Thread: What are you working on?

Very interesting. Thanks for the link Richard.

Looked up this liver of sulfur stuff. Thought I was going to have to go all chem nerd on it. Turns out it's really easy to get at several common stores (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and even Wal Mart). It's sold under several names as a patina agent for jewelry/beading. I picked up a 2oz bottle at Michaels for $12 since I was going there for some magnets anyway. Played around with it this morning. The directions say 1 tablespoon to 1 cup of tap water and soak the parts till you get the desired coloring. Warning, do this with good ventilation, it's kinda stinky. After cleaning my brass plate with 600 grit and acetone, I dabbed the solution on with a q-tip. It works pretty slowly, so it's easy to control the darkening. I stopped after 5-10 minutes. Then, just because impatience is kind of the point, I wiped it on undiluted (its similar to honey in thickness). It did pretty much the same thing, just took less time. Rinsed it off and then hit it with some #0000 steel wool. Pics below.



Rinsed and wiped, then steel wool. Right patch is diluted, left is straight out of the bottle

Well, I finally got around to cleaning up and reorganizing my workshop. My wife more or less made me do it: "I'll help you do it if you do it today." I swear that woman is awesome. She can outwork 4 or 5 other people, I kid you not. Anyway, here's the most-squared away that shop has been in years!



So now we're both beat down to the bones. Chinese takeout and tv tonight probably, but now I'm ready to get at the big restoration blade lot I got from Steve on Ebay. If any of you saw that lot of 21 beautiful blades, I snagged those up, and can't wait to get at them this summer!

Nice workshop! Hope to have a space of my own someday. That will be a long time from now though, Lord willing.

Originally Posted by JP5

Nice workshop! Hope to have a space of my own someday. That will be a long time from now though, Lord willing.

Joshua-We built that workshop in June of '14 for my youngest son, who we thought was going to become a knife-maker. He went through a rough patch in his teenage years, and we were desperate to help him find something that engaged his talent for hands-on work in a positive way. Sadly, that didn't last long, but I hope that someday he will come back to it. He made some stunning knives before just stopping completely...

Meanwhile, we had/have a shop-full of tools, most of which we bought out from the family of a deceased knife-maker. It's worked out great for my razor obsession. I think the first project I'm going to tackle in the ebay blade lot I just got will be this Friedmann and Lauterjung's Celebrated Razor. I'm thinking Austin's bone scales, brass pins and cup collars, with a brass-lined rosewood wedge:


Speaking of bone, Shaun, I love your scrim-shawed scenes on some of your bone scales! You guys always inspire me to up my game on every project!

Thanks.
My scrimshaw always takes a long time in part because I am just learning how to draw these sorts of things. I have done a fair bit of technical drawing for construction, but never was much for other things, until I got interested in scrimshaw. It is always easiest to draw what we see and know, hence the ocean stuff. There will be more to come this winter. I’m sorry your son did not decide to stick with making stuff. I have always found it to be of great benefit to my mental health to have a creative outlet.its always nice to get the workshop cleaned up. Keeping everything organized has always been a struggle for me. I love my labeler and rubbermade totes.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Well, I finally got around to cleaning up and reorganizing my workshop. My wife more or less made me do it: "I'll help you do it if you do it today." I swear that woman is awesome. She can outwork 4 or 5 other people, I kid you not. Anyway, here's the most-squared away that shop has been in years!

So now we're both beat down to the bones. Chinese takeout and tv tonight probably, but now I'm ready to get at the big restoration blade lot I got from Steve on Ebay. If any of you saw that lot of 21 beautiful blades, I snagged those up, and can't wait to get at them this summer!

Nice setup! Looks like you've got that shop dialed in. Can't wait to see the restores you bring out of it.

Man! That shop is hard-core! My razor-restoring stuff would fill a laundry tub.
Drill-press excluded......

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Man! That shop is hard-core! My razor-restoring stuff would fill a laundry tub.
Drill-press excluded......

And yet you're probably the most prolific guy on this site, Tom. It was supposed to be a knife-making shop (and hopefully someday will be again). I just learned (am learning) my way into the tools. Here's the last knife my son made before he just up and quit: a big hunter with cocobolo scales and a beautiful worked spine:

Do you see why I was so disappointed that he gave it up?

Well, He is fortunate to have folks who would set him up in such fine style.
Seems obvious he is talented...
They have to come around. I hope he will.