I've been busy , but too lazy to update my blog

 This is my take on the 'bird and trout' style of knife , I have called them 'Frog and lizard ' . The top one has olive scales , the bottom one has walnut (Thanx Stew)

The steel is 3mm 01 and the overall length is 220mm

 This little box cutter has been christened 'The 4 spotted toad' and was made from a farriers rasp

 The top one in this pic is called ' The newt ' and has a matching Kiridashi , made from an off cut of 01

Walnut scales with brass pins and tube

 Another kiridashi made from a piece of rasp called 'the Leech

 and then a flat ground bushy with orange liners and wenge scales , called 'The salamander'

and lastly another little box cutter called ' The chameleon '

I have now started naming my blades (cos its fun ) as well as making templates so that I can reproduce the shapes if I'm asked to .

This is a 'frog and lizard ' with a matching fork







The kiridashi's are always going to be one offs because they are made from offcuts and I work with the shape of the piece of steel

The first few pieces from my new workshop

Although mu workshop is still far from complete I have been making a few things

First was a few bits of hessian 'micarta' for a Britishblades forum member

and then a bushy shaped file knife , although I flat ground the blade , I think it looks better than a scandi grind . The scales are wenge with home made  orange 'micarta ' liners

I do admit to cheating a bit with the liners . The problem with using old files is that you need to flatten the teeth , you never get tang completely flat with a belt grinder . This makes fitting the scales a pain .
So the answer is to make the liners by compressing the wet cloth between the scales and tang and letting the resin harden to get  a perfect fit

  these are two blades that I knocked up for the show , but didn't get chance to handle until now

The scales are lace wood (just a fancy name for plane tree) and padauk

these will be getting KYDEX neck sheaths in the next week before being offered for sale on British blades 

The new workshop

Just after the show at Tredegar House we moved home and I have been without a workshop foe about 6 weeks , I started getting myself sorted this week

The new garage and the pile of moss that came off the roof

lots to do

I made a frame for the work using studwork timber and bolted it to the wall

and then used a kitchen worktop to finish it off

and then added a kitchen cupboard

Today I made up a separate bench for my belt grinder .

I am going to put some shelving under the benches and then figure out where the machines need to go . The electrics need to be moved about to get all the machines working
I hope to get most of it sorted by the weekend so i can get back to turning perfectly good steel into dust on the floor  (I might make a knife or two as well )

Getting ready for a show

I have been asked to take part in a woodworking show organised be Isca Woodcrafts on the 12th of May
so I have been trying to get some knives together
Here are the first 10

 two file knives

 A flat ground utility knife with a yew handle

 The next two are little neck knives , the first one has clear g10 over orange liners and the second one has panga panga handles

and then some carving tools using oak , plain , ash and yew for the handles .
I am busy making more blades at the moment although I don't think they will get handles before the show , hopefully some will sell as bare blades or as DIY kits

A few more

File neck knives . these were made from the same file

3mm 01 

190mm OAL

85mm sharp

yew and brass bits 

this is a modified nessmuck

3mm 01 
190mm OAL
85mm sharp
yew and brass bits 

this is a little carver made with an over sized handle 
the handle is 'panga panga ' and 'padauk'


I have a few more on the workbench at the moment so I should be posting more pics in a day or so 

A few for the new year

 I had a bit of a break over Christmas and New Year , but now I'm back in the swing of things (or back to the grindstone )

The first one is a little Yew handled neck knife with a matching fire steel scraper

and then a pair of file neck knives (made from the same file

Carving tools

I haven't done much lately due to work commitments ,
 but I have been playing with some little
carving knives and spoon carvers
This is the first attempt at a spoon carver , using an old piece of hedge cutter blade chisel ground and then bent around a piece of pipe
The handle is stinkwood

 This is my second go. The blade is hedge cutter blade again , but thinned down to 9 mm wide
the handle is panga panga with brass pins

The handle is finished with super glue and polished with autosol

 This is a little carving knife made from an off cut of 3mm 01 tool steel

the handle is yellow wood and panga panga finished with danish oil

 they should make a nice little set