KA-BAR Chat thread - Come on in the house

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the firing chamber on this one will be roughly 5x12 when it's done -- but open on both ends, so I can hammer out just about anything I want, including a hawk/axe head if I can get the temps up high enough to forge weld.
 
Very cool!

One day I wouldn't mind trying to forge out a blade (under the watch of some experienced eyes). A line on the bucket list!
 
easier than you believe -- a few gatherings back, I hammered out a fork and dinner knife using coals from the campfire, an air mattress inflater, and some rebar scraps -- not pretty, but good enough to eat with that evening.
 
That's really cool GSO. I was reading up on beekeeping just the other night as a matter of fact. I think that's something I wanna get into if/whenever we get the heck out of the city.
 
1066vik said:
easier than you believe -- a few gatherings back, I hammered out a fork and dinner knife using coals from the campfire, an air mattress inflater, and some rebar scraps -- not pretty, but good enough to eat with that evening.
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:thumbup: I've never had any metal scraps around to play with while being around fires ;) guess I need to change that!
 
1066vik said:
the firing chamber on this one will be roughly 5x12 when it's done -- but open on both ends, so I can hammer out just about anything I want, including a hawk/axe head if I can get the temps up high enough to forge weld.
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That would be pretty cool to see a picture. I've never made anything like that before. It may be a worthwhile pursuit to give it a try.:thumbup:
 
GSO1962 said:
So, the big excitement for today here at the ranch/farm/casa was my son and I picking up our two 3-pound packages of bees and two queens and installing them in our brand spanking new hives. There are somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 bees in each 3-pound package, so there was plenty of fun for all !!

The Queen



Dumping the Workers on Top of the Hive and Queen



Then we gave them a spritz with some sugar syrup and used a bee brush to coax them inside.



Once the inner cover was on, I was able to add the 1 gallon bucket feeder and the top cover. Then it's wait for the stragglers to leave the cage and join their sisters in the hive. My son installed the second package while we waited.



For knife-related content, I'm wearing a "Beckerhead" hat underneath the fencing veil with my suit.
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Awesome! I had 2 hives for a couple of years. It's not as easy as I thought. Beetles caused one hive to swarm and leave and I think it was moths that got the second. It happens fast too. Never go 2 weeks in the summer without opening and checking. Just a vacation is all it took for both of my hives, they're now gone. I was going to try again this year but missed the deadline. I got feelers out now for some nucs. I got an awesome bottom board that has a tray that you fill with veg oil that drowns mites and beetles. The sucky part is, I believe my nuc had beetles and that's what finally did my first hive in but the second was strong. Too strong because I think they swarmed and left the hive before the moths set in, not for sure. At least I had an almost full super! Rookie mistakes, live and learn. I got to where I could go out with just the net, they were so tame. Only got stung twice and that was the first week both were me fault. I miss them... Good luck I man! I hope for great success!
 
NCSlice said:
Awesome! I had 2 hives for a couple of years. It's not as easy as I thought. Beetles caused one hive to swarm and leave and I think it was moths that got the second. It happens fast too. Never go 2 weeks in the summer without opening and checking. Just a vacation is all it took for both of my hives, they're now gone. I was going to try again this year but missed the deadline. I got feelers out now for some nucs. I got an awesome bottom board that has a tray that you fill with veg oil that drowns mites and beetles. The sucky part is, I believe my nuc had beetles and that's what finally did my first hive in but the second was strong. Too strong because I think they swarmed and left the hive before the moths set in, not for sure. At least I had an almost full super! Rookie mistakes, live and learn. I got to where I could go out with just the net, they were so tame. Only got stung twice and that was the first week both were me fault. I miss them... Good luck I man! I hope for great success!
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Thanks much! I'm looking forward to it. Also hope to see our very own zzyzzogeton at the beekeeping club meeting on Thursday. I mentioned in the Becker Snark thread that I was thinking about it and he said he's been doing it for quite a few years. He got me info on joining the club and attending a seminar down in Austin in January.
 
Was over at a buddies house the other day. He asked me if I could sharpen a knife for him. Pulled out this interesting little piece, apparently it belonged to his grandfather who got it in WW2 (he thinks). The stamp on it reads 'JAPAN'

WP_002378_zpsg7ec5rcz.jpg


The sheath looks like one of the early KA-BAR leather ones. It was wrapped up with duct tape to keep it together lol. I didn't get a picture of it.
 
That's a Japanese version of the Jet Pilot Survival Knife (JPSK). The first ones were made by Marbles in the late 50s, then Camillus (both 6 inch blades). In the early 60s, the blade length was shortened to 5". The knives were popular with non-pilots and companies like Valor and PIC, among others, made them for sale in PXs and also back in the states. Ontario still makes them. There is a long history about these knives on Frank Trzaska's usmilitaryknives.com website.
 
zzyzzogeton said:
That's a Japanese version of the Jet Pilot Survival Knife (JPSK). The first ones were made by Marbles in the late 50s, then Camillus (both 6 inch blades). In the early 60s, the blade length was shortened to 5". The knives were popular with non-pilots and companies like Valor and PIC, among others, made them for sale in PXs and also back in the states. Ontario still makes them. There is a long history about these knives on Frank Trzaska's usmilitaryknives.com website.
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zzyzzogeton: Russian for encyclopaedia..

I love the amount of incredibly useful info you have Zz. It's like having a USB ported directly from the Internet to my brain.. :D:D
 
I hope you have an inline Kaopectate injection device because on more than 1 occasion I have been found to be FOS. :D
 
BeeKayNutCase said:
zzyzzogeton: Russian for encyclopaedia..

I love the amount of incredibly useful info you have Zz. It's like having a USB ported directly from the Internet to my brain.. :D:D
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Zz is also the one that introduced me to the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association, and I've been pestering him with questions the last week since I installed my bees.

Speaking of which...time for an update from the 1 week check. The queens were both released and laying. We didn't see either queen, but plenty of eggs, so it seems things are going well so far.

The Bee Yard



The queen cage is empty and ready to be removed.



Lots of bees between the frames



Me checking the first hive



My son checking the second hive



This is a closeup of the "burr comb" (extra comb that was next to the queen cage and had to be removed to get the frames together). You can see pollen stores and quite a few of the tiny rice-shaped eggs.



I didn't have my Beckerhead hat on (it was a 5.11 hat), and had an Opinel and a German Eye sodbuster in my pocket.... I'll carry a Dozier folder next time...
 
Looks great man! I haven't had any luck finding nucs. I'll keep my eye out for full on hives. Sometimes folks get in over their heads or for a myriad of reasons they end up on Craig's list. Sell really quick tho. Thanks for the update!
 
NC - Possible sources of nucs in NC..... google "bee suppliers in nc"

several websites CLAIMED to supply nucs in NC
 
Still hoping to keep the random conversation going...

Checked the bees 2 weeks after installation. Both hives are doing well packing away pollen and nectar. I'm surprised by the variety of pollen colors since I only have seen them bringin in the orange stuff.



Also was able to verify quite a bit of larvae and some "capped brood", larvae that have been capped over with wax for them to pupate for 12-ish days. You can see the capped cells in the right center.



My son was able to spot the queen in the second hive. She has the green dot on her.



In other news, we bought 50 paving stones for a border around some of the fruit trees and crepe myrtles in the back yard. Also worked on leveling the back corner of the yard so we can start building the chicken coop for my wife next weekend. Thanks to Ibuprofen, I can still move this morning... Hope everyone else had a good weekend!
 
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