Your mission, should you choose to accept it...

Good morning, John.

Thanks for the update and I hope your time with the family was great.

As for the place for things to collect dust. Yes. we have a few. :p One curio cabinet in the dining room with stuff that is fancy, well laid out and all about decor and one in the spare bedroom/office that is full of stuff I've accumulated over my years working for a paint company. A pile of Jeff Gordon stuff, some expensive, limited die cast cars and a couple knives. One with a little cow bell on it. Even got the cabinet from work when they were redecorating the office.

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Before you ask, the Harry Potter robe hanging there belongs to the Mrs. (Shhh... I only wear it when she isn't home. Not in a Silence of the Lambs kinda way though.) :D
 
It puts the lotion in the skin, or it gets the robe again! Nice display, thats definitely not a dust collector though! Looks like there's room for a little fish. I'm looking forward to getting this knife finished, that Cocobolo and our thumpling experiment is gonna work out well I think.
 
I'm more concerned about the #24 car than the Harry Potter robe! I kid, I kid.....nice collection. I always liked rooting against Jeff in his younger years but was sad to see him retire. NASCAR just isn't what it used to be.

Back to knives..... I think I see a buck, are the others customs?
 
T.Knotts said:
I'm more concerned about the #24 car than the Harry Potter robe! I kid, I kid.....nice collection. I always liked rooting against Jeff in his younger years but was sad to see him retire. NASCAR just isn't what it used to be.

Back to knives..... I think I see a buck, are the others customs?
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He now works for the same company that I do. :p

I suspect his pay check is a little bigger than mine :(.

My wife was the Gordon fan. That's her shrine. Whenever possible I got her some swag from work or leftover give-away stuff from the Michigan race. We had a Marketing manager in the same office so she would get me stuff. There are half a dozen autographed pieces in there and I have posters, post cards, and some hats with his scrawl on 'em too.

Of course all of it is worth Doo-Doo because there is no COA or "provenance".

I'm more of a WRC, LM or F1 fan. In my opinion, NASCAR peaked at the same time Davey Allison died, and the sport died with Ernheart. Today it's about making sure that every sponsor gets a full four hours of exposure. Win or lose.

EDIT: Customs. Yes, there is a little Redmeadow with a cow bell on the lanyard, a Michael Morris semi-custom made from a Nicholson file that is actually a nice user that gets carried in the winter, a Mike Wilson (NC) with Chad Nichols Damascus, and a Bill Ogden that I won here in a ridiculously generous giveaway.

It can still be seen here:

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/...rderBy=DateListed DESC&Page=1&ItemsPerPage=12
 
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Ha, that little cowbell was fun to make. It was from a little chunk of 1/4" 1095.

I'll be in the shop the next couple of days, I'll get some progress pics up.
 
lessismore said:
Ha, that little cowbell was fun to make. It was from a little chunk of 1/4" 1095.

I'll be in the shop the next couple of days, I'll get some progress pics up.
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That is too freaking cool.
 
protourist said:
That is too freaking cool.
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Talented little bugger, isn't he? :cool:

With the money people are paying for beads made on lathes, he could crank out some bronze or copper versions of the cowbell and sell them for a rediculous profit. :p
 
I could carve some skulls, dragons, and flames, make it a spinning top, oh and add some tritium. Should be able to get $800 for one:p
Oh, almost forgot, make it a USB drive too.

On a serious note, if I had the time, I'd love to make one for every knife. I blame that damned guy that did the Cowbell giveaway:D
 
She got some fresh passes in a 220 grit belt after heat treat, once I get her hand sanded, I'll attach the scales.

Chris, I usually shoot for a clean 1500 grit lengthwise finish unless you prefer otherwise. I'll go to 2500, and then go back over it with 1500 for a clean finish. Then a little simichrome polish.

The scales are still a bit proud, so don't mind the chunkiness. I've got to give a thumbs up to Ben at Greenberg Woods, he cut this block into scales and they were extremely close to even thickness front to back, less than a band saw blade width off I'd say.

I think the two rows of Nickel Silver pins is gonna look really nice, I'll epoxy the scales without pins, and let that harden. Then put a little epoxy on the pins and peen them before that epoxy sets up. If I do it all in one step, it's a race to get everything lined up and peened before the epoxy starts hardening. I've been using Bladebond and have been happy with it. The "thumpling" feels great so far, just enough to give a little traction, but no bite.

I've been doing a lot of testing with different thermal cycles and quench oil temps and have had good results (after pulling a lot of my few remaining hairs out). These resulted in a thicker layer of decarb that I wasn't use to. Anywho, looong story short, once I got through that I got good results using hardness files, things look good. A box of old junk blades that never made the cut to get treated came in handy for testing. A hardness tester is in my near future, the hardness files give us a usable ballpark, but a tester will be more accurate.
 
Wow! That is beautiful.:thumbup: You were right. The wood looks like it was meant for that knife.

As for the finish, once over with 1500 is fine if that is where you like to finish. I'm good with it.

Thank you for the photos and for taking this on. I couldn't be happier.
 
Coming along, I'm looking forward to what you think of the thumpling when you get a hold of this. It's not the purdiest lookin thing, but it makes my thumb happy.
 
Looking good John, I wanna see the Cocobolo on this piece I think it's going to be stunning.
 
Thanks Scott, I just polished up the fronts and they look amazing. I definitely see more Cocobolo in the future.
 
I'll be sure to tell you how it feels but for now, I can tell you I love it.

It gives it a kind of connection to the one that Sarah has. It's something different but uniquely Redmeadow. :cool: :thumbup:
 
That's coming along nicely John! Can't wait to see the final product!
 
Rupestris said:
It gives it a kind of connection to the one that Sarah has. It's something different but uniquely Redmeadow. :cool: :thumbup:
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I don't think I've found my style yet, maybe textures tie everything together. I really like stippling over controlled patterns.

SpyderPhreak said:
That's coming along nicely John! Can't wait to see the final product!
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Me too, I'm anxious to see this pin pattern, maybe I'll throw a little texture on them after they're peened, we'll see how it goes.
 
Pearl gave the go ahead after a spot inspection.

Scales attached (Bladebond) along with thong tubing. Epoxy is cured, handles are shaped, time for pins. I've got two peened, five to go. If anyone is interested on how I peen pins let me know, I can try to do a little tutorial if it will help anyone out.
 
You got it, I just snapped some pictures, I'll try to get them posted up tonight with a rundown.

Peening pins was something I had a hard time researching how to do. On the interwebz, the question of how to peen pins is usually answered with, "Use mechanical fasteners like Corby's or Loveless bolts". Which are awesome and pretty much foolproof, but aren't peened pins the "Original Gangstas" of mechanical fasteners?
 
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