Hatchet sheath

Finished up the first copy of a new style of hatchet sheath.

I wanted a sheath that had a reminiscent look of one of my border designs. 

the copper rivet with a penny burr's main function is to act as a secondary level of protection if there is ever a fall with tool sheathed. the stitching is to protect the bit, the rivet is to protect the carrier incase the threading gives. 

what the image doesn't show is that there are three layers of leather on the front & bottom and there are 5 layers of leather on the top. 

Next I will bring in the center penny burr in just a bit and work one in to each corner.

I used the penny burr again to fix he strap to the back cheek. This gives me a chance to show off the tails on the back side of the sheath and to repeat the material.

so far i am pleased with the overall direction i am heading.

i always like a project where my initial work is a good start (at least in my mind).

Best steel japanese woodworking knive

A favorite style of general purpose woodworking knife.

 these single bevel knives are great for detail cuts to stock removal.

i had to oil up the handle.

keeping it conditioned.

Watch step

Watching

although i do in my mind, i have not put an item in my empty nail barrel for some time now.

Small clipboard made from wine crate lids

I needed some more clipboards at work and another one for the workbench.

i had some wine crates waiting for a purpose. i usually make wood toolboxes with the body of the box and use the lid for drawing boards, clipboards, ect. what i like about these lids is that unlike the body of the box that is solid wood, the lid is in fact veneered on both sides. the lids are almost half as thin and feather light. the core of the oil also will be a different color when a clear coat is applied. this gives it some interesting variation when held. perfect for clipboards.

i cut these last week knowing i had finally found a good deal on copper shingling nails.  being such a stingy bastard, i was not going to settle on retail plus shipping prices. i found this 8 pound 1 1/2" lot on ebay for about 8 dollars a pound (included shipping). this is one-third the retail price with shipping. at around 200 nails per pound this makes for a good supply. i only use these for rivets.

i often use pre-1982 pennies for my burrs. i personally like the aesthetic. really the only time i do not is when space is too limited for the wide diameter of a penny.

these clipboards are for A5 and smaller. 

this takes care of the portable rhodia and the fieldnotes/doane farm notebooks i use.

Function first metropolitan fountain pen mod - update

Last night the modified metropolitan fountain pen had it's first shift at work

and 

it preformed exactly how i needed it too.

here is from yesterdays post:

"one important note on this modification is that it is a "function first" mod. when the final product is laid out it looks like two separate items combined together. that is ok on this project.
the function is perfect, the material exposure is consistent and from the pocket or uncapped looks really good. this pen lives in only two places:
1. capped in the pocket
or
2. uncapped and in use."

tomorrow evening this pen will exist again during its second shift.

Pilot metropolitan fountain pen "function first" modification

At work i use fountain pens at the desk and out away from.

unfortunately, i must differentiate between the two places.

away from the desk i can use a pilot metropolitan. this pen can take a hit to the floor, can take a 

stub nib  (this is actually very important to me) and can be replaced inexpensively.

one thing i noticed about this pen is aesthetic of the raw brass where it had worn away from being in my pocket. i thought this to be a very appropriate look in my work environment. 

this mod was just an entertaining project to change the aesthetic of the pen by exposing the raw brass

AND

add a way to have the cap stand upright when i am using the pen without the cap being posted. 

(this allows me to put it on a small area, be noticeable and grab it easily).

one important note on this modification is that it is a "function first" mod. when the final product is laid out it looks like two separate items combined together. that is ok on this project.
the function is perfect, the material exposure is consistent and from the pocket or uncapped looks really good. this pen lives in only two places:
1. capped in the pocket
or
2. uncapped and in use.

outside of these two places this pen does not actually exist.

for the pen caps fixed podium, i was going to used a .243 casing.

this was a particular size was perfect and brass. i flattened the pen cap just a bit so i could seat and affix the two components together better.

next i removed the rest of the finish from the brass parts of the pen.

the dry fit shows that the brass from the casing was more tarnished doesn't yet look like a good fit.  

i gave a rough polish to the pen brass and a more fine polish to the casing brass.

this really started to tie together the materials. 

i fixed the parts together and gave it a final polish.

i will let this pen tarnish naturally. if the composition of the brass is too different and age out of sync then i will polish and clear coat.

Waltham and Sheaffer fountain pen re-sac

Now in my possession, i ink dip tested two of my late great grandfather's fountain pens.

both wrote well and deserved to at least be re-sac'd.

outside of a petrified ink sac, the Sheaffer was in pretty fair condition.

i thoroughly cleaned out the barrel, section, section coupler, feed and nib.

damn if dried ink doesn't seem to need endless flushing.

my own quirk, i always let liquid adhesives & coatings cure for a maximum period of time.

in this case i just left the shellac overnight.

the next day it drew in the ink well. the nib was fed well and wrote with a very consistent line. even for my quick print.

the waltham though has seen some real use and the wear shows in the nib. even the 14K nib has no remaining gold plating. in addition to the wear from use, there was some corrosion from storage.

removed the petrified sac, a thorough cleaning, re-sac and now is ready to go.

this pen was fairly difficult to get apart and putting back together was much the same. i was anxious to get this pen together and test the re-sac success so the image shows a minute gap between the section and the barrel. this has since been tightly seated together. even in a hurry i had the sense not to force the connection.

i will enjoy writing with this pen.

both pens are fairly wet and not suitable for fieldnotes.

rhodia though is perfectly good.