COTS Project Thread

I scrolled down some, saw two terriers and told myself: "This is a brave or adventurous man." No (live) varmint around your yard I presume.
 
I scrolled down some, saw two terriers and told myself: "This is a brave or adventurous man." No (live) varmint around your yard I presume.
They are a couple of wild heathens and yes, it seems to be ingrained in their biology that basically all other creatures must be killed. They are either hunting or resting - there doesn't seem to be any other mode of operation for them. Snakes, rats and mice, house cats, lots of opossums, a few really stupid squirrels who made poor choices, unfortunately a couple skunks, the occasional bird, chickens, turtles (but I think I have rescued all the turtles they have got a hold of) have all had bad days at the jaws of these two. They are a lot of fun.


So much neat stuff in there :).

Also saw a Zbirovia...Pulaski hatchet? How do you like it?

I like it really well. The guys who run that outfit sent a few of them out a while back to forum members and I happened to get one. Works great as a carving hatchet for me. I thinned the edge some, but they seem to be made from serviceable steel.
 
It sounds like the little tornados earn their keep :). I like a dog with hunting instinct but I can surely say a true to their nature terrier is too much dog for me...so I admire them for afar.

Thanks for the info on the hatchet, I saw some of their work at very good prices and was curious about quality.
 
It sounds like the little tornados earn their keep :). I like a dog with hunting instinct but I can surely say a true to their nature terrier is too much dog for me...so I admire them for afar.

Thanks for the info on the hatchet, I saw some of their work at very good prices and was curious about quality.

Best to admire from afar because these two don't really take well to people outside our small circle/family. I imagine that is partly my fault as much as it is their nature. But they are pretty intense. The bigger one for sure would fight a bear with zero hesitation, and happily sacrifice life and limb for a battle. And truthfully, I hate them fighting stuff because they aren't very big, they don't have killer jaws like a larger/stronger dog would have. So even cats can result in lost eyes or bad cuts and I am really hoping we never stumble across a racoon.

Yeah if you dig hard enough they have a thread going for them from when they gave them away - it's probably pretty old now.
 
Best to admire from afar because these two don't really take well to people outside our small circle/family. I imagine that is partly my fault as much as it is their nature. But they are pretty intense. The bigger one for sure would fight a bear with zero hesitation, and happily sacrifice life and limb for a battle. And truthfully, I hate them fighting stuff because they aren't very big, they don't have killer jaws like a larger/stronger dog would have. So even cats can result in lost eyes or bad cuts and I am really hoping we never stumble across a racoon.

Yes, it is bred in them to disregard all odds, push forward and go for the kill :), regardless of their foe's size. A good "earth dog" is an incredible beast in a small package. Fighting something underground, as big or bigger than you, without any chance to turn around or even sidestep, requires some balls :). The old Staffordshire Terrier breeders apparently put so much stock on this ability, that for them a Stafford (which was by and large a fighting dog) wasn't considered "tested" until it passed the "badger test" as well. The old Stafford was virtually the pitbull, J. P. Colby starting his line from these imported dogs.

Here's to hoping they don't cross paths with something meaner and significantly bigger one day :).

If they don't like people, that is not so typical but can come in handy at times. I have an acquaintance whose 5 Daschhunds sent a would-be-burgler to hospital. Two terriers would give early warning and enough time to pick up something adequate for handling bad people :).
 
Multigun has consumed most of my summer but I have a friend who has been waiting WAY too long for me to finish up his projects. I finally got started.
CZP09_RDS_BurrisFFIII3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

This one is supposed to be a wall hanger so I just corrected the bit and hung it on a piece of the less than optimal Locust in my stash. It's got a knot and the grain is wonky enough that only about half of it runs from tongue to swell continuously. Head's got hints of red paint and 3 eye ridges (on each side). Otherwise it's unmarked. I didn't weigh it but it looks mostly in tact - your typical 3-1/2lb Michigan. OAL is 30" at the swell and 31-1/2" at the tip of the foot.

HandleCarving1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving4 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving5 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges4 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
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Looks great! What tools did you use to cut the octagon out of the roughed out blank?
All belt sander (36 grit belt) once I had a handle shaped object. I started the octagonals earlier this time - while the handle was still a little thicker - then switched to 80 and cut the corners off and did the final thinning. I also hung the axe a lot sooner so that I could shoot for a specific length, then raised the shoulder up to it. Just little changes from my usual procedure but I think they were helpful.

The handle you recently made, did you plane your billet down and then cut your blank out? Keeping the handle (and tongue) straight/aligned, when starting with something roughed out by hatchet can be a little challenging for me. I tend to just go for it and fix the problems along the way - although on this Locust I have been trying my best to shoot a straight line through it with the grain to get as much continuous grain as I can. That might make planing tricky. I dunno.
 
The handle you recently made, did you plane your billet down and then cut your blank out? Keeping the handle (and tongue) straight/aligned, when starting with something roughed out by hatchet can be a little challenging for me.

Yeah, I planed it. Not planed perfect but good enough to lay out the profile. I squared around the billet and laid it out on all four sides, full profile on the wide sides and just a centerline on the top and bottom. Then I cut kerfs about 3/16" short of my lines and chiseled off the chunks. Then I went for the the big disc sander/grinder. I'll post pics when I find time to finish that hang.
 
38492108072_62098e98cb_c.jpg

This wedge to handle grain picture is why I would pay a subscription :thumbsup:
 
38492108072_62098e98cb_c.jpg

This wedge to handle grain picture is why I would pay a subscription :thumbsup:

Haha! Thanks man. I've got another one on deck that HAS to get finished soon (gonna be a knob end) and then another one that belongs to me - not sure what I want to do with it ultimately. All Michigans. Why couldn't Kansas have it's own pattern? Because there aren't any trees here, I guess. I've also been tasked to replace scales on a knife and I was fully expecting it to be a nightmare to get the scales off. Nope! The maker used about a drop of epoxy in one spot and it practically fell apart. So hopefully I'll have more pics for ya soon.
 
Multigun has consumed most of my summer but I have a friend who has been waiting WAY too long for me to finish up his projects. I finally got started.
CZP09_RDS_BurrisFFIII3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

This one is supposed to be a wall hanger so I just corrected the bit and hung it on a piece of the less than optimal Locust in my stash. It's got a knot and the grain is wonky enough that only about half of it runs from tongue to swell continuously. Head's got hints of red paint and 3 eye ridges (on each side). Otherwise it's unmarked. I didn't weigh it but it looks mostly in tact - your typical 3-1/2lb Michigan. OAL is 30" at the swell and 31-1/2" at the tip of the foot.

HandleCarving1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving4 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving5 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges4 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges3 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
HandleCarving_EyeRidges2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

That axe handle is perfect, and so is that little scout hatchet.
I can only dream of having such a beautiful hatchet / handle combo.
 
That axe handle is perfect, and so is that little scout hatchet.
I can only dream of having such a beautiful hatchet / handle combo.
Thanks! I complain about having a lack of wood where I live for full size projects but I would make a hatchet handle that small out of just about anything - this is a dream you should be able to see through.
 
So I was tasked with cleaning up this saw - a decorative thing. I was kinda worried about ruining it but the handle was really rough. I don't know if I improved it but I cleaned up the lines and linseed oiled the snot out of it. Anyone have any ideas about age or details? I tried some basic searches but came up with nothing. The guy works for the railroad and wants to keep it for that reason. He tells me that they were kept in the cars in the event of an emergency people could cut their way out? Anyway, it says Santa Fe Route, Train Use, then I see the word Warranted. Not sure about the rest. I am guessing the good information was below that but it's really hard to see.
SantaFeRailroadSaw by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
WHeelBarrowProjects by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
Got a wild hair and decided no wheelbarrow was good enough so I made my own. It doesn't show in the picture but there are slots to put sides on it. I think I will make sides for it later on.

Next I put some new scales on this knife for a friend. No before pics but basically it had some really crude Hedge scales that were checked, the bevels are uneven, it has file work on the spine that seems to me to be completely out of place, and kind of a generic sheath. Turns out the heat treat might not be real great either because I never could get a nice fine edge. I was worried that I would never be able to remove the old scales, assuming that they had been fastened correctly. No, they popped right off with ease - not a good sign. So I just went with some plain Oak and did a little color fill on the spine work because originally it was left with all those little pockets between the tang and the scales and all they did was fill up with crap.
KnifeReHandle2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
KnifeReHandle1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr

Next, I forged this blank months ago from a leaf spring and finally got back to work. I tried just rough grinding the bevels on the contact wheel on the grinder because I am no where near good at this yet, and thinking I put bevels on lots of axe handles, maybe that would work. Well it didn't work the way I expected, but it did work out. Sorry, no pics of the bevels finished but hopefully soon. What happened was that I had rudimentary bevels set that I could feel when I pressed the blade to the platen on the belt grinder which made it really easy to hold the angle from that point forward. Of course they are not like masterful amazing, but this knife isn't that sort of knife.
ForgedKnife1 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
ForgedKnife2 by city_ofthe_south, on Flickr
 
I did something similar a few years ago. I'm by no means a bladesmith but I came out with a serviceable skinner/utility knife.

Watch your heat treat. Normalize at least once before hardening. If it stays straight when you normalize and you give it a good even heat it will likely stay straight when you quench. Temper at least twice in the oven and consider softening the back of the blade even further with a torch. Just watch your temper colors closely and don't let the heat travel too far from the spine.

I wish I'd put more shape in the handle. The guard and rivets are home made of solid brass.

Knife4.jpg
 
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