I have exercised my option....

ol' smoke said:
Your first two look great. If your production goes like mine, you should easily net 50cents to a dollar an hour. Hang in there friend!
Click to expand...

I would LOVE to net $1/hr. I think I'm on track to make $00.15/hr. Lol. I'll be happy if I break even, actually.
 
richstag said:
I hope it doesn't take you 25!

Are you doing your own heat treat?
Click to expand...

Nope. I have sent stuff to Peter's and Texas Knife. This stuff will have to be sent to Peter's since it's oil hardening. I would really like to develop a working relationship with someone local so it doesn't take as long and I save postage. Haven't found that someone though.

Eta:I hope it doesn't take 25 either, but nothing is going to leave my shop until I am satisfied.
 
This is the difference between 1095 and A2. A2 makes you work for the patina. I just cut up 10 lbs of potatoes. Nothin'.

20140126_181926.jpg
 
medicevans said:
Kevin, I've had to take some time off making knives to take care of my family. The past few months have been one long run of sickness it seems. My wife has finally gotten a diagnosis and started on medicine to knock her immune system out! Finally, some light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully the kids and flu are done too for a while. The littles run my wife and I into the ground morning to night, but they are getting older, so hopefully that will help too.

I'm focusing on pocket knives now. Specifically, I'm trying to figure out a good process and make clean knives. I've decided to only make zulu patterns, mostly because it will remove one variable in my learning curve. Hopefully I can get rid of the little mistakes I keep making working from different patterns. I've tried and thrown away six or seven knives because there was no reason completing something not worth carrying. I'm refusing to waste additional materials and time chasing a design that I've messed up on.

The zulu spear is about the perfect knife I'm my opinion, probably because it looks a lot like the Schrade SP3 my dad has carried my entire life. I carried on for a lot of years. The zulu looks very similar, but is a slipjoint instead of a lock back.

I'm taking some more pictures, I'll post them later.
Click to expand...
I have heard many top makers mention the ideas in this paragraph as being the difference between good & excellent. You seem to be well down the path with what you have done anyway.
The Zulu pattern is not for me though. When I see your blade blanks, I can't help but imagine the edge where you will have the spine.

I wish good luck for your family.
 
Good man. I wish you the best of luck.

medicevans said:
Nope. I have sent stuff to Peter's and Texas Knife. This stuff will have to be sent to Peter's since it's oil hardening. I would really like to develop a working relationship with someone local so it doesn't take as long and I save postage. Haven't found that someone though.

Eta:I hope it doesn't take 25 either, but nothing is going to leave my shop until I am satisfied.
Click to expand...
 
medicevans said:
Meako, what's all this about wee'ng on blisters? New one on me.

Sorry about the double thread Frank. Don't know what happened there.[/QUOTE

Yup....Good honest blisters there....Meako is correct...Funnily enough urine will harden your hands yet soften your boots..Give it a go if you can handle the smell.............FES
Click to expand...
 
Mtangent, if you look at the one picture, there are a couple blade patterns that have a bit of white around them. Those I'm going to try to make into a tip like the GEC 73s. Those will be some off the last ones I try though.
 
Yup....Good honest blisters there....Meako is correct...Funnily enough urine will harden your hands yet soften your boots..Give it a go if you can handle the smell.............FES
Click to expand...

**makes mental note to never complain about blisters while in the southern hemisphere.**

Ya'll are crazy down there! My wife puts up with a lot of silliness from my involvement with this forum, but she would probably draw the line at me peeing on my hands......
 
medicevans said:
Meako, what's all this about wee'ng on blisters? New one on me.

Sorry about the double thread Frank. Don't know what happened there.
Click to expand...

well according to some crusty old dudes ive worked with over the years if you get blisters from say shovelling you urinate on your hands and the astringent properties of the urine help to not only clean the wounds but toughen the skin up to form callouses. NB do not attempt in public or if you have urinary tract infection. OOOR... it could be that the crusty old jokers want to see some nebie young bloke wee on his hands for a laugh.I have heard it from many sources tho.
As you probably know there is a whole school of thought that drinking the stuff is good for you. Not sure about that one.

Oh I see now that Fes has confirmed the theory so it must be true. OOOOr is it that no one who has fallen victim to this "gotcha" is game to admit it and look stupid in front of their mates? So the vicious circle of handweeing perpetuates.
 
Last edited:
Must be an Aussie/NZ thing. Y'all are crazy. Sounds like something a bunch of firefighters would think up, right after telling the probie to find the hose stretcher or left handed spanner wrench. :D
 
That is some incredible work.......makes me jealous of folks that can turn raw materials with their hands and the vision in their head into something beautiful.

Very fortunate for the rest of us who get to enjoy and appreciate these products. Especially in this disposable world we are moving into. Nothing made to last like the old days. I've noticed I'm sounding more and more like my father did. I guess it's on me now to be the family curmudgeon. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top