The Drawing Board

Well, looks like the stretch of nice weather is coming to a close. It's supposed to be cloudy and cooler with showers for the next week so maybe now I can get out of the rest of those honey-do chores that I've been stuck with lately. Most of the spring cleanup stuff has been done anyway and besides, the first of those darned biting black flies have been appearing like clockwork every time I step outside now. So it's just about time to get back in the shop and get some stuff cranking again.

Currently in heat treat is a batch of Crawdaddies and a small batch of Nibbles. I have a whole bunch more Nibbles to finish grinding and they will go into the next heat treat batch. But the current batches should be back very soon, maybe by the end of next week or early the following week. The Crawdaddies have been beefed up slightly and I'll be using larger O-rings on them.

Just finished the drawings for two cool new tools. The first is the compact version of the FunnyBone tool that I showed a few posts back. I eliminated the captive bit feature and shortened the whole thing so it will fit onto a keychain if desired. I think I have all the sizes so that they will work, no small feat there. The bottle opener is retained and I added a few scallops for added grip on the top edge. I think it will be a dynamite little piece and will be making a lot of them.

The second brand new piece draws on two old designs for inspiration. I have been a collector of keychain tools for years and always have enjoyed the old Proto Screwdriver design. There are a lot of other keychain screwdriver designs as well including a nifty little one from Snap-On that features a small wrench. Both of these have been in my collection for a few years, snagged off of Ebay or scrounged from yard sales. Well, I drew on those two designs and did a little updating and Atwoodizing. The new tool, tentatively called the Atwrench, is much larger than those tiny originals but it will pack a whole lot of function in comparison and still fit onto a keychain. Pics coming soon... :)

Another Speed Bump

This serpent was from the Bermuda Triangle though. :)

Yuck! But it's getting better... :)

That's all I have to say about it. A nasty little stomach bug has had me laying low for a couple of days now. Hopefully will be feeling better tomorrow and can get back to it.

This is also the one spring week here in New England where we're having perfect weather. It's just the right humidity and there are wonderful temperatures in the 60's and mid 70's. The biting bugs are still sleeping and the pollen hasn't yet been released in any great quantities. It's also yard cleanup season. So I expect I'll be slacking a bit all this next week or so...will try to get a few things done for the end of the week though.

This is Cool

Check these out! My friend Kenny down at the local machine shop made these neat little keyfobs. It's like a ball inside of a cube and the center is hollow with little satellite cubes. They are machined from solid aluminum and then anodized black, supposedly with hard coat but I'm not sure if it's HA III or not. At any rate they are nifty and he has some available, think he's asking $25 for them, might be slightly more, not sure. If anyone is interested please post here and I'll take a count. If enough folks want one I might ask Gary Moore if he's interested in carrying them as Kenny is not set up with email.

Update

I know it's been pretty quiet around here for the past few days. I have a bunch of stuff almost ready to send out to heat treat but I was hoping to grind a few more pieces before I do so that the batch is cost effective. So maybe by the weekend that will happen and we can get the ball rolling again. This batch will have Nibbles and slightly redesigned Crawdaddies. Maybe the Mini FunnyBones if I can get them cut in time. And I have something brand new, a neat little tool in the works as well.

I have had a bunch of distractions keeping me out of the shop too...end of the quarter paperwork before taxes, general kicking back for a few days before I burn myself out completely and the arrival of a few days when the sun has *actually* been out for the whole day and the snow has *almost* completely melted from my yard have all conspired to keep me from my work. What a hard winter it has been around here this year! Just miserable...when 70 degrees and sunny finally gets here there will be a few days of serious kicking back going on I can tell you that! :)

Anyhow, there won't be a whole lot happening on my site as far as available tools go until early next week. I need to finish the sheaths for the rest of the SharkTooth batch and I have a few other items to finish as well. Mostly just dribs and drabs...a few steel G2 Gasbabies, those mini Keytons I mentioned a while back, a couple of ti Bug Out Bars I finally cord wrapped, some BugBites, etc.

South American Speedbump?

My uncle just sent me this pic from a colleague who was down in South America. Them anacondas sure do grow big down there... =:0