Ball Bearing Canister Bottle Opener

This bottle opener was forged from part of a canister welded billet of chrome steel ball bearings (52100 steel) of various sizes ranging from 1/8″ to 1/4″, combined with 4800KC powder (a high-nickel steel). It is roughly 3″ long, roughly 1 3/4″ wide at the business end and weighs approximately 1.75 oz. This opener was thermally cycled by normalizing 3 times. Note the bright layer (4800KC) has an interesting texture to it, almost brushed.

I forged the damascus billet from scratch with a combination of hydraulic press and hand hammer, and then hand-hammered the billet into a bottle opener, followed by grinding, polishing, etching and re-polishing. I do not re-use damascus stock bought from someone else.

Note 52100 (BBs) and 4800KC are not stainless steels, so periodic coating with something like mineral oil is standard maintenance – frequency depends on the ‘climate’.