Feast and Famine

As is frequently the case, a period of high productivity is followed by a period of low productivity. Such is the case with Hangedmandesigns at the moment. Just after Erica and Autumn made it home from Savannah, we headed up to Colorado for a weekend of Roller Derby, ceasing all shop related activities. It was a tiring trip, two games in two days (which meant a lot of babysitting for me), and quite a bit of driving.

I was also disappointed to find out how expensive custom tang stamps for my knives would cost $186 dollars apiece. Ouch. I could probably take an engraving class for that if I had some spare time. Maybe I will try making my own with my little diamond Dremel tool bits. I’ve got some steel that should harden to the point that it will work. Another project…Sigh.

This weekend is Erica’s birthday, and I still need to do my taxes, so I don’t expect a lot of productivity then either. And the following weekend is more Roller Derby, in Tucson. Three games, two days. I’m not sure if I will be able to go to that one. If I don’t, I will get more done, but not get to see my wife, and I’ll have to babysit. Tough call.

Anyway, I need to finish up a couple of projects soon. Mostly NJJ’s sheath, and a stand/block for Bdoodles, and if I can get some…. Ok, there are always more projects, and I want them all done now so I can start new ones.

C’est la vie… Feast and Famine.

April 2010 in like a Lion

Yesterday, March 31 – 80 degrees, today April 1, 50 and dropping with 35 mile per hour winds. That makes it pretty dusty out here in the desert.

Erica and Autumn made it back from Savannah yesterday, hurray! They had a good time out there and got to play in the ocean a little bit. I got quite a bit of work done too. Now I just need to take some pictures now that the camera is back.

Presuming I manage to do that as soon as I get home and post this tonight, I will go on….



From biggest to smallest in the almost done catagory:

LOR Machete (AR39)– still needs a few coats of finish, and a little polishing and an edge, and a sheath I suppose.

Australian Camp knife (NRJJ) – needs an edge, a lanyard and a sheath.

Kitchen slicer (AR38) – a stand or block

Small kitchen slicer (AR37) – a stand or block

Mini File Dagger (F2) – to have this handle ripped off and a nicer one put on. I was hoping that the Argentina Lignum Vitae would look prettier once it was polished up. The plan is to rip this off and replace it with ebony or one of the many red woods.



And in the handle-less category:

Cleaver – good progress, needs quenching and grinding and handle work, and…. But I
like the shape its in.

Large Dagger (AR32) – The handle is cut out, the scratches pretty much gone from the blade, needs the handle to be attached, shaped etc… an edge, a sheath.

Revised Henkel Santoku – reshaped, and requenched, and reshaped again due to the reaction to quenching. A much smaller knife now. And of course… it needs a handle again.

Puukku’s 1 and 2 – Quenched, still need grinding and handle work, and sheathes of course.

And thats all for now folks...

Progress for Saturday

Howdy y’all,

So progress has been pretty good.

I’ve pretty much finished the knife part of the Australian Camp Knife. I’d show you, but it’s still classified.

I’ve pretty much finished the Bdoodles inspired kitchen knife.

The Lord of the Rings Machete is also about done.

Found a better bit to carve in the Hangedmandesigns logo too. Erica has the camera, so I apologize for the marginal camera phone pictures...

All of these need a few more coats of finish on the handles. Otherwise I would call them finished.

I have designs on two of my unfinished daggers for the weekend too. The little one will get a pretty simple handle, and the big one still needs some scratch removal. I may get to that one. We’ll see.

I showed a couple of friends the forge and let them bang on some metal today also.

I plan on firing up the forge tomorrow too. The creepy cleaver is coming along, and I’d like to bang on the two Puukko’s that I have going a bit too.

Although its nice to get things done in the shop, I miss Erica and Autumn. Even with all of he mantastic things I did today, its not the same as having my wonderful family here with me.

Mantastic events of the day: Shop time, Albuquerque Pork and Brew (7^th Annual), shop demonstrations for the boys (lathe and forge), Mixed Martial Arts (111^th Ultimate fighting championship at the bar.)

Pretty manspectacular really, but lacking in the wonderful wife category. Boo.

Hope to have more for you soon,

Adam

Mad as a March Hatter?

Enjoyed the new 3d Alice in Wonderland, first theater movie in a really really long time.

Despite March madness, I managed to get some work done this weekend, which is always a surprise to me. I made a lot of progress on the Australian Camp Knife, and spent quite a bit of time on one of the most complex handles I have ever worked on. I’m pretty sure it will be gorgeous. Right now it looks like crap. The ugly duckling in copper and wood.

So what is it? It is my impression of what “I like blues, and cedar and copper” means. This will be on the larger of the two slicers (the smaller was posted last week). It has a slightly cleaner AR38 and Hangedman logo. The front section of the handle is Blue Mahoe, a Jamaican hardwood, with a small copper pin, then a segment of copper, with some turquoise inlay on both sides, then a two-toned Spanish aromatic cedar central section with a copper mosaic pin, another copper spacer, finished with another section of Blue Mahoe and a copper lined thong hole.

I also made a little progress on what I now think of as the “lord-of-the-rings machete” , a few years back I picked up an odd piece of weathered and very heavy driftwood, I still don’t know what it is. I cut it open and it has a very unusual grain, which you will see when I finish it. I think that the handle will be relatively simple, it will save my carbide drill bits from too much wear and tear. Hmmmm. I do think a little ebony would set it off nicely though. We’ll see.

I anticipate getting quite a bit done later this week, since Autumn and Erica are headed off to Savannah, GA to visit Grandma. On the down side, Autumn and Erica won’t be here with me.

We’ll see how much I actually get done.

A new kitchen steak/paring/boning knife for Monday

Hi there knife people!

I’d hoped to finish more than one this weekend, but no luck. I did make a little progress on the Australian Camp Knife, but that is now classified until its done (NJJ – you’ll get your picture via e-mail).

Of the two kitchen carver/steak/boning knives, I finished the smaller one. Bdoodles, if you are watching, the one I imagine may be for you is a little bigger, and a little different, and the handle will be quite a bit different.

Anyway, here is AR37.

I also tried carving in the Hanged Man logo with a diamond bit on my dremel tool. It turned out OK, but isn’t as crisp as I’d like. I intend to commission a stamp for it, but can’t afford it yet. Some day… I carved in the AR37 also.

And here is a close- up of that.

Stats of AR37:

9 ½” overall, 4 ½” edge. Cru Forge V high vanadium carbon steel. Full tang. Steak/paring/boning kitchen knife. Handle is made of Bubinga, with a Holly pommel. The pins are brass, as is the thong hole.

It'll be posted on the Acrylicandsteel etsy shop soon..

Adam

Wrought Iron is cool!

Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content, in comparison to steel, and has fibrous inclusions, known as slag. This is what gives it a "grain" resembling wood, which is visible when it is etched or bent to the point of failure. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile and easily welded. Historically, it was known as "commercially pure iron", however it no longer qualifies because current standards for commercially pure iron require a carbon content of less than 0.008 wt%. (Wikipedia – Wrought Iron)

So, a few months ago, I ordered a piece of old 1800’s Lake Superior Grain Silo from http://www.usaknifemaker.com/store/ , just to see what Wrought Iron was all about. I like it. The impurities give an interesting, if subtle, visual effect. Not something to make a knife out of, but good for an accent piece…or some jewelry.

For Christmas, I made Erica a couple of necklaces, or pendants really, since I bought the chains on Etsy . Erica really likes skeleton keys, and I really love her, so, a key and a heart.

Here they are:

When I gave them to her, they were all shiny and polished. But since she likes the rough/antiqued look, I dunked them in Muriatic Acid for a while and they got all matte, and a shortly after that, a little rusty. She liked the effect, so that’s how they are now.

I ground them both with my belt grinder and dremel tool.

And progress was slow…

It’s always amazing to me how much time real life takes away from hobbies. Who knew that having a real job and a 50 mile commute, a baby, needing to eat and sleeping would take so much time? Throw in some shuttling for Roller Derby and attending the odd practice and where is all my time to spend in the shop? Add some primitive equipment, and you have a recipe for a very slow production time. Nonetheless, I do finish things. . . Occasionally.

I’d love to blame writing blog posts, but obviously that doesn’t have much to do with it. I think it’s been over a week. Sorry. Not that I think you folks are just falling over yourselves to read this. I’m just not that interesting.

The high priority projects at the moment are… a couple more kitchen knives, this time medium sized carving/boning knives, and a camp/hunting knife. The kitchen knives are a lot farther along, since they have already been quenched and tempered. I’ll temper them once more after finishing all of the grinding. I think they look pretty good so far. I haven’t decided if I want to make them a matched set yet. But probably not.

Here they are:

The camp knife is almost ready for quenching. This is a custom piece and I am enjoying it quite a bit. I’ll get around to showing pictures of the progress eventually.

It currently looks like this:

Naturally, I’ve started more than that, and there are the other unfinished pieces that I’ve been whining about for a while. Some of them may look (and be) familiar:

Not that I really need any more wood, but I ordered some over ebay from “Handlethese”. It’s a nice shop with some interesting stuff. Importantly, they had staghorn sumac, which was requested as the handle material for the custom camp knife. But I also picked up a Cherry burl, an interesting piece of cocobolo, and some spalted elm.

Just so you don’t feel too sorry for me, my forge has decided to heat up recently, a little modification of the fire box, and some additional refractory wool, and all of a sudden – hotness!

On the downside, I managed to scorch my hair: