The Bow is done...

The bow is done.  And now I want more J

So I learned a few things making this one – unsurprising since it was my first one.  I ended up doing two coats of fiberglass and epoxy, since I sanded through the first one in one place.  I also clearly didn’t work the bow enough while I was tillering, since a slight hinge appeared later on.  I also managed to pop the riser off a couple of times, so I switched from epoxy to wood glue, and no problems after that.   But!  I hit my target weight about exactly.  My cheap luggage scale (about $10) reads at 39.8# at the cheek.  I think my draw might be a little short of 28” so I am pretty much on track there. 

I also didn’t brace it quite far enough out initially, so the string was pounding my thumb each time I took a shot.  A slight shortening of the string, increasing brace height, and no more problems.   No propeller to the bow so I guess I chose a good piece of oak.

Now I have a couple of problems…I have one arrow, which probably isn’t the right weight for the bow.  I’d like to have enough that I don’t have to go to the target quite so often and can practice nocking a little bit.  I also don’t have a particularly good place to shoot.  Not that this should be a problem in New Mexico, where there is quite a bit of open space, but I need to find one.

And now I want to make a couple more.  I’d like to try osage orange and hickory and a bamboo backing and a recurve or reflex/deflex of some sort.  Obviously not all at once, although I guess I could with a laminated bow.  I’ll probably order some fiberglass tape, and I wonder if I should try carbon fiber as well?  I don’t think I am ready for a real sinew bow yet though. 

Now, I don’t really have the time to do any of this, but having a successful first attempt is always invigorating, and having some (4) of my co-workers ask to buy it is a pretty nice compliment.

I took it in to NiceArchery here in Albuquerque, and plan have some arrows built for it.  I’m not quite ready to build my own yet. We shot it a bit in the store and Robert thinks it needs a 400 spine, although he was expecting it to need a 600. I'm sure I wouldn't know :)  But I'll take his advice.  Once I learn to shoot again, maybe some nice wooden arrows, but I'll go with the durability of carbon fiber for now.

I did make some slight progress on many of the knives too, but they still aren’t done.

In other news, one of my awesome staff members made me some traditional Laguna shoes!  No I am not pigeon toed, but it was easier to take the picture :)

Thanks Nevin!

2014's first post

2014 – The next quarter.

Wow, my last post was a long time ago. 

I haven’t had all that much time to work in the shop, but I have done some, I think I have about 5 knives that are up to the annoying and boring parts – getting out the scratches, and polishing them, and smoothing and finishing the handles. 

I haven’t worked on the razor again – so I still don’t know if the handle is the easy part.

I made another Bloodwood bowl and discovered that the allergic reaction wasn’t a fluke the first time.  I also made a bunch of other bowls, a few more full shaving sets, and tried some Antique Brass Bolt Action Pens (that I don’t like as much as the gold ones). 

I also started a red oak board bow – thanks to www.poorfolkbows.com 

I didn’t really know what I was getting into with this one, but way back in the day I loved archery and bows and had a Robin Hood hero issue.  I’ll blame Errol Flynn for that.  I haven’t owned too many bows.  There was the old long bow that my parents found in a closet in an apartment many years ago that finally broke when I was playing with it in the cold – probably still useable somewhere with a little glue since the only thing that broke was the riser.  Then a couple years later I bought a 35# recurve at Pennsic.  It didn’t move with me from wherever I was, but stayed with my friend Dave, who used it and then I think traded it for a crossbow.  And I haven’t had one since.

Now, I work for a Pueblo in the southwest, and am in charge of Big Game hunting (among other things) and think about hunting more than I ever did in the past.  AND my daughter saw “Brave” or as she calls it “Disney-Pixar Brave” because branding is everything apparently.  So I carved her a bow out of a 2x2, broke it, then rebuilt it as a takedown bow.  It’s cute, and it works pretty well.  She is still having a hard time coordinating everything, which is frustrating for me, but I think she’ll get the hang of it.

Anyway, I decided I wanted one too – and then looked at how much a decent longbow or recurve costs – I’m not really into compounds. And decided to make one instead.

After a little searching, not too much, I found the www.poorfolkbows.com  tutorial.  Now, I do have a few more tools than are used in the tutorial – a belt sander, a band and table saw, etc…   But I’m still pretty much starting from scratch. I’ve ordered an adjustable Flemish string from www.3riversarchery.com , since the twisted silk that I tried snapped. No I know that (twisted silk cloth) isn’t a standard string, but I know they make silk strings, and that silk is very strong, and I had a spool of it lying around.  I also ordered a luggage scale so that I can tiller the bow to the right weight; And built a tillering tree. And some car repair fiberglass, with which I backed the bow.  So now I need to wait for all of that to arrive so that I can do the next step – the tillering.  Right now it looks like it is pretty even, but I won’t know what the draw weight is at all until the scale comes in (lots cheaper than an actual bow scale – hope it works).

 

Not 100% sure that the fiberglass and epoxy will be ideal, but the glass was cheap, and the epoxy was in the shop already.

I guess we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Hangedmandesigns etsy store is LIVE

Good Afternoon,
  Just wanted to share that my awesome wife has made my etsy store happen.  It will be a slow process to get acceptable pictures of all the items taken, edited, and posted, but we've started the process with a couple of bowls, pens, etc...  Stop by and check it out!

www.etsy.com/shop/HangedManDesigns 


Katalox Bowl



Tamboti Pen


Ancient Kauri Letter Opener

Getting Closer...

After a couple weekends I have a few products available for listing on the future etsy store.  I’ll be pulling out old stock as well of course, and have a variety of other things to make before Erica takes nice pictures of things, but here are a couple samples.

 Shaving soap bowls, razor and matching stand and bolt action pens...

 And more razors, stands and pens.

 One of my challenges is remembering or figuring out what type of wood I made things out of – especially when it’s one that I don’t use often, or is an old scrap of something that I made a long time ago.  Some woods are pretty unique and don’t cause me issues, but as I expand my wood turnings, I am experimenting with more than I’m used to.  I’m also developing allergies to some of them – not a surprise when it comes to Cocobolo, but definitely a surprise for the Blood wood.  I am now intimidated by my block of Rengas, which has a warning on the wood indicating that it is related to Poison Ivy/Oak and has similar compounds.  Where is my Tyvek suit when I need it?  And fully enclosed respirator?

I’m also learning that getting a nice even hollow grind is hard, not sure how many straight razors I will ever end up with, but at least I started J

After stringing the bow I made Autumn, I tried it with a real arrow, and snapped it in half.  With a little work, it became a takedown longbow, and works just fine.  Her technique leaves a little to be desired, but she’s working on it!

That's all for now folks.

A

A new Etsy Store...HangedManDesigns

Hanged Man Designs Etsy Store…

It’s not active yet, but it will be.  I’m intending this to be a clearing house for my crafts, Knives, Pens, Bowls, Shaving Brushes, Pipes, razors (Mach 3 and possibly straight) and whatever miscellaneous man stuff I manage to come up with (not that women can’t use this stuff too-shaving with straight razors is sexy!).

When it’s active, you’ll be able to access it at: www.etsy.com/shop/HangedManDesigns

I have managed to get a little bit of work done in the shop over the last couple of weeks.  One of my friends, the amazing Pat Pruitt – check out his work at: http://www.patpruitt.com/, just got married, so I made a nice little bowl out of bloodwood…and immediately developed a pretty nasty rash on the inside of my elbows – didn’t realize I was allergic to it.  I know I am getting sensitive to coccobolo, but never had issues with bloodwood before.
                                    

I forgot to take a picture, but he was nice enough to take a few for me for me - Nice work again Pat.

As you know from the last post, I finished off my Kindjal project – inspired by my friend Jason Marker of http://www.amalgamatedfiction.com/  who just wrapping up a Kickstarter for a Savage Worlds Role Playing game setting: www.accursedrpg.com 

I also finished up my W2 Tanto.  Not at all a traditional handle, but I like it, and that is what is important.  It has the best hamon that I have managed to create so far, nice and dark, but not a whole lot of activity.

I’ve been working on a little 1084 mini kindjal – I’m thinking that I will use a modern handle (canvas micarta), and making it my interpretation of a Crysknife – without the worm tooth – since I haven’t been able to find one yet. I’m still in the forging and shaping period of this one.

I’m working on a couple matching shaving sets – Soap bowls, Mach 3 razors, and badger brushes.

I’ll be putting together another several bolt action pens – at least a couple will be deer antler, and depending on leftovers, I might manage to add a pen to the one or two of the shaving sets.

I started on another pipe, and have the materials for a few more – might do a pipe and fountain pen set too – out of briar of course.  If I can figure it out, I think it will be two bents and a straight pipe.

I also tried to make my daughter a longbow. But I used an old 2x2 pine board as the body., and as I didn’t know, but expected, pine isn’t ideal for this sort of project.  I fully expect the bow to break either when I string it, or when I try to draw it.  I also don’t know how heavy the pull will be.

Lastly, I’ve decided to finally try my hand a couple straight razors. VERY early stages, but it did get me to finally unpack my wet/dry grinder that has been sitting in its box for over a year!

Hopefully, and update with a shop opening date will happen soon.

Alloy Banding - Kindjal

Have you ever searched for the answer to a question many times, only to, much later, stumble across the answer? 

Some time ago, I forged a chef’s knife out of 1084 steel:

When I quenched and heat treated it, a weird zig-zag pattern appeared. I got it to happen in another piece as well, but didn’t know what it was.  Apparently, I recently learned, this is called carbon banding or alloy banding.  From the quench line to the edge, the steel reverted back to a plain silver/grey.  The knife is still sitting on my shelf, so I don’t really know how the performance is affected. It’s still pretty though.  I’ll just have to see how my current project works out, since I’m working in 1084 again.

And this time…nothing, possibly if I hadn’t used clay to try to get a pattern in the hamon; but who knows.

So here is the project…

Not too long ago I started working on a Kindjal – in this case a double edged slightly curved long knife, in the style of weapons used by the Cossacks a couple hundred years ago. There are various stories about the origins of the knife, but they don’t all agree, so that’s what I am calling it.

I started off with a foot long piece of 3/8^th inch thick, 2 inch wide 1084FG steel.

Over a couple of forging sessions I stretched it and shaped it to about 20 inches of blade and handle.

I’ve mentioned many times that making something double edged is a pain – and this was no exception.

In the past I’ve gotten some interesting banding patterns in this type of steel, so I thought I’d give it a shot with a clay temper, once I got to that point.

Working with such a long blade was kind of a pain, because the weight of the blade would bend the hot metal more than I wanted.

The quenched blade did need some minor straightening as well.

After waaaaay too much time spent polishing (belt sander to 320, then back to 220 hand, 320, 400, 600, (ran out of 800), 1000, 1500, 2000.

There was a slight suggestion of a temper line towards the handle, but a little acid failed to show anything else, so I buffed it back to a mirror.

There were still a few irregularities along the back edge that I took care of with a diamond file.

I went with a more traditional handle, 3/8” Brass for the guard that will be just wider than the blade, stepping down to the grip, finally stepping back up to a rounded pommel.  I used a variety of pins to decorate the handle – not quite what I was planning, but my selection of carbide bits is a bit marginal at the moment.  Time to buy some more to match my collection.

I decided to go with a piece of Tineo (South American) for the handle, fairly light colored wood, but with some flaming – I intentionally chose a piece without much veining.  I turned the handle on the lathe and then flattened the sides for a nice feel.

All that is left now is the final edge and marking the base of the blade.

August 2013 - The month I turned 40.

August

The glacial pace of work in the shop has continued since my last post.  I have managed to make a few things though.

Back in March, I talked about clay tempering and slowed a couple of blades.  Well, I finally got around to finishing 2 of them.

The tanto (AR67) has a hammered titanium guard, Macassar Ebony and stacked leather handle, and brass Raaen pins.

The drop point hunter (AR68) also has a hammered titanium guard, and a desert ironwood handle with brass Raaen pins. 

Now, you may not have heard of Vernon and Helen Raaen of Tennessee, and they don’t have much of a web presence, but their son Nial was my next door neighbor growing up and helped inspire my desire to make knives.  When his father passed away, Nial, knowing that I made knives, offered me a bunch of pins in a variety of sizes, so expect to see them on a lot of my work in the future, if I ever manage to produce a lot again.  Thanks again Nial, and thanks to Vernon and Helen as well.  One of their chef’s knives is still in daily use in my kitchen.

Turning projects….

I had thought I was done with my bolt action pens, but found that I had three more.  So I made and sold those also – amboyna burl, macassar ebony, and black ash burl. 

 At request I also made a matching ball point and fountain pen set out of kingwood.

I can’t believe that it has been almost 4 months since I turned a bowl – but I was getting kind of board with those also.  I had a series of pieces split, crack, or generally break on me, and that soured me a little bit.  I was dreaming that I would put 20-30 together and give them as Christmas presents.  Maybe I will start up again one of these days, I think I’m about a third of the way there.  I do still have quite a bit of wood left over.

Oh yeah, I finished up another ice cream scoop in Macassar Ebony.

Back in March/April when I was working on the bowls, I bought a replaceable carbide tipped roughing tool for my shop.  It is amazing how much faster and easier it is to work with that hard and sharp of a tool.  I’m pretty sure that without it, I wouldn’t have finished quite so many bowls.  I haven’t tried sharpening the bits with my diamond sharpener, but I’m hoping that I can extend the life of them just a little bit.

Upcoming projects…

I started working on a new pepper grinder – and had to repair my salt grinder as well.  So hopefully I will finish that soon, and post them together.

I have the 2^nd Tanto blade, that I would like to get a handle on soon.  I’d like to make a slightly fancier guard rather than just the beaten titanium, but I’m not quite there yet, nor do I have a design.  I also haven’t figured out what I want to do with the handle.  I might try for traditional Japanese style (rayskin, silk cord) since I have those, and haven’t done it yet; but I really haven’t decided yet.  I also have some more modern materials that might work well – m3 volcanic black ash, white canvas micarta.  We’ll see.  Might depend on how the guard turns out.

I also want to make a Kindjal.  Double edged but curved – did I mention how much I dislike making double edged knives, and here I am,wanting to do another??

I must be crazy!

I also turned 40 this month.