Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Recycling


A while back, one of my colleagues gave me the fin off of a 2.75 rocket .  The look something like this:


He works for the Pueblo managing projects that clean up old Department of Defense bombing sites, and other waste and debris – the Native American Lands Environmental Mitigation Program.  The Pueblo of Laguna has a few that were used in world war two with ship targets and big bullseyes and that sort of thing.  Most of the debris is inert (like the fin), but some is explosive and needs special handling.
Anyway, I promised I would make him a letter opener out of it.  After a year or two, and after some thought, and after making some other letter openers, I decided to cut it in two and to make two openers.  Then my Dremel tool burned out.  Eventually I bought a new one and finished the openers.  Nothing too fancy – one is ebony, the other is Bocote. The aluminum is pretty shiny, not quite as drab as 50 years-worth of oxidation makes things, but I’m sure it will calm down after a while.



I’ve also, again finally, started working on a folding knife project.  Some time ago I bought a number of knife kits.  I like the Bighorn, and have made two of them, but decided I should try something else and picked up the “rancher” a little three bladed slip joint folder.  If you are familiar with Case knives, you’ve probably seen something like this.

Once upon a time I intended the kit for an employee of mine, but didn’t get around to it before he left.  Now I am thinking about making it for another one, hopefully it doesn’t take me that long.  One problem that I have, is that I have no idea what the wood is that I’ve chosen for the handle.  It could be desert ironwood, but I’m really not sure.  Whatever it is, it polishes up very nicely and has good shimmer (chatoyance is you prefer).   We’ll see how it turns out.


I wish they would make kits with higher quality blades though – not that I have had problems with mine, but something a little more exotic would be nice.

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