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I found a lot of railroad spikes out in Arizona where they changed out the tracks and brought a few back thinking they could be made into something. I cleaned them up on the wire wheel and tried to drill and tap them and it worked pretty good so I mounted the first one on piece of maple burl that was too thin for anything else.
I did a little cutting under the head of the spike so it could grab the cap on a bottle, too.
It works very well for an opener and a coat or hat hook.

The spike is lacquered and the wood is coated with spar polyurethane so it can stay out doors.

Cheers, Jim

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a pretty cool idea jim, i like the spikes being used for something…and you have a duel purpose going on here..it looks good on that nice piece of wood…drilling and tapping it was a good way to secure it…really nice.
 

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Cool and multi-purpose-nice job!
 

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That has to go into the "most unique" category for bottle openers Jim. I like it!!
 

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Guarantee I've never seen this model before Jim, this is a real 1 off, a handy piece of gear to have out on the porch for those hot days when a man just feels like a cold'n
beautie mate
Pete
 

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very cool. living in arizona several years before moving in the great white north - i love the idea of something found with some sort of history back to AZ.

nice job!

cj
 

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Nice, Jim. Would make a great gift for a railroad buff! Thanks for sharing.
 

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Really cool Jim. We took the Alaskan railroad to Denali park last year and during the trip, stopping in the middle of nowhere to check on some equipment, I asked a conductor if I could have one of the many spikes left along side the tracks. He gladly gave me one. I was wondering what to do with it. You have given me some ideas. Thanks.
 

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Definitely a one off Jim, great idea.
 

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Thanks for all the nice comments. I picked up about 10 of them and brought 3 home and tapped them so I cam make some more when I get a neat piece of discarded wood. I had a friend come over and had me chop some off for him that he pressed in holes for a coat rack. I thought it would make a nice bottle opener but it needed a little groove cut under the head to catch the cap.

One of the guys in the park is a blacksmith and said they make nice axes when heated in a forge and banged flat. He said the best ones were the ones with an HC on the head. I have 3 down there with the HC and will try to make an axe next winter if he brings his forge down there.

Cheers, Jim
 

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nice idea Jim,looks good!
 

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Love it Jim
 

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Very nice. This gives a new meaning to "spiking a drink"
 

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... would very much want to try this Canadian beer!
 

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Very COOL way of letting the Spike live on for a useful purpose.

... everyone that uses it to open a bottle will know that their drink has been Spiked! :)
 

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I like it very much! I even like the Molson Beer!
 

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That's awesome! Looks like everybody else beat me to the spiked drink jokes, so I got nuthin'. But I do like this re-purposing and making good use of that bit of burl. Very clever!
 

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That is a good reminder of Canadian railway history when they drove the last spike to connect east and west of the Canadian railway with a golden spike .
Great opener idea and the bottle of Molson's Canadian makes the it complete for me love it .

Klaus
 

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Very cool Jim. You could also use that spike to kill a vampire…lol
 

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That is awesome. Great job
 
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