Cottage Trip + Recent work

After one and a half years of no vacation, I finally had the chance to get some downtime and spent a week at a cottage with the family up in Haliburton on Kennisis Lake. A little buggy for the time of year, but the weather held out for the most part to give ample time for exploring by kayak and some hiking, BBQ, and of course campfires!

The axe I refurbished a finally got a good workout from some impromptu woodcarving. This was after finding out that the only spatula in the cottage was a horrible worn out plastic one that was leaving plastic bits in whatever we made. Luckily there were plenty of decent sized seasoned maple logs to choose from and I selected a log with what I thought had fairly straight grain. I split off a 3/8" board from it, and roughed out the profile using light chops with the axe, then final carving and scraping with a knife to dial in the tapers and give it a smooth finish. Overall not too bad for a first effort I think, but in hindsight I think this would have been easier with a hatchet or smaller axe, maybe that'll be my next project.

Spatula after initial shaping with the axe.

Finer shaping using a knife (made by me a few years ago). 

The finished product.

Cottaging aside, I just finished my most recent request for a fire kit, and came up with a new design for a bottle opener/ striker/ pocket chisel (if anyone has any ideas for a better name please let me know haha).  The design evolved from an earlier bottle opener design I made from an off cut, but with the addition of a chisel to allow for cutting, scraping, or light prying.  The tool is 1/8" O1 tool steel and the firesteel is black canvas micarta with a bright red double stripe.  The sheath itself is vegetable tanned leather and patterned similar to an earlier piece, but with the addition of a brass dee ring to allow for more carry options.

On another note, I am almost finished tuning and setting up my 2x72" TDM belt grinder that I got from Canadian Knife Maker.  After getting some belts, making a stand, and modifying the platen I'll be putting up pictures of the finished product.

Cheers!

More Firesteels

Just a quick update, I've finished a batch of firesteels ready for sale! All are micarta with fiber liners with different options for lanyards. Get 'em while they're hot, enjoy!  In other news, my good friend Richard Gao has written a detailed review of the nessmuk that I made for him, check it out on his blog here.  I've been spending a fair amount of time doing some spring cleaning in the shop, but now that that's almost done, I'll have more projects coming soon!

Latest Knife (sort of) + new stamp

Hi all,

Not exactly a new knife, as I had made two of these several months back and only got around to finishing off this one as of recent. Both are EDC (everyday carry) style pocket knives in 1/8" triple tempered O1 tool steel and micarta scales. I'm happy to say that I've improved between that knife and the last one with respect to leather work at the very least though (both sides of the stitching look the same)! I recently had a custom laser cut delrin makers stamp made by Jeff Mosby from Grey Ghost Graphics down in South Carolina, and I have to say I am very impressed by the turnaround time and quality of the piece, and it didn't break the bank!

A substantial hand stamp - it has surprising heft for a piece of plastic.

I'm amazed that this level of detail actually showed up - not sure if something this intricate can be machined

It's really rewarding to be able to sign your own work, and think it adds a great touch to the pieces. Not too much to show here aside from some finished pics and a few pictures of the process ( whatever I could take without getting grime all over my point and shoot).

Below are pictures of the one I worked on about 5 months ago:

And the most recent one:

(sorry about the grimy fingers)

Firesteels!

Hi all,

Somewhat of a delayed post, but for those who haven't seen my other site yet, I've been working on a batch of some firesteels, and have slowly getting completed. I will be experimenting with different handle materials, and this round it's canvas micarta, next batch I might put some of that denimite and hardwood to use. The stainless steel ones are also pretty fun to work with, much easier to crank out too. That said special attention needs to be made when choosing the alloy those. Don't use 304 stainless if you're doing anything that needs to be machined easily, don't ask how I know haha. All in all these have been a fun project, and I think I will be doing these more often in the future!

As it stands right now I have 1 micarta and 1 stainless steel one available from an order that fell through, but will be posting more as they are completed. To go with these I also done up a batch of hardened O1 strikers that double as scrapers, which in hindsight I think could be more compact, but are still very functional in throwing sparks. The most effective striker I feel would be the spine of a knife or saw, but in a pinch these are great and more effective.  It also has given me some ideas on upping the functionality, maybe making something along the lines of a simple kiridashi or woodworking striking knife to increase the functionality beyond scraping and as a striker, but those will be a later project .

Anyhow, here are some pics of the process and some finished products - enjoy! (more photos will be added soon)

  

Now in a variety of colours and flavours!

(not the best photo but the best I could do with my phone one handed)

Stainless firesteel with a prototype bottle-opener also in O1 and leather pocket sheath