I'm a mechanical designer by trade & I also do some structural design. I work with Solidworks & AutoCAD & have been designing & drafting in mostly the oil & gas industry for over 18 years. Well, the low oil price of crude has caused tens of thousands of layoffs here in the Houston area alone & I was one of the casualties of that. Although I enjoy my career most days, I've had my own business before and really missed the freedom, although not the stress & uncertainties of where my grocery & mortgage money was coming from. Well, I decided that since it may be a little while before the oil & gas companies are ramping up for more design projects, I'll just try to turn my new hobby into a new business. With all the inspiration I've gotten from reading threads here & other sites, as well as creating some pretty decent kit blades knives as gifts I really thought it would be nice to try and get paid doing something that brings me more satisfaction than being a CAD monkey...and although I was making some really nice money, I'm finding that my wife and I are OK with tightening the belt, and she has commented that I seem happier and is being very supportive. Well, at least until I tell her how much 2x72 grinders & some other tools cost, lol
. On a good note, I'm cashing out some points on some credit cards for some gift cards to Lowes which will cover the nice Porter Cable drill press they carry, and an Amazon gift card for various other odds & ends.
So, I'm on an extreme budget so I got some free concrete forms free from the company my mom works at to use to make work benches.
0214151623 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
I topped it with some hard board. It's slick, and should make wiping up stuff easier. Plus once it gets too gunked up, I can pull it off & liquid nail down another sheet.
0215151744 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
I got a free piece of granite from a stone wholesaler for sanding & maybe tooling leather, but I think I'll look into something else for the leather work, I think that's what cracked my floor tile I was using as a cheap work stone. I need to go by a funeral home & see if I can get a nice thick block when I get some time.
0218151718 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
So I was at the local Woodcraft (nice woodworking specialty shop if you aren't familiar with them) and struck up a conversation with a customer who turned out to be a really nice guy. He offered me some free wood he'd found in his adventures in the wood & is an artist but mostly uses rustic cedar to make stuff. So he gave me this log of Osage orange, and although it's split & cracked up pretty good, I think I can salvage some scale materials from it. He also gave me some smaller pieces & a couple pieces of heart wood/rich lighter pine. He wants to collaborate with me as he forges knife blades from horse shoes? Not sure if that is good steel for a blade or not, but not sure if he is making users or decorative art. He was headed back to work after we dropped by his shop & he gave me the Osage. The real kicker is, he lives in a neighborhood where lots of my childhood friends grew up, and knows several of them! Small world considering he is a Oklahoma transplant of 5 years.
0217151622a by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
0217151622 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
Picked up a new shop apron, the denim one I used to wear in the prototype test lab is very uncomfortable, it just has a thin string of denim that goes around the neck, and strings that tie. This new one has padded straps that go over the shoulder & two straps that snap just behind your back so it's easy to take off & holds the apron in close to your body to keep it clear from machinery or your work. When I saw how this one has shoulder straps I really wanted to try it out. I also picked up a Grizzly 10" but I'm consider returning it & getting the poly 8" from USAKnifemakers to save the cost of getting bearing recesses machined into it. I also read that learning on an 8" was easier than a 10" (if you have any opinions on that, or can turn my bearing pockets for me in the Houston area please PM me). I picked up some neatsfoot oil for my sheaths. Also some 1080 bars & a sheet of 440c for me to practice on.
0218151652 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
Scale materials, cactus oil & a better view of my 8'x2' work bench. You can't see in the photo but on 3 different ends I built in a shelf for storing fluids or what ever between the end legs. On the 4th end I'm going to put a rod for paper towels & maybe to store rolls of tape & wire.
0218151604 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
Here are some very old 'rescue' knives. Some of these are butchers/skinners that belonged to my family on my dad's side that are all passed. The one closest to the edge that's real long is a meat slicer my step dad made back in the late 70's from an industrial band saw blade I think. I know it can get a really good edge on it because we used it to slice deer meet up that was slightly frozen & worked like a charm. He's had duct tape on it for quite a few years & I offered to clean it up & put some new scales on it. I goofed up on it & got it too hot grinding down the brass pins. It headed the glue. But honestly, that was a good thing, because I'll pull those off, clean it back up & use some G/Flex on it now instead of Gorilla glue. I think I will maybe use something synthetic as well to make it more food prep safe. There are the 2 Green Rivers I made for gifts on the cutting board & my first sheath. I'm still finishing up the sheaths for those. At the end of the photo, you can see the stainless pot rack; I picked it up at Ikea & plan to cut it up for lanyard tubes. That whole rack cost me as much as a short length of it from knife supply.
0218151605 by
Marc_TX, on Flickr
I should be getting a 2x72 grinder soon. I'll be getting one of the Oregon Blade Makers from ebay since that's all my budget can allow. I'd love to build my own but I don't have 220 for my welder and honestly, I'd rather start learning to grind blades opposed to making a grinder. Even though I'm a mechanical designer & it would be nothing for me to whip up and model one in Solidworks. Also, I don't have a metal bandsaw yet & I really just want to start making knifes. Once I use a 2x72 for a while, I think I'll probably work up a design of my own & incorporate features I would like and make any changes that fit my style/technique as I develop said style & technique
Cheers,
Marc
