Bench Update - Shaving Brushes

Bench Update

I have a lot of projects on the bench right now.

Recently I discovered a place that sells hair knots for shaving brushes, so I bought a few as samples to try out. And then I played with my lathe and turned a bunch of proto-shaving brush handles. I didn’t really have a good idea before turning on the lathe how big they should be, but made a nice variety ranging from a huge piece that I made from purpleheart, to a tiny little tulipwood. Turns out that the smaller size is better for brushes. Right now I have handles of tulipwood, purpleheart, cocobolo, wormy pecan, salt cedar (tamarisk), pear, manzanita, apricot, and recycled ironwood fencepost, and I may be forgetting one or two more. I only have three brushes, boar (coarse), black badger (pretty soft), and silvertip badger (softer). All brushes don’t fit in all handles, but let me know if you are interested.

I bought a bunch of new wood, mostly domestic: Hickory, red gum, spalted ambrosia maple, rainbow poplar, and I swear there was another that I can’t remember. I use a lot of exotics, but some of these have some nice character as well. We’ll see what they turn into.

Knife-wise, I have a couple of big chef’s knives in progress (both CPM 154 Stainless), at least three full tang hunting knives (two drop point, one nesmuk), a few partial tang hunters, a couple daggers, and some miscellaneous others. I’m getting ready to start a couple more, with the basic idea of simple and full length tangs, so I can try out a couple of new handle ideas.

I’ve got some fancy decoration ideas for a couple of knives as well, like for finishing the copper and cholla dagger shown above. It will be pretty southwestern, lots of copper and turquoise. I just have to get around to doing some filework on the guard and pommel.

Using that idea I made this fancy manzanita brush with inlays of turquoise and copper.

That doesn’t sound like too much does it? Maybe it’s just that I don’t have any time.

A month or so late, but better than never...

I started this post more than almost two months ago now, and finally polished it off. Always too much to do, and I never want to get on the computer once I get home.

One of my coworkers brought me a couple of old fence posts of unknown species, but definately something pretty dense, and he called it ironwood, so I thought I would polish a couple up and see what it looked like with some oil.

Old Fence Post Old Fence Stay

I recently finished a project for me with the old post for a handle...

AR60 in hand (mine)

In Sheath

With Sheath

AR60 - Drop Point Hunter - Full tang - Cold Blued (Formula 44/40) Cru Forge V, 4 3/4" blade, 9 5/8" overall, recycled ironwood(?) fencepost handle, brass pins, red vulcanized liner, stainless thong tube. Horizontal draw sheath.

I also finished up a project that started quite a while ago, when a couple of the guys came over and I let them pound on some steel. I decided to go ahead and finish up one of those blanks, to be provided as a birthday present. The first handle attempt failed, but I like the one it ended up with also. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out overall, even though it cost me some blood. Part of the polishing process involves a lot of finer and finer grits of sandpaper, and I thought I was almost ready to stop one evening, when I found out the pointy way, that I had already passed the time to stop. So, I added another ½ inch stab wound to my right thumb, which interferes with a lot of things. Sigh. But that was last Tuesday, so it didn’t impact this weekend too much. Not too sure what I would call the style of this one. Utility/paring seems to be the most appropriate. Still need to make the sheath though.

In Hand (Erica's)

With Sheath

In Sheath

AR59 – 3 5/8” Blade, 9” Overall, O1 tool steel, hand forged, heat treated and hand polished to 2000 grit. Macassar Ebony Handle, Brass Pins.

I plan on an On-the-bench update too, but that will have to be another day.

Later y'all.

A

From the bench - Mid January

I had a pretty good weekend in the shop. Actually got to fire up the forge TWICE!

Now I don’t know if my shoulder is sore from the tetanus shot or the forging J

I put together a couple of stock removal stainless blades, and heat treated them: one dagger (CPM154), one small clip-point (S35VN). I don’t know why I keep working on daggers, since they are such a pain in the butt, but I do anyway. I’ve got some ideas for this one – possibly a cholla handle with crushed turquoise and copper powder in the gaps, maybe a little ebony and a carved copper guard. We’ll see what actually happens. No real designs yet on the clip point.

Also heat treated another old file knife – this one is looking kind of like a steak knife. The jury is still out though.

Upside down...

I also started a couple of forging projects, one in CPM154 – probably a santoku, and one in Cru Forge V – small hunter. I have plans for both of them – one is a gift. The other I am thinking of a cord wrapped handle.

I also cast my bronze into a bar. I will try forging it next time. I hope it moves pretty well and doesn’t just crack and shatter. We’ll see.

I also (finally) added the stems to the pear knife stand.

Now if I can just finish the stand of the Manzanita Chef’s Knife…

There's more, but its a secret....

A

Goodbye 2010

I think this year went by faster than any other that I’ve experienced. I know that perspectives change a little as you age, but I think that this is about the most stable year I’ve had in recent memory, and that lack of upheavals may have had something to do with the speed with which it passed. Just hypothesizing. We’ll see how 2011 goes.

Since the last post, almost two months ago, I can’t say that I have spent all that much time in the shop, and in the last week or so it has been cold enough that I haven’t wanted too. Despite that, I have wrapped up a few projects, and am almost finished with a couple others.

The revised AR36 – now known as the pear knife, is much cooler now. I did some wood burning on the pearwood handle, and almost finished up a stand made of a couple of pears that I turned out of the same pear wood. They are waiting for stems, but this is what they look like now.

AR56 - I made a hunting knife for one of Erica’s dad’s friends. It’s a pretty simple one – basic drop point hunter, hidden tang, Madrone Burl handle, with a stainless guard. Simple leather sheath, but it turned out OK.

AR57 – Finally wrapping up the Dog Bowie. Sub-hilt fighter with Bowie style Stainless blade, finished with a gloss gunmetal blue bake-on Gun-kote protectant. I tried my hand at casting bronze for the guards, and set dog teeth (provided by the customer) between the guards. The sheath also has an inset panel with a cast bronze dog footprint. The handle is ebony and spalted maple.

I didn’t make any jewelry this year, but I did make a door. A fairy door that is. Not my usual thing, but Mom asked, so I gave it a shot. This one is cut from Ancient (30,000+ y.o.) Kauri from New Zealand, with a Pear stoop. The frame is domestic wood. I did some wood burning and painting, and Erica printed the stained glass window. Sadly it doesn’t open, but I’ve heard that only faeries can open them anyway.

The Door and The Door showing stained "glass".

I’ve got some idea’s for the shop, but you’ll just have to wait and see.

A

On the 11th month of 2010, my workshop gave to me…

One month ago I posted the Blackthorn Knife, which is winging its way off to Australia. I can’t believe it’s been a month. I can’t actually believe that 2010 is almost over either, I feel like it just got here. Oh well. It’s been a good year.

These days I have a hard time remembering what I did a half hour ago, let alone a month, but I’ve definitely made some knife progress.

I finished up a few revisions – most notably AR36, which I think will still change a little - I want to do a little wood burning on the handle...

AR36 Pear handled Chef's knife

and AR39,

AR39 - Sycamore and Amaranth Fighter - Leaf Spring Knife

completed a new Kukri-Machete (AR52),

AR52 - Curly Maple Kukri

a set of two chef’s knives(AR53 and 54 and their blocks),

AR53 - 6" Chefs Knife - Marblewood handle, Oak and Coccobolo Block

AR54 Redwood Burl 6" Chefs Knife, Rock Maple and Cherry Block

made Creepy Cleaver Mk II (Monster Cleaver!(AR55)),

9 1/2" Monster Cleaver - Staghorn Sumac Handle

am making slow progress on John from New Jersey’s blue stainless bowie and threw a couple new irons in the fire (Bigger Chef’s knife , probably paring knife, another mid-size kitchen knife and a hunting knife).

I am also continuously amazed at how dirty my hands get, even after washing a few times, using pumice soap and all that, and they still have little tiny metal bits in all the pores and crevices.

Sigh.

That's all for now folks.

Happy Holidays, and hopefully I will have more to share before Christmas!

Adam

Blackthorn Blade

The Blackthorn Blade is finally finished, complete with a show stand (made of ebony and holly), and a belt sheath (basswood liner, dyed 8oz cowhide back and loop, bison leather front). The concept and the blackthorn of the handle were provided by NRJJ.

Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)is a tree with an interesting history, being used as the traditional Irish shillelagh, walking sticks, and sloe gin from the berries. I was intrigued by the idea, and had a blade that seemed appropriate, in a sgian dubh style, so, with some discussion we decided to go for it.

It’s been quite a process to get this knife to where it is today. I’ve posted a few pictures of the process, but thought it might be nice to put them all in one place.

The blade is hand forged of 1095 high carbon steel in my charcoal forge and quenched and heat treated by me as well.

I worked on the blade first and, keeping with the blackthorn concept, put some vine and thorns file-work on the spine of the blade. This was my first file-work of that type.

Next I added a stacked water buffalo horn and nickel-silver spacer, to blend from the blade to the handle.

NRJJ sent me a number of root and branch pieces of blackthorn to pick the right one for his knife. One of them stood out to me as the obvious choice, so I shaped the end knob on the sander.

The wood itself is pale for the most part, but this particular piece has some interesting coloration in the knob, which stands out pretty well, and contrasts nicely with the dark bark.

Unfortunately the wood was a little thin as soon as you got any distance from the knob. In order to match the spacer, and provide a sufficiently robust handle, I had to split the blackthorn horizontally, which left a big gap between the top and bottom. I put it together anyway, and smoothed out the transition between the spacer and the handle, exposing some of the pale wood.

We decided that a black material would be the best to fill that gap, and to contrast with the wood. It worked pretty well, but is a pretty messy process.

In cleaning off the excess, some more of the dark brown bark came off. So, I had a situation – how to blend the very pale wood, with the dark bark. I cut the bark near the knob so that it wouldn’t peel, and then started applying layer after layer of finish.

After putting it all together, I decided it needed something shiny to break up the black, so I filed a couple of stainless pins, and that worked out pretty well. After a few more layers of finish, it was about done.

I worked the blade to hair popping sharp, and had a finished knife – except for marking the blade, which fortunately I didn’t screw up either.

An idea popped into my head when I was looking at the knife and its contrasts in black and white. I thought – hey! Let’s turn a ball of ebony and holly. That would be fun. So I glued together some ebony and holly, and spun away. The leftovers became the sides of the stand, and the ball holds the blade. A little arty, but I like it.

Since that was a little odd, I decided to make a sheath as well. I think it turned out pretty well too, and is much more understated than the stand.

Final result: ~NRJJ~ II: 4" Blade, 11" Overall.

And that... is that.

Unusual, but fun.

A few more knives

So...

I've had a little more time now that Erica isn't playing roller derby. And I get to spend a little bit more time in the shop. I also spend a little bit more time at work now that I am the (acting) Director of Environmental and Natural Resources for the Pueblo of Laguna. As usual I am experimenting with a few things, and here are the current results.

AR49 - Redwood Hunter. Nice little drop point hunter, with a blacked out blade. The matte black Gunkote is really easy to work with! Much easier than the Gloss Gun Blue, which you will see in a while. AR49 has a 3 3/4" blade of forged S35VN, and is 9 1/4" overall, the handle is redwood burl from northern California, and brass pins hold it together.

AR50 - Black Mesquite Tanto. Only my second tanto, this one has a slightly dropped point, which might make it a drop point tanto? I don't know, knife naming conventions are a little odd. I'd never used black mesquite before either, didn't even know it existed. AR50 has a 3 3/8" blade of forged S35VN and is 9 1/8" overall. I hand ground the stainless guard, and am pretty happy with how it turned out. It also has a stainless pommel, and the black mesquite handle is held together with stainless pins.

AR51 - Paring knife? Another stab at using file steel. And some slightly bizarre handle material - Saguaro cactus spine. Not quite as dramatic as cholla cactus, but maybe one of the other pieces will stand out more. AR51 has a 2 3/4" blade made from an old file, and is 8 3/8" overall. It has Saguaro cactus spine as the handle, with kingwood accents at the front and back, and a single brass pin to hold the tang in place. Not my standard handle shape, but I like the way it looks. Kind of a Japanese style in my mind.

My kukri isn't done yet, but here is a taste.

Thats all for today.

Adam