Spring Cleaning!

The rough winter we had in Kentucky this year kept me out of the shop quite a bit. We had a pretty nice day today though so I started some clean up and organizing. Im gonna be building a new charcoal forge in the coming days so check back for progress updates. I will take lots of pictures!

Well its been to long.

I cant believe its been almost a year since I have posted. If anyone still follows this blog, I will be more active starting now.

I have been doing a bit of forging and added a few pictures below. More on the way. I have a couple cool projects to start very soon.

Thanks for reading!

ICE STORM!!!

I havent posted anything in quite a while so I decided to take some pictures of the ice storm we got last night.

Most of the state of Kentucky was covered in ice overnight. Near Louisville where I live got about a half inch plus about 3 inches of snow on top of it. Makes driving a sketchy prospect so I decided not to chance it and stayed home.

Enjoy the pictures.

Larry

Just for kicks, I decided to add a shot of a knife in progress. This one is about ready for heat treat.

Bowies Hammer-in.

I was lucky enough to attend Ron "Bowie" Claibornes hammer-in last weekend and had an awsome time. There were many great demonstrators and really nice people sharing information. Ron personifies southern hospitality. He makes you feel right at home and I cant wait to go back next year.
Ive posted a few pictures of the event below.
Heres a shot of Bowie himself. Fuad Acawi giving a 6x48 grinder demo.
Another shot of Fuad forging some damascus on one of Rons presses.
Dr. James Batson giving a demo on forging a woodhead bowie.
And finally a picture of me and a few others enjoying some late night forgingLarry

Update!

At the request of Todd and a few others, here is an update of what Ive been working on.

Ive been adding two additions to my forge shed. My original shop was 10x16. The additions are 10x12 and 10x8. This will more than double my square footage and allow me to seperate my forging area from my grinding and finishing area.

My next step is to lay down some gravel to level off the floor, then its on to the roof and walls. Most of the shop will get partial walls so it will remain basically an open air shed.

I cant wait to get it all set up the way I want it.

More soon.

Larry

Fathers day knife.

My father joked with me a while back about how I make all those knives and have never given him one. Little did he know I had already started a knife for him. This is the result. The steel is from an old file and its cutting edge is 2.5 inches. The handle is a white tail antler tip with cotton cord wrappings. Everything is sealed up with orange flake shellac (wonderful stuff). I made a very basic sheath from some scrap leather to finish it up. This is the style of knife that really suits my dad. Rough with a tribal feel to it. He was totally surprized. These simple knives are alot of fun to make and they are soo useful.
Thanks for looking.
Larry

Patch Knife.

Here is an example of how a mistake can turn into something useful. This knife was originally supposed to have a full tang handle and cow bone handle scales. I forged the entire knife to the shape I wanted only to find that I forged the handle too short. After a bit of thinking, I reforged the handle a bit. I then cut a slot to match in a piece of deer antler. A few pins and some turk knots later and here we are, a fine patch knife with a tribal feel to it.

I only wish all my mistakes were this easy to fix!

Larry