A Day Of Rest?

Well I shipped out the latest knife to my customer by Priority Mail on Friday Feb. 22nd.  It was packed securely with lots of bubble wrap and handed over to the USPS.  The package was insured and had delivery confirmation so that I would know when it was delivered.  Holy Mail Carrier Patman!  It was delivered to my customer the very next day.  What a relief for me.  Now was the custom knife what the customer pictured?

This is a picture I took before shipping it out.  Not a bad looking knife eh? 

Here's another picture of the knife just  hanging around in the woods.

This knife is a present for the customers husband and a lot of thought and care went into it by Jasmine.  So after all was said and done I decided to make a small gift for her.  Actually I decided that a few weeks ago.  In the process of making the handle, I didn't like the first one that I cut out.  It didn't fit my hand properly and if I don't like it no customer is going to get it.  Back to cutting out a new set of handles from the elk antlers I have.  Yada, Yada, Yada, Bada Bing, Bada Boom I used part of those first handles to create a pair of earrings for Jasmine to match her husbands knife.  Hoping she likes them, they are certainly one-of-a-kind.

So after the anticipation of waiting for the package to be delivered and opened, I finally found out that Jasmine did indeed love the knife and sheath I had made, along with the earrings.  What will her husband think of it? 

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 Cast Iron Follies

 This is how it started.  In November 2012, I won a 4 quart Griswold legless dutch over on thee bay.  Well I still have not seen it.  OMG it was a thing of beauty and was waiting to dive into my oven.  Tracking says it ended up in a mail sorting hub somewhere in Pennsylvania?  Here I am waiting and waiting and waiting.  Nothing.

I have two cast iron dutch ovens but they are too big for the two of us. Leslie sells them both for me. After selling them I find smaller cast iron dutch ovens to take their place.  The indoor or legless dutch oven is a Lodge brand and came out of the box seasoned and ready to go.  The outdoor dutch oven is a Stansport and does not come seasoned.  This has to be done before cooking in it.

We had a nice pork shoulder roast from our friends at Tomina Farms.  This was going to be the first thing cooked in my Lodge cast iron.  I got to open it up with a JK Knife that I am testing in a Pass Around. 

I decided that it had to be put in the smoker for a few hours before it went into the dutch oven.  Here it is with a nice cajun rub on it. 

It seems like I'm missing some pictures but oh well.  While the roast was smoking I got a good fire going.  This burned for a while, down to coals before I put the rack over the pit.

The whole thing was coated in vegetable oil and put over the hot coals.  I moved the pieces around occasionally and turned them over and back a few times too.  All this was done to season the cast iron evenly and thoroughly.  After a good hour and a half I took them off the fire and let them cool down.


Wow! I see the pictures turned on their side.  I think you can see it all and get it.  The roast was delicious as were the potatoes, onions and carrots.  While the roast was in the oven I made up a batch of cornbread and baked beans to go along with it.  The cornbread was made in my 8"cast iron skillet.  Ate it all before taking pictures...sorry.

Now I am ready for anything.  Cast iron skillets, indoor dutch oven and outdoor dutch oven.  I'll be making a few trivets so I can use the skillets and indoor DO by the fire.  Also in this picture is a half full glass of Sierra Nevada Torpedo.  Dang I can smell the hops from here.


If you don't have any cast iron, get yourself a skillet at least.  They cook so well and evenly.  You also use less energy because it doesn't take as much heat to cook with.


Those were my Cast Iron Follies for the day.  The first thing in the outdoor dutch oven is going to be squirrel.  Got 3 in the freezer waiting for a good recipe.

The Backyard Pioneer

If y'all have time please take the time to check out my friend Mike Prunty's blog at thebackyardpioneer.com.  His articles are coming out like wildfire and they deal with a lot of important issues facing us all today.  He was kind enough to publish a post or two with yours truly.  The first of them was "5 Questions with Patrick Burns of Arcadia Knives" and there is a link below if you haven't read it.  There is a lot of good information in that article to get a person, who wants to have a custom knife made, started in the right direction. 

 

Here's the link- http://www.thebackyardpioneer.com/2012/03/03/5-questions-with-patrick-burns-of-arcadia-knives/

The other article he posted with my input, really started as a comment to his review of a new well made kitchen knife.  I sent him an email telling him about the nice kitchen knives I had acquired at thrift stores and yard sales.  Mike posted today that it was one his top 5 blog posts and generated a lot of views.



Here's the link to that one- http://www.thebackyardpioneer.com/2013/01/16/thrift-store-knives/

Like I said check out his blog and sign up for email updates to it.  He has shared some AWESOME recipes that have become mainstays in our house.  His gear reviews are honest and to the point.  He has recently been through Hurricane Sandy.  He proved that emergency preparedness is not something for crazy folks.  His family survived through it because he has taken the time to care for his family by using essential life skills.  He also learned quite a few things about what worked well and what didn't.  I guarantee you'll learn enough to keep you coming back to his blog.

2013 And Not A Post To Be Found

Much has happened since the last posting.  Mostly normal everyday stuff.  There were a few times I was going to set down and write something but have excuses for that. 

Leslie went to Wisconsin for  a Christmas party with her family.  All her brothers and sisters were going to be there and she was surely NOT going to miss it.  She left the day before my last posting.  That left me home alone.  Yeah I really don't get much time alone in the house so I planned on enjoying the solitude for 5 days.  There also was the project I was working on, a Christmas present for Leslie, that had to be finished before she got home.  It was a kitchen island counter top to match our counters.  I had been working on it for a couple weeks when I could.  Luckily my buddy has a wood shop out where I was trapping.  So I would spend some time on it whenever he was around and he helped guide me with the proper sequence of steps in creating the island.  Oh, I also got her three high back stools so we can sit at the counter to eat and chat.  Whew! 



My buddy came by Saturday Dec. 21st to help me get the top ready to install.  We worked and got most of it ready and told him that I'd finish it myself since it was in place and only needed trim and screws to hold it down.  Well I'm working in my shop, the doors are open and it's beautiful outside.  As I'm cutting some trim on the bandsaw I see someone in my driveway and think "What The Heck?"...grab your gun!  Oh No!  It's Bob, my son in law.  He's holding his phone up videoing my reaction.  Where the heck did they come from?  What's going on?  Is this real?  Then I see Jess, my daughter and li'l Bobby.  They surprised the crap out of me!  No idea they were coming down, but I guess she had to get me back for doing the same thing to her the year before at Bobby's first birthday party.  What Goes Around Comes Around.  We enjoyed good times together.  The day Leslie was to return, we had planned Christmas dinner with a spiral cut ham, cheesy hash browns and more food.  Carrie, Hunt and Julian came up in the rain, from Alabama about an hour before Leslie came home.  When she walked in she brought our Marine, Shane with her.  Surprise Again!  Neither I or Carrie knew this was happening.  He had caught a flight to Nashville and waited hours for his moms flight to get in.  It was a wonderful Christmas together.  Oh yeah I got some Bacon Jerky!





 Bob, Jess and Bobby




Carrie, Hunt and Julian

Shane and Leslie

 
I finally finished a Bush Craft knife for myself right at the end of the year.  It was made with Aldo's O1 and a chunk of some beautiful burl wood.  The sheath is a dangler so I can use it a couple different ways.  It's nice to make something for myself every once in a while.

New Year was spent with our friends at Dunmire and everyone had a great time.  Leslie's Irish Cream didn't stand a chance.  There was music, dancing and ceremonial hugging and kissing as the clock struck 12.

The second week of January I hurt myself at work while lifting, moving and twisting with a heavy pump as I was partially bent over.  That kept me from frolicking around like I usually do.  Seems like it takes longer to heal up than it did even a few years ago. 

Even with the pulled abdominal muscle my focus has been on a custom knife.  This knife was designed for the customer and I have been trying to document most of the steps involved with it.  I will post the WIP (work in progress) after the knife is in the customers hand.  This is not going to be a Spoiler Alert for the recipient but I don't think most can visualize what it'll look like just from a picture of the blank below.  I have come to realize that a heck of a lot of effort goes into the creation of a working knife from a blank chunk of steel, a piece of antler and some leather.  The documentation of the steps takes quite a bit of time to photograph and articulate.  All the processes go much faster without stopping to take a pic and think about how to explain it.  Communication with the customer has been a pleasure.  It is nice to deal with nice people.  There have been countless emails and phone texts with pictures and comments, so many, I believe, the customer will be glad to have some peace and quiet when it's all done.  But that's what they wanted so take that Jasmine!

I am looking forward to completing the sheath this week then putting on my makers mark, sharpening it to razor sharp and shipping it out. 

Custom knives take more from a maker in that we must try to visualize what the customer has in their mind. It's not easy and that is why anything custom costs more.  There are so many questions that need to be addressed before we can even start the ball rolling.  If you are looking for a custom knife be prepared to communicate and wait.  Some makers out there have 1-4 year waiting lists, mine is much shorter.