KITH

A few days after finding Red I received an email from Stacy Apelt. He is in charge of the 2010 Knife In The Hat (KITH) on Bladeforums.com. Was my knife ready? What knife? Oh yeah. I signed up for this KITH in July on the forum. Luckily I did have a knife ready for the exchange. It happened to be a “Bee & Trout” that I made for a friend that wanted a skinner instead. This was a small forged knife that was crazy sharp and felt like a scalpel in the hand. All I needed to do was make a sheath for it and it would be ready to ship. The guy this knife was going to is Justin Reeder (ClemsonReeder) in Summerville, SC. It shipped out Dec. 9th, I hope he likes it.



So in the KITH you don’t know who is sending you a knife. The names are drawn at random and it is the luck of the draw. Well, after a long day at a really slow Holiday Bazaar Dec. 11th in Linden, TN I stopped to get the mail in a downpour. There was a bow inside waiting for me. Everything had to be unloaded from the truck before being ruined in the rain. With the work done I got my chance to open the box from Dan Pierson. Inside was a beautiful Nessmuck style knife that Geioge Washington Sears would have been happy to carry. It has lightly spalted stabilized curly maple handles, a 3/32” A2 blade that shaves and is accented with copper pins. This is a really awesome package that I will cherish for years to come.

Red Dawn

The day after Thanksgiving I had to work at the turd factory. Being a holiday I decided to hunt a couple hours before heading to work. Just as hunting time started I saw what I thought was “The Fox” coming towards me. That is until I saw the tail wagging as it came down the trail. This was a dog, messing up my hunting, and it proceeded to set it’s furry butt down right at the base of the tree I was in. I yelled and cussed and spit at the trouble maker to no avail. It wasn’t going nowhere. When I got down outta the tree this young red dog was waiting for me like she knew me. She followed me home and passed a couple dog tests. Those were…getting along with Charlie and not bothering the chickens. She got a good bill of health from the vet and is now my new shop dog. She is the dog I’ve been looking for, for quite a while. Guess I have no choice when she found me. I named her simply Red.

Tusks and Boogers

Tusks- A while ago, I showed the scrimshawed sperm whale tooth to my friend Dan Shaw and he expressed interest in making a trade for a pre ban tusk that he had. You might be able to see it's broken, but to me it is some nice handle material. I was happy to trade and can’t wait to see it on a knife. Maybe I’ll make the knife that actually inspired me to make my first knife. It was a blued hunter with wrought iron bolsters and ivory handles that was raffled in a magazine back in the ‘90s. Who knows? Do I need another knife? YES!
Dan also makes these cool walnut boxes with burl tops that a knife just might fit into. He offered a few to me for help in finishing them. Dang I like to barter and trade. What have you got that I can use? They will look cool on my show table.



Boogers- For the gift exchange at the city shop I got Boogers(Jason) name to buy for. I grabbed a knife blank off the bench and cut up some G11 for the handles cuz they are booger green. It is a 6” EDC with G11 handles and copper pins & thong tube. The sheath for it was done in leather even though kydex was my first choice. That little knife sharpened up real nice. Hope he likes it and uses it. Paul drew my name and got me a Camo Jacket. Dee gave me a Carl Schlieper Sodbuster knife with yellow delrin handles and brass liners. Another wonderful day.

Thanksgiving

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks that I have to be thankful for. The best thing first. It's 7a.m., Wednesday, Nov. 17th. I get a call from my daughter. She is getting ready to go to the hospital to deliver her first baby. The baby can't seem to wait cuz he's a month and a day early. Milwaukee here I come! Airline tickets were purchased, and the trip north started about 1:00p.m. By the time I got to Nashville airport she already delivered Little Bobby aka Robert Patrick Olin at 3:05p.m. My plane touched down in Milwaukee at 8:45 and I was picked up by my son Sam. We headed to the hospital where I got to see my beautiful new grandbaby, my daughter Jessie and Bob. The baby was so small and seemed so fragile but he caught on to that feeding thing pretty quick. He only weighed in at 5 pound 2ounces. Both baby and mother were in great health...such a relief. Life is very precious. Bobby spent a week in the hospital to make sure he was ready to face that big ol' world out there. He's right in track and growing like a weed. Can't wait to see him again. I miss y'all a lot.

I spent the next few days buzzing around. Up to the hospital as often as possible and going out with Sam. BTW Hangovers are worse as you age! My folks came down to see the baby and it was nice to see them. My sister let me stay at her house a couple nights which was nice. I just don't get to see family and friends very often. Going to the city is nice but I need to get back to the country before too long.