What else do you do besides knives and sheaths?

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
1,617
Hi,

I thought I'd post about my other job so you can learn more about what I do here besides making knives :)

This is my second job, I spend every Friday afternoon at a drums shop repairing and working with them.

I make replacement for drum parts are just imposible to get or ridiculously expensive around here.

Basically I make custom metal replacement parts for the store's clients that have broken a piece of some of theirs drum set. I remake plastic pieces in hardened aluminum or stainless steel, so they will last forever and won't affect the sound of the drums

I also repair stands and pedals and in the past I also did a lot of laquering jobs on the wood of entire drum sets in a new color the owner wanted or even with something more "crazy" looking.

I make he replacements as I make my knives, by hand. They're always different, so it doesn't make sense to me to make a print or mold for them, so I just use files, sandpaper, etc and I meassure them with a caliper and keep working til they're exactly the same

Some examples:

This is a plastic piece of a Ludwig snare drums vintage that broke, and I made it in stainless steel so it could last for a lifetime.

drums1_big.jpg


drums2_big.jpg


drums3_big.jpg


drums4_big.jpg



And this one is a piece of a Gretsch snare drum that fell down and broke. This time I made the replacement part with Duraluminium.

drums21_big.jpg


drums22_big.jpg


drums23_big.jpg
 
This two are 9 year old pictures of a snare drums custom a customer brang me to place the metal details and laque the inside and exterior in metal blue. I also had to place the upper part in maple.


drum1_big.jpg


drum2_big.jpg



This is something I made to give as a gift to a fellow drum player some time ago.

pad1_big.jpg


pad2_big.jpg



It's a drum replacement to practise without bothering people with loud sound that I thought it would be cool (instead of the factory usual practise devices)

I made it mostly in wood, copper and bronze. The part where you hit it with the drum stick is rubber with sorroundings in wood, where I made some details using and an aerograph. Right on the borders, we have partitures with common rutine exercises glued. Then I laqued the partitures and wood in transparent epoxy resin.


Regards,


Ariel
 
Great post idea
I'm really impressed with the work you've shown there. Not only does it look like top notch work, but it sounds like your really providing a needed service to folks.
Personally I bounce around all over the place outside of knife making. I started out following in the footsteps of my dad and grandpa with woodworking and took up carving. That was pretty serious until I got more interested in the tools than the wood and started making knives :D Now I only do it on occasion for fun.
Pretty much I try to make whatever tools/toys for myself that I can. Built my own forge, and have used that to make spurs, hoof picks (out of horse shoes), peices for farm equipment we were building/repairing etc. I still gotta get pictures of the spurs to post here since I got some good advice from folks here. I've got plans to make copies of some custom bits a horse trainer I know uses.

In case you couldn't tell most of it revolves around my horses. I show quarter horses (ride in the reining, if you've ever heard of it) and enjoy raising and training horses even more than making knives. Making my own stuff saves an amazing amount of time and money. Well, at least if you don't consider the cost of the tools :)
 
Ariel that is very cool! I think most knifemakers make a lot of other stuff besides knives and it's great to see you making parts for drums. I've tried woodworking too but it just doesn't provide the satisfaction that working with metal does. I'm no machinist, most everything I make is done with simple tools. I've made some "art" objects in metal, the most significant was a collaboration with a sculpure buddy of mine - an alien armillary. :D I'll try to remember to get pics of it, because it's one of our favorite things. The same guy and I worked together building futuristic samurai armor several years ago and won good money on Halloween costume contests, as well as three "Best of" awards at the 1997 World Science Fiction Convention masquerade in San Antonio Texas. That was fun!

Here's a picture of our armor. I'm the guy on the right. :D

SamuraiFromMars.jpg


Thanks for an interesting thread!
 
louise.jpg


I cut down the western red cedar tree for the top in 1978. The finished product got spray lacquered in 2003. Took me 25 years to complete it, but I think it came out pretty well. Several other knifemakers got a chance to play it at the Chicago Custom Knife Show.
 
Damn Don! I'll have to post pictures of mt B.GOODE telecaster I made. It took me about 6 to 8 months to make. Glued up the body, hand carves the neck which included routing the truss rod pocket, glueing the fretboard down, sawing the fretslots, ect. I did everything but the wiring and the case.

I made mine because of loosing a whole guitar from a drunken packing up gear after the show acident. Someone didnt latch the tailgate to the truck and we lost some gear. We got it all back but the guitar so I made a replacement out of frustration. That sucked going through but I have a fun reminder of that now.

Nice inlay work.
 
Hi all,
I'm a retired bureaucrat who has dicided to become productive. I make and train for weapons use in theatre and the occasional film. I'm not sure how to post pictures here so I'll just give you a link to the bad pictures of one of my latest.
http://community.webshots.com/album/109903540gpAsXq
The cannon does fire, with a 12 guage blank. I used a fireing mechanism adapted from power heads I used to make for under water use. I also make the blanks.
And I sometimes get to blow up stuff!!
Lynn
 
Cool, all I do is mess around with black powder guns, cap&ball colts being a favorite, that and drink beer! :D
 
Stained glass
Flies
fly rods
canoes
sailboats
all my furniture, and a lot of other people's too
paddles
hand planes
Yacht design
guitars
Longbows
wooden bowls
my workshop
Leatherwork, just stuff I can't buy
I'm currently building a frame for a motorcycle, which is weird for me, cause I don't know anything about vehicles, motors etc... that's what has me interested, most of my stuff is 19th century at best.

Other than the last, I haven't listed anything I'm not professional/art grade or speed at. If it's on the list, I've sold it; It's of the highest order; I've taught it; or it's been on TV. Much of this stuff I have been doing for 25-30 years. Mostly I just try to please myself, and I'm not easy to please. My knives wouldn't make this list.

I worked a lot of this stuff out "myself". Only knives somewhat, and the bike would be things I feel I owe primarily to the internet. However, what this stuff mostly says is what a debt one has to all the people who wrote books, mag articles, and such. Now with the net, if you have the skills worked out in one field, I feel like you can pick up a totally knew thing in half a year tops. I don't feel cutting the bike tubing is any different than the woodwork, or laying out the bike is difficult compared to lofting a boat.

I can't say it's really been time well spent, except as all this has pleased me. Also I certainly at times wish I'd specialized, but I never had to make a living at it, so I lacked that discipline. I did undergo a hand tools woodworking apprenticeship, and I tied flies professionally, both of which teach productivity. Boats and furniture or construction projects are so large, they need to be conducted as though one were a professional, whatever the truth of the mater.

So thanks to all the folks who inspired me.
 
I carve a bit of wood up for fun.Back in 1990 I tied for 3rd in the Global Chalange Invitational Aquatic Life Carving Competition.I carved a red octopus out of a block of mahogany.Mostly I like to carve birds.
 
I've done just about everything
from my own taxidermy work to making my own arrows cresting them and fletching them
to automotive and small engine repair, I've owned my own shop for 20 + years
was a dealer for Stihl for 15+ years and I'm still a dealer for Jonsered.
logging supplies ecct.
I'm still a state auto inspection station, build my own stuff like cabinets and my house
I just never finish anything. way to many things going on..
but I've been backing out of all the other stuff
and making knives mostly now full time for the last 5 years or so and doing just what I dam well please
not a lot of money in that but the stress level is way less. :D
 
My hobbie is quit simple, i try to capture as many criminals as possible, and fill in the paperwork!

:yawn:
 
Damn Bruce, I wish you lived close by. I'm getting a 67 CB 450 black bomber running and it's kicking my butt. :0
 
Mark,I told you I would haul that metal scrap out of your shop for you.You don't need the extra agrivation.That big blade is whoopin' your butt bad enough!
 
One more thing in common, IG! :) Would that also be due to our Portuguese heritage?
Besides emptying beer bottles, I am trying to make damascus fountain pens.
 
Back
Top