Mmmmm BBQ!

Saturday May 14th, Smoke & Arts on the River was supposed to be held in Clifton. The Artisans of Wayne County were to set up for the second year. The attraction includes the BBQ contest along with the first car show and a citywide yard sale. Foul weather postponed the event and it has been rescheduled for May 28th. Unfortunately I'm on call the holiday weekend so I can't show my knives. It looks as though the weather will be perfect for everything. Mmmmm BBQ!

After The Show

The 3rd annual Blooming Arts Fest on March 19th 2011 was not a great success for me. It started out a bit colder than everyone anticipated. The crowd seemed to be smaller than last year and the wallets were tucked in a little further. Overall it was still a good day for being outside as the weather warmed up and crowds became more plentiful. Everybody seems to like my knives a lot, with very positive comments. Many stand there and admire but won't pick them up. It's also hard to sell a well priced hand crafted item when a vendor is selling chinese made knives for $3 just down the way.

This economy needs a kick in the pants. How can a hardworking individual making a decent product compete with low quality low priced junk? I guess a huge factor is this area of Tennessee. Perry county is about the poorest county in the state. Wayne county to the south is a poor county too. Events like the Blooming Arts Fest brings people in from all over. There really needs to be more draws to the area. Enough of my tirade.

A lot of wonderful people stopped by to chat, look and a few even bought things. Friendly faces from last year came to look at the new items I had. I didn't have jewelry at the show in 2010 so selling some pieces made it worth it. New knives (in picture) with my home-made micarta was very fascinating to many.

All in all, it may not have been as good as expected, but getting my stuff out there and meeting new people is a great way to spend a beautiful day in Tennessee.

Shown in the pics are the knives I got ready for this show. There are 6 hunters with different colored handles, 2 utility knives, a tactical knife and a knife with a forged tail on it. They are surrounding my new brochure which was an Xmas present from my wonderful wife. The other pic is of a bunch of knife blanks I have on the bench. I'm doing some larger camp type knives. They have been fun to do so far and I hope they are a hit.

Spring Is Here!

Can't believe it's the middle of March already. Next weekend is the first show of the season for me. The Blooming Arts Festival in Linden, TN will hopefully start out a prosperous year for this knife maker. I have been busy in the shop getting some knives ready which stared with making my own micarta handle material. The micarta turned out well, with the hippy micarta especially cool. I know I'll have to make more of this as it seems to tickle a lot of people's fancy. There will be 12-15 knives on the table along with my jewelry. This show, last year, was my first real show and was considered a success. So many nice people came by our tent to check out my wares. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and bestow upon us a wonderful sunny day.

More to come following the show.

Last year for my son's birthday I made a belt buckle for him. It was designed with one of his passions in mind. That passion is bicycle riding. As for me I put on way too miles as a kid and those seats aren't very comfy to this old tush. I'll leave the riding to those that enjoy it. After aquiring some old bike gears I set out to create a buckle he might like. It took a bit of gear swapping until I found the combination I was looking for. A few of the gear teeth had to be cut off the top and bottom of the piece so his belly wouldn't be punctured. Next I had to weld on a bar to attach the belt to and a hook for the hole. It was actually after Sam's birthday before it was sent to the chrome plater. There it sat for almost 4 months. Well I just got it back and it looks AWESOME! I really hope he likes it. He should get the package on March 12th. The picture doesn't quite do it justice.

Well that's it for now. We'll be back soon to show some of the finished knives and sheaths before they go to the show.

Earlier today Japan had an 8.9 earthquake and tsunami that wiped out a lot of stuff. Maybe that old end-of-the-world-thing actually is happening.

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.