’m glad somebody noticed.   

Thanks.  I think it took me six hours to make not including the “practice” piece.  I also had to make a slitting chisel to cut the hole in the square bar.  That took a while too but I can re-use it indefinitely.  Part of the fun is making your own tools.  Mostly everything except tools is made with A-36 steel.  It’s the cheapest.  There’s a place  about sixty miles away that has all kinds of shapes and sizes.  I use a Vevor 3 burner propane forge and gas bottles like a propane bbq.  I got it and a 90 lb Vevor anvil from Amazon for less than $500 with free shipping.  I’ll be able to make that style much faster now that I’ve learned some of the things not to do.

Thanks Patty.
The hole was slit with a chisel so no material was lost.  Once it’s slit clear through from both sides, the hole is gradually enlarged and shaped by driving a square drift (mandrel) through the hole.  It’s a little fidgety because it’s easy to make the hole too big.  This one is friction fit by heating up the hole then driving the other piece in tight.  There’s no forge welding.  The other corner was at least as hard to make.  It required upsetting the steel back into the corner to make it square and uniform size all the way around.  The two being so close together really complicated things.  It’s a challenge to figure out the order of steps so you don’t mess up the work you did previously.  

Gonna have tools !

I heated the ends to the orange side of red then quenched them in oil.    The ball end punch will probably stay hard but the others get stuck in hot steel so they won’t stay hardened.  The 5160 steel is much stronger than the mild steel so it goes through pretty easy.

LOL 1dave. A $20 bill is sure a lot more convenient than carrying a roll of those.  They’re pretty satisfying to hold though.