Making a Dinner Bell

On Saturday, 4/9/16, HABA will be meeting at Armand Bayou Nature Center for the monthly skills building session. We will be making an icon of ranches and farms across the nation – a dinner bell. This is a triangular device that was used to call family, field workers and ranch hands to the dinner table when the food was ready for consumption.

It is simple to make and embodies several basic skills of the blacksmith – tapering, scrolling and bending. The basic formula for this was provided by EJ McCAnn of Three Nail Forge in Kinder, LA. He gives classes and uses this to introduce his students to the basics of blacksmithing as well as giving them something they can take home and put to use.

We start with two pieces of 3/8″ round stock, one 36″ long and other 12″ long. On the long piece we taper each end, put a rat tail on it and form a hook. We then mark it two places to divide it into thirds. The piece will then be bent at a 60 degree angle at each of the marks forming a triangle.

We then take the short piece and taper it on one end, give it a rat tail and then put a shepherds hook on that end. This will form the ringer that can be hung on the bell.

Below is a 15 minute video that demonstrates the process.

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