little knob thing

My wife has been wanting me to make some knobs for her. I punched out this one for starters. Lots of room for variation and creativity with these things.

discouragement and the final little bushy

Sometimes plans run amuck. I was working on the little bushy and having some trouble straightening the edge. I kept hammering lightly on it after it had turned to a black heat and ended up cracking it. I know I'm out of practice; haven't made a knife in months. I should have been easier on myself, but I got quite discouraged. And this happens to me every so often. Handling discouragement well is important to the smith and any craftsman. In the past I have often wallowed in it and allowed it to come between me and the craft, leading to a period of unproductivity. But I'm trying to look at setbacks differently. When I cracked this blade recently. I just threw the knife on the scrap pile and went in the house. My wife had rented a movie called "Gifted Hands" ironically enough and she said it was great. I ate some lunch, sat down and watched it. It was inspiring, and took my mind right off my discouragement. After the movie I went back outside. I picked up the knife and realized it was still quite salvageable. I shortened it, finished it, as well as another little project and started on another knife. It was a good lesson for me, and one I hope I remember the next time I botch something. Anyway, here is the little guy.





And with my other bush for comparison.

camera broke

My camera broke, and I really liked it, so I'm stuck using whatever I can find and having to settle for mediocre image quality. Here's the little bush I've been working on so far. I did some filing on it. I will sand it a little and then harden it.

a little forging fever

My desire to forge became irresistible, so on Saturday I grabbed a piece of old file, a hammer, and started swinging.

The beginning piece...



Peen out the end, flipping the piece over and forging on each side to keep things even.



Alternate peen and flat face to keep a clear idea of how much flare you have.



Finish hammer the surface and clean up the profile with files or bench grinder.



Curve it in the swage.



Use the horn to flatten everything out to the same plane.





Forge the blade end and precurve to compensate for the forging of the bevels.



Finished knife to come soon.

fishin' fun

Took the family camping and fishing this past weekend. All reports said the fishing was horrible, but we caught a couple.





Letting him go to catch again another day...

cutting goat

We butchered one of our goats this week. Used my L-6 scandi and it performed wonderfully. No complaints.







Had to use the machete to cut through the ribs and spine.

burnout

I know I've been AWOL lately. I got pretty burned out with the whole smithing thing and have needed a break. Trust you guys are keeping the forge fires burning...

jungle sharpening

My brother sent me an email from the depths of the Amazon. The people he is with use machetes for all cutting tasks. They don't own smaller knives. He said they only sharpen the front third portion of the blade and they use stones instead of files. Here's a photo he sent me.