More work completed

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

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

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.

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.

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

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

Here are some more pics. Leaves on the stem.

Here is some how it goes. :P