Strix Varia

loking good

be ware when yu use that fuxn your gas forge,...it's hard on the floor.i generaly use a block i made from castable refractoryto protect my forge floor.Your right on about steel fileings added to borax,..thats what i often use.

looking good !

nice!i love the wood,and the holes in the guard.goodwork.

Hvae you considered something like a presure sprayer filled with your canola oil?ive never tried it,but the idea just struck me as i read your post.We use a back pack sprayer to apply pesticides etc on plants in the summer,....its bound to be faster than wiping.

thanks,..i meant to add something to the pics for scale,but forgot.both about the size of a bic lighter

one has cocobolo,the other has osage orange/bodark.

i'dhave to say my fvorite is my 1000 gram picard swedish patern hammer.i love that loooong peen end:-)more and more,though i find myself picking up a 3 lbs made in mexico cheepo hammer for the little bit of extra weight.it seems to me alot of the comfort factor is in the proper handle shape,though.

looks great Christopher!

welcome to the forum!

Was rummageing around in my resource pile today,...found an old 2 5/16 trailer-hitch ball....got to loking at itand thought"gee,..if the bolt-shank on this was square it would make a nice hardy tool....."

those look great!

Only my feet really were cold,..3/4 inch of cold mud around the anvil.Later that evening when i shut down i went to lift that propane tank,..and tore a huge round divot of turf up that had frozen to the tank.

Who's ready for springtime already????

Not a folded ax,..just a hunkof leaf spring,...the end up-set down into a rectangle and the eye cut with a slitting chisel then drifted out.

thanks.Lookslike yall had a great time at the show.I hated missing it,but it was like it wasnt meant to be(at least this year).with deaths in the family right together,..and a major relocation right at the worst time. Looking at those pics really goes to show we have world-class talent right here in oklahoma!

forged a little ax outta leaf spring.edged quenched in veggie oil.

wow!looks great!

Glad you liked those.the longer of those knives is 26 mm overall/10 1/4 inches

Cool!Looks great!

Gravel sounds good,...unless you drop something small on it like a bolt or small screw etc.I been thinking that packed,smooth dirt has a lot of advantages.

I don't have any pics of anything more recent.I was shut down most of last winter with the fire-ban(i was useing an open-air charcoal forge)Ive been tied up relocateing,maintaining a new job and converting myself to a gas forge.I have several blades in various states of completion.

A couple of knives ive finished in the past year.The shorter one is forged "orrr" (old rail-road rail)steel,with hickory handle and buffalo-horn guard.The longer one is the wifes edc knife,1095 with red-oak handle and is vinegar etched.

Finnaly got to forge again,..after 5 long months!Whew!

Thanks for the warm welcome,guys!I did manage to watch some of the salt fork guys do a demo at a steam-tractor show a few months back.My day job and relocateing been keeping me so busy lately ive not had a chance to do any "real" work.