Busy Weekend ahead

Erica left for Seattle this morning. With luck she will return the happy co-captain of the Munecas Muertas after having won a couple of games. Go Dolls! In the meantime I will try to clean up the house a little (dishes, laundry, vacuuming), pay attention to the baby, and hopefully get to work in the shop (after bedtime, and during naps). There are certainly plenty of projects to work on. Not that I will get to all of them.

My forging sessions usually only last an hour or so since that is about how long a batch of charcoal lasts. I usually have enough irons in the fire that as soon as one goes back in after hammering, then next piece comes out, so there are no breaks. And my anvil is on the floor, so it’s a lot of up and down also. An hour is usually long enough to get me a little tired out. As a result of all of this, it takes a while to get things done in the forge.

Of course the real reason is that people start to make inappropriate comments if your right arm is significantly bigger than your left.

Here are a few of the ongoing projects:

BDoodles, who ordered the antler letter openers, would like a carving knife to deal with her family’s game. I’ve started two of those. One is about a 6 inch blade, the other about 5. You’ve seen pictures. The 5 inch is almost ready for a handle! The 6 needs some love to take out the grinding scratches.

Unfortunately, getting the scratches out is a long and tiring process using little bits of finer and finer sandpaper, and occasional trips to the buffing wheel. But the final product is pretty. Maybe I will do a post about knife finishes some day… that could be interesting.

An Australian gentleman has requested a camp/utility/hunting knife. This one is almost ready for heat treating, it’s been an interesting project so far, and I picked up some new wood for this one: Staghorn Sumac.

My former neighbor, whose father was a knifesmith in Tennessee, would like me to make a knife from some Damascus that his father forged. This is a total honor! It would be only my third Damascus knife. I don’t have the piece of steel yet, and he hasn't been able to find it so I get to wait for that one.

A good friend of mine, whose mother received the odd kitchen chopper, is interested in either a Kukri/Machete type or a boot knife. I’ve got something along the lines of the big knife pretty close, but the style doesn’t quite feel right for him. It’s a little too Lord of the Rings – which is fine, but not really the feel that I’d like for that one.

My wonderful wife wants a “creepy cleaver”. I started a post about this one, and will post it eventually, when I get farther along. It has gone through one forging. Its from a BIG chunk of steel, and it takes some effort to move all that around.

I’m working on two Puuko Style blades, one in CM154 stainless and one in high carbon. I have hopes that these will get to the heat treat stage this weekend. But I’m probably dreaming.

My Aunt sent me a Henkel Santuko that snapped off inside the handle. I’m debating hammering the bolster down to make more handle, but I haven’t worked with X50CrV15 steel before, and am a little worried.

And then there are the daggers…which I will ignore. Have I mentioned that daggers are a pain in the butt?

If you’ve made it this far through this, are there any topics that you all might be interested in me talking about?

Have a great weekend all!

Adam