An on and off blog, first started for the thing-a-day project in February and now being kept for everytime I feel I need to justify my useless existence.
I engraved a degree wheel for a Jabiru 3300 aircraft engine today. Apparently it is used to set valves or something, with the six holes fitting on the propellor hub. I am rather impressed with myself, having to do the CAD drawing from a photocopy page of the maintenance manual.
Drawing time about 1 hour
Setup and machine time 30 minutes.
Material is 4mm Polycarbonate.
And for the first time I let my Bantam look like a tuisland trek.
My dearly beloved little Wendy house was caught unaware by a grass fire and burned to the ground.
I bought her in 2001 and paid R2500, and she gave me very good service. She survived 6 burglaries, 3 different locks, one waterpipe bursting and quite a bit of neglect.
The old Lady in 2010, sagging a bit in the knees but still in good shape overall.
The remains after the cremation. The fire was so hot that the glass from the windows slumped.
And the remnants on the Bantam at the scrap metal yard. I got R130 for the remains.
Now what shall I replace her with?
And I'm finished with the knives for now. I know there are still a lot of things to do about is but I'm not going to put in too much effort anymore. I'm happy, these knives are not perfect, but not really bad for a first effort.
So the results of playing around, total time 78 hours for 6 knives and 3 sheaths. I also made a new platen for the belt grinder as well as a knife vice.
1. Kitchen knives
2. Camping Knife / Zombie killer
3. Skinner
4. Utility knife
5. Dagger
Forged coil spring
Octagonal handle from Brass, Rhodesian teak, Guajivera and red ABS liners
Still not really finished.
Total length 292 mm
Blade length 160 mm
Blade thickness 4mm
This will eventually get a presentation box
And that's all for now.
And making sheathes after a break. The small sheath's pictures having disappeared, some pictures of the big sheath.
The steel bolted to the sheath
And starting to stitch the leather
And the sheath almost finished, with the handle having a a bit of a leather wrap.
And now the sheaths are finished
Time for today, 3 hours
Total time so far, 75 hours, 30 minutes.
Saturday morning I went to the Pretoria Winter Knife Show. It was the first time I saw real knifemakers instead of pictures. There were some very fantastic knives.
I didn't do much this weekend, but I made two knife vices. I have wanted to make one for a while now and only figured out the how to do it this week.
The angle of the pipe is adjustable, the wood is oak, the pipe is about 56mm in diameter.
Time for making this was 3 hours
Total time so far 72 hours 30 minutes
We went to see The History Boys at Montecasino last night and only got back at one in the morning, so I had a late sleep-in, but at least I did do something.
I started grinding the dagger's handle, and after a lot of fiddling around put a new belt on the small belt sander. What a pleasure to work with sharp belts. The first picture is of my setup for grinding 45 degree angles on the handle.
And the result, checking the accuracy by eye and very pleased with the outcome.
Time for today was 1 hour 30 minutes
Total time so far 69 hours 30 minutes
Started to make sheaths, my first attempts at leatherwork. Went better than I thought it would.
The big knife's sheath is cut, and I've started to glue up the inner strips (I'm sure there is a fancy word for it.)
The dagger's guard has been fastened with silver solder. Here it is clamped in the vice between aluminium plates, ready to be heated.
And glued up. No clamps neccesary, the butt is just screwed on tightly, making sure everything stays nice and square.
The skinner sheath has been been soaked in water earlier this week, and here the leather is molded around the plastic-wrapped knife, the clamps holding it until the leather is dry.
And the final result. The sheath stitched, embossed and polished with shoe polish. One down, five to go.
Time for yesterday was 1 hour 30 minutes and today was 2 hours 30 minutes
Total time so far is 68 hours.
And the big knife's handle got shaped today, lots of little fiddling around on the belt sander, and sanding by hand and finally polishing everything.
And the first 5 knives now finished, just the dagger to be given a handle.
And a very bad picture of the big knife in my hand.
Time for today was 2 hours 30 minutes
Total time so far 64 hours.
And my big knife's handle has now been glued. The guard has been brazed in position, and I had to turn two 4mm pins on the lathe. Why I made 4mm holes without 4mm round I don't know, especially since I've got lots of 3mm brass.
And the dagger has been modified. When dry-fitting the handle I realized it is too long and I cut of 25mm of the end and had to re-thread the tang. And a picture of the 8mm die-nut on the tang, and since I don't have a holder the big shifting spanner is used to turn it.
And the final result.
And I completed my kitchen knives, but don't have any pictures to prove it.
Time for today was 2 hours 15 minutes
Total time so far 61 hours 30 minutes
This knife's handle has now been basically shaped, and still have to be contoured and sanded. There was a little bit of a mistake but I am pretending it is a deliberate design.
The camping knife's handle has been shaped and is almost ready for the epoxy.
The dagger is also getting on, but have quite a bit to do before glueing up.
And the second kitchen knife has now been glued as well. The glueing process being supervised by Twilight herself.
Time for yesterday's bit and today was 4 hours 30 minutes
Total time so far 59 hours and 15 minutes.
