Zeb Camper

Very cool! I've always admired marksmanship. Pair that with the design and craftsmanship of a bow and arrow. I was into archery once for about 2 hours. My dad was teaching me how to shoot his compound and he left me alone to practice. I was just getting to the point I could hit the target every time. After a while I guess I zoned out, somehow forgot to load an arrow, and split a limb. Gives me a Christmas gift idea.

Yeah, I cant watch the vid. +1 on what they said.

Oh, I'm digging this!

Sold!

FWIW, I decided to start carrying after an encounter at my shop. I work long hours and often the boss goes home and I stay behind, or he's measuring a job, or meeting clients while I build stuff. We work near a shady motel and a trailer park that has some less than unsavory characters passing by our little cove away from the main highway. I've had the occasional drifter stop in to say "hey I like your music", "can I bum a smoke" (I dont smoke), or wanting work. This one night I was working at the big saw loading it with more steel to cut. I turn around and this ghostly pale guy is standing right beside me. His eyes were wide open. I noticed he was very nervous and jittery and had a baggy coat and a baseball cap pulled way down. He asked for money and I really had forgotten my wallet that morning. I gave him my glovebox cash and he thanked me and went on his way. Looking back, I question the guys intent and what he may have done if he decided I was lying about my wallet or if I had flat out said no. I then think about how many times i had my back to him and how often we were within arms reach with potential weapons everywhere. I dont like that I got inside my truck to give him cash. He could've killed me and had truck and all. So from that point I decided I needed to be more prepared, and not to compromise my safety by giving anything to people that raise red flags and keeping distance and eye contact. I dont like the scare tactic approach. If someone is out to do you harm and you pull a knife; who's to say their fight or flight sensor was stuck in flight mode today? Again, just trying to help. I think the best way to do that is via a deadly dull, and gravely serious reply. Best of luck!

Beautiful and precise; clean and crisp!

I REALLY like that blade! I would keep it a little more historic with the handle if it where I, but its gonna be awesome either way! who knows, maybe it could have happened once.

Thanks! I think so. So, its essentially a washer with a pin peened and filed flush. Very cool stuff.

+1 on the sheath! If you dont mind my asking, how are those larger medallion like rivets set? That's something I have yet to figure out.

Awesome, Gary! Really like the pattern in this one!

Survival is priority #1. I believe in concieled carry. Nobody really messes with a 230lb guy such as myself, but those on a smaller frame and with higher likelihood of an assault I think absolutely should be prepared for the worst. Two of my sisters carry and I dont worry about them as much. I suggest lots of instructed training and a permit before carrying anything. This knife is way too big for that though. I carry a midsize (not a knife) and Its really too big to comfortably carry all day, and that's in my baggy men's garb. That hook looks like a real snagger of clothes and it just looks way to big and zombie slayer like. If I were you, i would buy whatever it is to be carried. It looks better. I know what I just said is thin ice ATM. Oh well. Hope it helps!

My table saw wouldnt cut all the way through. Burnt the wood with the dull blade. It was kinda cool I thought. Might use the thin wood for some sort of scabbard.

Cool!

Well, I'm not necessarily a bad bladesmith, just have poor business sense. I'm sure many others are the same. I built a hammer too. I'll have to grab a picture from somewhere. It's been changing ever since I built it. My theory was to gather all the junk I could find for free or scrap price and build around that (not the best idea)... My advice would be to build something like what Geoff has. If you know someone with an old champion style hammer they'd be willing to measure, I would highly recommend you copy it as best you can. Maybe even base some of it off Geoff's if you can find some of the same size parts. They are dirt simple, all steel on steel wear parts (not Geoff's I know) with a guide that's adjustable inward. It's just so simple there isnt much that can go wrong. Your local john deer place should be able to splice a custom belt together if need be. The tire hammer design if not balanced properly will wear a motor out. I would do a belt driven system if I had to do another. But a power hammer is pretty BA to have! If I had to forfeit it, i wouldnt do very much damascus. I darn sure wouldn't be making damascus swords. If you gotta replace a bearing, or wear part once in a while it's totally worth it; if you dont kill yourself (it could happen). And I wont lie, a vertical propane forge sure is nice for making billets. This is all stuff you can probably manage if you have a background in fabrication. Hopefully welding too. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.bladesmithsforum.com/index.php%3F/topic/37039-power-hammer-build-questions/&ved=2ahUKEwigxIuaiv_lAhUGXK0KHUs1AwQQFjAEegQIBBAB&usg=AOvVaw0Ow7YoP2wCTm2dkgBx1UjX

Nice forging so far!