The Cowbell Build Thread

jmgruber said:
That would go well with brass thong tubes
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kUHnOP4FARZj.gif
 
Caution, more boring knifemaker talk ahead:

Everyone has their own ways of doing things. Here's how I check straightness after the quench. I found it by accident when I was flat sanding and stabbed a knife into a phone book and thought what a great way to check how even the tip was, check the page number, flip and repeat. The amount of page numbers between will tell you how far off the tip is from center.

Here's a quick pictorial.

On a flat surface, slide the blade in.
20220211_174244-01.jpeg

Check the page number.
20220211_174224-01.jpeg

Flip the knife, slide it in and check that page number.
20220211_174158-01.jpeg

Between 133 and 135 is one sheet. That's spot on. 10 pages is my limit with this phone book, anything under that I can grind out.

Below is one that's about 20 pages off or so. I give them a value of 1-3 depending on the severity. A number 1 is mild, a slight shift in the jig below during temper will fix things up.
20220211_174238-01.jpeg

If they're centered I give them a check mark. Out of these freshly hardened 7 blades, I only had one needed adjustment. (6 checks and one with a value of one, easy peasy)
20220211_174403-01.jpeg

The one that needs adjustment gets clamped in a piece of angle iron at the ricasso and the back of the handle with the warp pointing into the angle iron. You can see the small flattened out nail between the spine and the jig pushing it just past center. This will go through the first temper cycle and should be good to go. If not I can set it up again for the 2nd temper cycle.
20220211_174803-01.jpeg

If I get one that "scores" a value of 3 on my mental warp chart it can take 2 temper cycles to straighten, sometimes 3 but that's rare. You have to be careful not to over adjust during the first temper as it retains it's brittleness from the initial quench.
 
Let's get this show back on the road. A month out of the shop was brutal.

I've got 12 Cowbells on the bench, heat treated, handsanded and getting ready for the ricasso Cowbell etch. From there I'll be attaching handles.

I'll have one in each of the following.

Blue Denim Linen Micarta*
Blue Canyon Richlite
Opal G10*
Maroon Linen Micarta*
Red Linen Micarta
Bone & White Linen Micarta*
Bone Linen Micarta
Antique Bone Paper Micarta*
Ivory G10*
Black Linen Micarta
Black Diamond Richlite
OD Green Linen Micarta
(*New materials)

Not taking Dibs on these yet, still deciding on the best way to offer them so everyone that's interested gets a shot.
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
Let's get this show back on the road. A month out of the shop was brutal.

I've got 12 Cowbells on the bench, heat treated, handsanded and getting ready for the ricasso Cowbell etch. From there I'll be attaching handles.

I'll have one in each of the following.

Blue Denim Linen Micarta*
Blue Canyon Richlite
Opal G10*
Maroon Linen Micarta*
Red Linen Micarta
Bone & White Linen Micarta*
Bone Linen Micarta
Antique Bone Paper Micarta*
Ivory G10*
Black Linen Micarta
Black Diamond Richlite
OD Green Linen Micarta
(*New materials)

Not taking Dibs on these yet, still deciding on the best way to offer them so everyone that's interested gets a shot.
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Yes please
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
Let's get this show back on the road. A month out of the shop was brutal.

I've got 12 Cowbells on the bench, heat treated, handsanded and getting ready for the ricasso Cowbell etch. From there I'll be attaching handles.

I'll have one in each of the following.

Blue Denim Linen Micarta*
Blue Canyon Richlite
Opal G10*
Maroon Linen Micarta*
Red Linen Micarta
Bone & White Linen Micarta*
Bone Linen Micarta
Antique Bone Paper Micarta*
Ivory G10*
Black Linen Micarta
Black Diamond Richlite
OD Green Linen Micarta
(*New materials)

Not taking Dibs on these yet, still deciding on the best way to offer them so everyone that's interested gets a shot.
Click to expand...
Some beautiful choices! Blue denim, bone micarta… nice! Congrats on the move!
 
Texoma said:
glad you're back John, I've been laying low :) changed my username
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Is that you John Wayne? Good to see you Frank.
Box_Opener said:
Some beautiful choices! Blue denim, bone micarta… nice! Congrats on the move!
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I'm excited to see how some of these colors work out. No move, I was just out pf town for the month.

Been down in Texas, I looked up all the Texas clan but everyone was too far away to visit otherwise you'd have heard from me. Blade Texas was going on when I was down there but would have been a 6 hour drive for me and I didn't feel like getting on a plane for an overnighter. Did anyone go?
 
On another note, 11 of these will be available for Dibs. I think I'll see who's interested through the Newsletter and offer Dibs until the choices are gone. To ease the fever of trying to respond to an email quickly I'll make a list of who's interested, shuffle it and offer the list until the choices are gone. That's a lot of work to Dib out some knives but I think it gets everyone a fair shot. Sound like a good plan?
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
On another note, 11 of these will be available for Dibs. I think I'll see who's interested through the Newsletter and offer Dibs until the choices are gone. To ease the fever of trying to respond to an email quickly I'll make a list of who's interested, shuffle it and offer the list until the choices are gone. That's a lot of work to Dib out some knives but I think it gets everyone a fair shot. Sound like a good plan?
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Dibs!
Hey John, count me in!
OD if possible…
Now I’ll try find that newsletter…
Thanks…
Good day all y’all!
 
6850 said:
Dibs!
Hey John, count me in!
Now I’ll try find that newsletter…
Thanks…
Good day all y’all!
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Great to hear from you Randy!! I'll get back to you on that PM today. I'm off to an early Easter Egg hunt with the kids.

Oh and treats to Roscoe!
 
jlauffer said:
In as well! Want to try my luck at the denim. Which one won't be available?
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Not sure yet. Last month I worked with a guy that was in a different job field but when I had free time I'd give him a hand. One of those people with a great work ethic that gets things done and an all around good guy. We're around the same age and were running circles around the guys half our age. Gonna send him one of these, when I figure out which one I'll let you know.
 
I’d like to dibs for denim too or a blue richlite. Or maybe antique bone? All nice choices, really.

Edit: antique bone paper micarta dibs, please! If this is how we’re doing it.
 
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Redmeadow Knives said:
On another note, 11 of these will be available for Dibs. I think I'll see who's interested through the Newsletter and offer Dibs until the choices are gone. To ease the fever of trying to respond to an email quickly I'll make a list of who's interested, shuffle it and offer the list until the choices are gone. That's a lot of work to Dib out some knives but I think it gets everyone a fair shot. Sound like a good plan?
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Your belt random picker was fun!!!
 
The random belt picker would be fun but with one knife in each of the 11 colors we'd have to do it Live so folks could pick a color as they're name is drawn.

Just so we're all on the same page, there will be one made from each color handle material, of which I have 12. This will help me get a photographic catalog of all the material options to make things easier for everyone to choose from in the future. These 12 will all be Drop points.

After I get through this run we'll go back to normal Dibs with all blade options and handle materials available.

I'll make a list of interested folks through the Newsletter, shuffle the names and contact them individually. You'll have plenty of time to get on that list. The reason I'm not doing a first come first serve from email replies, is because folks that can't check their email at a specific time end would miss out. In the end it's no difference to me as long as they sell but I like to try to offer them fairly, tou guys are a patient lot and deserve the effort on my end. If the 12 don't sell I'll put them up in a sales thread in the sub.
 
Redmeadow Knives said:
The random belt picker would be fun but with one knife in each of the 11 colors we'd have to do it Live so folks could pick a color as they're name is drawn.

Just so we're all on the same page, there will be one made from each color handle material, of which I have 12. This will help me get a photographic catalog of all the material options to make things easier for everyone to choose from in the future. These 12 will all be Drop points.

After I get through this run we'll go back to normal Dibs with all blade options and handle materials available.

I'll make a list of interested folks through the Newsletter, shuffle the names and contact them individually. You'll have plenty of time to get on that list. The reason I'm not doing a first come first serve from email replies, is because folks that can't check their email at a specific time end would miss out. In the end it's no difference to me as long as they sell but I like to try to offer them fairly, tou guys are a patient lot and deserve the effort on my end. If the 12 don't sell I'll put them up in a sales thread in the sub.
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That sounds fair! Maybe do the belt if you want to pick the first person to get dibs on the whole batch? It was fun to watch, then do the shuffle for the next 11?
 
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