A Leaf Keyring: Small Project, Proper Skills

If you are new to the forge, a decorative leaf keyring is one of the best things you can make. It is small enough to finish in an hour, cheap enough to make a dozen from offcuts, and it teaches you three of the fundamentals in one go: drawing out a taper, spreading and veining a flat section, and bending a controlled curve over the horn. Get those three right and you have the vocabulary for scrollwork, hooks, fire irons and half the decorative work you will ever want to make.

I have taught this project to beginners for years, and it is the one that most often ends up on someone's keys for good. Here is how to do it properly.

Tools and Steel

You do not need a workshop full of equipment. A basic set will see you through:

• Steel: 200mm of 8mm square mild steel. This gives a keyring around 140–150mm long once forged, which sits nicely in a pocket without being fiddly.
• Forge: gas or solid fuel, both fine. You want a clean, bright orange heat.
• Anvil or anvil substitute: a vice and a heavy block of steel will work at a push, but a proper anvil with a horn makes the bending stages far easier.
• Hammers: a 1kg (2lb) cross-peen hammer for drawing out, and a lighter ball-peen or a small rounding hammer for veining.
• Tongs: something that grips 8mm square securely. Loose tongs are the cause of more burnt fingers than hot metal.
• Hot cut or hacksaw for trimming the tip, a wire brush, and a fine file.
• Finish: beeswax, linseed oil, or a proprietary blacksmith's wax.

Drawing Out the Stem

Start by marking roughly 60mm from one end. That 60mm will become the leaf; everything beyond it becomes the stem and the loop.

Bring that marked section to a bright orange — the colour of a ripe tomato, not a dull cherry red. Take it to the anvil and begin tapering the long end down. Work with the cross-peen across the bar, then rotate ninety degrees and repeat. This keeps the section square rather than letting it flatten into a blade. Aim for a taper roughly 100mm long, finishing at about 3mm square.

The secret to a clean taper is small, overlapping blows and a consistent rotation. Do not try to draw the whole length in one heat. Three or four heats, each taking the metal only as far as it wants to go, will give you a straight, even taper. If the bar starts to curve, that is a sign you are hammering one face more than the others — flip it over and correct as you go.

Once the taper is done, cut or hot-cut the very tip to a blunt point, about 2mm across. A needle point will only burn off or bend over in use.

Spreading and Veining the Leaf

Now for the leaf itself. Take the 60mm section to a bright orange and place it flat on the anvil face, with the tip pointing away from you. Using the flat face of your hammer, work from the tip back towards the stem, spreading the metal out and widening it into a leaf shape. The tip should stay narrow, the middle should be widest, and the shoulders should blend smoothly back into the stem.

Flatten it to around 3mm thick. Any thinner and the veining will tear through; any thicker and the leaf will look clumsy.

For the veining, you have two options. The quickest is to use the peen of your hammer as a blunt chisel: one firm blow down the centre line of the leaf creates the midrib, then angled blows from the midrib out to the edges create the side veins. Work from the tip backwards, and overlap each pair slightly so they fan out naturally.

If you have a hot chisel or a veining tool, so much the better — set it in the hardie hole or hold it with tongs and strike it with a hammer for a crisper line. Either way, do the whole job in one heat while the metal is bright. Veining into anything duller than an orange heat gives you shallow, ragged lines that disappear as soon as you brush the scale off.

Scroll, Loop and Finish

The stem is what makes the keyring hang nicely, so give it a little shape. Bring the last 50mm to a bright orange and bend it over the horn of the anvil into a gentle curve, or into a full scroll if you fancy it. A scroll is made by starting the curve tightly at the tip and opening it out as you work back towards the leaf. Do not force it cold — cold bending on 8mm square will crack the outside of the curve.

For the ring itself, form a loop at the very end. Bring the blunt end to heat, bend it over the horn to about 15mm diameter, and tap it closed with the flat face of your hammer until the ends meet. Punching and drifting a hole is the alternative, but a forged loop is faster and looks more honest.

Once the whole piece is shaped, brush it hard with a wire brush while it is still hot to strip the scale, then let it cool slowly. A gentle warm — not red — and a rub of beeswax gives a deep, dark finish that will not rub off on your pockets. Linseed oil works too: warm the metal, apply thinly, and let it cure.

Finally, check the loop for any sharp edges with a fine file. A keyring that snags on a pocket lining is a keyring that will sit in a drawer. Get the shape right, take your time at the anvil, and this little leaf will still be on your keys in ten years. That is the mark of a job done properly.