May 13, 20179 yr Nothing is finished yet, but a lot in the works. I have two tables again this year, with the plan being one for forged work and one for stock removal. Small forged knives: Large forged knives: My eye-catcher is, of course, the post-nuclear barbarian sword, with a 21" blade and 33" overall length. And hopefully I'll have some stock-removal Little Roks, Benghazi Warfighters, and mini-parangs, as well as tomahawks.
May 13, 20179 yr The Blade show is billed as the world's largest knife show and is in Atlanta GA and so a decent ways, 1592 km, away from his location.
May 14, 20179 yr Author It's a 15 hour drive from here, which I split up over a couple of days. Theo - Come on by! Table 26R.
May 19, 20179 yr Author Got my mid-tech stuff powdercoated and took it to get my touchmark laser engraved this morning at JB Knife and Tool, who will be my neighbor in the San Antonio colony. Here's a Woodsman 'hawk getting frickin' laser beams shot at it. [/url]
May 22, 20179 yr Author Making progress. Got a mini-meat cleaver and a pair of o-tantos ready to epoxy the wraps.
May 25, 20179 yr That sword is really turning out to be an awesome piece. I really admire all your work.
May 30, 20179 yr Author I finished up the post-nuclear barbarian sword, so at least I won't have an empty table. For some reason it looks shorter in photos than it seems in person. Final weight is 3.25 pounds. A little weighty, but I had no trouble working it one-handed on the whetstone. Both edges shave hair. 24" of Kydex for a 21" blade. This is the maximum that I'm set up to comfortably handle. Everything else that is forged has the wraps epoxied and sheaths molded.
May 30, 20179 yr Well, at least ya didn't shave the beard even if ya have shaved legs...... That sword it Really cool and all the other blades look like awesome brutes as well. always like seeing your work.
June 26, 20179 yr Author Finally doing a Blade Show after-report. It was the best knife show I've done, and it flew! I didn't get to get around to talk with more than a small handful of the folks I wanted to, and sold all but three pieces at the show. Those three were all claimed before I made it back home. It was the biggest Blade Show yet. The first year I was there, a large margin of empty space surrounded the tables. The year after that they pushed to the outer walls. This year they had booths in the foyer out front. I haven't done a show yet where I didn't end up putting the final edges on in the hotel room. It was my buddy and fellow Forged in Fire champion Tobin Nieto's first time to have a table at Blade, and he, of course, made it entertaining. My loverly bride holds a glaive that he made, and he has my sword. You always need an eye-catcher on your table, and these are ours. Always enjoy it when Dan Keffeler comes by. Among other things, he had a Super Assassin with him. Which Tobin seemed to like. This fellow bought several blades from me, including the Ludicrously Oversized Bowie. Got to meet Ryu Lim, fellow Forged in Fire champion. Jason Knight was a contestant on the unaired pilot episode of Forged in Fire. He won with this Damascus gladius. He did all right. Mardi Meshsejian (another FiF contestant) made a katzbalger that was undoubtedly prettier than the one I built for the show. Mine was lighter, though; there's a full pound of sterling silver in the guard! Gorgeous work with a stainless san mai blade, anodized titanium handle, sterling guard, and fossilized walrus ivory pommel. He also had this gorgeous o-tanto with stainless san mai blade and fossilized walrus ivory handle. Tobin was as enthralled with RMJ Tactical's official rendition of the Frank Frazetta Deal Dealer ax as I was last year. There was a small disagreement that was amicably settled. Luke Swenson liked Tobin's glaive in spite of it not being a slipjoint. My brother-in-law talking with Tracker Dan. An interesting study in contrasts. Ed Calderon, the Taco Ninja, poses with some $5 foam nunchucks someone sold my nephew. Tobin's wife and daughter are in the background, oblivious that they are being posted across forums and social media. Don Carlos Andrade, who makes beautiful culinary cutlery, and Joe Flowers, who designs for Condor Tool and Knife. This bolo, o-tanto, and sword were the only items that didn't sell at the show. We got invited to tour RMJ Tactical's new shop in Chatanooga, TN, on the way back home. Enjoyed it a lot! Ryan made some comment about "the bellies of bladesmithing". While my wife and I spent a couple of days in the Smoky Mountains on our way home, I shot some better pics of the unsold items. All three were bought before we got back to Texas. This Sasquatch waded into the stream and grabbed the sword, but eventually wandered off. In spite of the long handle on the sword, the Sasquatch's paws filled it with a two-handed grip. I didn't get a good picture of my two tables at the show. I did have one of the four smaller tantos travel back with me so that I could ship it to the customer so he wouldn't have to mess with getting it back home.
June 26, 20179 yr Author The Forged in Fire contestants who were at Blade Show got together for a group photo. There were a lot of us!
June 28, 20179 yr "My loverly bride holds a glaive that he made, and he has my sword" They look like they should have some fava beans and a good chianti to hand as well! As for bellies---it's for grinding to give the correct amount of PUSH; now what you are doing with one is the question....
June 29, 20179 yr Author Thomas - Getting ready to make stock removal knives, obviously! John - It is a lot of fun.
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