What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

So the other day the switch and starting capacitor in my venerable Delta bench grinder died. I considered buying new - after all it's over 30 years old - but two things changed my mind. First, new grinders are expensive and not as well built as this one (at least in my price range). More importantly, this was one of my first power tools and a gift from my Dad. I had to do some searching since every part I needed was discontinued, but after a few days, a new switch and a new capacitor, I managed to get the old beast humming again for about $20.
https://flic.kr/p/2oXe8GQ
https://flic.kr/p/2oXjD4m
https://flic.kr/p/2oXe8Hw
 
Lucky barn find?
I am so excited
As a continuation of my process in setting up a knife making workshop, I came across this,Anvil-s-l1600.jpganvil-2-l1600.jpgAnvil-3s-l1600.jpg
I saw that one of the beaks had snapped off (Farmers eh?) but i figured that it was evidence of a good cast steel.
It looks a nice wide face and not that worn, with what appears to be one good edge to it, I paid $150.
Are there any considerations balance wise I need to take into account with the broken beak.
Also how heavy will that baby be, gotta collect friday.
 
the hidden pins are holding the handle components together- nothing's glued up yet. I need to shave one of the frames down about .5mm, but but they're together enough that I could transfer the line describing the front of the handle on to the ricasso. Then I'm able to plan out where I want the plunge and approximate where the termination of the primary bevel will be. The handles will stay more or less the same as you see them now until the blades are completely finished, that way I can adjust the thickness of the frames if the ricasso gets worked down during finishing. They are tough to take apart, I need to pry them so having the overlap of material beyond the finished profile of the handle is necessary. Believe me, it's hard to not profile the handles immediately!

When it's time for assembly, everything will be bonded together at the same time. This is a departure from how I've done this before, and so far the methodology has yielded other, unexpected benefits.

I took the day off and just lounged around, my body needed a break, so I didn't do any real work today. If I'm feeling good tomorrow, I'll be grinding for a few hours. Hopefully get those bevels ground and finished, tangs tapered and flats sanded.
 
Why does it look like the orange spacers are too short?
 

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I could not wait until tomorrow to collect the anvil :)so picked it up today!
Its a beaut, my neighbor is 6'7" and 280 of muscle and he could not lift it out of the van, gotta be 300lb at least. We inched it slowly sliding it on scaffold boards and finally got it into position in the garden. Its very quiet with a lovely ring to it. The farmer I bought it from had had it for over 20years and the garage in the village he bought it from had had it 60 years, he could not recall where it came from. I couldnt wait to have a bash on it so got a couple of warped blades, only slight bends, and gave them a few taps to get them straight, had them all done in a couple of minutes, so much easier than messing about with the vice and bolts.
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didn't quite get em finish ground today, but most of the way there
zDsV4fI.jpg
 
This is a gift to my dad for his birthday - I wanted something more blingy and special.
It's elmax 3.6 mm thick, circa 95 mm long blade, with faux ivory, bronze and walnut burl on the handle.
Also note the new maker's mark - I got some weird looks due to the previous "Z" and I just did not want to deal with it (esp. since I support Ukraine 100%). So, goodbye to my mark that was supposed to be a reference to my background (square brackets are used a lot in software engineering), hello to my handwritten signature that looks like it was scribbled by a 5 year old.
Also unfortunate was the choice of bronze - as you can see from the color, it's two different alloys (the guard is I think some free machining bronze, the thinner spacers are some phosphorous bronze probably?). The color difference was obvious from the start, I do not know what I was thinking - maybe that it was just oxidation and after sanding they will even out. Well, they didn't.

o15bFz0.jpg

QcePhmv.jpg

mUyRlg5.jpg
 
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Very nice looking knife, the workmanship is excellent. I would not have noticed the difference in the two bronzes you used myself.
 
No one knows the bronzes dont match except you, to everyone else they look fantastic. What a beautiful knife for a special person!
 
pafka said:
This is a gift to my dad for his birthday - I wanted something more blingy and special.
It's elmax 3.6 mm thick, circa 95 mm long blade, with faux ivory, bronze and walnut burl on the handle.
Also note the new maker's mark - I got some weird looks due to the previous "Z" and I just did not want to deal with it (esp. since I support Ukraine 100%). So, goodbye to my mark that was supposed to be a reference to my background (square brackets are used a lot in software engineering), hello to my handwritten signature that looks like it was scribbled by a 5 year old.
Also unfortunate was the choice of bronze - as you can see from the color, it's two different alloys (the guard is I think some free machining bronze, the thinner spacers are some phosphorous bronze probably?). The color difference was obvious from the start, I do not know what I was thinking - maybe that it was just oxidation and after sanding they will even out. Well, they didn't.

o15bFz0.jpg

QcePhmv.jpg

mUyRlg5.jpg
Click to expand...
Honestly, I think the two different bronze colors look great. IMO, it gives the knife even more character. Great job!!!!
 
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