Wednesday, 26 September 2012

1st post - Homemade and repaired tools

As a sound start to my blogging career I have decided to post some pictures of tools I have made or repaired.

Laura's knife



After making some lovely new friends on a recent course I offered to take one of their knives home to repair as one of the scales had fallen off. I scrounged a bit of American Walnut and a bit of fiddling in the shed resulted in this finished beauty. (Araldite and tiny bolts will hopefully prevent any recurrence...)

Handmade knives



Two of my knives, the top one is a Julius Petersson (I know, I fell straight into that Ray Mears pit-fall) with antler, leather and apple-wood sections, the rat-tail tang is riveted over a small brass washer. The bottom one is completly homemade and was a bit of a marathon to complete ~3 years of action and hiding in a draw. After softening an old file with help from a farrier I removed the teeth and profiled a Ray Mears-esque (again) profile and 4mm thickness. Holes were drilled to take brass rod and tube then with the help of a blacksmith uncle I hardened and tempered the blade. A combination of Araldite glue, black fibre-liner and beech wood scales was finished with brass and plenty of sanding and shaping. 

Handmade Micro-Froe

Another old file was upcycled (just learnt that word) into this great new tool for splitting spoon blanks and chair components. I ground it to shape and welded it to a section of old water pipe. the handle is a piece of ash off the log pile that I turned on a power lathe and is about 11" long, the blade is 5.5" long and 5mm thick. I ground a fairly blunt angle onto the lowest edge and away I went. I ummed-and-arred over tempering but general consensus and experience so far suggests its not necessary. 

Shave Horse




This is my new shave horse - Bullseye - he is collapsible and amazing, a fair bit cheaper than other horses I know of too... I managed to pilfer all of the components from the shed and put him together in an afternoon... Its only a matter of time before my spooney/chairy empire takes flight...




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