Archive for handmade

A Brut de Forge Dagger from 2016

Posted in Blacksmithing, bladesmithing, brutdeforge, EDC, knifemaking, Leather working, metalwork, Uncategorized with tags , , , , , , , , , , , on December 13, 2016 by Jim

I met Joe Keeslar  this year at the ICCE knife show this year and I wanted to make a dagger in his style. Below are some photos of the process.

 

Here it the initial forging. I started with 1.5″ x 1/4″ 1084 steel:

hotdagger

Here is the forging complete:

finishedforgingdagger

Profiled and finish ground:

finishgrounddagger

Then a mystery wood handle (rosewood or ironwood, not sure – it was a gift):

finisheddagger

A handle detail showing the sterling silver and copper pins:

daggerhandle

I etched my logo:

daggerwithsmalllogo

I also made the sheath:

rattlesnakesheathcloseup

And here is the entire package:

daggerinsheath

This was a really fun build – it pushed my abilities in both blade and sheath and I am happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for looking – keep making,

Jim

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Wheel spacing jig for toy wooden car wheels

Posted in Toy Making, Woodworking with tags , , , , , , on January 25, 2014 by Jim

Tonight, I had to make some wooden toy cars for a birthday party.

handmade toy wooden cars

I have always had a little trouble when using pre-made axles for toy wooden cars. I either sink the first axle too deep and the wheel will not turn. That, or I sink it too deep when I flip the car over to drive in the second axle. I needed something to stop all this silliness.

Tongue depressors save the day

spacing jig for wooden toy car wheels

I cut a notch in the end of two tongue depressors and laid them on the car body with the notch around the axle. When you drive the axle into the body, the tongue depressor stops it with just the right spacing. I made two so I can leave the first one in place when I drive the opposing axle in. This keeps me from sinking the first axle too deep when driving the second one.

I think that they will be well received at the party.

handmade wooden toy cars for birthday party

So, if you are making toys with little wooden axles – get yourself some tongue depressors.

Happy making,

Jim

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