Making Christmas Ornaments: Icicles

Making icicles is a nice simple exercise that makes wonderful fast Christmas gifts. It's so simple that I taught my 9 year old step daughter how to do them. She had never forged before. She enjoyed it so much that she asked to blacksmith to make more to give as gifts for Christmas. 
 
I start with low carbon steel, usually 1/2" X 1/8" flat stock. It seems to be the perfect size not too big or too heavy for the tree and less work than round stock. 



Heat your bar stock up to working temperature.

 Draw on one end out to a point.

Reheat to a working temperature and clamp the bar stock in a vice.

Then do the twist.  I prefer to use needle nose vice grips for better control. A twisting wrench or any tool that will give you a good grip on the steel will work just fine.

I like to twist in stages which I find harder to do with a twisting tool or tongs.

The bar stock is quite hot (orange) in the twisting pictures. It is difficult to see the color properly in my bright messy shop because I had the door open for better pictures. Unfortunately it also shows off the junk stored there as well..

After you get the icicle twisted the way you like quench the hot end and do the same thing to the other side of the bar. I prefer starting with a long piece so that I can work without tongs for a while.

A hacksaw, hardy or hot cut will all work great to separate the icicles from the rest of the bar but being a lazy smith I use a cutting disk on my angle grinder to do the job.

I then round the edges on my belt grinder and drill a hole for the ribbon or string used to hang the ornament on the tree. At some point I want to try using them as wind chimes.

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 I then polish off the fire scale with a wire wheel. 

Finally  I either spray the icicles with clear lacquer or paint. Heating the icicle slightly and rolling it in wax will also make a very nice finish. You don't want it  steel to be red hot since you just want the wax to melt and adhere to it.