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What did you do in your shop today?


Joshua States
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Did the first grind and HTed the k tips today. Went for a hamon on both, because why not. I tried to layout the clay exactly the same on both. It'll be interesting to see the variations between the two. 

 

One came out of the oil dead straight. The other had a kink on the whole blade. Tempering sure took care of that. 

PXL_20220103_034900317.jpg

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I ended off what seemed to be the worst year of my life (and I've had some doozies) with a fishing trip to the iconic Torra Bay in Namibia's Skeleton Coast national park, unfortunately the Gerber-jinx when it comes to saltwater fishing was strong, and the biggest catch was my cousin's omicron.  I kidded him that it was covid when he started feeling bad, fortunately the jokes never turned to tears except for the fishing :wacko:

I bought and assembled battery pack (2nd hand UPS batteries), regulator and solar panel for the borrowed camping fridge. Upon my return I found out my solar panel is one size too large to easily mount on my roof, and I can't afford a camping fridge anyway. 

The setup could've still been of considerable use while camping, but with the solar panel mounting issues it's the most expensive single-use cellphone charge ever :(

 

While I was isolating after the fishing trip I wanted to finish the 2 folders with the broken springs and one new one from a year ago, but I confirmed what I've suspected for a while:  two were 1070 and the other 14C28N, and things have gotten mixed up.  I've tried spark testing and I'm none the wiser.  

Decided to forget about these and start out on the Spydie tribute knife from the template available on DC knives' site.

I forgot so much I learned making the first one a year ago, didn't use my center drill to start the holes so some where off, then I started chasing some lock rock with a spring getting dangerously thin.......so I decided to forget about it :wacko:

 

Lit my forge for the first time since the shoulder surgery in September, cut the widest piece from a bearing race that would fit in my forge, straightened that and forged out a monster of a blade.  It was commissioned by a friend and is supposed to be a large kitchen knife, need to check with him if its not a bit too much, but I'm not forgetting about it :D
Somewhere there is a plus-sized person need to break down cows B)

All the best for 2022!  

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The other day I received some Thuya Burl I ordered . The site didn't say they were stabilized, so I might send them out to K&G for that. They are big though. Two blocks about 3x3x7.5 inches each.

 

V2 Thuya Burls (1).jpg

V2 Thuya Burls (2).jpg

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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/#!

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My son got this Red Rider when he was a boy. He's been giving his son some highly supervised target time with it.

 

The factory stock was proving to be too long, so I volunteered to make him a short stock for it until he grows in to the big one:

 

RR1.jpg

 

RR2.jpg

 

I couldn't stop at a slab with eased edges... I had to go presentation grade.

 

RR3.jpg

 

A cool project for a snow day.

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Too cool, Don!  B)  Oddly enough, a friend of mine recently bought an "adult-sized" Red Ryder.  He's retired and lives in a subdivision, and he got the urge to do some plinking one day last summer.  I'd forgotten just how much fun you can have with a low-powered BB gun and some old beverage cans. 

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Finally I got this folder finished yesterday ,I took it out to the gun range this morning tried it out on a couple of non conforming 12g shells,. 

It cut them up no problem and the 1095 blade is still sharp, even though I did catch the brass on one shell :unsure:!! 

IMG_20220109_172145954.jpg

IMG_20220109_172216591.jpg

IMG_20220109_172233097.jpg

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Looks good, Martin!

 

Alex, no, we used the end of an old bundle.  I haven't revisited folders since the exorcism, but last weekend I forged a coathook with no problems, and today I did a small hatchet head likewise.  It fought me a little, but I'm way out of practice on those, so that's to be expected.  It's cooling off now, I'll grind it later and we'll see how the welds look.  

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23 hours ago, Alex Middleton said:

The gremlins caused me to cut out a guard slot 3/8" too long.  Had to be the gremlins, no way I measured it wrong! :blink:

Those gremlins have been working over time. The measurements on the shop board for a hatchet order were mysteriously wrong, so I was making hatchets of the wrong size. I think I might prefer the pack rats to the gremlins.

Edited by Faye
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Today I tried drilling the pivot hole before doing any grinding. It's the first time I've done it this way. I need the pivot screw in place to finish the hot work, but I don't like cleaning the scale off multiple times. The forgings need to fit together as forged, but it will let me finish the hot work before touching the grinder.

 
The white mark on the blade is where the tool steel cutting edge ends.

20220109_174501_2.jpg

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13 hours ago, Martin Tiney said:

Finally I got this folder finished yesterday ,I took it out to the gun range this morning tried it out on a couple of non conforming 12g shells,. 

It cut them up no problem and the 1095 blade is still sharp, even though I did catch the brass on one shell :unsure:!! 

IMG_20220109_172145954.jpg

 

 


I probably won't finish my first attempt at this pattern, too many mistakes at the start.

Well done on yours, just have top ask, is net next pin after the pivot necessary?

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11 hours ago, Jeff Amundson said:

Today I tried drilling the pivot hole before doing any grinding. It's the first time I've done it this way. I need the pivot screw in place to finish the hot work, but I don't like cleaning the scale off multiple times. The forgings need to fit together as forged, but it will let me finish the hot work before touching the grinder.

 
The white mark on the blade is where the tool steel cutting edge ends.

20220109_174501_2.jpg

Are your scissor blades slightly curved towards each other? 

 

Anyways, I know a great maker named Grace Horne. She can be found on FB and I believe she'd answer any questions you ask. 

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11 minutes ago, Joël Mercier said:

Are your scissor blades slightly curved towards each other? 

Not at this stage. I forge them as flat as I can. Adjusting the blade overlap is one of the last steps. 

13 minutes ago, Joël Mercier said:

I know a great maker named Grace Horne.

We follow each other on Instagram. She's been a great help.

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A little while ago @Jeff Amundsonshared that he used a laser on a pair of scissors he was working on.  That kind of got me to thinking.  I've always struggled with symmetry on my handles, in part stemming from finding it difficult to establish a true center line after primary shaping.  His idea prompted me to use the laser on my chop saw to help draw a center line.

 

I started with roudlghoing out the general profile of the handle.

20220113_192911.jpg

 

Then lined it up to the laser on my chop saw. And roughed on some marks.

20220113_192107.jpg

 

Then I played out a rough profile of what I was looking for.

20220113_192857.jpg

 

And rough ground to shape.

20220113_194311.jpg

 

There were some minor tweaks to the shape based on the TLAFAR methodolgy, but the general shape came out pretty darn well.  I'm actually getting pretty excited to finish this thing up.

 

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14 hours ago, Alex Middleton said:

Then lined it up to the laser on my chop saw. And roughed on some marks.

 

Now there's an idea I'll be stealing.

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On 1/14/2022 at 1:57 AM, Alex Middleton said:

TLAFAR methodolgy

Not familiar with that one Alex?

"The way we win matters" (Ender Wiggins) Orson Scott Card

 

Nos, qui libertate donati sumus, nes cimus quid constet.

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Love it, thanks 

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"The way we win matters" (Ender Wiggins) Orson Scott Card

 

Nos, qui libertate donati sumus, nes cimus quid constet.

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Forged this last weekend to see if the shop gremlins were still active. Cleaned it up yesterday.

 

20220117_100132.jpg

 

Did the HT this morning, and since I unexpectedly had the rest of the day free, went ahead and hafted it. Needs some work on the bevel to blend everything.

 

20220117_145349.jpg

 

Mild steel body, file edge with teeth (they'll show up as it ages), curly ash handle. Wood finished natural with boiled linseed oil to bring up the stripes.  This is some nice ash, I'll be sad when it's all gone.

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