New video complete..

We’ve been able to get some projects done lately.

I finished up the punt gun rack and the client was ecstatic!

I was also able to get a knife finished up for another fella, this one was a bit different though. He wanted the city crest from the town in Switzerland where he and his wife were married. I took the blade to an engraver and they did a great job, but, then I started thinking. I thought “Why can’t I just do my own engraving?”. That lead to several hours of research and a conversation with Maria. We then ordered our own laser engraver. We’ve got a few more days before it arrives, but soon we will be able personalize all kinds of things. Be sure to look for those types of items in our etsy shop soon, and offering this service for the knives I forge.

Here is the knife that generated the inspiration.

So now to subject of the title for this post. Today, I had a set of holdfasts to make for a customer and I’ve been wanting to add more YouTube videos to our channel. So I filmed as I made them. I had my photographer friend help some. I realized that you can just about quadruple the time it normally takes to make an item to film AND make it!

I also spent a couple of hours editing. I’m sure that will speed up as I go but for now it took quite a while.

If you have about 6 and a half minutes of your life that you don’t mind not getting back, have a look. If the link doesn’t work, just search “holdfasts project video” on YouTube.

We hope you all have a beautiful week, STAY WARM!!!!

We’ll keep you all posted on the laser engraving adventure,

All the best,

Chad

Right place at the right time…

I made my trades and got some treasures the other day, but today was the ultimate.

I made the trade with the truck,

That I traded for a rifle…

I didn’t really need a rifle, but it can be locked up and won’t lose value in storage. Unlike the truck that would eventually for sitting outside.

I had to pay cash (not much) for the next deal…we got a backhoe attachment for the three point hitch on the tractor! Look out tree stumps!!!!

These were decent trades, but like I said, today was the ultimate. I was at the wood shop were I get the exotic woods for my knife handles and I met a guy there and explained what I do. He then said that he had a bunch of scrap that would probably work for handles and I could have them for free. I went to his place a little later and got all of this..

16 different species of exotic lumber!! Nearly a half a truck full. That will keep me in knife handles for a long time. All for free!!

I was super excited about that score. In the spirit of my trading spirit, I plan on trading a portion of it to some other bladesmiths for different, hard to find, types of steel.

Awesome find of the month!

I also finished the rack for the Punt gun.

Again, if you aren’t familiar, a punt gun is a huge shotgun from the late 1800s to early 1900s when people were harvesting wild ducks for commercial purposes.

Now, I don’t own one, as I think its a bit (ok, a lot) ridiculous, but I got a commission to build a display rack for one. Its over 10 feet long and weighs about 87 pound. I had to build it strong enough to hold the gun, look rustic, and be able to be locked up. The build wasn’t particularly challenging, but the engineering plan was quite the job. It’s laying flat in this photo, but it will be mounted on a brick wall.

Good times, good times. Things are going well in the forge. I have 3 custom knife orders to complete and this weekend I have two classes to teach. Now, if I could just hurry up and get to August 24, 2022 (retirement date from “the day job”). Then I could get some really heavy duty work done, lol.

Hope you all have a great week, and we’d love to hear about any good deals you gotten lately, especially with trade or barter.

All the best,

Chad

Mud work and goals..

Being the beginning of a new year, I suppose its normal to make plans and set goals.

In 2018 we didn’t spend much time at the farm. This happened for a few reasons.

1. We have been really busy making things and working our day jobs.

2. We had the pleasure (sarcasm, of course) of riding out and working in the middle of hurricane Florence.

3. Until its paid off, we aren’t allowed to build anything permanent on the land.

So, for goals this year.

1. Hope to have the land paid off. The sooner the better. If we hustle, I think its attainable.

2. Add some drainage to the open and cleared areas of the farm.

3. Get more land cleared and graded.

Getting the land cleared should get a bit easier. I have found a deal for a backhoe attachment for the three point hitch on the tractor. The most difficult aspect of clearing is removing stumps. None of them are big, but there are a lot of them. Now I will be able dig them out quicker.

The drainage might be a must. Here on the coast we had 102.4 inches of rain in 2018. The neighbor a cross the road from the farm has lived there since 1978 and he says that he has never seen it that wet. He said that during the snowstorm a couple of weeks ago there was 16 inches of snow. With a clay heavy soil, things don’t drain too fast.

Yesterday, a friend of mine rode with me to retrieve our older truck and bring it back to the beach. That truck had been sitting there in the woods for almost 1.5 years. A quick jump start (dead battery) and it was ready to roll. Here’s the problem. That 946 foot driveway that I have cleared was a slick, clay, muddy mess.

It took nearly 30 minutes and a tractor to get our 2 wd truck out to the road, here’s how she looked after.

The old truck is 4 wd, and didn’t require the tractor. I got it out in about 10 minutes, but I was slinging mud like a fiend. Here’s what that one looked like after.

Now the reason we retrieved it was so that I could trade it. A friend of mine wants an old truck to use as his hunting truck. We really don’t need a second truck, so I agreed to trade it. He wants to trade it for an AR-10 rifle. Now, I don’t really need the rifle either, but, it can sit in the safe and not lose value. If that truck continued to sit out there in the woods, it Damn sure would lose value quickly. So the trade will be made.

I’m still in the middle of the huge shotgun rack commission, but I needed to make a flat platen attachment for my belt grinder.

I know that little video probably isn’t very exciting to most, but I was really tickled with how it came out.

So, more knives will be made soon, to help pay off the farm.

Just remember, custom requests are welcomed and encouraged.

We hope that you all have a wonderful year.

All the best,

Chad