What's going on in your shop? Show us whats going on, and talk a bit about your work!

Now that the guitar is done, back to working on the handle of Knife #2. Still shaping a bit, but this is at 80 Grit. Having a lot of trouble with that end loop. Think I may have bitten off more than I can chew with it, LOL. We'll see. I will say one thing. It feels amazing in my hand. Very well balanced. Feels a lot lighter than it looks.

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That looks fantastic. Is that Yew? You gotta give us the details. That carving looks as cool as heck to do. Wish I had the time to learn how, not that I would be good at it but it still looks fun. I love the handle wood. As much as I love all of the popular handle woods but that just looks different. For whatever reason it reminds me of the style I saw in Europe.
 
Discovered an unfortunate delamination in this damascus I got in a trade with another maker, but felt like it was still worth finishing for myself with a rougher finish to keep as a work knife in the kitchen. Too bad, because I really like how this one was shaping up. Used copper in the handle for the first time and it was a delight to work. Looking forward to seeing how it patinas over time.
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I love copper. It just ages with grace.
 
I love copper. It just ages with grace.
Agreed. It's one of my favorite materials. I worked for my dad's historic building restoration company growing up, and we did a lot of copper work, mostly on standing seam copper roofs, gutters and downspouts, so it has a bit of nostalgia for me as well.
 
Agreed. It's one of my favorite materials. I worked for my dad's historic building restoration company growing up, and we did a lot of copper work, mostly on standing seam copper roofs, gutters and downspouts, so it has a bit of nostalgia for me as well.
I love how it looks with a peened finish and in some ways that makes it easier to use because it can be molded a bit and then you get that twin tone patina where handling polishes the high spots.
 
That looks fantastic. Is that Yew? You gotta give us the details. That carving looks as cool as heck to do. Wish I had the time to learn how, not that I would be good at it but it still looks fun. I love the handle wood. As much as I love all of the popular handle woods but that just looks different. For whatever reason it reminds me of the style I saw in Europe.
Thanks! It's a Le Thiers lockback that I'm engraving for my buddy Sharp & Fiery Sharp & Fiery ,the scales are juniper I believe...super peppery smelling.
 
How long did it take you to learn that?
That's actually a tough one to answer 😂 I took a summer semesters's worth of engraving and inlay courses as a teenager with a hammer and chisel, but life got in the way (plus hammer&chisel is super tedious even by engraving standards) so I never did much after that. Fast forward 20 something years to 2019, I picked up a used Airgraver setup and started cutting away...so about 2 years if you count it that way.
 
The GRS school in Kansas is a great way to learn engraving. In the past, GRS has held a weeklong class session at the ABS Moran School of Bladesmithing.

Engraving is a skill that requires frequent practice. Your brain/eyse/hands have to work in sync. If you take a long break, it means a new learning curve. I engraved a lot in the 60's and 70's, mostly with hand gravers, then with an ancient GraverMeister that sounded like a jack hammer. I didn't do much again until around 2000 when I got back into knifemaking heavily. I decided to get new equipment and got the modern GraverMeister with dozens of carbide cutters and quick change handpieces, a monster GraverMax ball, engraving microscope, etc.. It is a lot smoother and way easier to change cutters, but just fancy equipment won't make you an engraver. It took me a good while just to be able to run a clean line again. Having taken a break again while building the new shop and Covid, I suspect I'll need a couple hundred hours practice before I can engrave anything worthwhile again.

I have boxes of hand gravers and other tools I am going to get rid of soon.
One set I won't get rid of is the engraving tools of the man who did some of the plates for the large currency. in the 1920's. His family gave the boxes of gravers to an engraver friend of mine, and when that friend passed away, I got them. I never found out the name of the original owner.
 
The GRS school in Kansas is a great way to learn engraving. In the past, GRS has held a weeklong class session at the ABS Moran School of Bladesmithing.

Engraving is a skill that requires frequent practice. Your brain/eyse/hands have to work in sync. If you take a long break, it means a new learning curve. I engraved a lot in the 60's and 70's, mostly with hand gravers, then with an ancient GraverMeister that sounded like a jack hammer. I didn't do much again until around 2000 when I got back into knifemaking heavily. I decided to get new equipment and got the modern GraverMeister with dozens of carbide cutters and quick change handpieces, a monster GraverMax ball, engraving microscope, etc.. It is a lot smoother and way easier to change cutters, but just fancy equipment won't make you an engraver. It took me a good while just to be able to run a clean line again. Having taken a break again while building the new shop and Covid, I suspect I'll need a couple hundred hours practice before I can engrave anything worthwhile again.

I have boxes of hand gravers and other tools I am going to get rid of soon.
One set I won't get rid of is the engraving tools of the man who did some of the plates for the large currency. in the 1920's. His family gave the boxes of gravers to an engraver friend of mine, and when that friend passed away, I got them. I never found out the name of the original owner.
Very cool Stacy, I bet those banknote tools would have some awesome stories to tell. The work those old guys did back then without power tools or even magnification is just amazing...I hope to be even half as good as those guys some day🤯

I took courses at Lassen College in Susanville with John Baraclough, through the NRA gunsmithing school there. My stuff is somewhat simplistic by traditional standards, but I'm having fun and people seem to like it...definitely an evolving style though.

Little tip that some of you may not know about for transferring images...laser printer toner. Print your design and lay it face down on the metal, then blot the backside with a tight folded paper towel just damp with solvent (acetone, nail polish remover, I use Brakleen). Very firm pressure and just barely damp is the key to a crisp transfer, I used a little too much solvent on this one so there's some smudging.

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