Basic Count Sporkulas

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday to you! It's a brisk one here again with temps around 30f which is where we have been for weeks. We've had an unseasonably cold fall this year, so in essence, our "winter" started in early November. I hope it doesn't portend an especially brutal winter but time will tell I guess. It's supposed to warm up a little bit next week though.

More PermaCorks are on the way, and hopefully will be ready to go next week. I'm scrambling to get a few more things done too before Christmas and then during the holiday week before New Year's. Even if I can't complete everything I would like to before year's end, all this preparation will set me up for a very active January. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that maybe this year I can avoid getting sick during the holidays, unlike the past 4 out of 5 years. Hand sanitizer is always ready and waiting in the car lately and I did have a flu shot.

Today I have the first wave of the new Count Sporkulas done. These are made of titanium and they are a bit heftier than the past runs which I made several years ago, measuring in at .067 inches thick. This first batch has a basic shape and features a refined four tine fork with flat spoon on the opposite end.

The whole idea of these is to actually have it on your person when you need it. So a flat utensil, while lacking some of the functionality of a traditional curved fork and concave spoon, is the only type of design that can actually be carried in a wallet. Despite the limitations of a flat utensil, they remain surprisingly usable. You can't eat soup with it, but you can certainly eat ice cream, yogurt, chili, salads, mac &cheese, etc. I have given these a hybrid stonewash/bead blast type finish so they will wear well and clean up easily.

A second, more "loaded" design featuring a cap lifter and some of my familiar wrenchy type shapes is on the way soon. And a stand alone tiny Count Forkula in two versions is also well underway and will follow these first two.

The basic Count Sporkulas will run $45 plus shipping. These batches are all quite modest in number, so I will make it a two per person limit on them. No worries though if you miss out on any of these runs because I will almost certainly be making more of these next year as it is currently a favorite here in my house...anyhow, hope you all have a great weekend and thanks for dropping by today.


All gone, thank you everyone!

  




     

Stamped Hangman Hooks

Hi Folks,

Happy Friday! I'm glad to see the weekend arriving after a long and busy week. It's seasonably cool here right now and not a hint of snow on the ground at the moment. I'm sure that will be changing soon though.

I made so much progress this week. The aluminum PermaCorks just went out to get their anodizing so those should be back in a week or so. There are some with the same rifle knurl design as the earlier stainless ones, and also some that are a new variation and those are quite cool I think.

In other news, a cute little pry bar tool in steel is well underway and will be getting milling very soon. They might be done before Christmas if I am lucky, but I'm still not sure. Maybe I can get the ti ones finished sooner. Other items are further along though and I'm hoping to get the first of those Count Sporkulas finished for next week. I have a variety of beads going and I just need to cut some cord and get down to tying this weekend during the football games. A new Mini Prybaby design has been cut and those are being surface ground this week but they will probably be ready mid January. Will be February for the second batch which is metric and about to be cut next week. There are several other balls in the air as well, so a lot of cool releases lie ahead.

Today I have the Stamped Steel Hangmen done! They are the same shape basically as the last release, but these have a smooth surface ground finish. The thickness is .160 so they are strong and beefy but not overly heavy. Designed to hang on the edge of your pocket and dangle the keys INSIDE to keep them from bunching up and from scratching up other items in your pockets. I find that I can't stand carrying my keys any other way now after years of using these various dangler hook designs!

Anyhow, I have stamped these with a wide variety of my decorative stamps. Almost all are multi stamped and there is a huge variety of them, Some are Mono Stamped with multiple stamps of the same image, but some have combinations of different stamps. I would say no two are alike but I probably did repeat some patterns. There is a tremendous variety here though...and yes there are  a few lefties, but none with extra grinds or any other shape variations.

In addition to this, I also have milled a small marker slot on the top edge that would hang over your pocket. The slot is 6mm long so it will accept 5mm tritium marker tubes if you wish to find some and glue them in with clear epoxy. Or you can fill the slot with a mix of epoxy and Superluminova glow powder, available from ReadySetGlo or other sources. Easy to do and a fun DIY project to personalize your hook.

Don't ask me where to get tritium tubes as I do not know. I know they are common in the EDC community and can be readily obtained from overseas. Here in the US they are regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and officially would require a license to sell, so I'm not interested in doing that. But they are kind of like blue dots in your tail lights, one of those gray areas, so if you want to mess with them you are on your own. ;)

Stamped Hangman hooks run $50 plus shipping and the batch is large so no limit on them. Thanks for dropping in as always and may your weekend be a great one!


All gone for now, thank you!

        

Stainless Mini 5 Flute Beads

Hi Folks,

Happy Friday everyone! It's cool and overcast here today, typical for late November weather in the Northeast. At least the few inches of snow that we had last week is almost gone for now. I'm sure it will be back before long but right now it's still good weather for taking some brisk daily walks for our health. I've been on a bit of a health and exercise kick this fall, more on that to come. ;)

I don't have much to report since the previous sale, but will be scrambling this weekend to get some more batches of items finished up. I will try to keep the sales rolling next week so please do stay tuned as I hope to make December a very busy month.

Today I have the remaining stainless steel Mini 5 Flute beads done. These are the same as the ones I released a while back and they have proved to be very popular for tying onto lanyards and zipper pulls. They look great on the plain black cord and will make for a nice stocking stuffer. This batch is good sized but not huge, so I will make it a limit of 4 please, and they will run $30 plus shipping. Thanks for visiting today and I hope you have a great weekend!


Sold Out, thank you so much!

 

Titanium Small Fry

Hi Everyone,

Well, I'm finally back. My computer hard drive decided to die the weekend before Thanksgiving. Arrrgh! It took over a week to have it fixed and get everything working properly again with the network. A total pain in the rear that took many hours to deal with and couldn't have happened at a worse time, but luckily most of my files were recovered and now everything is slowly getting back to normal. Man oh man, in some ways this has not been my year I guess, but hopefully there will be smoother sailing ahead.

I'm happy to report that the projects are moving right along again. I am close to finishing the first of the new Count Sporkulas and also the second Count Sporkula batch as well. A third version, Count Forkula, is also on the way and I just finished a fourth drawing last night. They are really cool and fun so stay tuned... Stamped steel Hangman hooks just came back from heat treat yesterday and so far they look great, will have them packaged up in the next day or two. And in my holiday down time I finished up a few bead batches so a whole bunch of those will be coming on very shortly as well. Also aluminum PermaCorks are almost done and hopefully heading to the platers for HAIII anodizing next week.

More new designs are also underway with a cute new mini pry bar in both steel and ti already cut and awaiting me on the work bench. I have a super cute new steel Mini Prybaby design in both SAE and later in metric that will be happening in January-February time frame. Also a few special small run surprises are ahead that are very different and that I think you will heartily enjoy.

Today I finally have the Small Fry tools without bottle openers finished that I cut way back in January. These are made of the same .200 thick titanium as the previous batch and have a rustic heavily textured raw bar finish on the flats. The main pry end with V notch features deeply milled scalloping on either side for a new and different look and they are slightly longer than the previous design at 3 inches long. An additional small boat tail shaped pry tip is tacked onto the end. The large 7/16 twelve point wrench opening doubles as a lanyard hole or key ring attachment point. I elected to leave these plain, without color anodizing, so they will make great user tools, and they have a smooth buttery finish with slight shine...there are a few lefties among these too.

The Small Fries will run $65 each plus shipping and I'll make it a two per customer limit on them please. The purchase link is below... There are still a handful in the polish tumbler this morning so please just drop me a line if you miss these today as there will be a few more available later this week...also a portion of this sale will be going to the local county survival center so hopefully a few folks won't be going hungry this holiday season. Thanks for dropping by today and I hope everyone is staying warm!

All gone, thank you so much!

Stainless PermaCorks: Round Two

Hi Everyone,

Wow, it was a rather late night for me packing up all the E115 tools. Thank you so much for the enthusiastic response to them! Some went out yesterday and the rest are already heading to the PO this morning.

I have a few dozen more of the popular stainless PermaCorks done and thought I would put them up this morning. A second run in HAIII clear hard coat aluminum is well underway and maybe some variations too, so please stay tuned...PermaCorks are $45 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks again everyone and hope your weekend ahead is excellent!

Sold Out, thank you!

Element 115 Tools!

Hi Everyone,

Fall is in full swing now up here in the Northeast. The trees are almost all bare, just a few gnarly oaks holding onto their sad brown leaves. It's starting to get cooler too and I think we might have seen our last day in the 50's F for the next six months. Time to bundle up!

I've been busy preparing the house for the winter months but still cranking away on projects in between draining water hoses and raking leaves. Now that most of that domestic stuff is buttoned up and ready to go I will have more time to jump back into shop activities. I'm almost there on the new Count Sporkulas and those will be coming up next, along with various beads. Titanium Small Fries without the opener will finally be coming up later this month as well. And heavily stamped smooth steel Hangman hooks are coming along too.

Today I have the long promised and newly redesigned Element 115 tools done. I first made a small run of these many years ago and always wanted to revisit the design. Features include a stout pry tip/screwdriver and SAE wrench set sizes 1/4-9/16. For this run I decided to go with hefty 3/16 thick CPM 3v steel, which is a fine powder tool steel with tremendous strength and toughness.  Perfect for a pry tool although it is less corrosion resistant than most of the other steels I use. Oil it now and then and embrace the rich patina as it develops from wear and use.

Speaking of patinas, I've given these a head start, with a blackened Vintage Industrial finish, very similar to the recent R37 Rulers. In addition, these tools have a wide variety of Area 51 style grind combinations as well as decorative stamps, so they are quite interesting, and no two are exactly alike. For those who are looking for something unique and a little out of this world, this is it!

The E115s will run $75 each plus shipping and it's not a huge batch, so one per customer on them please. There are a small number of lefties as well...thanks for dropping in today and hope you all are having a good week!

Sold out, thank you everyone!

PermaCorks!

Hi Everyone,

Well, fall is finally in full swing here and we've had a couple of frosts this past week. The leaves are very late this year and were kind of lackluster in color for much of October, but we're finally seeing some bright reds and yellows. I envision a bunch of raking in my near future!

The projects continue to roll along. I'm almost done with the first round of the new Count Sporkulas and should have those coming maybe late next week. A second version is also nearly done. Bronze Magnum 5 flutes are just done turning and so those will be coming on soon, as well as some stainless Mini 5 flutes. And E115 tools are due back from heat treat any day now, so those will be coming up next week.

Today I have the first round of PermaCorks done. Oh man, these came out so nice...solid 303 stainless steel with a great heft to them, they weigh in at a whopping 2.8 ounces! The rifle knurling is crisp and the slightly conical top adds some sweet visual interest. These little gems will literally last forever....and they will fit most wine, beer and spirit bottles. I have tested quite a few, and so far I have found only one oddball 22 oz bomber beer bottle that was slightly too narrow. But these will fit 99% of standard bottles and to be honest I was quite surprised to discover just how uniform most bottles are.

Use the PermaCorks to dress up your fine whiskey collection or cap off that half bottle of wine. They are great for keeping bugs out of your beer at a picnic, avoid spilling your beer, and you will have no trouble identifying which beer is yours at a party. These will make great gifts as well. 

I tested a few different o-rings and decided that silicone provides the best combination of tightness and lubricity, and they are foodsafe of course. I do recommend an occasional light application of olive or similar cooking oil if the corks seem too tight. Just dab it on and then wipe off as needed, and that will be enough to give them a nice smooth action and perfect seal.

The PermaCorks will run $45 each plus shipping and since the batch is large there is no limit on this sale. I may make more before the holidays too if there is a strong response to them, so plenty are coming. Thanks again for dropping by today and hope you all are enjoying the World Series this weekend!

All gone for today, thank you so much everyone!