Steel PryDaddies

Hi Everyone,

Hope your winter is going well. We've actually gotten off pretty easy so far, but a nasty cold snap this weekend will bring some below zero F overnight temps. Brrrrr. But the month of January broke records here for the warmest ever so I really cannot complain.

The projects continue to simmer. I haven't been able to get as much work done lately as I would like because of various family and business distractions, but those are mostly sorted now and I have been able to get back to some hours in the shop this week. New ideas and drawings continue to come to me and I've been quite busy setting up some nice projects for the year. I have also expanded my custom stamp collection a bit with some cool new designs.

I finally decided on a few new tool designs to cut in steel, and those will be coming probably in the early spring. I have a big batch of titanium Mini Poltergeists that are already cut and are in progress. Titanium Stir Crazy ruler tools are on the bench now and I'm in the middle of stamping them. There is also a batch of Mini Poltergeists underway in gorgeous timascus, as well as a batch of updated Tombstones and a new Larva tool, so more exotics are coming later this winter. And, after doing some historical research, I just had a small batch of cool little Pocket Game Boards cut from heavy titanium plate. Very fun stuff ahead this year!

Today I have a batch of CPM 154 steel PryDaddies for you. These stonewashed beauties have a wide variety of stamps on them, and I forgot to leave any plain ones, so all of them have been stamped. There are no lefty specific ones either, so all are milled the same way.

Steel PryDaddies will run $85 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for popping in today and hope your week is going great.  

All gone, thank you so much everyone, and stay warm this weekend!

 

 

Happy New Year!

Hi Folks,

Hope you all had a great holiday season! It was very nice here and we have been enjoying some crazy mild weather for the most part this winter. Hardly any snow so far, unlike our poor besieged neighbors in upstate NY, although there have been quite a few gray and gloomy kind of days. Right now we have a doom and gloom sky with light rain, but I will certainly take it.

Well, I sure hope you like exotic toys, because that is what is headed your way this year! I'm gearing up for some very interesting projects...steel PryDaddies are at heat treat right now, so will be back sometime in the next few days. I have some old SportWrench #4s that I had forgotten about, which I have anodized some wild colors and so those will be coming shortly. I have spent most of the past week playing with drawings, and several older tool designs are good candidates for updates either in steel or other metals....still trying to decide what to make, but new Count Sporkulas and Mini Poltergeists are already underway. And, I still have a bunch of knives here which need sharpening and final finishing. So, please stayed tuned because it's going to be a very fun year ahead. ;)

Today I have something really wild for you. I have been asked for ultra exotic metal alloys for years, and I have dragged my heels for numerous reasons. For one thing, tools made of these materials tend to be quite expensive to make, and also a lot of extra work. And if I screw some pieces up, which is inevitable, it is a costly loss if I can't save the item. But there is no denying their great appeal, and so even I have finally given in to their siren call...I decided to look into making a few small runs this year, and we're starting out with some Timascus MikroStiks! 

This is my first real chance to play with Timascus, and it certainly has been an educational few days. They start with at least two or three different grades of titanium, fluxed and heated to white hot and then the mass is pressed into a solid billet. Afterwards the billet is cold rolled out into thinner sheets. So there is a bit of variability in the patterns and also the resulting contrast of materials. Looks like some of these pieces have some zirconium content as well. Super fun to play with and I'm looking forward to making some more tools out of this if I can get more stock.

I elected not to stamp these as there is already a ton of stuff going on visually. I'm also playing around with some new edge treatments, and these have a very cool Tank Tread style grippy edge that really enhances fine motor control over a small tool like this...These are contrast anodized a wide range of colors to best show off the materials. Lots of wild greens, blues, purples, rusts, etc. There are a couple available with no coloring too if anyone wants to email me, but without coloring you're kind of missing the point of these, hehe...  

Timascus MikroStiks will run $80 and the link is below. Thanks as always for your patience and for dropping by today. Have a great weekend ahead!

All gone, thank you so much everyone!

 

 

Titanium PryDaddies!

Hi Folks,

Hope you're having a great week and preparing for the holidays! The end of the year is certainly coming up quick and the shortest days are now upon us. I'm always happier when the days are starting to get longer rather than shorter...we have a little snow on the ground right now but might lose a lot of it before the Christmas weekend as it is supposed to rain hard and go up to the 50's on Friday.

As usual I probably won't get all the stuff done that I wanted to before the end of the year. Oh well, that's what they made January for I reckon... I have a small batch of steel PryDaddies in progress that I need to grind and stamp before sending to heat treat. Some rather exotic small tools will be coming up in January as well. And I still have some more BabySharks to finish up. I have a couple of sheets of steel left that I bought earlier this year and am contemplating what to cut for next year, so I will be reviewing drawings soon. And I will be looking into making some new Mini beads this winter too.

Today I have a big batch of the new Titanium PryDaddies done. These 3.2" long compact tools recombine several familiar elements from past designs and put them all into one place. A sort of Grand Unified Theory of pocket tools. We have a full width pry tip with V notch, 5/16 wrench/cap lifter, 1/4 inch drive opening which doubles as a lanyard hole, and rear screwdriver/pry tip. In addition I engraved a small 1 inch scale on the front side and 3cm scale on the back side. Plenty of aggressive side grip areas complete this nice new design and give it a great feel in the hand. As mentioned above, I did cut a small batch of steel ones as well, so those will be coming in a month or two, and I may very well cut some more of these next year.

The PryDaddies have my usual wide variety of rare and custom stamps, and I gave them my elaborate multiple pass contrast anodized finishes. Some have name stamp on the front side, and some have the name stamp on the back side. I also have a handful of plain ones without the decorative stamps and without the anodized colors, so if anyone prefers pure vanilla, just email me...no dedicated lefties this time around as these were already a bit complicated to make and my brain got full! 

Titanium PryDaddies will run $85 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for dropping in today, and hope you have a great holiday week ahead!

All gone, thank you very much, and safe travels this season if you're out and about!

 

 

 

Titanium Fleas

Hi Folks,

Well, it's a beauty out there today, sun is blazing, but it's definitely starting to turn a bit cooler. Looks like we're due for an inch or two of snow next week, and this time it just might start to stick around.

I just got done milling the PryDaddy tools, so now I can do a little light grinding and start the many final finishing processes. I know what I'll be doing all this weekend! I will have some of the titanium ones ready for next week, although the steel ones will have to go to heat treat. Not sure yet how the other tools will shape up, but I would love to get a few more batches done by next week.

Today I have another batch of titanium Fleas done. These little guys have such an appealing simple shape to them and don't take up much room on your keys. They have a wide range of anodized colors and stamps. I do have some plain ones though without stamps or coloring. There are some lefties here as well with stamps and coloring.

Titanium Fleas will run $70 plus shipping.

All gone, thank you so much everyone and have a great weekend!  

 

 

Steel BarClaws!

Hi Everyone,

It's a gray and gloomy one here today, with a light rain falling. Typical for this time of year, and soon to be snow by next week I am sure. We're definitely in meteorological winter, even though the calendar says a couple more weeks to go before actual winter starts.

We're heading into the home stretch for this year. I hope to get going on the PryDaddy project for next week, and StirCrazy kitchen tools will be coming before the holidays too hopefully. Stay tuned for more info as soon as I get them closer to completion. I also have some small tool batches to get to over the next couple weeks as well.

Today I have something new for you. My tree guy asked me for a heavy duty scraper and pry tool last year. He wanted something for cleaning out the bar groove on his chainsaws and for testing for rotten spots on wood. I examined the crude home made scraper tool he was using and thought I could make something better. I added an offset rear pry tip as well as 7/16 and 1/2" wrench openings to increase the overall usefulness and to lighten the heavy bar a bit. These will be great tools for general renovation and carpentry work as well as woodsman and camping activities.

The BarClaw tools are made of 1/4" thick 17-4 ph hardened stainless steel. They're about 4.25" long and are cut from the same sheet as the previous Wedgie tools. I have my usual wide variety of original design stamps, and there are a few without stamps for those who prefer vanilla. The guys down at S&W must have been feeling feisty when they heat treated these because many have a cool leather like surface texture that shows some extreme heat..my first ever "MeltiTool", hehe. :D

BarClaws will run $75 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for tuning in today and I hope your holiday season is shaping up to be a good one!

These are all gone, thank you so much!

 

 

Brass Megas, and Updates

Hi Everyone,

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving weekend! It was nice here with mild temps, and then a little rain yesterday. We are now out of our drought conditions, but could use more rain, and indeed it looks like there is more on the way on and off this next week. As long as it isn't snow I don't mind!

So I have been busy moving projects along. I finally got the heavy duty BarClaw tools out to heat treat last week and those should be back soon. The PryDaddy project is sailing along and ruler milling should be done this week on those, then I can get the finish grinding, stamping, ano etc done. My titanium StirCrazy kitchen tool is also well along and just awaiting ruler milling. So a ton of stuff is on the way for December, it's just taking forever to get it all to the finish line.   

Today I have some more brass 6 Flute Mega beads with stamping done. These are beauties and have a wide range of stamping images on them. They will run $40 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope your holidays are shaping up to be great!

All gone, thank you so much!      

 

Micarta 6 Flute Megas

Hi Everyone,

It's a lovely day out there today, but about to turn much cooler. I did manage to get most of my garden stuff squared away this weekend and we're pretty much buttoned up for the winter that is surely on the way.

I do need to spend a day at the grinder this week and get those Bar Claws moving along. I'm breaking in some new tumbling media right now and need to do some maintenance on my big bowl tumbler this week as well. It's always something, but eventually I get it all done.

Today I have some more of the brown Micarta 6 Flute beads finished. These are just gorgeous, my favorite of the synthetic materials for sure. I might do a run of the smaller Mini size this winter, we shall see...

Micarta 6 Flutes run $30 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for dropping in, and I hope the rest of your week is not too stressful!

All gone for today, thanks again!

  Dry and with oil: