Things I am doing.

More work completed

2009-12-31T11:22:00.000-08:00

I got a new auto darkening welding helmet for my birthday. It has been a real joy having a good welding helmet again. I finished some more art pieces this month. It is amazing how much faster you can make stuff when you have the proper tools. Motivation also helps a lot when making stuff faster.

This is a Metal coat rack that I have been meaning to make.

It was designed to be hung on the wall at an angel. When at the right angle the holes are 16” on center. I have not measured in inches what the proper lift to the right side is, to hang it at 16” on center yet.

Here is a photo of a metal dog that my brother had me make for his girl friend. She named it Weldo. He is going to be photographed on his future travels.

Surfer man, was made for my brother.

My sister made this up for me for my birthday. She designed the out side of it for me. The paper inside is graph paper. She knows me well.

Here are some dancing men that I am trading my sister, for her to design another book for me.

Rain dancers

Ballet dancers

If you like any of the work you see on this blog and would like to buy it, or would like to commission me to make a piece for you please email me at southclaw@gmail.com
Thank you for looking. Happy New Years.

Finished new knife

2009-12-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

I know I know. I don’t update my blog nearly enough. Well I am updating it now.
I just finished a knife a few days ago, that a guy ordered from me. He wanted it for his dad for Christmas. I am very pleased with it. I did some tests on the edge before it finished it and I was very pleased with how well it held an edge. I hope his dad is as please with it as I am. Hehe.

I finished the handle with tung oil.

The handle is buffalo horn and walnut.

Wine stand

2009-09-08T15:13:00.000-07:00

Well I did get the wine stand done and shipped to the customer by the due date. It was wonderful and I was proud of it. I thought I could have done better, but I always think that of my work.
Before I go any further let me post some pics of the finished wine stand so that you can judge for your self.

After it was all done I brought it to UPS and had them crate it up and send it out. I made sure and told them to put $500 insurance on it. Well….. it did not arrive as it should have. It arrived damaged. That’s right, even in the crate that UPS made for it. And guess what. They did not put $500 of insurance on it. They only put $300 on it. “Well I don’t remember.” That is what the guy at UPS had to say about it, when I reminded him, that I had said $500.

As you can see the leaf that holds one of the glasses was bent down and almost torn off. The petal was also bend down. Now the wine bottle does not go into place as it should.

I have a few questions for UPS. How do you damage a wine stand that is crated and says “Fragile” ? Or if it was damaged before being crated “How can you still crate it and send it out?”??????
I think the guy may have dropped it before putting it in the crate.

Oh yeah. How does $500 sound like $300?

Here is a knife that I finished and shipped off.

Wine stand art.

2009-06-16T15:57:00.001-07:00

Guess what I got. That’s right an English wheel. The price was to good, I just could not pass it up. Now I just need to get good at using it.

So the wine stand needs to be done by August so I figured I should get to work on it just to be sure it is done in time.

I sprayed it with Permilac. I hope that it is as good as they say it is. As you can see the Permilac did darken it up a bit. All that is left to wrap the base in leather and then rivet it to the stand. And the electrical stuff. Then it is all done. Yaahoo!

Back to it.

2009-05-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Well after getting more gas for the welder I found that it was leaking gas so I had to go get a new part. Then I found that my auto darkening helmet is not working any more, it was making me see spots. That is no good. I still have not got the helmet fixed, but I do have a really cool hand held face shield. It sucks.

Anyway I have got back to work on the wine stand. Here are the last two petals for it.

Getting closer.

Ahh that is pretty. I am liking how this looks.

Getting closer

2009-01-16T14:17:00.001-08:00

I got some more gas for my welder and decided to do a mockup on the wine stand. Here are some photos of the partial mockup.

Notice that I only have three of the petals on it so far. I still have to make the other three petals for it. Also only two of the leaves are on it. I have to check some things and see about the other two leaves.

Now I need to get some more gas for the forge

More photos

2009-01-10T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some more pics. Leaves on the stem.

Here is some how it goes. :P

Wine Stand

2009-01-06T14:23:00.001-08:00

I am back to it. I have made some progress on the wine stand that I was commissioned to make. Here you can see one of the leaves for the wine stand, that will hold a bottle of wine.

Below you can see the base of the wine stand and the leaves. Keep in mind that the base is not finished yet.

And here are two knives that I am working on. The top one is destined to go to Mexico to some good friends. The bottom one is from me just messing about and trying stuff out. I still need to do some finish work on both of them, and make a sheath for the top one.

I will try to get some better photos of them soon.

Calla Lily

2008-07-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

Calla Lily update.

I just did some work on the Calla Lily today and thought that I would post the progress thus far. It is coming along better then I thought it was going to. When I started on it I was not sure about a few things but…. I think it is going to be ok.

Ah ha!

2008-07-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

"Ahha!" Is what I said to my self when I saw the tongs at the antique store. Two sets I found. I found a cool Japanese hammer too, but it was $55. Ouch. To much for me right now, it wasn't even NEW!

Well I also found some railroad spikes as the antique store. I got a good deal on them. I figure that I can practise making some knives with them, you know "just for fun" knives. Not something you want to have to use a lot. (Not high carbon steel)

Did some puttsing around with a spike. Not really puttsing. Those spikes take a lot of thumping and pounding to get them into shape. I smacked this one out pretty quick just to see though.

So last night I really got the urge to do some blacksmithing. To bad I couldn't, I was watching the youngest one. Well today I made up for it. I put a little bit of effort into a spike this time. I think it turned out pretty good. I am going to leave it rough, like Ryans knife, that he wanted. Let me know what you think, I know the pic isn't the best but you can get the idea. It is not sharpened or hardend yet. Not that it will take a temper well. (not high carbon steel)

I'm beat.

2008-07-28T15:47:00.000-07:00

Past.

2008-07-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Ok so I got the photos that I wanted. Here are some pics of my forge.

The first things that I made was tongs. Have to have the tongs. You can't just be sticking your hands inside the forge when it is going. That would be hot.

They are not the best but they work.

Now for some artistic stuff.

A leaf. This is a wine stand.

This is bugging me. Trying to drag all the new photos that I put in to the bottom. I am going to try to figure out how to not have to do that. So.... That is all for this post.

B.S.

2008-07-16T02:55:00.000-07:00

Hello I am getting into blacksmithing and bladesmithing. And now I am getting into bloging I guess.

So here is my forge. ...... Or not! Must be on the other computer. Have to get that later. Well I didn't want to start with this but... Here is my latest knife.

This knife was made from a file. I drew the handle out by hand, well with a hammer that is. Hand forged knife with just a light sanding to bring out the details. I also made a sheath for it with a steel button and put my mark on it. My mark is that backwards looking f there. It is also on the knife but you can't see it very well in the photo I posted.