Zirconium QuickDraws!

Hi Everyone,

It's shaping up to be a glorious spring day here in the Northeast. Sunny skies and supposed to get into the low 60's this afternoon. There are some small tufts of green grass appearing in the lawn and the birds are tweeting up in the trees. It's going to be a nice week here finally.

Not too much to report on projects, but they are ongoing. I need to spend a few days in the shop and see what I can get done later this week...

Today I have Zirconium QuickDraws finished. These came out beautiful! The engraving is very deep and crisp, and they are a deep black in color with low luster sheen. I noticed that the plastic baggies were making some dull spots on a few of them after they sat for a few days, but just give them a quick rub with WD-40 or light oil of any kind that you have lying around and they will immediately go back to a deep satin black.

The Zr QuickDraws have a wide variety of stamps on them, and there are a couple of plain ones with no stamps for anyone who wants to email me. They will run $70 plus shipping and I will make it a limit of two please this time...will be cutting more in a month or two for a second round. Thanks for stopping in today and I hope your spring is shaping up as well!

These are gone for now, thank you so much everyone!

 

 

 

Titanium Mini Superbugs

Hi Everyone, and Happy Spring!

Well it's a gray and cool April Fool's Day here in New England. But warmer days are clearly on the way for real. This has always been my favorite season of the year. I just love it when the little plants start coming up, the grass begins to green and the sun starts getting stronger.    

Well I've been all kinds of busy this week. I managed to get a lot more prep work done on a variety of projects...Lucky Bronze Medallions are cooking along and they are almost done with milling. These large coin tools will be a lot of fun and something different...I am almost through the Zr QuickDraws and will have them coming up next. Zr Mini Superbugs are almost ready for decorating and a final finish. Titanium Ringbabies are prepped out and ready for milling. Steel Bike tools are prepped and ready to grind. A second long forgotten project will be saved too, details coming soon on the Ruff Kutz Series. And two new projects are slated to be cut next week in Ti and Zr, so there is just a ton of interesting new stuff in the pipeline this year. 

Today I have the Titanium Mini Superbug batch finished. These little guys are adorable. The design is very similar to the original BedBug design from years ago, with an ergonomic pill shaped body that is easy to carry and grip. I incorporated my new style captive bit holder in the bit slot so they are safe and secure but easy to deploy, all while keeping the package as light and compact as possible. The shortened form factor allowed me to add in a cap lifter so the final piece is only slightly bigger than the originals.

The Mini Superbugs are anodized in a wide range of bright contrasting colors and effects. Same with the stamps, a wide variety of  images, mostly single stamps. There are no particular lefty/righty ones here as the tools are symmetrical and I have stamped them in a variety of ways.

Titanium Mini Superbugs will run $65 plus shipping and there is no limit on them. Thanks for dropping by today and hope your weekend ahead is excellent!

Sold out, thank you everyone!

 

 

 

Zirconium MikroStiks

Hi Everyone,

Well it's cloudy and a little rainy here this morning. We've enjoyed a few early season warm days lately and the very last snowbank by the driveway has been reduced to the size of a dinner plate. I've been busy for the past few days getting my gardens ready for the spring and cleaning up the yard in between long bouts of grinding tools.

So with all this recent activity in the shop, I'm getting closer to the finish line on numerous projects. Ti Superbug tools are essentially done and will be coming up next. There are two brand new tools scheduled to be cut next week, and in the meantime I have Zr Superbugs to work on over the coming days. Also Zr QuickDraws which are shaping up very nicely and will be done in a week or so. Ti Ringbabies are well underway after an epic grinding session yesterday and have been fully prepped for the milling steps... And milling will start next week on an exotic Lucky Medallion pocket piece, more details coming soon as I get them fleshed out further. Lastly, I came across a forgotten box of steel Bike Tools from years ago and decided to rescue them, so those will be coming in a few weeks.

Today I have Zirconium MikroStiks done. These are very similar to the previous releases, but I decided to leave out the center hole so there would be more stamping area. They are a little thicker than the previous ones too, so feel super sturdy and chunkier to hold. The stamps vary widely as usual, and these are all heat blackened. I have a few plain ones available for anyone who does not want a stamp too, so just email me if you are looking for plain.

Zr MikroStiks will run $55 plus shipping and there is no limit on them, link is below. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week has been going great!

Sold out, thanks so much!

 

 

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Hi Everyone,

I sure hope your week is going great. It's rather dark and gloomy here today. We remain in a cold spell holding pattern here in the northeast, but it looks like by next week our temperatures will finally start becoming much milder. That will be a huge relief, because we still have quite a bit of snow around the yard, although large patches of brown grass are now showing through. Spring will not be denied!

So, I am making very good progress on the many projects that are underway. I have several tool projects completed, but taxes and numerous other annoying(!) paperwork tasks prevented me from posting sales over the past few days. And now we have arrived at St. Patty's Day, so I want to post these now before we get into the next tool sales. Every year I say I will post something green for SPD and it never ever seems to happen because of the previous mentioned taxes, or I didn't have a batch of ti stuff done at the right time, etc. There is always some reason why I can't get it together...But this year I'm finally doing it, by golly. :)    

Alrighty then...today I have a small batch of St. Patrick's Day Stamped 6 Flute Mega beads done. These are anodized aluminum and are triple stamped with a wide variety of my tiny stamps. Super sweet and a sure sign that spring is on the way...I will be hoisting a Guinness later tonight to celebrate!

St Patty's 6 Flutes will run $35 plus shipping. I only have a few dozen, so I will make it a two per customer limit on them please, and as usual, the purchase link is below. Thanks for dropping by today and hope you are staying healthy and safe out there.

 Gone in a flash, thanks again folks! :)

 

  

 

 

Green Delrin Magnums

Hi Folks,

Well March is moving along rapidly which is a good thing, because we're all getting rather sick of frigid temperatures, biting winds and stubborn piles of snow on the ground. We'll finally see some mild days this week, but then it's back to cool temps again for a while. The light is much stronger now though, and spring is definitely on the way. 

The Post Office remains a source of frustration. Most packages seem to be arriving on time, but there have been a few glitches lately. I hope they can get their act together because this is getting old fast. So far nothing has gotten lost however, just been late.

The projects are going well...the ti Mini Superbugs are almost all anodized so will be coming shortly. Zr MikroStiks are done and coming up next. Zr QuickDraws are well underway and should be finished by the end of the month. I have cut a couple of new tools lately and I need to get going on preparations for those in the coming weeks. Steel Mini Prybabies are on the grinding bench now and are next up for grinding and stamping, probably will be looking at the end of April for those. And there are some small misc items that I will be finishing shortly.

Today I have a big batch of Delrin 5 Flute Magnum beads finished. These are a deep green color, which seems very appropriate for this time of year. There are still a handful of blue Magnums here as well if anyone wants to email me...

Green Magnums will run $25 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is going great!

All gone, thank you so much!

 

 

 

Vintage Steel G5 Wrulers

Hi Everyone,

It's a chilly gray day here in New England. The snow is falling lightly and we are due for maybe an inch or so, nothing out of the ordinary for a February day. The good news is that it's only a month or two away from more moderate weather, so we will probably survive...it's been a rough one for the folks down south though and hopefully power and water are restored soon!

I've been picking away at the projects this week. Zr MikroStiks are getting close to the finish line. I have a few misc small batches of items nearly done, as well such as the older ti Bermuda Triangles with stamps. I'm on the fence about ti Superbugs whether to anodize or not, but will make a decision this weekend.

So today I have the New Old Stock Flat Steel Wruler tools done. These were cut about 10 years ago and have been sitting around forever...They are made of hardened 420 stainless steel and the design is based on the old G5 Prybabies, indeed they were cut around the same time as that batch. I flipped the SAE wrench set so it is upside down which allowed room for a straight top edge for a ruler scale. As you know, I have produced several ruler tools over the years, but this tool was actually the original concept design.

The original G5 Wrulers had a laser engraved ruler scale on them, but the laser guys totally screwed them up and they were simply not saleable. I set them aside in disgust...but then at one point I wanted to save them so I ended up surface grinding the markings off. Then they sat around in a box for several more years while I mulled over what to do with them next. 

Recently I decided I would once again try to save them rather than throw them away. So I had my buddy at a local machine shop engrave some new lines for me with a CNC mill. The steel had previously been hardened, so he had a bit of difficulty with the milling and it was more time consuming than he had anticipated. Consequently, we settled on just a simple 3 inch scale on the front side only. It isn't as big of a batch as I had hoped for, but maybe we will do the rest at another time. 

Luckily I was able to restamp my logo into them by hand, but there are no decorative stamps in this batch....The finishes vary, but expect to see a vintage antique satin type of finish, some with surface grinding grain and various character marks. Nice little user tools.

Flat Steel G5 Wrulers will run $55 plus shipping and the link is below. Limit of two please...thanks for dropping by today and I hope your weekend ahead is safe, warm and pleasant!

Sold out, thank you so much!

   

 

 

Blue Delrin Magnums

Hi Everyone,

Well, after a relatively painless January we are now getting some proper New England winter weather this month. We've got about a foot of snow on the ground and it looks like another foot is coming our way as a couple of new storms are brewing over the next week. I'm glad I took a chance and bought an electric snow thrower this year...it has performed better than I thought it would which was a rather pleasant surprise.

The projects are moving along slowly but surely. I just finished prepping out the Zr QuickDraws and those will be engraved soon. I'm almost done stamping up the ti Mini Superbugs so those will be coming very soon as well. Flat G5 Wruler tools are being engraved this week so are coming in a week or two. I did some preparation this week on the Zr MikroStiks and those are on deck for stamping after the Superbugs...I also just cut a batch of Zr Mini Superbugs. 

Still not much further progress on steel Mini Prybabies, but at least those have now all been milled and will be coming in the spring. I just sent out two small sheets of titanium that have been sitting in my garage for several years and those will now be turned into a small batch of ti Ringbabies. And I've been doing a lot of drawing lately, so I'm in the middle of developing some brand new ideas for later this year...

Today I have a big batch of Magnum 5 flute beads for you. These are made of Royal Blue Delrin, which is an unusual color and quite difficult to get. Generally Delrin in only readily available in black or white, so getting some different colors was a major score. These have a single Atwood stamp on them.

Blue Delrin Magnums will run $25 plus shipping and there is no limit on them. Thanks for dropping by as always. Hope you all are staying positive and testing negative! 

All gone, thank you everyone!