Think Spring!

In February I worked on a blade for a guy in California.  We got the design ironed out, the blade started, finished it and shipped it out.  It was a collaboration with two other guys.  The blade steel was Aldo's 1095 with a very short and accentuated clip.  The spine was rounded so the clip had the shape of a tear drop.  This is not a small knife but he is using it as a neck knife.

The handle was finished by Chef Tyler Stone.  The sheath was made by Chris Lambert of SC Holsters.  It turned out very nice and I am glad to be a major part of the collaboration.

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 On my way to Milwaukee, I swear I saw gremlins running on the wing of this SouthWest plane.

  

From Milwaukee I headed further north to Wausau, WI to see my folks.  Luckily I brought some warmer weather with me.  Mother wanted a shot of Da Boyz so we reluctantly got together, muttering razafraz and generally trying to be done with it. (from left- Me, Mike, Dad, Tom and Bob) This was the first time I’d been to Wausau in 8 or 9 years.  Mom and Dad usually came to Milwaukee to see me anytime I came up from Tennessee.

One thing that ticks me off is I am the youngest boy and I’m the only one with gray hair.  

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Here is my lovely wife working the table in Fayetteville, TN at the EVCA spring show. It’s already March 14^th and time for folks to get out and enjoy the weather.

The next week we were in Linden, TN for the seventh annual Blooming Arts Festival.  Friday afternoon was a bit chilly and windy but Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day.  Looks like the only picture I saved was of the Sweet Mullet this guy was sporting.

There were a lot of folks enjoying themselves on Saturday and the weather brought out even more.

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Next up is the April Showers Home and Garden Show in Waynesboro, TN sponsored by the Wayne county Chamber of Commerce.  Leslie will set up there on April 11, 2015.

I will be heading down to Tannehill State Park in Alabama to attend the Batson's Bladesmithing Symposium which is sponsored by the Alabama Forge Council.  It runs from Thursday evening, April 9th through Sunday noon, April 12th.  There'll be more on this in my next post.

A Fresh Start

After all the bugs have left my system and I don’t feel sick any more, it was high time to get my butt out to the shop.  The first thing I did was lay out almost 20 blades on flat stock and cut a bunch of these out after a day long Entrepenurial class sponsored by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, of which I am a new member. 

When I was getting ready for bed Friday night, I happened to notice that it seemed kinda bright out at 11:30p.m.  Looking out the window there was some white stuff all over.  

This is what I woke up to early Saturday morning.  It looked so pure and clean.  The snow was on every thing…I mean every fence line, branch and surface it could reach.  Lucky for us it only lasted till 10:30a.m.  We've had a pretty warm winter and this was not expected.

This is what I ended up with after cutting, profiling and forging the blades to shape.  Saturday was a very productive day but there is still a lot to do with these.

On Sunday, I ground all of the blades that had been forged.  Once the initial grinding was completed, I decided it was as good a time as any to heat treat and temper this set of blades.

I hope to grind and heat treat the other blades as soon as I can.

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Here’s a few that I just finished.  The top two are hunters.  One has a carved brown  micarta handles while the other has curly maple handles.  The bottom pic shows a Guthook with carved brown micarta handles ready to ship out.

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This year we are trimming down our show schedule.  So far we are pretty sure of the shows that we want to do and will be at for 2015.  These are:

Elk Valley Crafters Assoc.                    March 14

Blooming Arts Festival                         March 20-21

Ames Plantation                                      October 10

Elk Valley Crafters Assoc.                    November 7 or 14?

The Farm School                                      December 5?

Not sure of some of the dates listed.  There may be a show or two stuck in there somewhere but they have to be tried and true.  Those HOT weather shows have not worked for us in the past. 

Thanks to all of you for actually reading this blog of mine.  You are the reason I do this.

The End of 2014 or “WHEW! It’s Finally Over”

2014 finally ended!  It didn’t come fast enough for me.  It was a rough year for me and the critters.  My sweet but stupid cat got into something the weekend before Christmas and needed surgery to stitch up from the corner of her left eye up onto her head.  That makes 3 animal hospital visits for the year.

Leslie found a large cyst on Charlie’s neck and had to take him in the last week of the year.  Not sure what it is yet but it looks hopeful.  He is a good hound dog.

All this isn’t so bad when you look at the BIG picture.  Life has its ups and downs.  If you don’t have any downs you ain’t living right.

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Santa had to work especially hard to get all these knives finished and in the mail to be delivered before Christmas.  From the left we have 2 custom Bird & Trout knives. In the middle is a slim hunter in Desert Ironwood for my son-in-law.  Next is a forged Raindrop Damascus Hunter with Burl handle and last is one of my Altoid Tin knives with a necker sheath dressed up with Curly Maple handles.

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The Bird & Trouts were made for a super guy from Memphis and his son.  He wanted their initials carved into the sheaths, which was a good idea since they were identical knives.  This fellow already had four of my knives, so with these two, makes him own as many of my knives as I do.  He is already anticipating what I’ll have for him at the next Ames Plantation Heritage Festival in October.

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This slimline trapper was made from a Rough Rider Trapper kit that I got for myself a few years ago.  I always felt a little intimidated by folding knives but this was easier to put together than I thought.  Instead of slipping into my front pocket, it was given to my buddy as a Christmas gift.  He does so much to help me that I figured he should have it in his pocket.  It has some pretty Black Ash burl handles with brass liners and bolsters.  I think I’ll have to come up with my own design and make a folder to sell some time in the future.

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My intention each and every year is to upgrade equipment and take things to the next level.  So for 2014, I’ve wanted to have a propane tank installed to run my forge.  It took all year long to make it happen because “Life Happens”.  It is almost ready to crank up the heat.  Not sure what's in store for 2015 yet.

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Our electric co-op, TVEC came around to trim and cut trees along their easements.  It’s on a 10 year cycle so there was plenty for them to cut.  The big cedar and half of my favorite Loblolly Pine fell to their saws along with quite a few smaller trees on our driveway.  It saved me a bunch of work, so I’m letting them dump a few loads of chips across from the shop.  Win – Win.

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When a friend gave me a jar of candied ginger, the first thing I thought of was making a Ginger Mead.  I chopped some of the ginger up, mixed it with some lemon juice, honey and a tea bag.  This mixture was steeped with hot water and left to meld into the base of the mead.  It turned into a 2 ½ gallon batch that looks very refreshing.  Hope some of y’all get to taste this later in the year.

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Someone got a brand spanking new work truck the last week of the year.  It’s a Ford F150 4x4 Extended Cab.  Sorry to see the 2002 Ranger go.  It has taken me to and from work so many times.  I certainly appreciate this perk, and take care of my work trucks.  This pic is before she gets gussied up with running boards, city emblems and other stuff.

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Last thing I want to talk about is a call I received after the Validity magazine article came out.  It was from a gentleman about 15 miles east of Waynesboro.  Tommy was his name and he thinks that we might be kin.  We met for lunch the week before Christmas and had a very interesting conversation.  It seems possible that our great great grandfathers may have been brothers that came to the U.S. in the early 1800’s.  I don’t have much information on the Burns family prior to my great grandfather.  You just never know why things happen.  This will be interesting to find out more info on my family history.

Let’s hope that 2015 is a Fruitful and Prosperous year, with many great days ahead of us all.

Validation

At the Home and Garden show in April, held at the National Guard armor in Waynesboro, I met Becky Jane Newbold of Validity magazine. She asked if Arcadia Knives would be interested in doing an interview for the magazine. As we talked I tried to put the interview off for a while due to construction at work and many other reasons. Again in June I was totally involved with the knife set for my son’s wedding gift. So in October I finally talked with Cody from Validity and did a phone interview. The questions were easy to answer and I felt very comfortable talking to her about making my knives.
 

I thought the article was going to be in the November issue but it apparently was too late to get it in. With great anticipation I waited for the December issue, the Christmas issue, to arrive at Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. As luck would have it, when I stopped in to see if the magazine had arrived, Becky Jane was there and had a bunch of copies with her.

The article was really nice. They were nice enough to put a few pictures in and made me look WAY better than I am. I am so happy it came out this well. Thank You Becky Jane and Validity magazine for validating my work and the work of all the other great artisans in the area.  Keep up the good work.

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2014 started out with my cat having an abscess on her face and needing surgery. I reckon that’s how the year is going to end for me also. Animals! Kato had to be taken to the animal hospital this week with a bite to her face and an abscess over her eye. Here she is knocked out and waiting for the vet to take care of her.  She’s so lucky she catches mice around here to earn some of that hospital bill. Although most people don’t use dead mice as currency. On the bright side, she doesn’t have to wear that awefull cone on her head, bad side is cats don’t like to have medicine injected into holes in their head.  What am i going to do with her?

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I recently got a call from a local lady that wanted some of my bottle stoppers to give as Christmas gifts. These are what I came up with during a long evening working at the wood lathe. They were delivered today and hope they make everyone happy when they are received.

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P.S. As I was writing this post I got a call from a returning customer looking for a pair of Bird and Trout knives for him and his son. He has already bought four of my knives over the last few years and I look forward to making as many knives for him as he wants.  You can never have too many knives.

See y'all this weekend at The Farm Holiday Bazaar in Summertown, TN.  Saturday from 9-4 and Sunday from 12-4.

Leftovers

There was a couple of things that I forgot to put in my last post.

One funny thing that I forgot to mention happened when I harvested the two deer on opening day.  After shooting them I came back to the house to retrieve my two-wheeled deer cart.  It happened to be fairly warm out so I left my bibs at the house, grabbed the cart and headed back out to bring the deer in. 

As luck would have it, I reached for my EDC knife to start field dressing and Whoa!  I left it at the house, in my bibs.  What am I going to do?  Do I run to the house to get it? 

No!  I count 5 more knife blades on my person to work with.  My Kershaw Leek pocket knife is elected to do the job of field dressing two deer.  This knife is super sharp and it has more of a point than I like for gutting, but when a knife maker forgets his own knife you do what has to be done. 

In hind sight, if it happened again I believe that I'll use the smallest blade of my Swiss Army Knife. That would be just to show everyone that it can be done with any knife you happen to have.
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A friend of mine shot a real nice deer on opening day.  When he sent me a picture of it, I asked him if he would take another picture with the knife he used.

This is the 9 point buck he shot.  Looky there!!!  That is the knife I made him a few months ago.  It is a large hunter with Tiger Maple scales and a bit of file work.  He said the knife worked great and held an edge...the way a knife is supposed to.

Congratulations Phil!  Great job.
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This knife was made for Mike in Centerville, TN.  It was sent to him recently and was received with a lot of enthusiasm.  The knife was made from Aldo's 1095 steel, 0.125" thick and sported elk antler handles with toxic green liners.  I used the same design as the JC knife done last year.  While preparing to ship this out, I showed this one to a friend and he ordered on just like it but he wants to supply the deer antler for the handle.  I figured that it was a good design so I'll make one for myself also.  Mine will have Sambar Stag handles and be a little thinner bladewise.

Before it got to Mike he ordered a Skinner/Caping combo that fits into a double sheath.  Then he asked if I had ever made a hatchet/knife combo?  I guess I'll have to design something as long as he is looking.
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Last but not least....

We bought a travel trailer a few months back.  It is a 30' model in decent shape.  We got it for a steal.  Our plans are to use this for guests that come to Arcadia Homestead. 

Yesterday with the help of our great friend Steve, we got it moved to its permanent resting spot on the front 40.  I have been mowing and bush hogging the property preparing for our party next year.  This area will have a great view of the woods and easy access.  We hope to have folks come down and utilize the trailer.

Till next time!

Thanksgiving

There are a LOT of things in life that we have no control over.

This year of 2014 seemed to have more of those things happen than any year before.

Issues occurred in the workshop a week and a half into the new year.

My cat had to have surgery, she had kittens and she was spayed shortly after.

Our 25 chickens decided to go on strike, only laying a couple eggs a day.

The construction project at work took months longer to complete.

Electrical problems at work took a while to fix and I spent a few nights there.

Had to brace cracked floor boards under the house.

And that’s not the half of it!

What does this all have to do with Thanksgiving you ask?

Life happens to everyone.  Without hardships and challenges how thankful would we really be?

Well I am thankful every day for a Loving Wife.

A wonderful family with great children and grandchildren.

So many true friends.

A good job that provides us with the things we need.

Our homestead that gives us too much to list.

My workshop that keeps me out of trouble.

The ability to create and repair things.

Oh yeah…Beer and Scotch!

This list is endless.  The more I think about it the longer it gets.

To me, Thanksgiving is not just my favorite holiday, it is a way of life!

Not a single day goes by that I don’t give thanks and truly appreciate things around me.  I hope your Thanksgiving lasts all year too.

Happy Thanksgiving Y’all!

Show News Is Good News

Nov. 8^th & 9thwas the Elk Valley Crafters Association show in Fayetteville, TN.  It was a Christmas show with folks being brought in by trolley.  This was one stop on the trolley’s tour.

My lovely wife could not go to the show because she was hurting so bad.  A young lad named Michael helped me throughout the show.  There were so many nice folks that stopped by to check out the goods

 

Robert and Peggy came by a couple of times and bought a few things including that cool Manzanita wood neck knife that she’s wearing.

This gentleman brought a knife by and asked if I could shorten the handle because it was a bit too long.  I gladly took it from him and made the repairs over the next two weeks.  He drove all the way from Fayetteville to get the knife from me.

All in all this turned out to be a good show and can’t wait for the spring EVCA show!

The last show of the year will be at The Farm in Summertown, TN.  The dates are December 6 & 7, 2014.  Leslie set up at the show last year while I was in Wisconsin meeting my grandson Henry.  I look forward meeting all the new folks that attend.

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I spent a bit of time in the woods during the muzzle loader season without any luck.  Being outside, in the woods, heightens awareness, calms the spirit and eases all the stresses of life for me.  One observation made is, this happens to be a great year for squirrels.  There will be some squirrel hunting going on soon.

On opening day of the gun season I was lucky enough to harvest 2 beautiful deer.  They were both taken on the same trail to my pond and only 8 minutes apart.  Unlike the deer hunting shows on TV, there was no hooping & hollering.  I quietly thanked the deer for giving themselves to me.  I will process the meat and use as much of the animal as I can.