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Though its simple, I was exited about this since it is my first successful attempt at differential hardening and my first actual commission. Its a basic integral with some kind of purple-red tropical hardwood scales and nickle silver pins. The custom part was engraving the bolster with an anniversary date in roman numerals and tooling for the sheath. I also extracted the filings from the handle scales in alcohol and used it to dye the sheath which seemed to work well. Steel was an old cold chisel quenched in oil with some high temperature pipe insulation cement for the spine. I only took it up to 400 as I was figuring on it getting used and cleaned with a scotchbright pad. Etched in vinegar to bring the line out a little. Also chose to leave in some flaws from sloppy forging rather than grind thinner. Of course I failed to take some decent pictures before it left. Hammer engraving the bolster was the hardest part and came out barely tolerable. I did the layout electronically and glued the paper to the bolster which did not work very neatly, should have tried some king of solvent transfer. Even unhardened the steel took the edge off my home made engravers in single cut though they work ok on mild steel. Wound up hammering on a commercial push engraver. Would appreciate any critique. Thanks for looking!

Engraving a couple of new steel tags for another Roger Bergh and SaraMi axe. And noticed that this part of the forum has been quiet for a while.. Hope this will liven it up a bit

It's been a while since I posted a show and tell. I started a blog, and need photos to go along with the stories, so you guys are now unwitting victims of my relentless pursuit of infamy. I finished this little craft knife about a week ago. I then listed it on Etsy and posted it here on the For Sale forum. This morning, on my way to mailing a parcel that is going all the way to California I stopped at a garden where there is a ginkgo tree growing a couple of yards inside the fence. We had a bit of a storm last night, so I managed to pick a number of fallen leaves off the ground outside the fence without having to trespass. I love ginkgo leaves, having used them as a theme for a couple of years and I always keep a couple of leaves for reference. With our move two months ago all my dried leaves got crushed. Back home I considered the day's work when inspiration struck. I immediately deactivated the Etsy listing for this knife; don't want it to sell while I am busy tripling its value! I did a couple of layout sketches, each leaf a simple half rounds with a stem. When I was happy with the composition I made a number of copies, cut each leaf from the paper and glued it onto the metal I chose for the inlays: Copper, brass and nickel silver Each leaf was then sawn using a jeweller's saw fitted with a 0/5 blade. I broke only three in the process. Each is sawn at a slight angle, the bottom of the inlay must be larger than the top to allow the raised edge of the pocket to trap the inlay when the edge is tapped down with a punch. From the right, 1 - copper, 2 - nickel silver, 3 - brass, 4 - copper, 5 - nickel silver, 6 - brass and 7 - copper. I transferred the layout from one of the copies using carbon paper, then went over the outlines with a permanent marker. In the pic below you can see that the first copper leaf is in place, and I have raised the edges and started cutting the hollow for the nickel silver leaf that fits against it. After carving it will look like the nickel silver leaf is partially beneath the edge of the copper leaf. It takes some careful filing of the abutting edge to ensure a tight fit. All inlay and carving work is done using hammer and chisels, I also use various punches to set the raised edges. Next instalment I'll show a bit more of the inlay process and the carving. Thank you for looking, questions, comments welcome. Tiaan

This is one of the most challenging piercings I have done. It's an example of a certain type of project where you don't finish the piece, the piece finishes you. I could work many more hours on it but an end point presents itself when you pull back and say, "OK, I'm done". It's not exactly saying "good enough" as in settling for something less than is desirable, but more like an acceptance of ones place in relationship to perfection. The subject is Hemlock needles. These needles often release in June around here and can be seen in large quantities where they have drifted down to the ground or gathered in rocky crevices carried by water. This piece is in copper with three needles added in 18k gold and is part of a larger sculpture in Vera wood. The first step was drawing a pattern from Hemlock needles I had randomly cast(as in thrown) against the nearly finished wood-carving which will host the needle carving. I drew these directly on the copper as seen in the lower photo. This was designed with some strength built in so the piece would hang together. The smaller photo is about scale(60mm long). I'll put up other progress pics later.

Part of a recent sculpture, I made this feather in shibuichi (40%silver/60% copper) and shakudo (4% gold/ 96% copper). Both of these alloys were made for me by Phillip Baldwin of Shining Wave Metals. I chose this alloy of shibuichi for patina reasons that will be explained later. The inlaid shakudo quill makes a striking contrast. I modeled the feather from one from Jean's collection. Sadly I don't know what it's from. I'm making up a tutorial with more photos but this should give the basic idea. The smaller photo should be close to life-size in a full browser(38mm or 1.5"). More photos to follow