Upcycling old Silverware 3 Ways

Upcycling old Silverware 3 Ways

A few weeks ago I shared with you a bunch of ideas for what to do with all that silver plated serving ware that the thrift stores are full of.

One of the ideas were these little bells made from the ends of old knives.  So when I came across a bag of knives later that week and later a bag of forks I knew I had to try my hand at upcycled Silverware creations.

What I didn’t know was just how many silverware creators there are out there and just how many ideas they’ve come up with.  These bells are just the tip of the iceberg.  Since they’ve all made their way to my feed I’ll share a bunch more ideas with links back to their creators next week.  ( By the way, these 3 pendants are from Laura Beth Love at  Dishfunctional Designs.)

Until then I’ll show you my few attempts at wrestling with a fork and a knife.  They really are harder to bend  and work with than they look, but I am here to assure you it can be done.

First up, my $4 bag of knives.  Enough for a half dozen projects but I’ll start out with just one.

Drill a small hole in the end of the knife and in your ringer.  I’ll show you where I got the ringer in just a second.

I figured it would be easier to drill the knife before I cut it down, so the blade would give me something to hold onto while I was drilling.

Cut off the decorative end of the knife, this will be the bell body.

A dremel sanding bit will get the metal burrs off the inside edge of the bell.  The outside of the bell can be sanded off with a file, belt sander or hand sander.

Go to your bead stash (you do have a bead stash don’t you, or is that just me?) and pick out a few beads to decorate the end of your bell.

Cut a small wire and string on the ringer, go up thru the bell and beads.  Twist the wire to finish.

I’ve given you the basics for the little bell but I really need some jeweler pliers, filler beads and jump rings to bring my little bell up to the next level.  I do have a few more knives to practice with.

Use as a keychain, necklace or Christmas tree decor.

For my next 2 projects I’m using this bag of silver plated forks.  It was silver tag discount day, so that $8 bag was only $4.

I’m using my grinder to cut this fork in half.  It doesn’t do as neat a job as the Dremel but it does get the job done.

This lovely handle of the fork is going to be a bookmark.

Sand off the cut end removing all the burrs.

Now use brute force, or maybe your very strong husband ♥ and a wrench to bend the handle of the fork.

Once the fork is bent this far, a nice hammer will finish the job.

Maybe I finished the job a little too well, now I can’t insert my page.

A flat headed screw driver and a few hammer taps opened my bookmark back up.

It will be the nicest bookmark you ever owned.

Now I’m left with the top part of the fork.

If you are doing this project leave a little bit more on the handle than I have here to make a nice loop.  Mine was rather short.

Cut off your tines, your fingers, about half way down using a grinder or a Dremel cutting blade.

This cutoff tine is where the ringer came from in the first project.

Sand off your tines and the cut end of the fork.

Hammer your  fork hand flat.

For the peace sign I used a couple of different wrenches and pliers.  One to hold the fork still, the other to bend the fingers.  The fork still put up a fight but I was eventually able to bend over the pinky and ring finger.  After I got the fingers this far, I  once again pounded them with a hammer.

One of the sites I was taken to suggested bending the fingers with a metal straw.  That worked better than the pliers which was hard to insert between the two fingers.

Insert a small keychain to hold your peace sign hand.

I’ve already transferred all my keys.  It’s such a fun little update and boy did my keychain need it.  I was still carrying around a bunch of frayed store key tags that I never used and a couple of keys to who knows where. 😕

Peace!!  Until next time, stay inspired.