little bushy

Just finished up this little one from an old file. The same day I took the pics I found this little arrowhead.

rattler skin

I generally leave the snakes alone, but I wanted a skin. This one was 4' 8" long.

round jaw tongs

Finally finished up these tongs and I'm really happy with them. They'll be great for holding socket knives and hammer heads. They're the same ones I started in a previous post.

tai goo video project

I have not done much in the past months in large part because of a video I have been working on for Tai. We filmed this first video on the basics of forging for the bladesmith. I am just putting the finishing touches on it now. I didn't realize how much work it is to edit and put something like this together. I would say I've put in at least 50 hours at the computer just editing. I took it up to Tai's place today and Jeff, Tai, and I watched it together. Tai seemed pretty pleased with it. I'm not sure how soon Tai will be getting around to actually putting it on the market, but it will be well worth buying. I have never seen anyone who can wield a hammer like he does.

striker video

Here's a little video I put together.

"followers" feature

Not sure what happened to this feature, but I can't see it anymore. Can you guys see it when you bring up this blog?

my touchmark

I have spent years trying to come up with a touchmark that I could use for my work; hours have gone into carving away at tiny punch surfaces with micro burrs. This week I brought the topic up to my wife once again, and we started brainstorming on paper. And I think we finally came up with the one. It's easy, doesn't require any fancy punches, has my initials in it, and looks primitive. To me it looks like an archer on bent knee, although it also looks like a running figure. Anyway, here it is along with the little chisel I made out of a hay rake tine.

snake latch

A simple latch made by my friend George from an old rasp.

the green smith

So this morning I actually thought I need to get as green as I can with my smithing. Now, I am not a political liberal or left wing environmentalist nutcase. I have serious reservations about the whole global warming hype; however, I do see myself as a steward of the earth on which I live. I do think about the sort of earth we are passing on to our descendants. With that in mind...

I will stick to using recycled steel, as I always have.

I will phase out of propane forging.

I will use my charcoal forge with locally and responsibly collected fuel.

I'm sure there are other things, but this is the beginning...