Just Lathing Around

Obviously I must have been being lazy, since I haven’t posted anything in a long time.

Life and work have been a little hectic and more stressful than usual, and then I had a custom order with a deadline. The plus side is that that is done. It is a Harley Davidson inspired Chef’s Knife (AR 43, 5 ½” blade, 11” overall, ebony and bloodwood with stainless accents), and a matching block. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

I’ve also been playing with the lathe a little, some for fun, some to get some ideas for the custom toffee/oyster knives that are due in a couple of months. So I made these sample handles:

Amaranth (Purpleheart)

Pear, cherry and salt cedar

Then I prepped the actual walnut, let it dry some more, and then spun it down to the rough shapes I’m looking for, without embellishments yet. There are some wormholes that I will have to deal with, but I think I’ll end up with a nice produce eventually:

Walnut

I also made this oak ball:

Oak Ball.

I think my lathe works pretty well for being a cheap as it was, and the tools as well (the set for the price of one quality tool).

I also mostly finished up my second Puukko, now I just need to make sheaths for them:

AR44 Tiger Maple and Bronze

And, I’ve slowly been making progress on NRJJ’s next project, a Blackthorn handled sgian dubh. I’ve done some filework on the blade, vine and thorns pattern. Here are some concept and materials photos:

Potential Handles

Vine and thorns filework

Concept photo, I was thinking of Nickel-Silver and Horn for the bolster, and a nickel-silver pin to hold it all together. We'll see.

So, as usual, just lathing around.

Adam