Bob Ouellette

I got the straight razor from Jaron today. It's very nicely done!

Thanks for running things Alan!

I figured we're getting close to the deadline, may as well start posting our knives. Here's my finished knife. It's a 6" petty knife forged out of 1084 with a mango handle.

Absolutely! I'm trying to use the time on disability to get my self employment of the ground.

I don't think I'm going to be able to finish this in time for the KITH. I'll set aside another kitchen knife I have finished and that I'm happy with. Between surgery (recovery is going well) and trying to change careers, I don't have time to focus on knife making.

Welcome to the left hand nightmare living in a right hand world

I found some 14" diamond lapping disks on eBay I want to try out, but they're not very high on the list of stuff to do. I've got a small mill on the way and I'm planning on making some icosahedron forging dies. As much as I love knife making, I think I can sell forged dice easier lol

I've got one and it irritates me too

I need better machinery lol. That and a lot more practice. I just finished one and have 12 more in progress. I set up tool magnets for needs to be ground, needs to be heat treated, and needs polishing/handles. I still have 10 more blades I need to forge before my surgery too.

How do y'all stay motivated to polish your blades? It's the one thing I absolutely can't stand about knife making.

I couldn't exist in any kind of comfort or functionally without a handful of pills a couple of times a day. I also have some permanent nerve damage in my ankle that makes parts of my thigh numb or highly sensitive and painful. I never know which.

I had dry needling done on a muscle in my back. It was done very intense pain but did end up helping to loosen up a bound up muscle after I had mono. Edit: the pain was not as intense as raw dogging foot surgery when my pain killers didn't work after I left the hospital. I didn't spontaneously start crying until I was too tired to continue after dry needling

I didn't get anything done in the shop, but I did draw a portrait of my mental state... "Forced Existence" because I didn't agree to this. Yes, my mental state is that of a reverse centaur

I welded up a billet of weight iron, 1084, and 15n20 at the Fire and Brimstone hammerin last weekend. Half wrought with a 12 layer steel edge. We'll see how well it goes, but I've got an 8" k-tip gyoto forged out and rough ground. There's a bit of a cold shut along the iron-steel weld line, but I'm going to keep working on it.

Very interesting. Thank you for the information.