Look What The Postman Brought

Yesterday afternoon was just like most afternoons.  Sit down for a few minutes after work, before taking care of any more work I have to do.  Oh wait...I was actually sitting down and working on four sheaths that need to be completed.  Any way, Leslie walks up to check the mail and comes back with a box for ME.  The label is from Maine and upon tearing into that baby with reckless abandon, I discover a beautiful knife inside.  It is a knife from my friend Dick.  This knife is 9.250" long with a 4" cutting edge and made out of O1.  The handle is diamondwood and it also has diamondwood bolsters.  WOW!!!  What a great knife.  I'm showing it off to whoever will look at it.  (Bottom knife in pic)

I just wanted to show what I've done to my newest KITH knife.  Some minor modifications were done to it to fit the sheath and to feel more comfortable in my hand.  The handle area was worked on to fit my hand.  I prefer more contours in the handles, and a little grinding was all it needed.  The knife didn't fit in the sheath that was sent along.  The guard area was ground down even with the edge of the blade and then it fit really well.  There is one spot that has to be filled in but that is so minor.  Like I said before this knife is going in my pack to roam the woods with.

Oh, see that rope in the picture?  That is a "David Sling" that I made from simple jute cording.  All you do is braid three 12 foot pieces together in a certain way.  Then you sling rocks at stuff.  What could be more fun?  Check out Slinging.org for more information on how to make your own primitive food gathering device.

Knives! Knives!

Here's an order that I had been working on for a while.  Four knives, similar in looks and shape, for a dad and his three youngn's.  They step down in size slightly from one to the next.  Dad's knife is the largest and son's is next.  They both have blue G10 liners with antler supplied by grandpa.  The other two knives are for the girls.  They're sporting pink G10 liners with grandpa's antler also.  These are done and ready to be shipped out to the new owners.  I certainly hope they all enjoy their new matching knives.

Homesteading

This past weekend, Leslie and I did some home canning.  We didn't do as much as a lot of folks but getting started has been the challenge.  Saturday July28th was spent canning pickles.  Some of the cucumbers were given to us and some were taken from our garden.  We cut them into spears and packed them into jars along with garlic and one hot banana pepper per jar.  These were processed in a hot water bath and left to cool.  Ten quarts of pickles will last us a while.  All of this was done after we made 3 gallons of refrigerator pickles that get eaten up VERY quickly.  I think we haven't canned pickles in the last few years because the refrigerator pickle are so easy to make and go well with summer foods.

Sunday we went to the garden for tomatoes and hot banana peppers.  There weren't as many tomatoes as we thought so you just deal with what you have.  Leslie is using these to make spaghetti sauce.  Water was heated, and the tomatoes went into the hot tub until their wrinkly little skins came right off.  From there they were pureed a bit and put into a crock pot to reduce down to less than half the quantity.  That took over a day to do.

 

After the tomatoes were blanched, I got things ready to put up my hot banana peppers.  Water, jars, lids, clean this, make that, and the vinegar solution were all dealt with before filling the jars and putting them in the water bath.  This recipe says the peppers will stay crisp as along as they are only in the boiling water for 5 minutes.  Luck was with me and hopefully the stars were aligned properly.  Everything seemed to go very smoothly.  I got 13 pints and one quart of peppers.  Five of the pints were cut into slices, the rest were left whole in the jars.

Our next attempt is going to be canning venison.  The freezers don't ever seem to have any room for anything.  So a few packs of steaks will be thawed, cut up, browned and packed into wide mouth pint canning jars.  The difference with meat and other low acid foods is that it must be processed in a pressure canner.  More about that when we get to it.

Another KITH Bites The Dust

rasret01

Posted on KnifeDogs.com

I received an absolutely beautiful frontier style fighter from Pat Burns. I believe this gives me the distinct honor of being the largest collector of Aracdia Knives in Maine as I was lucky enough to draw his knife in last years' KITH as well. (Don't need a KITH if Pat will just send me a knife every year... ) Solid, good looking knife, sharp as hell and with a feel in the hand that a lot of makers dream about. Thanks Pat.





Dick

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So glad you got the knife AND liked it.  When Dick's name was drawn for me again this year I thought "He isn't going to want another one of my knives." Well it turns out he wanted this one and I'm glad to pass it on to him.  He also ran into a little bit of trouble with all the heat this year.  You know it's bad when it's HOT in Maine.  Hope you're feeling better Dick.  Careful when you go out and play.  How about we just trade a knife every year?  Hey I don't even have one of yours and they look nice from your new blog... yankeeknifemaker.blogspot.com. 
That is your gratuitous link Dick.  Seriously though, how do I get my hands on one of your knives?  We should talk about this some time soon.

Also a little update on the knife I received.  Mitchell did a nice job on it but I felt the need to modify it a bit.  Since that blade was all good for me I left it as is.  The handle didn't fit as well as I like so I thinned it down a little.  It now fits my hand really well, fits in the sheath he sent and it is going to be in my pack for all my backwoods ventures.  Thanks again, I just love that O1. 
 

Knife from s2f...aka Mitchell

Here is my posting on KnifeDogs:

Got my knife from s2f late on Wednesday. Working on four knives that are due this weekend so I couldn't post yesterday. This is a well made knife for only his 8th one. The knife is solid and should take a beating. This is going to be a user for me, as it's already on my belt and from there it will be in my pack. I'm very happy to find out the blade is 1/8" O1 with micarta handle and toxic green & orange liners. After a few licks this thing is shaving sharp.



I love these KITH's!!!!! Thanks s2f for the knife. It was a pleasure talking to you yesterday. Thanks Sean for all the work you put into this. So many fine entries. Can"t wait for the next one.

Here's my entry in the July 2012 KITH on KnifeDogs.com

It's a frontier fighter.
Forged 1084, 11.250" OAL
1/8" thick, 5.750" blade
Curly Hickory handle with acid finish
Copper pins and thong tube
Brown Leather sheath

Names were drawn 7/15/12 and this knife goes to:
Dick Stockford of Bangor Maine.  Y'all might recognize the name as he won my camp knife last year.  He says he can't wait to get his hands on it.  More later.

New Addition to the Shop

In my last post I mentioned buying a box to open while waiting for the 4th of July Swap.  That box happened to be the newest tool in the shop.  It is an Abrasive Cabinet or sandblasting cabinet.  In my quest for better ways to make knives this will be used to attach handles to the knives better.  Along with sandblasting the knife blade handle area, I have invested in the Top-of-the-Line adhesive.  From this point forward all my knives and jewelry will be put together using Brownell's Acraglas.  This is THE stuff. 

Testing was done on many epoxies and glues in "Glue Wars" on knife forums and one thing was determined.  Most of the glues and epoxies worked much better when the handle area of the blade was sandblasted.  It made adhesion tougher and stronger.  So that is what I will do to take my work to the next level.  Everyone will benefit from this.

Now I just have to get to work on the orders I have.  Luckily it isn't very hot in the shop. HaHaHaHa!!!!  Going to try this out this weekend and hopefully everything will go well.  I have some traps that need some sandblasting to get them back in shape.  Want to get them working to keep the fox at bay.

4th of July Swap on BladeForums

The 4th of July Swap on BladeForums was a hoot!  There was a $50 minimum limit set for this along with sending things we already had.  Not buying new stuff to send.  There was only one guy that caved in to the pressure of having a giftbox sitting in front of his nose.  We all had a hilarious time taunting each other into opening the boxes, but in the end most held up with dignity.  Can't wait for the Christmas Swap.  Got more ideas of stuff to send off. 

 

 

 

arcadiaknives

So last night I put the box out so I could take it with me to work. When I woke up it was nowhere to be found. My wife hid it on me. When I talked to her later she said “Ain’t no way you’re taking that with you,
You’ll open it up at home AFTER your work is done.” I guess I can hold out another 5 hours. Well it was totally worth the wait…and then some.

When I finally opened it I was surprised to see the top half of the box filled with newspapers. After throwing that aside my eyes lit up. There was a ton of stuff packed in there. First thing I pulled out was a black/orange handled Mora with an orange sheath. It is sharp. There was a karabiner with hanks of paracord and jute attached. There was a silicone cloth, Nikon Lenspen, a Cyclops LED hat light and a bag with 2 nice pieces of fatwood.

Next thing I pulled out was a full Altoids tin with a nice fire steel & striker, mini-Bic, P38, 2-PJCB straws, compass, single edge razor blade, jute pieces, bandaids, crazy glue, and a couple safety pins. Very nice. An Eclipse tin held 3-cord keepers, a small karabiner and a very cool Leatherman Style. A small earplug case holds a very compact yet crammed full of fishing gear. Line, sinkers, hooks and wiggly tails.

Last but certainly not least is a Case 3318CV Stockman with yellow delrin handles and a nice patina on the main blade. I really like this knife and it’s going in my pocket right now.



Wow!!!!! Thank You AC700Wildcat! This was certainly an awesome thing. I guarantee I will have a REALLY, REALLY rough time waiting when it comes time for the Christmas Swap after this.

ArcadiaKnives.blogspot.com
Beckerhead #176
JK Supporter 76

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07-04-2012

1066vik

Originally Posted by arcadiaknives

Glad you got the box today ViK. Did you open it yet? How 'bout now? Come on cut it open. Let the dog tear it a little so stuff can fall out. Shoulda put some dog treats in there. Double dog dare ya. Nobody will know. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

just following orders....



and the after pic:


icepick/awl, keyring, & firesteel with antler handles. (blue stripe on firesteel handle should make it easier to find when (not if) I drop it.
compass, stickers, handmade "cigar" pen (my wife used to do wood turning, and that was my favorite style!) with ash burl wood.
a forged 52100 small utility knife (I love that steel!) with Ipe handles and what looks like a "thorn" rune stamped in the blade. (makers mark?)
last, but definitely not least...............
Larvets! (yes folks -- he sent me a box of fried worms -- aren't you all jealous now?)
best of all, other than the worms, stickers, and compass, all of this was made by Arcadia knives!

Thanks a lot!