A Grand Ol’ Time!

On June 1^st we were blessed with a beautiful Grandson named Mathis!  Mother, father and new big brother made it through with flying colors.  Mathis is a wonderful little lad with a good disposition.  We are so glad to welcome him to the family.

I purchased a couple baby bunnies from a friend.  They are so adorable. They are prolific poopers and have grown quite a bit since.  I'm sure y'all will love them. 5/29/15

Here are the final results of a project started at least three years ago.  I wanted railings for the front porch and had an idea to use hog panels in between.  It really turned out better than I had imagined, and has kept those dang chickens off the porch. 6/13/15

Iworked on a pair of knives that require a double sheath.  Many designs were drawn up and tossed out before I got it somewhat figured out. The process of putting it together was kinda rough.  A lot more work was involved than my regular sheaths.  This is one sheath template that I am never throwing out. 6/14/15

Oh Yeah!  Finally got me a Hot Tub/Spa.  A guy in Etheridge, TN was selling it cheap on the Lawrence County Yard Sale site.  I had to get it.  It needs a minor plumbing repair and a place to set.  Think it’s going to be set up under the overhang of the shop.  There is power just inside and that will save me a lot of work.  I can not wait to get this little beauty going.  Next project is a robotic arm to serve me beers while in the hot tub, which will surely take a few years to get to. Or maybe I can just set a keg up next to it.  That sounds like a plan.  6/24/15

Double Knife Sheath

Finished the Skinner/Caper combo knives for Mike and took a few pics before I sent it out to him.  The knives are made from Aldo’s 1095 steel, the skinner is 1/8” thick and the caper is 3/32” thick blades.  The handles were cut from the same block of stabilized Black Ash burl with copper pins and thong tubes.  The sheath turned out to be way more of a challenge than I anticipated but it looks good and fits well.  I am trying to label this picture “Double Knife Sheath” to get it to come up when Googled.  6/25/15

Leslie and I stopped at the Crump Flea Market in Crump, TN on the 4^th of July.  I happened upon 2 pieces of cast iron that followed me home.  One is a medium sized muffin pan and the other is a small griddle.  They have since been seasoned over an open fire and are waiting to be used.  My idea for the muffin pan is line it with bacon and fill with burger and onions.  Making my mouth water already.

Well it’s about time I finish this last post.

That’s about it.  We’ve been working on our party most weekends and hope to have everything ready by then.  It should be a hootenanny to say the least.  Hope to write more about finishing off my new work area in the shop.  There should also be some new knives being completed in between work for the party.  Let's all have a Great Summer!!!

Thanks

Shop-Till You Drop!

I have planned to enclose my main work area of the shop for the last few years.  Yeah years.  After buying supplies here and there I was finally ready to get this thing rolling. My plan was to put up walls and a ceiling so that I could cool or heat the area easily and have a much more comfortable work environment while making knives.  

This journey started with cleaning a spot for the mill/drill.  From there it sorta snowballed. 5/19/15

Took a while to move things out and open things up, but walls are being built. 5/23/15

Here you can see things coming around.  Walls are mostly done and ceiling has been started.  This stuff is heavy! 6/9/15

Trying to gussy the place up a bit so I painted the big shop doors. You can see the difference a little bit of paint makes.  They really look good. 6/16/15

Walls and ceiling are complete.  Lights are up.   Got a used door at a local place and put it in.  Sure makes a difference. 6/21/15

Painted the inside white where I could and painted the floor gray.  It is such a different work area now.  Slowly moving my stuff back in there, but I have to figure out dust removal.  This will come in the near future.  Can’t do everything at once, especially since it took years to start.

 

I gotta say that doing this wore me out!!!  It’s taking some time to actually want to go in and get work started.  Trying to organize as much as I can right away, before I get all the knives going.  Soon enough I won’t even remember what it was like before. 

Next post is some of the stuff that happened recently.

Thanks for watching.

Long Time A’Comin

It has been a REALLY long time since the last time I posted to this here blog.  So I have a few things that happened since the beginning of April. 

 

I’ll try to make most of it as brief as I can.  It will take a few posts though.  Thanks for looking.

Here is a sheath I made for a CRKT folder. 3/30/15

Went to Batson’s Bladesmithing Symposium at Tannehill State Park in Alabama with Chase this year.  Took a few classes, talked with old friends, bought a bit of steel and had a great time.  Didn't put any pics in because I didn't take many.  I do have to say that attendance seemed to be way down.  4/11/15

Built some fencing out of scrap lumber for the front of the property.  After bush hogging the front we could see traffic on Natural Bridge Road so it has to be covered. Still haven't stained them or put them up. 4/16/15

The newest member of the shop is a small Mill/Drill.  The price was right and tooling wasn’t too hard to find.  So far, I’ve been using it to flatten handle material and it does a great job of that. 5/1/15

Mullet patrol at the Hohenwald show.  I just can’t pass up snapping a quick one of a super-mullet. 5/2/15

Here is a Large Hunter with Curly Maple handles and an old timey sheath.  This may just be a knife that I make all the time. 5/10/15

Like so many projects in my shop…this Changing Table was started long ago.  It will be passed around the family as more grandbabies are born.  It was made from Oak and Mahagony.  It should last through years of dirty diapers. 5/12/15

We updated our display at Wild Duck Soup Emporium before the Arts & Ag Tour.  5/19/15

That’s it for this edition…Next up is the updates to my workshop.