Tops, Spears, and Fairy Dresses!

I’m a little late in welcoming 2017, but not as late as I was in welcoming 2016…which I just did a few minutes ago.

It has certainly been a busy 2017, and it is only the end of January.  My year hasn’t been anything like the year on a national or political level, but still busy with travel and work and even a little bit of time in the shop.

Late last year I made a few tops – this is new for me, and I did sell one, so far the best one.  It is interesting to see how wood density changes the balance of these things.  The first was Guayacan or genuine Lignum Vitae – my favorite wood, nice and dense with very even density overall.  I also made a Bloodwood, and Myrtlewood and couple others that I can’t remember at the moment. If I can figure out how to upload the video I will post that. Otherwise it will be a still.

I also made a spear!  Not quite 100% satisfied with the butt end (not pictured here J for just that reason). 

One aside: I traveled to Michigan over the holidays and with my daughters and mother visited the Ann Arbor Matthaei Botanical Gardens – we only had a few minutes inside, but managed to see the fairy dresses that they had on display.  Pretty cool.

I also have another set of blades in progress – they are farther along now, and you’ll recognize a few from a couple years ago…

At least it is still January…

Realizations

Note - I think this one was in November 2016 as well.  But it has some pictures!!!

As I was finishing up a knife a couple weeks ago, I realized that I hadn’t finished a knife all year – since the knife show last year in fact. I certainly knew that I hadn’t made much progress, but since I had at least worked on a few, I thought I must have finished one. Then I checked the serial numbers, and found out that I was wrong.  So I proceeded to crank out eight knives.  A couple of them have been in progress for years. 

This batch has a lot of hammer textured spines and carbon scale.  But not on all of them.  Also my first kiridashi, a massive curved machete, a ring knife that I started for the show last year, and a weird skinner of my own design.  There are still another 3-4 that I could probably finish off in a couple days of moderate effort.

And then my pens started selling – before I was expecting anything to happen, and then one of my oldest knives sold! So we ordered a bunch of pen supplies and Erica started listing some of the knives with sheaths.  Have I mentioned that I don’t like making sheaths?  I think that is the real barrier to selling my knives.  They are interesting unique and functional, with (in my opinion) some artistry to them.

So – back to pens.  I spent some time this weekend turning pen blanks – over twenty of them.  And tried some new styles as well – Music Pens; Gearshift pens; Steampunk bolt action; and now I have kits for tops and more wine bottle stoppers and a couple of other things as well.

The day after all the work, I started to itch. I am annoyed.  I wore my fancy dust mask, safety glasses, etc.  I thought I filtered out all of the nasty sawdust from the species that I am allergic too, but I guess I was wrong. I now have my standard systemic rash, but am taking anti-allergy meds to control the symptoms rather than just the hydrocortisone cream.

Some of the pens are coming out well.  The bullet pens are pretty easy and fast.  The Music Pens are pretty unsatisfying and have some quirks – not my favorite.  The Gearshift ones are pretty cool.  The Steampunk are too expensive but are pretty cool.

Right now I am recovering from the allergies.  Not very happy about it. 

Leadership, inspiration

Note – I wrote this one in November 2016, clearly a followup on the Marketing and Blogging post

Thoughts of the day – What is leadership?

Leadership is bringing people together to accomplish a goal. How do you do that – inspiring people to seek that goal.  Although there may be management and administration behind a leader that results in a more efficient process, or more success at achieving the goal, that is not leadership.  Leadership again, is convincing, inspiring, and selling some idea to those you intend to lead.  So leadership and marketing have a lot in common.

So I just did a quick web search on marketing and inspiration and I have to say, they overlapped less than I expected.  Some key tidbits that stood out are:

1.       Have a clear goal

2.       Make a connection – why should your audience listen to you.

3.       Inspire trust

4.       Connect your story with other influencers

5.       Help solve a problem

6.       Interact with your audience – give feedback

7.       Take different angles

8.       Take advantage of brand loyalty

9.       Humor

10.   Stand out – innovate

11.   Give more

12.   Be confident

 Be passionate

It is easy to sell to people who want to buy, give them a reason.

You don’t have to be inspired to be inspiring… but it helps.

I recently took a class on leadership (Freudian slip, I started typing “marketing”), during that class we discussed a variety of world leaders from the last century or three, looking at successes and failures.  People like Henry Ford, Mother Theresa, Hitler and Napoleon.  It was interesting to look at these individual, not necessarily from a historic perspective, but as leaders.  They all inspired, sold a goal, and created empires of sorts.  Many of them over-extended themselves, trusted the wrong people or no one, and inspired the death of many people. 

Anyway, one of the exercises was to try to inspire people to charge the beach on D-day.  I don’t think I did a very good job, but I also didn’t have time to plan the speech and was working with minimal information.  Excuses.

Anyway, with a few minutes more I think I could have done a much better job of selling now. And with a few notes to keep me on track…well that probably would have helped too.

I am a good leader in Natural Resources and Environmental management because I have a connection to the subject.  I understand the problems, I know the players and the theories, I can sell the goal, share the solutions, and with a little time and research I can connect to almost anyone, and that means that I SHOULD be able to sell, but a little strategic planning helps.

Why? Because having a clear goal helps. Because having a game plan helps maintain your confidence.  Because having a plan helps you prepare the humor and connection.  Being confident lets you share passion for your goal. And in the end if you have a clear goal, and can inspire others to have the same goal, you are a leader.

Marketing and Blogs

~Note~ I wrote this one in September 2016, finally getting around to posting it. Oops.

I am not naturally a social person. I have a magnet on my fridge that says, “There are two kinds of people in the world, and I don’t like them”. The social environment is usually pretty exhausting for me, and I never thought that I would be spending so much time talking to people as a career; especially because I went to school to be a wildlife biologist.  Sounds like a good career for someone who likes to spend a lot of alone time, out in the woods or desert, waiting and watching.  But then…if you do an OK job, they ask you to manage a crew of biologist, then to write some grants, then to manage a program or department, and all of a sudden, you aren’t in the field any more.  You spend all day looking at a computer or in meetings. Suddenly your job is to be social. Your job is to sell your research grant, or program to upper administration (or whoever allocates money) so that your program can keep going.  Your job is to sell the mission of the organization, or department, or program or even the specific job that an employee has, so that THEY can be passionate about whatever it is that they do. And all you want to do is wander off into the woods, read a book, and just be alone.  It is not the life you expect when you think of yourself as an introvert.

Introverts and Extroverts are not always as different as people think, in my mind, what it really comes down to is energy.  An introvert gathers energy when they are alone; an extrovert gathers energy from being with others.  An introvert is exhausted after a party; an extrovert is ready to hit the next one.  But an introvert can give a speech, motivate people, be the life of the party, lead a group, just like an extrovert can.  I am an introvert that has to work like an extrovert for my career.  It is tiring.

So what about Marketing and Blogs?

I didn’t know it when I started my career, but everyone needs to understand marketing, and how to do it. At some point in your life, you will need to sell something, whether it is an idea, a research project, a car, yourself to a prospective employer.  Everyone needs the basic skills to convince someone else.  Now I think that everyone should take a marketing class so that they understand the basic concepts – It would help out a lot of people. Enjoying selling is different too – and I think I am reverting back to the In vs Ex discussion here.  I can take satisfaction in a job well done once I have successfully made my pitch – but I don’t have a passion for it.

So what about blogs.

Blogs are a method of showing yourself to the world, of selling yourself.  It isn’t the same as doing it in person, but it is still – to me- an extroverted activity.  The assumption that others will care about whatever it is that you are writing about…and come back for more.  The more you write, the more likely that you will get a following.  I, clearly, am not very good at it.  I have a number of blogs in draft form, waiting for pictures, I have others that are really just internal monologues that I don’t feel like exposing to my 3 active followers – or however many there are.  My last posted one – at least as I write this, was nearly a year ago.  Why would anyone follow a blogger that only posts once or twice or even 12 times a year?  Not good marketing.  I’d be very curious to know what percentage of bloggers consider themselves intro vs extra-verted. And if it is different that the twitter-ers (not the followers mind you, but the ones who actively post). My guess is that most active social media participants are extroverts, and that most of the followers are introverts – living vicariously through those they follow.

Archery Thoughts 2016

-Note- I wrote this a while ago, but never attached pictures. Sorry. Posting now about 7 months late...

Thoughts on Archery

I don’t know how old I was when I first became interested in archery, but I think I was pretty young.  I was a cub scout, and read biographies of mountain men and indian scouts.  I poured over picture books about Native Americans and western adventure.  I remember pine sticks and string that dad put together.  He also had an old bow that he had found – that I think I finally broke it as a young adult – it was a nice long bow – or at least it seemed pretty long at the time.  At boyscout camp I shot basic compound bows for the first time, but living in the city it didn’t really seem appropriate, and dad didn’t hunt, so it wasn’t something that really came up. 

I remember loving stories about Robin Hood – on records, and then books and movies – I still have fond memories of Errol Flynn in the Adventures of Robin Hood, and I didn’t know anything about Howard Hill at the time. There was also gaming, and bows certainly played a role there as well, I had characters that were archers, or rangers that all carried bows.  My interest in the outdoors supported these ideas, learning about nature, camping, hiking and exploring all fit with the fantasy worlds that I read about and played in.

Then, when I was playing around with the SCA I finally bought a recurve, but I didn’t have any arrows, so I didn’t use it – in fact I don’t know if I have ever fired an arrow from it.  I left it with my friend Dave when I left the state.

Not too long ago, I decided to get back into it. So I looked up making bows online.  My first attempt looked pretty good, red oak with a backing of fiberglass tape.  It was stiff and slow and it worked OK for a while, long enough that I had custom arrows made for it. Then it broke.  I also tried salt cedar a few times, and they broke, and I tried laminating a bow together, and it broke.  Erica bought me a bow for my birthday – a nice simple Samick Journey - #45 take down recurve, since I wasn’t having any luck building a bow, and I started practicing with that.

But I still had the bug to build my own, so I bought a kit from Bingham Archery Supplies and built a form, and pressed it all together, and shaped it, and ended up with a lovely almost #40, 72” long bow.  It shoots very sweetly and is pretty accurate, and quiet.  But it isn’t as stiff or fast as I would like.  The recurve is closer to what I was looking for as far as performance – but I didn’t build it. I have also built up my ability to draw a bow, so I’d like an even stiffer one. 

I now have a wide variety of arrows also – I had some built for my long bow, and the ones for the broken bow work great with the recurve, and I have a few others of different spines and materials that aren’t quite perfect for either.  I wonder if I should build my own arrows too? I don’t have the tools for that right now, and am not sure I want to invest in the project.  But I might at least get a fletching jig so that I can fix arrows that get damaged (I bought one, and have fixed a couple so far. Good investment.  I guess I don’t really need any other tools to build arrows – except a die to cut the feathers into the right shape. 

What is next?  I have a few options, and really want to do them all.  The cheapest and simplest is to buy new heavier limbs for my recurve – that would let me know if I can draw that weight or if I want to go heavier.  I would also like to buy a Mongolian style bow.  Third, I would like to build another, reflex/deflex long bow – hopefully picking up a little speed, but still able to call it my own.  And forth, last for now, I think about an English War bow – over 6 feet long, #90+ monsters that throw massive arrows.  And then the question is, how much do I want to spend on all of this? 

Update: I finished another bow. I started with a 20”riser that I put together from Bloodwood, Ipe, and Maple, then ordered a kit from Bingham for #55 bamboo and carbon for 68” straight longbow with an 18” riser. Then I made a form that was a bit reflex-deflex.  When it was all assembled at 68” I got a 65” string and noticed that it was still a pretty light draw.  I did some math and with a target of about #50-55 cut 2.5 inches off each end – so I now had a 63” longbow.  There was added incentive to this – I had a 60” string on my 64” Journey recurve.  I strung it, and it felt stiff.  Maybe I’m just weak?  I’ve been doing some exercise specifically for the purpose of a higher draw weight, so I didn’t think so, but maybe?  I noticed how bad my form was to compensate for the higher weight – more exercise necessary obviously, but it shoots, it shoots pretty straight, my 400 spine arrows seem to work about right. Then I took it in to work to discuss with my arrow shooting colleagues.  The local guess was 60-65 pounds.  Last night I set it up with my luggage scale, drew it to 28” and found that it is 65#, pretty much on the money.  I guess I wasn’t as weak as I thought I was.  But I still need to work on it. I feel like I have gotten better already with practice.  I have lost two arrows through my fence though – need to put in a stiffer back stop so that when I miss everything I don’t lose any more arrows.

Today over lunch I decided that I would try it for flight shooting – ie going for maximum distance.  I don’t know if I am getting the angle right, but I tried it 3 times, twice with Easton XX75’s and once with one of my wooden shafts.  They ranged from about 238-250 paces, probably about the same in yards – the terrain was flat and not any wind to speak of.  I think my longer bow (37.5#) did about 180, but that was a much hillier terrain, so harder to compare. 

I am still planning to buy a Grozer bow, he came out with a batch of Hungarian bows, up to 50#, but I really want about 55#, and maybe higher as a result of my current long bow.  I am hoping that the next batch is Assyrian, but we will see.  And then last night the new batch appeared on-line!  I ordered a 52# Assyrian, so I will have a 37, 45, 52 and 65.  I think that will be enough.  I sure hope so J  Next mission…arrows.

UPDATE:  I got it and it is beautiful – now my favorite bow!  Fast, light, traditional, and a good weight!  I haven’t tried it from a distance perspective yet, but I am guessing it will beat the 65#.

I had one of my colleagues say that they might order a bow from me.  I don’t know if I am consistent enough for that – or maybe I am since the first two started right around 38#… I’m just not good at hitting my weight target.

Back to the main story.

The other question is, what am I going to do with all of these bows? I can shoot them in my back yard, but there isn’t a lot of diversity there.  I could go to one of the archery shops, but shooting inside seems lame (yes, I climb inside, but that is more due to time restrictions – if I could do that at home I would, or better, go to the field and climb real rock! But I haven’t even been to the gym in a few months). 

I feel like I should get a hunting permit and try to shoot something. But I’m not really sure I am ready, or accurate enough. 

Mostly, I just want to try out a few more bows, and figure out what style and weight I am really looking for, and then get pretty good with that. And THEN, maybe try hunting something with it.

Right now shooting in my back yard is therapeutic – it takes focus, but is peaceful (funny, shooting a weapon is peaceful).  I have made a couple of light bows for the kids, and they are variably excited about it, Autumn mostly after Brave came out, and Penny suddenly took interest after Autumn’s interest level dropped off.  Interestingly enough, Penny’s focus is better than Autumn’s was.

My accuracy is getting better, despite mismatched arrows, and switching among bows.  Most of my arrows hit the 18” target that I have set up on the back fence.  I finally had to get a foam block target – I was using a wallboard backstop, then straw, then another board, with a fence behind that, but after repeated use, I was punching through too often, and, since there is another shed and home behind that, it wasn’t really safe anymore. I still miss every once and a while, but the set up seems to stop things before the fence most of the time.  Unfortunately, not all of the time.  I need to beef up my back stop. I’ve lost two arrows into the neighbor’s yard…

Motivation and Progress

-Note- I wrote these a while back, almost a year ago in some cases, planning to add pictures.  Because I never got around to adding the pictures I didn't post them.  I'm going to post them now anyway, and maybe someday make a new post that has a bunch of pictures.   Or maybe I'll never get around to the pictures.

Motivation comes in fits and starts. Sometimes just starting something can get you going. Other times, not so much. For me there are days that I try to start a craft project and I realize that if I keep going I will either 1. Break it, or 2. Hurt myself, or 3. Both.  Those are good days to stop.

Since last August/September, when I did the USN show in Vegas, I haven’t posted.  It was a frustrating experience, and I know that it wasn’t my market.  I sold a knife, and it was to a friend of mine.  I sold way more of my pens, and all of that activity was in the last day. It made me think about shifting gears to folding knives, but I’m not sure that I have the precision to do that.  As a result, I didn’t do ANYTHING in my shop for a good long while. 

Have I ever talked about my shop?  Most people would call it the backyard.  I actually have 3 shops though, and only one is the backyard.  My forge, anvil, and most big tools live in a small shed in the back yard with my collection of wood, scraps and leftovers from the previous homeowners.  I do work in there, but only to forge.

 My second shop is in the house, it holds my drill press, hand tools and smaller stuff, and my archery equipment, some of my books, leather working equipment, more wood, stone and some other supplies; not to mention wrapping paper, motorcycle gear, and a variety of other clutter. 

My third shop is the backyard on a concrete slab with a beat-up work bench.  This is where most of the work happens. It goes something like this…

Great I have some time, let’s set up the shop:  drag the extension cord out from the house to the bench; haul the belt sander, the table saw and the lathe out of the shed and distribute so that they are either out of the way, or ready for use; bring out whatever projects I am working on. Get started.  Obviously, weather and light affect this.  It is not pleasant to work in sub-zero temperatures (unless I am working the forge – which heats things up nicely).  It is also not pleasant in 100+ heat (especially in the forge, but then it feels cool outside, which is a little odd).  High winds are sometimes helpful, but can be frustrating, depending on what I am working on. After dark it is not safe to work (since I can’t see what I am doing). Did I mention that I commute 45 minutes to work, and generally work more than 8 hours a day, and help with Roller Derby?  Not a lot of time left after that.

So, I get the shop set up and…it starts to rain, or the wind blows away my sandpaper, or the kids need some food, or I need some food.  The distractions add up to not quite so much time as I might like to play at my crafting hobbies.  I think I do pretty well considering the things fighting against me.

But enough about the shop.  What have I been working on?  Since last labor day:

More bowls – some more successful than others – I tried some Australian Myrtle bowl, that had really weird holes in it, and tried to fill those with epoxy and turquoise and a variety of other materials, and I have pretty much decided that it was a failure, and that I don’t really like working with Myrtle – it tears too easily on the lathe.

Broken bowls

Alligator Juniper on the other hand is fun to work with – smells nice, is soft but turns well, and is pretty.

Maple is one of my favorites now – and I re-handled (again) the Kershaw Antelope II that I found and modified.

Bottle Brush wood

And some others

Two Leather Bracelets

A mess of pens

A quiver for the arrows that a second degree friend made for me

A pouch to match the quiver

A pen case

A few shaving sets, and extra brush handles. Manzanita with turquoise and copper accents, Myrtlewood, and Juniper.

And I’ve roughed out a few knives.

I broke a few too – I don’t know if I got the metal too hot, or the anvil was too cold, but I broke two with two blows of the hammer. I’m going to reclaim 4 knives out of the two larger ones if I can.

I also broke my favorite hammer handle (birdseye maple) and replaced it with Hickory.

I’ve been dreaming about making another laminated longbow, and have put together a couple of potential risers, and trying one more time with a salt cedar self-bow.  I don’t think I am going to back it this time, we’ll see what happens.

And since I have been working with a retired judge on and off, I am working on a gavel.

That looks like a lot of stuff – and here I thought I was slacking off?

USN - Knives and Pens galore

My friend Pat has invited me to share his table at the Usual Suspects Network annual show in Las Vegas for Labor Day weekend.

This is intimidating because:  
1. I have never done a real knife show;
2. They are a tactical crowd and I don’t really do tactical;
3. I don’t really like people all that much and have a hard time pushing my own work;
4. I don’t really know how to price this stuff, and general just wing it.

That said, I am interested and very curious if I can sell any of my work – be it classic or tactical.  I’ve also decided I should do some tactical style knives to increase my chances.  I’ve got some designs in mind already – just need to have the time to put them all together.

Then there are the sheaths.  People like to have places to keep their knives, and I can make leather sheaths of various styles.  BUT…tactical people like kydex, which I find to be noisy.  So I need to figure out if I can felt-line kydex to make it quiet.  And figure out if I can make kydex sheaths at all.

Experimentation is expensive and takes time.  So I need to buy a kydex kit.  I want to try wrapping handles, so I need some cord – but not just plain Para cord.  I should probably buy some taps and dies and get some other screws for handles.  I need more leather to build sheaths for the knives I already have.  It may seem like September is a long way away – but it feels like next week. (Update 5 - Now it IS next week).

Update 1: I haven’t made it that far yet, but making some knives has been fun – I think I want to do a couple machetes as well – which are a pain in the butt since they are so big.   I’ve started a kerambit of sorts, and a tanto, and a short bladed stabby knife, and a unicorn shank, ok so the unicorn shank isn’t very tactical – tacky maybe.

Unicorn Shank - Twisted CruForge V with Cocobolo and Ebony Handle.


I’ve looked for better cord than para, but haven’t been very successful, the options seem to be dyneema, spectra, and Kevlar, but they all have some problems, so I may just go with para after all. Boring, but what people are used to. And available in a rainbow of colors…like black…or drab…or rescue orange, because really, who needs any other colors?

Update 2: I want to make the knives black or grey.  Seems like the style for these things.  I was going to use GunKote – which I have used in the past, but my can of it seems to be dead, and although it isn’t hugely expensive, shipping is ridiculous and I haven’t found it locally yet.  I may check a couple gunsmith shops this weekend.  There are a couple of other options.  Bluing the knives, dipping them in acid, mixed mustards, and probably some others as well.

I did pick up some paracord – went with Digital camo.  Should look good with black.

I still don’t want to do sheaths.

I also have an idea for a knife that may take precedence over the machetes – especially since I don’t have the metal for machetes at the moment. Hmm…don’t have enough for that either. Guess I need to buy some steel.

Update 3:

I blued the tanto and the kerambit.  I paracord wrapped the tanto – which I think turned out pretty well, but I may have my friend rewrap it since I am new at this.  The kerambit got M3 Lava macromolecular material, which I think turned out beautifully.  It was my first use, and is kinda pricy, but so far I’m pretty impressed.  I’d definitely use it again. I think it would be pretty sweet on the kind of tactical folder that I don’t make. :/

The stabby knife got an acid-wash, and a coyote tan canvas micarta handle.  I wrapped it with paracord too, for good measure.  I think they all turned out well, but the kerambit is definitely the most elegant.

I started a couple more kerambits since I liked the first one so much.  I may even try to make an inside curve to the blade. I don’t currently have anything particularly good to grind that curve, but I bet I can manage.

I also have ideas for friction folders, which I haven’t done yet.  I keep trying to decide if I want to buy some titanium to use as a liner.  Decisions, decisions.

Update 4:

No friction folders in the short term at least, no time before the USN Show.

The 4 loophole knives are coming along nicely – 2 kerambits and two scimitar bladed.  Cutting ¾-1” holes is a pain in the butt. I’ve got them shaped and quenched and tempered, now I need to spend the time finishing them and putting on the edges.  I have 2 weekends left!

In the meantime I did build 15 bullet pens…

I was also thinking about rehandling AR86.  I don’t like the way the handle turned out.  That is what I get for using man-made materials.  But I have some others – so IF there is time, I will strip it this weekend and shape the replacement.  While finishing the other 4.

I still need to carve in all of the numbers and logo’s also.

Update 5: In taking the handle off AR86, I snapped it in half.  I was in a bad mood and did some stupid things - like cutting myself with a hacksaw. Never work in your shop when you are in a bad mood.  I've turned it into something new now, but that wasn't the plan.

 I did finish AR94 - A Maple handled knife - specs to come later...

 

Pretty sure I'm not going to have many sheaths for the show...

Another Archery Project

So, since my red oak and fiberglass tape bow broke.  And my salt cedar bow broke. And my at home laminations failed and broke, I decided to try something closer to a kit bow, and as I mentioned in a June post, I ordered a lamination kit from Bingham Projects.  The kit I ordered was: 50#, clear glass, maple outside laminations, Action-boo core laminations, and a strip of core-tuff.  I didn’t order any riser material since I have wood, but I did buy a couple strips of tip overlay.

The lamination kit arrived superfast (USPS Priority) with the instructions and blue prints a few days later.  I started by laminating my riser material together.  I had just purchased a lovely piece of curly maple from Albuquerque Exotic Woods locally, so I cut that down the middle and layered in a strip of Cocobolo that was about the right size.  After glue-up and rough sanding that seems to have gone pretty well. 

Next step was gluing the parallel laminations.  This took a little more work and a little more glue than I expected (I’m using Smooth-On epoxy).  It was a really windy afternoon.  I lay down some non-stick paper, then the fiberglass, added glue, then glued one side of the maple strip, lay down the maple, glued the other side, glued the 1^st bamboo…core-tuff…bamboo…paper…then put it in my flat form and clamped it down.  Got back to it two days later and took off the paper and sanded off the excess glue.  Looks pretty good so far.

Step three – Rough shape the riser – So I cut out the curves with my bandsaw then smoothed the curves on my belt sander.  Still looking pretty good.

Glued on the riser, and the last maple lamination and fiberglass back – and put back in the press.  I used the negative riser curves to try to get a good press for the laminations up the sides of the riser.  It worked pretty well, but not perfectly.

After a little cleanup, I put the blueprint over the bow, traced out the design, and rough cut it with my band saw.  I decided that I would make it the maximum length that I could, so it’s currently about 72”.  I hope it works.  More cleanup with the belt sander and its starting to look like a bow.

Did some work on the riser to add a grip and arrow rest. 

Almost the last step – I added a couple layers of phenolic material to the tips to reinforce it for modern strings. Now I just need to shape the tips, carve in the string notches, and then try to string it. I’m afraid it will break.  It stressed me out badly enough the other night that I couldn’t sleep well.  Your hobbies shouldn’t stress you out should they?

SUCCESS! – It’s all put together and finished. Pretty! It’s a little lighter than I had targeted. The kit that I bought (at 68”) was supposed to be #50, but this one (at 72” overall) is #37.5@28 according to my scale.  Nice weight for a target bow.  I’ve got a 68” Flemish twist dacron string that works pretty well, with a brace height around 7.5” to avoid smacking my wrist.  I’ve tried it with the Nice! Archery arrows that Robert put together for me and it shoots them pretty well and consistently.  It doesn’t do quite so well with the aluminum shafts – too stiff I guess.  

I bought a set of test wood arrows to figure out the right spine - but haven't tuned it in yet.  I also had a custom FastFlight flemish twist string put together by one of the local shops.

I’d hoped that finishing one successfully would cure the bug, but apparently not.  I’d like to try something similar with a little reflex and at a little higher weight, but same length.  Maybe a little darker color- or with some fancier veneer, or maybe with some carbon. But it will have to wait a little while, there are higher priority projects.

Kinderbox

It’s all Erica’s fault.  Some time ago she started getting a gift box subscription.  It is a monthly box (and payment) that comes in the mail with makeup stuff she likes.  We wondered what other subscription boxes were out there…turns out that there are about a bazillion. I finally found one that didn’t cost too much and looked pretty good…Kinderbox.

Now, if you are German, or took German, or speak German or read it, you’ll ask, why would you want a box of children? I certainly don’t, I have two already.  I don’t really know what the madness behind the name is, but my guess is something to do with a Tinderbox, and really, the packing material inside kind of makes you think of that.

So far its been socks, firestarters, meat snacks, knives, socks, hygiene products, and a few other miscellaneous things - like meat tenderizer brass knuckles!

I think I am on my 6^th box now, and although there have been better and worse boxes, they have all been pretty fun. 

January

 February

March 

April

 May

June

Taxes are done! And so is April and May and halfway through June…

Not a big fan of doing taxes, but they aren’t as hard as some folks make them out to be.  I used to use the paper forms every year, but since Erica’s business has been doing so well we started using TurboTax.  Unfortunately, this year I apparently didn’t take enough withholding so had to pay a bit.  C’est la vie.  At least it wasn’t thousands…

Custom Knives

I haven’t made a custom knife by request in a while, but not too long ago I was contacted by an individual who had stumbled across this blog and seen the Custom Kitchen Chopper that I made for my friend Bryan’s mom – an unusual design, and not one that I ever expected to repeat.  But that was the request, for something similar, with different wood for the handle.  On further discussion, we decided to try a stone handle.  I have some beautiful Picasso marble, that was just waiting for this project, so I ordered some steel (15n20 in this case), and have been working away at it. It’s a little thinner than I am used to working, so more prone to warping.  I think I can correct it all…   and it worked!  I think it turned out pretty darn well.

AR91 – Custom Kitchen Chopper Mk2 – 8 ¾” Overall, 15n20 Steel blade, Picasso marble handle with Loveless Bolts.  Leather Thong.

Other Knife Projects

Since I bought some new steel, I started a few more projects.  I started a new drop point hunter/skinner out of 15n20 – along the lines of the series I started last year – We’ll see how close it turns out to the size and shape of the others.

One of my staff members talked about an Ulu knife, and since I’d been thinking about making one of those for a while also, I started one of those as well.

There are also a number of blades that I started a while back…long enough that I have no idea which steels I used for them.  One looks like a steak knife at the moment.  The other… I don’t’ really know how to describe it, basic knife?  I also have some blades that are potential folders, if I ever get around to making them.

And I'm trying a couple of tactical knives...

Archery

So, I’ve tried making a few bows now.  My red oak bow with fiberglass backing was pretty good for a little while, and then snapped.  My salt cedar bow snapped the same day.  I started another salt cedar bow, but it broke before becoming a complete bow.  So I thought I would try something a little bit different, a laminated bow.  So, I bought another piece of red oak, ran it through the table saw a couple of times, and then re-laminated the pieces back together, two of the pieces were about 1/16^th inch and one about 1/8^th inch thick.  I had purchased some carbon fiber tape, so that went between the thick and thin, and fiberglass tape on the front and back.  I had no idea what the draw would turn out to be, but I glued it all together (in a couple stages).  I also put together a couple fancier pieces of wood for the riser: Rosewood, a little strip of Honey Locust, and some Bocote.   After a little prep work I glued on the riser pieces to the limbs (and some extra material for the nocks) shaped the combination, filed the nocks and strung it up…  It’s a little light – maybe 25-30# at 28”.  I need to pull it with my luggage scale, but that is my guess.  It definitely doesn’t have the snap that my recurve does, but it’s pretty consistent.  And, more importantly, it hasn’t broken!   And  I spoke too soon, since it was a bit light I thought I would laminate another layer on, and get creative with some recurve/decurve.  Looked good for a bit but was REALLY STIFF – I used some Ipe for the additional laminations, and then as I was getting it down to a useable weight….SNAP – it didn’t crack, but rather snapped about in half.  It looked really pretty for a little while though.

So, since this failed also, I am still thinking about the next bow.  I’ve ordered a lamination kit from Bingham archery supplies.  Pretty sure I can put it all together. 

Wood Working

Obviously, I like to work with wood, and have griped about wood allergies in an earlier blog.  I may have just moved to the next level. I didn’t do much wood work last weekend, ripped a couple of boards (leopardwood and salt cedar), and that was it for the wood, but I did stop by the Exotic Wood Store in Albuquerque, and the next day my nasty allergic reaction to wood showed up.  I’ve never had a problem with the woods that I worked with, but it is certainly possible that they had cut some that I am allergic to at the store, and just breathing it in has set off my reaction.  I apparently need to wear a respirator and long sleeves at all times now.  This does not make me happy. 

In other news, I’m a Roller Derby referee again.

Not too long ago Duke City Roller Derby split into two parts.  My wife stayed with the original group.  I think at this point she is the skater in the league who was part of it earliest in its existence.  Granted she did take some time off for children, and we did move to Oregon for a year, but still.  I have a long standing connection too, since my friends John and Nan were part of founding it, and I’d come out to practices when visiting.  After later moving to Albuquerque, I would hang out with the Derby people since they were the only ones I knew, and before long I started Reffing.  Since the league split, my wife has asked me to come back and help out – the game has changed a bit, but with a little luck I can manage.  My first game back was April 18^th.  It went pretty well, awfully nice to have a full ref crew.  Don’t think I made too many bad calls.  

December through March and a collaboration!

I think its good that I have things to talk about after 3 months.

The skinner collection, started off as six knives that were about the same, and so far is 4 knives that are about the same and two that are totally different:

AR83 – W2, utility knife - sorry for the marginal picture

AR84 and 85 – 52100, Drop point skinner - Presentation knives -Oak 

AR86 – CPM 154, Drop point skinner - Ghost Jade G10

AR87 – CruForgeV, Drop point skinner - Sweet Gum

I also finished up the big Chef’s knife that I started months ago:

AR88 – 1084, 9" Chef’s knife - Walnut

Christmas season is always nice because it is one of the few times of year where people buy my stuff!  It is always rewarding to get rid of stock (old and new).  Although I still dream about getting a fancy belt sander, I’m unlikely to splurge on anything like that.  I’d like to work on my leathercraft skills one of these days (beyond just knife sheaths).  That way I could make my own messenger bag, rather than buying one from Saddlebackleather!  It would probably take more time than buying, and might actually end up costing more, but then I could say that I made it!  And that would be cool.

I could also definitely use some work on my joinery skills, and general blacksmithing (not bladesmithing). 

Maybe some year I will take some classes or something.

I don’t do collaborations often, but I committed to one.  After getting started, I realized that I don’t really know how to collaborate on arts and crafts projects.  The concept was simple, I’ll make the knife and you’ll do some etching and it will go together like bacon and eggs!  Then I started the knife, decided on a style (i.e. the metal decided where it wanted to go and I tried to make that work for me.), picked some wood that I thought would contrast with the copper, heat treated the blade, shaped the guard, shaped the handle, decided how big the copper scales would be… then thought… “wait, I haven’t asked my collaborator for any input at all!”  Then started the sheath, revised it, cut out a window for another copper window… still no input.  I’ve decided that I’ll just turn it over to him in disassembled form, with some assembled pictures and say – its ready, go to town, and hope for the best.

Here is an in progress picture.  It will be AR90.

A friend of mine has a native flute that was missing a totem/reed.  Clan name: White, animal association:Eagle.   I haven’t done any carving in a while.  It’s hard.  But I persevered and ended up with a kinda cute, Northwest style bird that could be an eagle.  I carved it out of Holly.

I haven’t been very prolific so far this year.  Most of my shop time effort has gone into the collaboration knife. But I finished up working on another Puuku style knife.  I know Puuku’s don’t have choils, but this one does, which I guess just makes it a knife J  Not sure why since I still have two that haven’t sold, but nonetheless, it is moving forward.  It’s W2, and was originally going to be one of the drop hunters before it cracked in a few spots.  Not a fancy hamon, but visible.  I need to work on my W2 skills.  Oh well. Still need to engrave the number I think.

AR89. Masur Birch and Brass with red accent - W2 Puuku.

It’s been a little while since I talked about archery.  It was a little frustrating to have my Red Oak Bow and Salt Cedar Bow Projects both fail on the same day.  They have now been combined into a small combination red oak/salt cedar takedown to replace the Pine one that I made for Autumn.  Still not the nicest to shoot, and I worry that it will crack too, but it at least will stick an arrow into the target. I'll see if I can put in a picture next time...

I’ve also been dreaming about a long bow, just not sure if I want to buy an new fancy one, a used fancy one, a partially premade one, or the parts to make one.  I have enough nice wood to make the riser just fine, but I’d need the laminations – since my self-bows haven’t been too successful. 

Part of me wants the bow to be MINE – and I’ve got some ideas, but I want some of the work to be taken out. Bingham and 3Rivers both sell what I need, but Bingham will sell me a package that has the approximately correct draw weight, which I might mess with anyway – because I am like that.  I’d also like to try a little reflex/deflex action, a slightly radiused riser, and a variety of other more challenging things.  We’ll see how it all turns out.  I wouldn’t mind making my own laminations also – so I might do all of these things. 

In my spare time…Did I mention that Erica wants me to start reffing again? I should probably practice that too.

That said, I really enjoy my Sammik Journey, and have been shooting with it regularly in the back yard.  I can get a little more than 20 yards worth, and my grouping is getting better.  I bought some fancy arrows a while back from Robert at Nice! Archery in Albuquerque, and they are DEFINITELY nicer than the cheap (less than half the price) ones I picked up at Sportsman’s Warehouse – fly better, group better, etc…  but I am getting better with those too.  And take-down bows make a lot of sense, since you have the option of not having a 6 foot stick sitting in your back seat/hand/backpack.

I think that's enough for now.

How to survive the Zombie Apocalypse and other items

Zombies are popular these days, and have shown remarkably good resilience.  I remember about 7 years ago, Erica and I thought that we should start up a restaurant called Brain O’Brains, a zombie themed pub (just think of all the options with eggs alone “this is your brain on…” , we knew it would be a hit, but decided that it would be too much work.  Anyway, Zombies are cool, and people post zombie killing tools in all kinds of forums, so what would I do?

I guess it would depend on the type of zombie…are we talking World War Z zombies? Night of the living dead zombies? 28 days later zombies? Shaun of the dead zombies? Can your zombies climb trees? Do they think? Are they fast or slow?

Generally, I think the best method would be to avoid the zombies, and avoid civilization.  Seems like zombies usually like to congregate where there is good food…zombie food at least.  Most of the epidemics don’t seem to impact wildlife populations either, no zombie deer chasing down other deer, zombie birds attacking other birds, etc…

So, best case, slow, stupid zombies that can’t climb. 

Worst case, fast thinking zombies that just want to eat you but can do pretty much whatever you can, but don’t feel pain, or need to rest.

I’d probably leave town, head for the hills, and hope to deal with smaller numbers of whatever kind you happen to have.

Equipment-wise, I’d want some basic hand tools to build a shelter. Some non-perishable food to tide me over if possible when hunting is a challenge, or there are too many zombies about.  A good recurve bow and lots of arrows with some extra strings to hunt with, not a gun, since noise seems to attract most zombies.  And some sort of blade on long stick.  That way, you can hide up in the trees and lop the heads off of passing zombies. 

A machete is a good tool for close in work (if you don’t have a handy tree) or an axe, which is probably a better tool, but the short edge makes the decapitation swing a bit more challenging.

The inspiration for this post, other than the many zombie movies and shows over the past few years, was the Machete that I just finished.  It’s not quite a Zombie Tools machete, but I’m still pretty happy with how it turned out.

AR82 - 1095 high carbon steel Machete, peened blade with carbon scale left on, 17 ¼” Blade; 22 ¾” overall.  Bubinga handle, with steel pins, leather thong.

I also received another rusty knife to clean up. It’s an old Kabar two blade folder.  I’m still torn about reconditioning knives, but generally if that’s what the owner asks for, that’s what I’ll do. The remaining scale was Delrin, made to look like Jigged bone - I replaced the missing one with elk.

Sadly I haven’t made any progress on my folder projects.  I still need to do quite a bit of work on the blades, and that’s before dealing with the handles.  The long weekend didn’t help me any.  Too much to do: The New Mexico State Fair, taking Autumn to Bandolier, dealing with a computer hack. 

I did make some progress on a special order – unlike my standard one at a time, always different, I am working on six(!) that are all the same style!  I am doing them in 4 different steels, CruForgeV, CPM154, W2 and 52100.  It will be interesting to see how they all turn out.

Update: Tried water quenching the W2, and cracked both of them.  I am salvaging one as a much shorter knife.  I was hoping for a more dramatic hamon, but it is still pretty subtle, even at 2500grit.  I’ve tried a little acid etching, but not really impressed with how that has turned out either.  Either way, it’s almost time to add the handle.   The other handle is turning into a hidden tang knife, and will be quite a bit smaller than the others.

So the 52100’s are the most similar, I am using oak for the handles since it fits with the concept I am going for. I dyed the leather liners mahagony, but I think it will be pretty subtle since a lot of it will probably get sanded away.  I’m debating doing some file work on the spines, and will probably do some wood burning on the handles.

 The CruV (not pictured) is much thicker than the others and stretched so much that I had to trim it down again.  After reshaping the distal taper it’s just as lon as the others again.  I am using the hammer texture on the back half of the blade of that one – I like how it is turning out.  My plan is currently to leave the texture, but remove the scale.

I haven’t made much progress on the big kitchen knife that I started, but its getting closer.  The bolsters to make it into a faux integral as intimidating.  One of these days I guess J

I also cranked out a bunch of pens, and have been selling them pretty much as fast as Erica posts them :)! .