Progress for Saturday

Howdy y’all,

So progress has been pretty good.

I’ve pretty much finished the knife part of the Australian Camp Knife. I’d show you, but it’s still classified.

I’ve pretty much finished the Bdoodles inspired kitchen knife.

The Lord of the Rings Machete is also about done.

Found a better bit to carve in the Hangedmandesigns logo too. Erica has the camera, so I apologize for the marginal camera phone pictures...

All of these need a few more coats of finish on the handles. Otherwise I would call them finished.

I have designs on two of my unfinished daggers for the weekend too. The little one will get a pretty simple handle, and the big one still needs some scratch removal. I may get to that one. We’ll see.

I showed a couple of friends the forge and let them bang on some metal today also.

I plan on firing up the forge tomorrow too. The creepy cleaver is coming along, and I’d like to bang on the two Puukko’s that I have going a bit too.

Although its nice to get things done in the shop, I miss Erica and Autumn. Even with all of he mantastic things I did today, its not the same as having my wonderful family here with me.

Mantastic events of the day: Shop time, Albuquerque Pork and Brew (7^th Annual), shop demonstrations for the boys (lathe and forge), Mixed Martial Arts (111^th Ultimate fighting championship at the bar.)

Pretty manspectacular really, but lacking in the wonderful wife category. Boo.

Hope to have more for you soon,

Adam

Mad as a March Hatter?

Enjoyed the new 3d Alice in Wonderland, first theater movie in a really really long time.

Despite March madness, I managed to get some work done this weekend, which is always a surprise to me. I made a lot of progress on the Australian Camp Knife, and spent quite a bit of time on one of the most complex handles I have ever worked on. I’m pretty sure it will be gorgeous. Right now it looks like crap. The ugly duckling in copper and wood.

So what is it? It is my impression of what “I like blues, and cedar and copper” means. This will be on the larger of the two slicers (the smaller was posted last week). It has a slightly cleaner AR38 and Hangedman logo. The front section of the handle is Blue Mahoe, a Jamaican hardwood, with a small copper pin, then a segment of copper, with some turquoise inlay on both sides, then a two-toned Spanish aromatic cedar central section with a copper mosaic pin, another copper spacer, finished with another section of Blue Mahoe and a copper lined thong hole.

I also made a little progress on what I now think of as the “lord-of-the-rings machete” , a few years back I picked up an odd piece of weathered and very heavy driftwood, I still don’t know what it is. I cut it open and it has a very unusual grain, which you will see when I finish it. I think that the handle will be relatively simple, it will save my carbide drill bits from too much wear and tear. Hmmmm. I do think a little ebony would set it off nicely though. We’ll see.

I anticipate getting quite a bit done later this week, since Autumn and Erica are headed off to Savannah, GA to visit Grandma. On the down side, Autumn and Erica won’t be here with me.

We’ll see how much I actually get done.

A new kitchen steak/paring/boning knife for Monday

Hi there knife people!

I’d hoped to finish more than one this weekend, but no luck. I did make a little progress on the Australian Camp Knife, but that is now classified until its done (NJJ – you’ll get your picture via e-mail).

Of the two kitchen carver/steak/boning knives, I finished the smaller one. Bdoodles, if you are watching, the one I imagine may be for you is a little bigger, and a little different, and the handle will be quite a bit different.

Anyway, here is AR37.

I also tried carving in the Hanged Man logo with a diamond bit on my dremel tool. It turned out OK, but isn’t as crisp as I’d like. I intend to commission a stamp for it, but can’t afford it yet. Some day… I carved in the AR37 also.

And here is a close- up of that.

Stats of AR37:

9 ½” overall, 4 ½” edge. Cru Forge V high vanadium carbon steel. Full tang. Steak/paring/boning kitchen knife. Handle is made of Bubinga, with a Holly pommel. The pins are brass, as is the thong hole.

It'll be posted on the Acrylicandsteel etsy shop soon..

Adam

Wrought Iron is cool!

Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content, in comparison to steel, and has fibrous inclusions, known as slag. This is what gives it a "grain" resembling wood, which is visible when it is etched or bent to the point of failure. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile and easily welded. Historically, it was known as "commercially pure iron", however it no longer qualifies because current standards for commercially pure iron require a carbon content of less than 0.008 wt%. (Wikipedia – Wrought Iron)

So, a few months ago, I ordered a piece of old 1800’s Lake Superior Grain Silo from http://www.usaknifemaker.com/store/ , just to see what Wrought Iron was all about. I like it. The impurities give an interesting, if subtle, visual effect. Not something to make a knife out of, but good for an accent piece…or some jewelry.

For Christmas, I made Erica a couple of necklaces, or pendants really, since I bought the chains on Etsy . Erica really likes skeleton keys, and I really love her, so, a key and a heart.

Here they are:

When I gave them to her, they were all shiny and polished. But since she likes the rough/antiqued look, I dunked them in Muriatic Acid for a while and they got all matte, and a shortly after that, a little rusty. She liked the effect, so that’s how they are now.

I ground them both with my belt grinder and dremel tool.