Metric Crawdaddies

Hi Everyone,

Hope your weekend was great! We've been having some very unsettled weather here all last week, with frequent intermittent downpours, followed by bits of sun and much higher humidity than we've seen so far this summer. It was starting to get rather sticky out there but right now things are back to being more reasonable.

Updates: All last week I got thoroughly caught up in a several day long fun family event that took up a lot more time than I anticipated. Ended up being sort of an impromptu vacation week which was nice, but I am back to work now and trying to get things moving again. Tools are slowly moving along and I just got a super cool brand new idea this weekend that I am going to get started on right away, details coming shortly.

Today I finally have some of the CPM 3v Steel Metric Crawdaddies done! These took seemingly forever and there are still more that I'm working on in the shop, but I have enough finished for a sale today. The Metric Crawdaddies are an open ended wrench/multi tool featuring metric spanner sizes 7,8,9,10,11 and 12mm. In addition the tool holds a captive phillips bit with separate 1/4 hex bit opening and the rear sports a straight screwdriver/pry bar in my usual arrangement.

These guys are a bit beefier than prior Crawdaddy versions at nearly 3/16 thick. The finish is slightly matte, rugged looking and perfect for a working tool. I didn't oil these so you will want to do that with the oil of your choosing should you wish to slow down the patina process, with either WD-40 or any type of household or petroleum based motor oil. I elected not to do any extra grinds on these other than on the pry tip end, and there are none with decorative stamps or wrench end grinds so as to preserve maximum wrench teeth grip. I didn't make any lefty specific ones in this run either.

The Metric Crawdaddies will run $75 each plus shipping and it's a sizable batch so I'll make it a two per customer limit on them please. Thanks for dropping by today. I hope you have a great week ahead (how can it almost be August???) and stay cool!

Sold out, thanks so much everyone!

Red Magnums!

Hi Folks,

It's another fine summer day here in the Northeast. It's been rather warm lately with the mercury rising over 90 for much of the past week. It's supposed to be a little cooler for the next week or so though which will be nice, and a little rain would be much appreciated as well since we've been rather dry lately. Today the skies are darkening and we are supposed to get a big storm this afternoon with a half inch of rain...

I don't have any further tool news just yet but I'm going to try to finish up metric Crawdaddies towards the end of the week, however it may be Monday before they are finally done, we shall see. I'm waiting on more o-rings and hex bits so I can do up the packaging and they are not shipping very fast. This is always a slow time of year because a lot of companies are taking time off or are short handed because employees are on vacation. So it's hit or miss trying to make arrangements or order supplies, get heat treating done, and shipping is often slowed down.

Well today I have some Red 5 Flute Magnum beads for you. These are single name stamped only. They have that same gorgeous deep velvety red anodizing that the smaller ones had earlier this spring and they look amazing on the black and white "checkered flag" cord.

The Red Magnums will run $35 plus shipping and the link to purchase is below. It's a pretty big batch so I won't put a limit on them. As always, I cannot thank you enough for stopping by today and hope you all are getting some days off and staying cool this summer!


Sold out, thank you everyone!

Steel Ringbabies

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are having a great summer so far. It's been quite warm here but with low humidity so it has been quite bearable. Very little rain so I have had to go out every morning to water my tomatoes and peppers but looks like we might get some showers this weekend. The blueberries are starting to come in and I got the first zucchini of the season yesterday. Good times coming if I can stay ahead of the slugs, beetles and squirrels all of which have been enjoying the buffet.

The new E115 tool and one other new design are due to be cut anytime now. I have been finishing up more Magnum fluted beads and digging out some other neglected projects, so there is much more on the way this summer. The metric Crawdaddies just came back from heat treat so I will be working on finishing them up this weekend.

Today I have the Ringbabies with stamps done. Finally! These are CPM 154 steel and this project is one that I started several years ago and just never got around to working on the batch. Some of the older collectors may remember my earlier runs of captive bit RingMasters and RingThing knives that I made about 10 years ago, and this batch continues on with the exact same theme but in a shorter package. These little guys are less than 3 inches long and are about 1 inch wide at the widest point, and the steel is normal 5/32 thickness. So darned cute!

The batch is heavily stamped and I have to say, this is one of the best stamp runs I have made. I had to go slow on the stamping and spread it over a few days since that is something that has really been bothering my hands. So there are some really nice ones here with clear deep images and a few cool seldom seen examples as well. And there are a few lefties too.

The Stamped Steel Ringbabies will run $70 each plus shipping and the link to purchase is below. It's a good sized batch so two per customer limit on them please. Thanks as always for dropping by and I hope you have a great weekend ahead!


Sold Out, thank you so much everyone!

Deep Six Bronze Megas

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the long quiet spell. I've been working my brains out lately but also doing my best to enjoy the lovely weather while it is here. It appears that we are about to get a long heat wave starting this weekend though so I am very glad to have spent so much time outdoors recently.

So, onto the long overdue tool updates! I just sent stamped steel Ringbabies out to heat treat late last week. They should be back sometime after the 4th of July. And, earlier this week I finally sent out the Metric Crawdaddies to heat treat. So figure around two weeks away on those as well. Titanium Small Fry tools without openers are on the bench now so I will be trying to get through the grinding on those over this next week. No news on the steel rulers with pry tip but those will be coming later this summer I hope.

Also on the drawing board is a second wave of new steel Hangman hooks, with some minor tweaks. These will be surface ground smooth, stamped, and maybe have some grinds too. And I have a new version of a seldom seen older tool coming in 1/4 thick CPM 3v for later in the summer, more details coming soon on the newly updated Element 115. ;)

Well today I have some more fluted beads for you. These are 5/8 diameter Bronze Megas with 6 flutes, and the flutes are deeply milled to give a super aggressive grip. They have a sweet patina started on them already which will further deepen with time and use. A hand rubbed oil finish brings out the color and leaves them with a slight sheen and rich tone which my quick crappy picture probably does not convey very well...I really like these and will be doing a batch in titanium very soon as well although those will probably be getting color anodizing.

The Deep Milled Bronze 6 Flutes will run $35 each plus shipping and I'll make it a 4 per customer limit on them please. Thank you so much for looking in today and I'm wishing you all a great summer weekend ahead!

Sold Out, thank you so much everyone!

Titanium 5 Stampers

Hi Folks,

Wow, absolutely gorgeous weather here this week. Probably the best days of the year with temps in the 70's, blue skies and low humidity. We'll enjoy it while it lasts.

I don't have too much to report on the tool front, although I am almost done with the grinding on the Ringbabies. Hopefully I will get those finished up and out to heat treat later this week. No other progress on tools though...I'm very slow to get tools going right now because grinding continues to aggravate my sore fingers. They are getting better btw, but every time I get into a stint of grinding the tendonitis acts up. So I've been told by my doctor to go easy for a while, which of course is nearly impossible to do. This getting old stuff is for the birds!

Well I bit the stamping bullet this past week and today I have some beautiful titanium 5 Stamp Magnum 5 Flute beads for you. These are anodized in a wide range of brilliant colors with some solids and others with stunning rainbow and marble type effects.

The 5 Stamp Ti Magnums will be $40 each and I'll make it a four per customer limit on them. Thanks for stopping in today and for your endless patience. Have a great week ahead everyone!

Ti 5 Stampers are all gone for now, thank you so much!

Five Stamp SS Magnums!

Hi Everyone,

Absolutely gorgeous day here with nice sunshine, low humidity and just a few lazy clouds drifting along. I probably ought to be outside enjoying it but I already have done a bunch of running around this morning and just came in for a few hours. Good time to slip a very small sale in...

Today I have a handful of multi name stamped 303 Stainless Steel Magnum beads for you. This is a small batch and I doubt I will be doing many like this since it's a little tedious. But I think they do look cool with all five of the lands (the land is the high part of a fluted or knurled edge pattern) stamped "Atwood". Or who knows, maybe I'm just in love with my own name, haha... :)

At any rate, the multi stamped 5 Flute Magnums will run $35 plus shipping and I will make it one per customer since there are only a couple dozen or so. Thanks for taking time to drop by this morning and have a great weekend ahead!


Gone in a flash, thank you!

       

Steel HangMan 18

Hi Folks,

Hope your holiday weekend was great. It was a bit dark and gloomy here for most of it, but we got some much needed rain for the gardens so I can't complain. And the precipitation was not white for a change, which is a major step in the right direction.

It was good to take a few days off, but that means that very little got done over the weekend unfortunately. I really must make myself get back to tool grinding this week...in the meantime however, I do have more Magnum 5 Flute Lanslide beads on the way for later in the week.

Today I have the new steel Hangman 18 hooks completed. These are made of heat treated 17-4ph stainless steel with a rustic raw bar finish. After using and studying the past Hangman designs for several years I have concluded that the original flex function is really not necessary and in most cases only serves to weaken the design. So I elected to ignore the flex issue and just go for solid strength in this new non flexing steel pocket key hook.

The deep hexi edge design complements many of my other tools and provides a generous finger grip area that makes your keys super easy to retrieve. I even added a small lanyard opening at the top in case people want to experiment with adding a stubby lanyard and bead combo. At .200 thick they are quite beefy indeed, yet slightly more compact than the previous Ragman design. A 5/16 hex wrench at the bottom provides a generous opening for attaching to your key ring. I am already contemplating a possible second run in surface ground CPM 154 steel with some small tweaks and further embellishments, but these ones today are all in the plain textured stainless steel you see below.

The steel Hangman hooks will run $55 plus shipping and I will put a limit of two on them so lots of folks get a chance at them. Thanks for looking in today and hope your work week is short and sweet!

Sold out for now, thanks so much!