Steampunk...ish

I finished my latest pair of Outdoor knives. One large, one small. A little head nod, a homage, if you will, to all things steampunk.

If you mention steampunk, three things come to my mind: copper, steel, and mahogany. All three are here! Mahogany scales, copper liners, copper nuts, A2 blade. I had to make the copper Loveless nuts because you can't purchase them anywhere. A little extra work, but well worth it.

Last Night's Knives...Today!

Basically, I'm at the point that I wanted to be last night. My pair of copper/mahogany Outdoor knives are sitting on the bench right now...curing. Let's see how I got there...

I usually rough saw the handles a bit...the rest will be done post glue-up. I traced the blade onto the copper liners so I could...

Baby, It's Cold Inside

I got home from work, ready to rock'n'roll! Only to find the inside temperature of my house at 46 degrees! I'm seriously going to take a cutting torch to my furnace one of these days. It's four freaking years old!! It has broken down four times!!! I'm not a happy camper. This also meant some lost shop time. Here's what I actually accomplished.

Grinding dust and sanding dust are part of my life. The problem is that I have a beard. Dust masks and respirators don't work so good with beards. I'll be damned if I'm going to shave!! Enter the Resp-O-Rator. Giving this thing a test drive. It takes some getting used to, but I like having HEPA filters!

More of a Prep Night

No finished product tonight. Just doing prep work for the existing projects on my plate. Nights like this are good, I feel relaxed when I'm just plodding along sometimes. I made more of the copper Loveless fasteners, but I don't think we need pictures of those, since we all saw them yesterday. On to the new stuff!

I'm a morning person. I'm up and at 'em about 2 hours before I need to leave for work. Time for coffee and all that. I think I need to make productive use of that time. I started a piece of black canvas micarta this morning.

We're Already Three Days Into The New Year...

I hope you haven't wasted it! I'm trying hard as hell not to! Although I did a crappy job of taking pictures tonight...

I finished the little folder...and totally forgot to take in-process pics! Argh! Next time around.

What A Day!

I was pretty productive today. More shop cleaning, more knifemaking, more food. It was the last day of my holiday vacation, so I made the most of it.

Moving on with the little folder. I decided to carry on with the blade and make some carbon fiber scales. Here I am marking out for a filler piece for the butt end of the handle.

First Post of the New Year!

It was a busy day or two since my last update.

The meal with which I say goodbye to the year: Chateau Briand roast, parsley potatoes, and a baguette. This is my favorite meal that I eat all year, and New Year's Eve is the only night I make it.