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 :)! .

September roaring in like a lion?

So the July update never happened, and neither did the August, and here we are at September.  I have a few projects going on, and they all move slowly.

Little Penny turned 3 already in July, I turned 41, and Autumn started Kindergarten.  There have also been various work events, and derby things to get in the way.  Life, as always is busy.  I’m still sitting on gifts (now for CHRISTMAS and Birthdays) for my nephews too; I am a terrible person. 

So what do I have for a progress report:

1.       Bows and Archery

a.       I decided that SCB1 didn’t need to be a 70# monster.  So, I thinned it down a little bit, I haven’t scaled it, but I am guessing closer to 55# at this point.   It works pretty well with my Nice arrows, as does my Oak bow.  I just need to practice a lot more, on a less windy day.  And I need to work on an arm guard, since I am sick of having a mildly bruised wrist.

Update: I guess I should say “worked”, I broke both of the bows L  The Oak cracked in half, the salt cedar appeared to just crack at the fiberglass, but when I reglassed it, it cracked in the same places.  Better luck next time. 

b.      Salt Cedar Bow 2 (SCB2) was making progress, but stalled after breaking the others, I am letting it season a bit in the shed, and hoping that reduces its desire to crack.  Right now I am thinking I will try to make it more flat, like the oak bow.  We’ll see.  I think I will make it relatively thin, might layer something else over, like a modern laminate bow. Not sure at this point.

c.       In the meantime, Erica bought me a bow for my birthday.  It’s a Sammick Journey 66” takedown recurve.  I think that my 400 spine arrows are working pretty well. Not that I am a judge, but I seem to be able to hit the target most of the time at 30 yards.

2.       Forges and Knives

a.       In the forge I have also made some progress.  I am still  working on a 1095 Machete.  It looks pretty cool right now. I peened along the back edge – like the uncle Jed’s country skinner I made a while back.  I like the effect. All it really needs now is a handle.

b.      And I also finished a nice little Wharncliffe EDC knife in a more modern style, despite the W2.  I went for a hamon of course, because they add interest value, but it wasn’t very impressive. 

Usually I quench and temper my knives before taking out all the scratches, which makes getting rid of them a severe challenge.  This time, I sanded the blade to 220 first, and it was MUCH EASIER to get the rest of the scratches out.

I picked up a variety of G10 handle material too.  If you follow my work at all, you probably know that I prefer working with natural materials.  I get the point of the modern stuff, but just think that wood is prettier.  So far I’ve made two plastic handles,  black canvas micarta, and white linen micarta. They both smell pretty bad when shaping the handles.  I haven’t worked with G10 yet, but I hope it doesn’t smell as bad.  I bought more military colors this time, Ghost green and sand, black and grey.  The EDC has a black and grey handle.

c.       9” Chefs Knife in 1084g is in progress.  When I joined the facebook group Cool Knives and Gear and posted pictures of my in stock knives, someone asked about a big chef’s knife, so I decided to make another one.  It’s coming along pretty well, just need to Normalise, harden and temper. 

d.      After talking about it forever, I finally started on my Navaja. Have the blade forged out, but am missing some of the folder hardware, and haven’t done any of the heat treat yet.  Still needs more holes too – I haven’t decided which order to do it all in yet.

e.   I also finished AR 81, a nice mid sized knife.  Blade is about 4 1/2, and 9 1/2 overall S35VN steel, Copper guard, Cocobolo handle with peened brass pins.

f.      And I sold a knife!  Haven’t done that in a while.  My moonstone dagger J 

3.       Turnings

a.       Honestly, I hadn’t touched the lathe in a while – at one point I decided I wanted to try to bore out a flute, but got distracted, and haven’t played with it since.  There are a few pen kits that I should still make, and a light pull, and couple other things that I have kits for, but motivation is low.

So I made three pens (and most of a 4^th) and a light pull, this weekend.  None of them are very exciting, but they get the materials out of my shop.

b.      I have sold some things though which is pretty cool, a couple pens, a bowl, a light pull, the last full shaving set!

Arts, Crafts, and Mechanization

I don’t mean to offend any machinists, craftsmen, artists, hobbyists, or anyone else out there. Or to say that you can’t combine any or all of the catagories.  This is just a ramble of thoughts.

Most of the time I don’t consider myself to be an artist, or really even a craftsman, despite making knives, bows, bowls, pens, and a variety of other things.  I am a hobbyist or something like that.  I don’t focus on one particular topic, get bored easily with doing the same or even similar craft work, and therefore, rarely spend enough time on a particular craft to get very good at it.  I often feel like my first attempts at something are the best because I haven’t gotten bored with the particular task.  In my mind, Craftsmen are those who take the time to get better and better at a particular craft.  So what are artists? I think they are people who put a great deal of themselves into their work no matter the medium.

So what is my point today? I see a lot of mechanization in the field of knife making.  And those products tend to be cleaner and more precise than “handcrafted work”, and most importantly – repeatable as long as the materials and tools hold out.  I can’t do that as a hobby craftsman.  I can make something that looks pretty similar, but it won’t be the same. The hammer doesn’t fall in the same place, the grinder (or sandpaper) marks are different, the gluing shifted slightly, I  burned my finger, the heat treat was 25 degrees different.  I am not a machine.  So which is better? 

Neither. 

There is something to be said about the ability to repeatably make an item, once you get the design and set up out of the way (something that isn’t as easily done as said), and have the process for finishing put together, pieces and parts “just” need to be assembled (see children’s toy assembly for a simple vertion of “just”) and finished, not necessarily in that order.  Mistakes may happen, but generally, the process is repeatable.  Repeatability doesn’t mean that it isn’t art! But the art may be in the design, and assembly and finishing rather than in the machining. I don’t know, maybe there is a grey area.

There is also something to be said about raw crafting – and don’t get me wrong, I use plenty of tools, otherwise my hands would be burned bloody stumps and I still wouldn’t have a product. But at the same time, I rarely measure anything, everything is “by eye”, or until it feels right, or until it fits.  Yes, there is some rough marking of important points, but either I or my machines aren’t that precise most of the time.  I have – rarely – attempted to repeat a project, or make two of something, but inevitably, they are different.  I don’t know if the unrepeatability of my work (by me at least) makes them more artistic.  They generally don’t have the same level of fit and finish as a machined piece, and overall may not be the same “quality” but are they more because they are unique?  Perfect in their imperfection? 

Which would you rather have as a tool? Or as an object to set on your shelf and look at?  Does it make a difference?  Sometimes?  If I make a bowl on my lathe – for me a moderately repeatable task,  although there are likely to be slight variations in shape and size and thickness and symmetry.  I would still rather have that hand turned bowl on my shelf rather than a machine turned piece identical (except for the piece of wood) in all dimensions to 50 or a thousand others.  But a tool? A knife? Yes, there are machined knives that are beautiful, but if there are a thousand of them are they as beautiful? Why not? At the same time, the fit and finish and precision, and the ability to tweak the process to make them even better in future iterations, has a great deal of appeal.

If you want the “best” of something, the ability to tweak the design is key. Craftsmen can only achieve it over a great deal of time and practice (Apprentice, journeyman, master), and although there are certainly different skill levels of machinists also, specifications can be transmitted from one to another and the results should be pretty close. 

I’m sure that any Japanese swordsmith would cringe at the plethora of very functional machined katana out there, but is the hand forged, hand polished, version that much functionally better, or even more beautiful? What if you consider that one takes 10 or more times as much time to make?

I’m a bit jealous of the mechanized craftsmen, and I still want a power hammer, but I don’t think that I will stop being a hobby craftsman for now.