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What did you do in your shop today?


Joshua States

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So I took this idea from a gardening forum (yes they exist) I used to frequent. I thought it might be nice to shoot the breeze and talk about some of the more mundane stuff we do in our shop that maybe we take for granted, but is good info for anyone setting up or rearranging things. So today I fianlly got around to putting the proper handles on my press dies and making hooks to hang them up. No more digging through a pile of dies on the bottom of the press.

 

press dies.JPG

 

Then I decided to skip the first half of the super bowl and forge out a few blades.

 

Forged knives (3).JPG

 

The KITH knife is on the right. The hunter in the center needs a little more work.

 

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“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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Welp after the super bowl i ran outside and did some final grinding and put 2 handles on a small necker and a EDC. I ordered a larger batch of steel from aldo and i had 7 knives half finished... i decided i need to get my buttocks in gear and knock them out before my new steel gets here. 4 90% of the way done 3 to go. id post a pic but they are covered in tape and in a clamp orgy atm.

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Well, I haven´t got any pictures, but yesterday I forged and ground a sword guard, finally shorted the extension cord for my power hammer, so that I don´t trip over it every time I go through the shop. I also cleaned the dust, and organized my tools.... an activity which is probably futile, since after 20 minutes of work the mess is back in place :D

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I worked on one of Neil Burridge's bronze swords, the Wilburton type. I sharpened the edges, including widening the edge bevels to make it more accurate, and brought the finish up to 400 grit. I finished the hilt plates, and oiled them. Next up: sand the blade up to 1000 grit, buff it, make the pommel and assemble it.

 

943921_985108444901827_7584933710142440126_n.jpg

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Jeroen Zuiderwijk

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/barbarianmetalworking

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Brandon Sawisch bladesmith

 

eagles may soar but weasels don't get sucked in to jet engines

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I have to get one of Neil Burridge's sword blanks one of these days...

 

I worked on the handle of my KITH knife. Think inletting a rather complicated ferrule made from copper pipe onto a curly ash shovel handle.

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Today was warm (75+) and sunny, and my brother and I had a craving to go sailing so spent the early part of the afternoon putting together a makeshift tiller, rudder, and daggerboard in my shop, then tried it out on the local lake until dark. No knifemaking (I need more propane and belts), but it was nice all the same

Trying to make each knife just a little better than the last

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Today I cleaned up my workshop, and had to move near everything in my shop to make place for my new, huge workbench.

Then I had to get said workbench from the trailer toits new place in the workshop.

Being all by myself today made this the better part of a day's work, the workbench being 3 by 10 feet, and weighing maybe 250 pounds. :rolleyes:

I ended up using fence posts as rollers and levers.

The rest of the day was spent bending a piece of thick sheet steel to act as a cover for the new bench, and getting all my tools and machines back in place.

I'll see if Ican take a picture of the beastie to show you guys :D

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Alan, you are such a tease!

Pieter, sounds like a great addition. The only problem with adding a bench that big is in two weeks it will be too small!

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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Today, as I was forging an epic sword of stunning beauty, a dragon began to attack my shop. I grasped the grip of the sword I forged long ago for just this task (which was conveniently hanging on the wall of the smithy) and strode out to do battle.

 

I knew I had to dispatch the beast quickly, for I had placed the billet in the forge without flux, and the insidious fiend had landed so quickly I had not the time to constrict the air flow to my forge and thus create a reducing atmosphere. The billet was in peril!

 

I shall not detail the manner in which I slew the beast, for it may be misunderstood as braggadocio, but suffice it to say that the task was accomplished and the billet saved, with ample time for a pint and a pipe at the close of the weary day.

 

. . .

 

Actually . . . I just went to work and had a lot of boring meetings, then I came home, had dinner with the family and walked around the shop, sighed a bit, and wished I had spent the day doing something real.

 

Dave

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-----------------------------------------------

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelt

http://stephensforge.com

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And here I was thinking dummy suppressor... :ph34r:

And I was thinking some sort of new air intake manifold for a venturi burner........

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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Actually . . . I just went to work and had a lot of boring meetings, then I came home, had dinner with the family and walked around the shop, sighed a bit, and wished I had spent the day doing something real.

 

Dave

 

I know how you feel. You did do something real, just not something fun. You put a roof over their heads and food on the table. You made having that shop possible.

And then you made me laugh at the dragon story. For which, I am grateful.

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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I have been wanting to build a new shop for a long time. My forge is in a 10'x12' section of a 3-stall shed. My shop building is 12'x16'... fairly crowded.

 

I spent yesterday cleaning up the area where I envision the new building... old firewood, old lumber, brick & block, vines and limbs. I will end up having to cut some trees and have a little grading done. I want to see it happen, but I dread getting started. Hope I don't lose my nerve. I think I've actually convinced my wife that it's a good idea.

 

When it got too cold, I retreated to the shop where I'm "customizing" an old, sentimental Western bowie for a coworker. It was original with stacked leather, but I've put a pair of buffalo slabs on it.

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I have to get one of Neil Burridge's sword blanks one of these days...

 

I worked on the handle of my KITH knife. Think inletting a rather complicated ferrule made from copper pipe onto a curly ash shovel handle.

 

Neil gets a lot of orders these days. So you may not even be able to get one ;)

 

I've yet to start on my kith. But I first want to get some old projects of my work bench first. Nearly got the sword above done now. When that's finished, that's two swords and a small sax completed this year already. So I'm on the right track. In the mean time, the urge to start new projects is growing :)

Jeroen Zuiderwijk

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/barbarianmetalworking

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I know how you feel. You did do something real, just not something fun. You put a roof over their heads and food on the table. You made having that shop possible.

And then you made me laugh at the dragon story. For which, I am grateful.

 

Thanks man.

-----------------------------------------------

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly." -- Theodore Roosevelt

http://stephensforge.com

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So tonight I hardened my KITH blade and worked a little on that BBQ set I started doing for that demo last month. I finished grinding the guard, spacer, and handle. Then I started the filework. The wood handle has been stained and 2 coats of Danish oil applied. Sometimes just a few minutes of something takes the strain of the day away.

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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12699002_10153205307400146_1957052419_o.jpg

 

this is what was gluing up when u posted this :P

 

This is my only full stock removal knife. A guy gifted me a bunch of old files that were his grandpas -- i took an unusable one and turned it into this.

 

Im waiting on corby bolts for my prototype one off necker knife(not pictured). I aggressively tried to make it a skeleton, which i butchered a wee bit enough to want to enclose scales around it. The idea was to fill the void with epoxy (vibration from the rasp popped a side off) Hoping that i can pop off the other scale corby and reglue !12669387_10153205305255146_536966872_o.jpg

Edited by Gabriel James
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I put a pin in a students sword handle, which is now ready to ship to them, I did a wire wrap on a seax and am just about to cutlers resin the blade in.....I will then glue up a Gladius to its handle with cutlers resin and will make the peen block or drink beer...........after all is is Saturday ...

forging soul in to steel

 

owenbush.co.uk

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ten to Five and the beer won over the peening block...........but my love of cutlers resin is growing, not for everything but I get a wrong feeling in my tummy when I slap epoxy onto a nice bit of wood and pattern weld.....

 

cheers to you all in your workshops today.

forging soul in to steel

 

owenbush.co.uk

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I had to put in the garden today. Spent most of the day mixing soil, filling containers, and planting seeds. Then I had to glue and pin up the last handle on that BBQ set. Tomorrow I can peen-set the pins and attach the blade to the spatula. I already have two orders for these sets.

“So I'm lightin' out for the territory, ahead of the scared and the weak and the mean spirited, because Aunt Sally is fixin’ to adopt me and civilize me, and I can't stand it. I've been there before.”

The only bad experience is the one from which you learn nothing.  

 

Josh

http://www.dosgatosdesignsllc.com/#!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdJMFMqnbLYqv965xd64vYg

J.States Bladesmith | Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/dos.gatos.71

https://www.etsy.com/shop/JStatesBladesmith

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Cheers Owen, I'd take the beer too!

 

The shop's been a bit of a disaster the past few months, and it's even worse having just found out I have to move 2500 miles across the country on 10 days notice... There's a sword in the works but now it won't be finished for quite some time, and another non blade project that's been going on since last August that I'm desperately trying to finish before imminent departure.

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Not all those who wander are lost. -J.R.R. Tolkien

-Shards of the Dark Age- my blog
-Nine Worlds Workshop-
-Last Apocalypse Forge-

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