Ti BedBugs

Hi Everyone,

Just want to say up front that I really appreciate all the interest and support this year, you all have been unbelievably kind and generous. I'm extremely fortunate to have so many fine people collecting, using and enjoying my crazy little creations. Thank you so VERY much!

Today I have some titanium BedBugs finished. These are very light and handy little guys. They have a plain stonewashed finish and come with #1 Phillips bit, two sets of #204 O-rings and a stainless #.5 S Biner from NiteIze. I may not bother to make any anodized titanium captive bit tools partly because fresh O-rings tend to leave a little bit of oily residue on the metal which dulls the colors slightly and is tough to clean. Anyway, they're great just the way they are so I'm not going to worry about it.

Titanium BedBugs run $45 plus shipping and once again it will be a limit of two on them. Probably it's too late to get anything there before Christmas given the tremendous volume of packages and the delays that are already underway with the post office. Regardless, I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing Christmas and all the best for 2013!

These are gone for now, thank you so much!

Wow!

Holy Smokes, that's a lot of people! Thank you all so much for all the interest, it's very much appreciated!

Ok, so drumroll please....and the winners are:

9 kibitz
32 Acolon
140 GSRPh
149 Bhenning
249 ksj2110
253 Occ Doc
293 Wilko
579 Marcrothe1
607 Eaty2k
643 pleasepickme
829 fast freddy
836 Conorb

Congratulations to the winners and thanks again to everyone who signed up! I'm sending out emails right now. 

SnakeBite SUSale

Howdy Folks,

It's rainy and gloomy here this week but that's better than a foot of snow so I'm not complaining too much. So far we are getting off pretty easy this winter.

Today I have a small number of SnakeBites done. These are what remains from the old batch that I made several years ago. They are 5/32 (.160) S30v with stonewashed finish and come with kydex sheath and bead chain. They make a great little neck knife or pocket tool kit.

I have just 12 SnakeBites available. They will run $185 plus shipping and the sign up link is below. Since we are getting close to Christmas I think Express Mail is the way to go on these so within US it will be $15 and for International it will be $35. 

One Entry Per Person Please! If you are not familiar with the SUSale rules please reread them here:

Sign Up Sale Rules

The SnakeBite SUSale will run until 7PM Eastern Time tonight, December 18th. I will end the sign up at that time, remove the sign up link, and send emails to the winners shortly afterwards. Thanks for stopping in and I hope everyone is gearing up for a great holiday season!

SnakeBite Sign Up is over, thank you so much folks! I will post the list of winners and send out emails to them shortly. 


List of Folks Who Have Entered

Stainless Count Sporkulas

Howdy Folks,

Well I'm working my tail off trying to get a few more sales in this year. I've had some unfortunate delays and setbacks this holiday season so am not getting quite as much done as I had wished but that's OK...just means there will be more items available for January. :)

Anyway, today I have some more of the Count Sporkula tools done. These are the 301 stainless steel ones. There are a couple of stonewashed pieces but most of them have a light glass bead finish on them. These are great wallet tools and would be perfect little stocking stuff type items. They run $45 each plus shipping. I'm going to limit to two per customer as the batch is sizable but not huge and I did carefully check the sales page this time to make sure the limit is set to two. My apologies for all the confusion earlier this week!

Stainless ones are gone for now, thank you so much everyone!

Bronze BedBugs

Good Morning Folks!

It's a cold, rainy and dreary day here but at least it's not snowing. Great day to hunker down with a hot drink and do a sale.

This is a new item that I've been planning for a few months. The BedBugs are a simple bit caddy tool and a good excuse for me to get to play with a variety of materials. Because of the simple design I can use some metals which are a little softer than usual since there is no pry function or cap lifter to get chewed up. So the first wave of these are in warm and lovely bronze, alloy 510 which is a spring tempered bronze. These are already beautiful but will develop a great patina over time. I encourage you to handle these frequently, get them wet, spill stuff on them, rub dirt into them and ding them up because they will just get better and better looking as time goes on. I can't wait to see what they look like in a year or two.

Other BedBugs will be coming over the next weeks and months as well and some of the other materials will include titanium, naval brass and 316 stainless steel so there will be some interesting variations coming. BTW, some of the Atwood Scholars may note that I made a couple of little sample tools last year which I called BedBugs but I decided not to go forward with that design...I didn't want to waste a great name so I thought it would be a perfect fit with this little tool. ;)

I'm on a campaign to save my fingers this winter so I decided that instead of putting all these together I would let you all have some of the fun...hehe. So these will ship with a little bag containing two sets of rubber O-rings, a #1 Philips bit and a small NiteIze S clip and you guys can put them together yourselves. I love these little clips btw and you'll be seeing them again as I have some other tools I want to use them with up the road. Definitely handier than a lanyard for certain things.

The BedBugs will run $45 each plus shipping and I'll put a limit of two per customer on them so hopefully a few more folks will have a chance to pick one up. As always, thank you so much for stopping by and I hope everyone is having a great week so far!


BedBugs are Sold Out for now but I have lots more coming so no worries! Thank you!

Plain Titanium G5 Prybabies

Hi Folks,

Well, it would seem that the holiday season is upon us once again. I thought it was just here about 5 minutes ago but the time sure is flying. It doesn't quite feel like December here either because we still don't have any snow but that's fine by me. It will be here soon enough...

Things are cooking along at a reasonable pace despite a few recent setbacks. I'm grinding some new Mystery steel tools this week and hope to get them further along over the weekend. If all goes well those tools will be going to heat treat early next week so should be back the week before Christmas. A second new tool design, which does NOT require heat treat, is being cut today and Monday and those will be coming perhaps as early as next weekend. So there is lots of cool new stuff on the way shortly!

Today I have more titanium Prybabies done. I decided to leave these with a plain stonewashed finish and so none are anodized. No stamps or grind variations either, just plain Janes because there's a lot of people who like vanilla. I should know, I'm one of them! :D There will be stamped Prybabies, more anodized Prybabies and probably eventually even some patterned ones coming but it won't be until next year.

For the newbies just a reminder, the ti G5 Prybabies feature a pry tip/wire stripper notch, bottle opener that doubles as a 5/16" wrench and a set of SAE wrenches ranging from 1/4-9/16", all in a compact package that is just over 3 inches long and is 5/32 (.160") thick.

The plain ti G5 Prybabies run $65 each plus shipping and I'll make this sale a limit of two per customer please. International customers: You have a choice on this sale, one item can be shipped via either Priority International for $17 or Express mail for $34. If you order two then they will automatically ship via Express Mail.

Thanks for stopping in folks, always appreciated!

These are all gone for now, thanks everyone and have a great weekend!

And the Winners Are...

Wow, another great turnout. Amazing stuff...thanks for signing up for this one!

OK, the winning numbers are:

 9     Rlyle531
53    Speed Racer
192  BusyBadger
197  Roylee
286  the grizz
320  NeonEcko
365  Boricua
368  kemtitec
417  Gschaffner
425  Kaos
524  p8r1ck
541  JaredC

I'll send out emails right now, thanks again and have a great weekend folks!

SUSale: SlotShots

Hi Everyone,

Well, the OD whistle SUSale was such a success yesterday that I thought we might as well keep the ball rolling with another sale...this time I have dug deep in the Atwood Archives to bring you another blast from the past!

Today I have twelve 303 stainless steel SlotShot cups. These are the old school diamond knurled BigShots with three milled slots that will accept the small tritium tube markers, users to obtain and install the tubes themselves, if so desired. These are gorgeous cups and I can't believe I had these hiding in a box down in the shop, totally forgotten about. They even have the little dice with each cup.

So, the 12 SlotShots will run $75 each plus shipping. International customers will have to pay $35 for Express mail due to the weight, I don't want any problems with customs and tracking issues and you know these are going to be checked out since they weigh so much (1/2 lb each).

Let's make this one a little earlier...The SlotShot sign up will run until 6PM Eastern time this evening, Saturday 24th. Winning numbers will be drawn at that time and emails sent. Once again, thank you so much for the enthusiastic support and interest, I can never thank you all enough!

Sign Up Sale Rules

Sign Up is over, thank you once again everyone! Will post results shortly...


List of Sale Participants

Wow!

Holy Smokes, I know I've said it before on previous SUSales, every one of which always seems bigger than the last, but I'll say it again: Amazing turnout for these!

OK, after going through and pruning doubles (ahem) the numbers were drawn and are as follows:

26 Ansel1
131 Samson
231 rab4
239 Daniel Jr Castonguay
282 Giovanni
302 Lucasbartends
394 omegahpr
415 JohnS
455 dj jazzy reff

I will send emails out right now to the winners. Thanks once again folks, really appreciate all the support!

OD Green Aluminum Whistles SUSale

Howdy Everyone,

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one! I ate too much as usual and then watched some GREAT football games so it was a pleasant and relaxing day for me.

Ok, so it's been a long time since I've done a Sign Up Sale. I have several regular projects underway but due to unforeseen delays they are taking forever to get finished...so in the meantime I thought perhaps a little SUSale action would be just the thing to break the monotony.

For those folks who are more recent fans and have not encountered the SUSale system before please familiarize yourself with the rules and also, remember that it's ONE ENTRY PER CUSTOMER please. We carefully go over the list and any duplicate entries will be deleted at the end before the random numbers are selected so don't be "gaming" the system here!

Sign Up Sale Rules 

Today I have something really special and very old school. These were leftover from a run of whistles that were made about 6 or 7 years ago, back from the very first run of whistles. At that time I wanted to use mostly just stainless or brass to make whistles. However, the guys at Amherst Machine stuck a bar of aluminum in the machine and turned a dozen plain aluminum bodies as a test to prove out the design before running the rest of them. I sold a couple of these plain unanodized aluminum oddballs over the years but hung on to the rest. Earlier this year when I sent out the 5 rib Longslides for anodizing I decided to throw in these whistles as well and finally get them finished up.

So, there are a total of 9 Olive Drab Green Aluminum Rifle Knurled Whistles available. Eight of these are on Dungeon Finish matte bead chain. There is one more that has the lanyard hole drilled at a funny angle and that one is on a keyring, so it's a true one of a kind setup piece.

The whistles will run $50 each plus shipping and the sign up period will end tonight, Friday 23rd at 8PM Eastern time so get your entry in before then. The winning numbers will be announced shortly after 8PM and at that time I will send emails and purchase links to the winners.

Sign up period is over, thanks so much to  everyone who entered! List will be coming shortly...

List of the Folks Who Have Entered

Sandy and Updates

Hey Folks, people keep emailing me and asking how I'm doing after the storm. I appreciate the concern! The answer is, that we only lost power for two hours.... so we got very lucky and the storm missed us for the most part. No damage here whatsoever. I do feel pretty bad for the folks in the low lying areas of NY and NJ. My best wishes to them and I have made a small contribution to relief efforts. Hope they get things straightened out soon!

On another note, I'm working on some new drawings and designs this week. Also preparing for some batches and lining up materials and cutting schedules. It's going to take a little bit for me to get the next batches of items together but I think you all will really like what is around the corner! :D

Have a great weekend and stay safe.

Storm Sale: Red Longslides

Hi Folks,

Everyone around here is hunkering down today and preparing for the storm. I am pretty confident that we will just get a moderate amount of rain and some wind and I really think the worst of it will be passing well to the east of us. I feel sorry for folks near the shore and mid Atlantic states though and am hoping for the best for them...

Anyway,  I thought while we're all sitting here waiting for the world to end that I might as well do a sale. Today I have the remaining Aluminum 5 Rib Longslides done. I've been saving these for last and they are simply stunning...these are anodized a brilliant red and I have tied them onto a pale moss colored cord. They will run $25 each plus the shipping, order link is below. Thanks for stopping by today and be safe everyone!

Longslides are Sold Out, thank you so much!

Green Titanium Prybabies(R)

Howdy Folks,

Well, it's great weather here, mild 60F temps and sunny this afternoon. So I'm probably nuts to spend the day sitting inside and doing a sale but I have a feeling you will really like what I have coming today. Besides, I want to get these on their way before the End of the World, er, that is, the 2012 Frankenstorm, hits us early next week.

Today I have the first wave of Titanium G5 Prybabies(R) ready to go. These are just gorgeous with a sugary textured stonewashed finish and bright green anodizing. I will be doing numerous waves of these over the next few months and will do more colors, stamps and perhaps patterning on subsequent batches but these today are all just plain green. They run $65 each plus shipping and since it's not a huge batch I will make it one per customer. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a great weekend coming up!

Sold Out! Thank you VERY much and have a nice weekend folks!

G5 Semi Roid Prybabies

Hi Everyone,

Well, it's definitely getting cooler here and the leaves are falling. Not much color again this year so a rather poor showing, probably due to the dry summer and odd weather in general...

So today I finally have the rest of the CPM 3v "Semi" Roid G5 Prybabies done. These are the second half of the earlier batch so are the same thickness, 3/16. I did more prep work on these and got them tumbled out nicely so they have a nice stonewashed finish on them. Why some of the earlier ones had a reddish haze on the inside edges after heat treat I am not sure but these do not have that at all for whatever reason.

There are no special grinds, stamps or any other variations of these whatsoever, they are all straight up with standard extra grinds on the pry tip. As usual, the batch is not large so these will be one per customer please.

The Semi Roid G5 Prybabies are ONE PER CUSTOMER PLEASE! They run $70 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by!

G5 Semi Roids are Sold Out, thank you!

Stamped Roid Keytons

Hi Folks,

It's a dreary drizzly day here so please pardon the crummy picture, the light is lousy and it's certainly not my best image...

But anyway, despite the melancholy weather I managed to get the rest of the S30v Roid Keytons done this morning. These are stamped with my antique diemaker stamps and they are mostly different so I'll send you what I send you, no choice of stamps.

The Stamped Roid Keytons run $75 plus shipping and as usual the link is below. There are even less of these than the plain ones so it's a ONE PER CUSTOMER sale please, no exceptions, thank you!

Roid Keytons are Sold Out, thank you so much!

Roid Keytons

Hi Everyone,

It's rainy and chilly here today, good day to stay inside and finish up some tools.

Today I have the first wave of S30v Roid Keytons ready to go. These are .210" thick so they are very close to 1/4", quite massive. These are the first G2 Keyton design so that tells you how long they have been sitting around before I finally got into working on the batch...over a year in fact! But done they finally are and all the extra time and care that I gave them shows in the buttery smooth final finish.

This is a ONE PER CUSTOMER sale please as the batch is not nearly as large as I wish it was. So, they will run $70 plus shipping and the link as always is DIRECTLY above the picture below. If you see the words SOLD OUT instead of the link that means that I took the link out and the sale is over. I know the old timers all know this but I get dozens of emails every week asking where the link is. Anyway, have a great weekend folks and thanks for stopping in.

Roid Keytons are Sold Out, thank you!

Three Rib Brass Lanslides

Hi Folks,

It's the first day of fall here in New England and the weather is suddenly a bit cooler. The leaves are barely showing any color yet but I'm sure in another week or two that will all change. It's a good time to get some work done right now though.

So, this weekend I have some brass Lanslide beads finished. These are the full sized 1/2" diameter ones in the Three Rib design. They have a great heft to them and are perfect to tie onto tools, knives, flashlights and zipper pulls. They are the usual $15 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope everyone has a nice relaxing weekend!

All gone for now, thank you so much everyone!

Old Yeller

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the long radio silence. I've been battling a persistent cold/flu that had me laid up for a few days and I'm still trying to shake the last of it. Then, this past week I was busy grinding, tumbling and processing parts for literally the entire week. The upside of all this is that I finally got those long overdue S30v Roid Keytons off to heat treat on Saturday. The rest of the 3V Semi Roid G5 Prybabies went to heat treat today. So, in about two weeks or so I will have TONS of heavy duty steel tools.

There are some other cool things in the works as well. It's still too early to talk about a couple of the projects but I can mention one that is a definite go and is already underway...remember how on my G5 Prybaby cards it says "made of steel or titanium"? Well, I finally got around to doing a batch of titanium Prybabies! So those will be coming in around a month or so. I'm very excited about them and have wanted to make some for quite a while as it is one of my all time personal favorite designs.  

In the meantime I also worked on the rest of the titanium G2 Keytons over the weekend. Today I have a batch of them done with stonewashed finish and deep gold anodizing. They run $65 plus shipping and the link is below...thanks for your never ending patience and interest, much appreciated!

Gold Ti Keytons are Sold Out, thank you! 

Patterned Ti Wrunts

Hi Folks,

Happy Friday! Hope you all are gearing up for a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend. It's going to be a beautiful weekend here and I'm looking forward to it.

So I'm getting things heating up here a bit and starting to get projects moving forward. My time off slowed things down but I'm getting braced for the upcoming fall season... I've got some ti stuff coming today and over the next week. At the same time I also need to get some grinding time in so that I can finally get some steel stuff in the pipeline. It's all a juggling act each and every day but hopefully it all gets done in the end. :)

Today I have a little wave of ti Wrunts done. These have plain basic grinds, just accents grinds on either side of the main bevel, no extra grinds on any of them. No stamps either...but, they do have patterns and anodizing. They are all different, with many different patterns and all different color combos ranging from simple one color treatments to all sorts of rainbow, fades and multi colored pieces. So, no choice here, I'll send you what I send you, but they are all very nice. A length of bead chain is included with each Wrunt....

The patterned ti Wrunts are a small batch so they will be one per customer please. They run $65 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks and have a terrific weekend everyone!

Patterned Wrunts are Sold Out, thank you!

UV Dice

Howdy Folks,

Well, I'm back from my vacation finally. Jenny and I have never really taken a real vacation, ie, one longer than a couple of days, so this was something that was long overdue. We took a 5 day cruise up the coast of Maine on the Lewis R. French, an 1871 antique sailing schooner. Aside from the broom closet sized cabins and cramped bunks it was a fabulous experience and the food was great. The endless numbers of little islands covered in evergreens, classic lighthouses and hard working lobstermen zipping around from buoy to buoy were really cool and made for unbelievable scenery. It's hard to climb out of that mindset and get back to the world of work but I'm slowly coming around. ;)

So anyhow, today I have some more titanium Dice finished. These are drilled and on bead chain. They are anodized a rich UV purple. I'm getting close to the end of the dice and not sure I'll make any more of them or not, we'll see what happens in the next month or two. These are the usual $30 for each single die and the link is below. Thanks for your patience (as always!) and I appreciate folks stopping by.

UV Dice are Sold Out, thank you!

 

More Flat Wrunts

Happy Friday Folks!

It's rainy and muggy here today, typical summer weather....good day for a sale though. But first a brief update:

I've been doing some grinding this week and making a bit of progress on the S30v steel Roid Keytons. Probably a good estimate on them would be mid September or so but at least they are finally moving forward. Same story and similar timeframe for the remainder of the 3v steel Semi Roid G5 Prybabies.

So today I have more of the flat Wrunts with light raw bar finish done. These have a set of small grinds on the pry end of the tool. And before anyone asks, they are all the same, no variations, no stamps and no other styles of grinds on these. Because I did the grinds after heat treat I ended up having to lightly bead blast them to even out the finishes.

Anyhow, these Wrunts are $50 plus shipping and as usual the link is below. Thanks for stopping by and hope your upcoming weekend is a relaxing one!

Flat Wrunts are Sold out for now, thank you again everyone, always very much appreciated!

Stainless Count Sporkulas

Good Morning Folks and Happy Weekend!

We've been having a warm spell lately so I've been staying close to home and getting a bit of work done. Today I have the first wave of stainless steel Count Sporkulas finished. These are made of 301 half hard stainless steel, the same material used to make better quality kitchen spatulas and other implements. This is a great steel for this application as compared to 304/18-8 (which is what your flatware at home is made of) because it is just as stainless... but because it has been work hardened to some extent it is much more rigid, so you're not going to bend it like you would a cheap spoon. These are .060" thick so are thin but they still have a nice weight to them.

I have testing them quite a bit for all kinds of meals and they perform well for everything from ice cream and yogurt to salads, cole slaw, baked beans, mashed potatoes, even steak. A handy item to keep in your wallet and a terrific conversation starter. :)

So the stainless Count Sporkulas run $45 plus shipping and the link is below. Stay cool this weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

First wave is gone for now but I have lots more of these coming in the weeks ahead, thank you!



    

Solid Titanium Dice

Hi Everyone,

Well, they're calling for severe storms tonight so I thought maybe I better sneak a quick sale in today just in case we lose electricity. In years past I didn't worry about storms too much because we never seemed to lose power but in the past couple of years it seems like this has become a more common event. Probably everything will be cool though, these weathermen have a tendency to overblow this stuff lately.

So today I have some plain stonewashed titanium dice finished. These are solid, no holes, and there will not be any colored ones as there is no hole to hang them from in order to do the anodizing. There's probably a way to do it but I'd have to rig up a new system of some sort so it's not really worth it for a one time batch.

Anyway, the solid ti dice are $30 plus shipping and the link is below...thanks for looking in today and stay dry, cool and safe!

Solid ti dice are Sold Out, thank you! 

Solid Bronze Dice

Howdy Folks!

It's a warm but pleasant day here in New England...we could really use some rain so if you have some extra please send it our way. :)

Today I have some solid bronze dice done. The alloy is 655 bronze which is one of the more machineable grades, relatively hard and as heavy as copper.These have a nice antique finish on them and they look a bit like the previous copper ones except the copper dice were a little bit redder in color and these have more brown tones.

It's funny how this stuff tumbles out...I had a few solid bronze ones earlier this month and those were really dark in color whereas these are lighter. The bronze with holes proved to be slightly redder than these for some reason and were hard to tell apart from the copper dice. It's a mystery since both the solid and drilled dice were all turned from the same bars and tumbled in the same media and the duration of tumbling was about the same on them. Oh well, they are all nice looking and will continue to develop even more character and patina over the years.   

Anyhow, the bronze dice are $30 each plus the shipping. I appreciate everyone who stops by and I hope your summer is going great!

These are GONE, thank you so much folks!

Flat Wrunts!

Hi Folks,

Happy Friday! It's nice and cool here today, a welcome relief from the sweltering temps and high humidity of the past week. I'm looking forward to a pleasant weekend ahead as well.

Progress Update: So, due to the heat, I've been going kind of easy this past week or two and also trying to squeeze in a little vacation time here and there as well. I'll probably be doing the same throughout the rest of the summer so it may not be quite as busy as it has been in the past few months. I don't want to turn into a grumpy basement troll with a pasty complexion who blinks everytime he sees the sun! :D

However, stuff is getting done slowly but surely. I am finally close to completing a large batch of stainless steel Count Sporkulas and those should be coming along towards the end of the month. Also coming up are more dice, some solids and some drilled. As far as regular tools go I am working through the batch of flat S30v Wrunts and that's what I have done for today:

Basic flat S30v Wrunts with light raw bar finish. These are .076" thick so are a bit on the thick side for screwdriver function, however they will pop the lid off a paint can with ease. Otherwise they are identical in function to the previous Wrunts and are drilled for bead chain, a length of which is included. These are nice and light but still have a bit of heft to them and they have been well tumbled so feel good in the hand. Lots of little surface blems and imperfections as you would expect with a mild raw bar finish but still quite attractive in appearance. I could have surface ground them to make them prettier but did not want to sacrifice the thickness any more than I had to. These will be great as a wallet backup or a light neck carry piece, just thick enough to be comfortable on a keyring as well.

The Basic Flat Wrunts run $45 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in today and I hope everyone is looking forward to a wonderful summer weekend ahead!

First Wave is Sold Out, thank you so much!

Quickie

Hi Folks,

We're entering a hot spell here in MA and it's going to be in the 90's for the next week or so. Good for hunkering down in the shop and getting some stuff done...might make a beach trip here and there too throughout the rest of the summer. 

So, who's up for a quickie sale tonight? I have a very short run of aluminum dice anodized with OD green hardcoat on a matte finished "stealth" beadchain. I'm going to do these in pairs only and it's ONE PAIR PER CUSTOMER please on them since there's only a couple dozen. I will try like heck to not oversell my stock...these run $60 per pair plus the shipping and the link is below...thanks for stopping in tonight!

Sold Out, thank you so much everyone!

Tell Me, Which Metric Scale, Odd or Even?

Hey Folks,

I have been hearing you asking for a metric Wrunt or Prybaby. Here's my problem...in order to maintain a neat and orderly stair step design in the wrench cut out area I can only do 2mm increments in size. That means you get either odd or even numbers. I know 10mm and 12mm are common sizes but there are odd ones as well that get used a lot.

Yes, I could do something weird like 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15 (making that list up since I don't use metric much) or something like that but it would look like crap. I really don't want to make a compromise on the design particularly so I want to avoid irregular steps. But if there are truly frequently used sizes in there I might reconsider.    

So, give me your vote in the comments area for an odd or even scale. I do moderate the comments so just post once and I will eventually catch up with publishing them.

Not sure when a metric tool would happen but this is for research... ;)

Thanks,

Peter

Blue Ti Dice!

Howdy Folks,

We're settling into the warmer part of the year here in the northeast, the dog days of summer. Even when it's hot and muggy though, I NEVER EVER EVER wish it was winter. But in winter I find myself wishing for summer every single day... :)

Well today I have some red hot dice for you, actually blue hot. These titanium dice are drilled for bead chain and are anodized a rich blue. They run the usual $30 each plus shipping and the link is below. Stay cool folks and thanks for checking in today!

Blue Dice are all gone for now, more dice in other colors and materials will be coming soon though. Thank you so much and have a great weekend!  

G5 Semi Roids

Happy 4th of July Everyone! It's a warm one here as it usually is on the 4th and I'm looking forward to heading out to the fireworks tonight... if I have any energy left after this sale that is. :)

Alright, today I have the first wave of G5 Semi Roid Prybabies(R) done. These are made of CPM 3v steel, hardened to 58-60 Rockwell, cryo treated etc. As many of you know, this material is tough as hell and perfect for wrenches and pry tools. At 3/16" thick these are not quite as thick as the previous batches, hence the "Semi Roid", but they are nevertheless a lot beefier than my normal 5/32 stock. They have a slightly RUSTIC stonewashed finish, perfect for a hard use tool that will be taking abuse... so don't be sticking these away in a safe somewhere, take them out and beat on them! :)

Today I have just a part of the batch done. There's still a large number that haven't even gone to heat treat yet so this will not be the end of them and more will be coming during the summer ahead. That said, it's not a vast amount so in order to give a lot of folks a chance at them I will make this a ONE PER CUSTOMER sale please. They will run $70 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in on this fine holiday afternoon and I hope the fires die down out west and power gets back on soon for you guys in the midwest and DC/VA areas!

Folks, sold out again, thank you so much and once again, Happy 4th of July! :)

Copper Dice!

Hi Everyone,

So the hot and lazy days of summer are here finally! It's a good time to hunker down and get some things done in my cool basement shop...

Today I have some solid copper dice finished. These are not drilled for bead chain. They are made of grade C147 which is a sulphur copper alloy and it is much harder and more machineable than ordinary pure copper. A great choice for this application. I have given them a super long tumbling session which gave them a beautiful antique patina. Not only do they look nice but they are quite heavy and solid feeling in the hand.

The copper dice are $30 for each single dice plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in on this fine holiday weekend and hope everyone has a safe 4th of July!

Copper Dice are gone, thank you!

Plain Ti Wrunts

Good afternoon everyone! Hope your week is going well. It's a bit gloomy here this afternoon but at least the temps are comfortable.

So, the party continues. :D Today I have more stonewashed titanium Wrunts finished. I decided to leave these alone and not do any colors because I know there are lots of folks who like them plain. Indeed these would make great user pieces. The grinds are like the first couple of batches and there are even more variations in this group. I was having fun with them... :)

Anyway, these are once again a bit limited in number so it will be a one per customer sale. They run $65 plus shipping and the link is below...thanks for dropping by!

Sold out , thank you!

Pink Belly Wrunts

Hi Folks,

OK, let's see if I have the blogger software figured out and have paragraphs again...I had a setting wrong the last few times and so ended up with run on paragraphs.

Tool Updates: More ti Wrunts (in plain stonewashed) are almost ready to go after these ones below...a few more ti Dice are coming up (with holes) and around the end of the week or weekend I should have solid (no holes) copper dice completed. In addition, I am told that the CPM 3v G5 prybabies (semi Roid) are close to finished at heat treat so those may be back by the weekend or early next week. Now, I can only do one thing at a time, contrary to what my wife thinks, so I'll be getting this stuff done as quickly as I can but it will not come all at once. It's going to take a while to get the batches together and I have to pace myself. However, it promises to be a very busy couple of weeks ahead...very busy indeed!

Soooo, tonight I have a short batch of light UV anodized "Pink Belly" titanium Wrunts with extra grinds available. Same kind of grinds as the earlier bronze anodized Wrunts, very fun stuff and many different configurations. There are just a couple dozen of these so it will be a one per customer sale please...the Pink Bellies run $65 plus shipping and the link is below:


Sold out, thank you so much!

Shake It Up Baby!

Hi Everyone! Hope your week is going well...it's quite hot here today and tomorrow so I'm hunkering down and trying to get a little bit of work done indoors. So today I have the first wave of something new and a little bit different...now, dice have been done before by various makers and even dice beads have been made in the past but to my knowledge these are the first TITANIUM dice beads ever made. These are something that I have wanted to make for a long time and finally things came together in such a way that the project could move forward. Anyway, these are turned and milled from a solid bar and the final size is .46", so they are slightly under 1/2" cubes. I intentionally kept the bead chain hole as small as possible for several reasons, both for fit of the chain, aesthetics and to affect the weight of the dice as little as possible. Using one end of the hole for the 1 was a no brainer and having it come out on the other side at 6 means that the number is always instantly readable so that worked out very well. And of course, the dots are placed on the dice in the usual way, each opposite side adds up to 7. Now, these are definitely NOT regulation weight and all that stuff so they are being offered as cool objects and I'm not making any claims as to whether a pro thrower should use them for gambling. But in my own tests at home they seem to throw just fine with no numbers coming up in anything but what appears to be a random fashion. I'm thinking I will make some without holes though in one of the subsequent waves for the purists out there who want to be sure the dice are as fair as I can make them. Now, even though most dice games involve just two dice, I am going to offer these up SINGLY because there are certain games that call for anywhere from 1-5 dice and I recognize that folks may want varying quantities. So, these dice will be $30 each plus shipping and you may order as many as you like while the limited supply lasts...I also want to mention that I have some bronze and copper bar stock ready to go so those versions will be coming in a week or two as well. Fun stuff ahead! Green Dice are SOLD OUT! Thank you! I will have more of these and perhaps in other colors, in about a week.

Matte Brass Whistles

Good Morning and Happy Weekend! I've had these whistles kicking around the shop for a year or more and just couldn't seem to get around to finishing them. Anyway, I was getting tired of looking at them sitting on the shelf so I decided it's time to finish them up and move them on out. As I was putting them together I decided to try a little experiment and give them a light bead blast and I really like the resulting matte finish, something a little different and they should patina very nicely over time. They are on bead chain. This is a very small batch so it will be one per customer on them please and they will run $45 plus shipping. SOLD OUT, thank you again folks! Show here on a background of flat S30v Wrunts... they will be coming up later next week! :)

Super Juice

Hi Folks, Well it's been a couple of great days in the shop. I spent quite a bit of time NOT working on tools for a change and instead doing some much needed and long overdue cleanup and organizing. Also some important maintenance stuff that I have been putting off for months. The good news is that I should be able to work a little smarter this summer and be able to keep myself somewhat sane in the process but perhaps that is too much to ask. ;) Anyway, I did manage to get some stuff underway and keep it moving through the processes. Today I have some more anodized aluminum Longslides done and this time they are in a brand new color. I'm calling this one SuperJuice because it reminds me of a certain well known sports drink...or maybe what happens after you eat a bunch of B vitamins...hehe. At any rate, this color is absolutely electric looking and I have put it on black cord to show off the contrast even more. The SuperJuice Longslides will be $25 plus shipping and the link is below. As always, thank you so much for stopping by and for your very kind emails and comments both here and on the ToolBook. Much appreciated! SuperJuice are sold out for now, thank you!

Colored Titanium

Folks, just a reminder, those finger oils will dull the anodizing on titanium. To revive the vivid colors just spray with Windex or other glass cleaner and then wipe with a soft cloth or towel. It will perk the colors right back up again. Of course, this will not remove scratches, impact marks or brassing from keys but for simple finger oils and dirt this will work wonders.

Ti Wrunts with Tiki Grinds

Hi Folks, Whew, it's been so busy here that I'm running around like a chicken with his head cut off. We're getting there though. The 3V Semi Roid Prybabies went to heat treat yesterday finally so that was very good. Couple of weeks and they will be back. Many other things are happening too, it's a very interesting year to say the least! Tonight I have the4 very first wave of ti Wrunts done. I decided to tweak the design a bit, adding the tiki grind style thumb grooves that some people might remember from my Atwrench series and many of my old edged tools. I also extended the butt end a bit and added chamferred holes for bead chain which will be included with each of these. People have been begging for Area 51 style grinds but I have gone a little nuts on these. There are several dozen different variations I would say in this batch. All sorts of tiki grinds, face grinds, edge grinds, A51 style grinds, many asymetrical grinds, grinds on the front, grinds on the back, grinds grinds grinds grinds grinds. So I hope people like them and all I can say is just go ahead and try to collect them all (he said laughing maniacally to himself). :D Anyway, this first of many waves are all anodized bronze. I haven't done bronze in a long time and I'm sick of blue, green and UV so time for something different. They are all matte finish and look a lot sharper than my quickie picture would indicate, especially in the sun. I don't too many bronze ones so I'm going to make it one per customer so more folks can get a chance at them...they are $65 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in and for your great patience! :) Sold Out! Thank you again!

OD Green Longslides

Howdy Folks, I've been dragging my tail the past few days, not getting too much done...so hopefully I'll find some of that energy I had last week and getting cranking in the shop again as this week goes on. I did manage however to get the rest of the dark OD Green Aluminum Longslides finished up finally and that is what I have done today. These are actually on a variety of cord colors, mostly leopard but some on plain Desert Tan and a few others as well. So not too many on the Killer Bee cord but that's the only picture I had already. These are the usual $25 plus shipping and the link is below...thanks for stopping in tonight! All gone, thank you again everyone!

UV Ti Keytons

Hi Folks, Sorry for the long radio silence but I've been quite busy these past two weeks getting projects underway and processing tools. The month of June is going to be absolutely crazy busy as things get finished up. I have loads of ti Keytons that are nearly done, flat S30v Wrunts which are at heat treat right now, ti Wrunts are started, CPM 3v steel G5 Prybabies (semi Roid 3/16 thick) which are about to go to heat treat, more Count Sporkulas, Longslide beads and lots more. Today I have some ti Keytons done. These are stonewashed with UV purple anodizing, quite nice. They run $65 each plus shipping and I think I'm going to keep these at two per customer because there are a fairly limited number of them. I will have more coming very shortly in other colors and will do some fancies too so stay tuned...UV Keytons are sold out, thanks VERY much!

Plain Ti Keytons

Hey Folks, Hope everyone is doing well this week. It's warming up and getting a little muggy here in New England and we're getting into black fly season. I've been slowly working on a variety of projects but have been besieged with seemingly endless delays, distractions and small frustrations this spring. So it's been a little slower than I intended lately...but that will be changing soon as I'm finally making some headway and getting in some shop time. Still a lot to do in the weeks ahead though. Anyhow, today I have more titanium G2 Keytons completed. These are simple and plain with a light bead blasted finish. No stamps, no colors and no patterned ones yet but those will be coming in future waves. They do however have an extra grind on the lower pry tip. The plain ti Keytons will run $65 plus shipping and they are gone, Thank you! Thanks as always for stopping by this evening, much appreciated!

Rest of the Spanslides

Happy Rainy Tuesday! It's gray and drizzly here so this is going to be a good week to get some work done. Today I have the rest of the Spanslide batch finished. These are anodized a nice bright UV color and the cord is mostly Leopard pattern but there are a few other colors in there too. The spanner wrench tabs fit the pivot screws on larger Strider folding knives only, not Hinderer pivots... The Spanslides run $35 each plus shipping and the link is here: SpanSlides are Sold out, thank you!

Plain Count Sporkulas

Happy Weekend! It's going to be a nice one here, sunny and pleasant temps. Will make a nice change from the dreary skies and chilly rain we've been having. Today I have some plain Count Sporkulas done. These are the same batch, titanium, but this time with a light bead blast finish. Perfect for the folks who prefer good old fashioned vanilla as opposed to Super Fudge Brownie Sundaes! Anyway, these are $50 plus shipping....they are SOLD OUT, thank you!

Blue Count Sporkulas

Hey Folks, Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks with numerous distractions and derailments but I'm rapidly getting back on track here. It's a good thing because the projects are starting to pile up now and I really need to get things moving along. Thanks for being patient and bearing with me! So today I have more Count Sporkulas finished. This time they are plain with no pattern and anodized a deep rich blue. I have started finishing more as well and will have Plain Jane vanilla ones with light bead blast finish very very shortly. Anyway, these plain blue ones will run $50 each plus shipping and the link is below: Blue ones are gone, thank you!

Wrest of the Wraw Bar Wrunts

Howdy Folks,

Lovely evening for a sale! Tonight I have the rest of the Wraw Bar Wrunts done...they run $55 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Wrunts are all gone, thank you!

Wrunts!

Hi Folks,

Quick update: More Count Sporkulas are tumbling today but may take a few more days to complete due to birthday/tax season paperwork/nice upcoming weekend kind of delays. So I'm guessing early next week for the next wave.

Anyway, at long last I have the first wave of Wrunts ready to go. These cool little keychain tools are very small, only 2.5" OAL, and the material is Wraw Bar S30v with a slightly matte stonewashed finish. These are close in size to the Chiggers or Mini Poltergeists and in fact the footprint is similar to the Mini Poltergeist/Ghost pieces. However, the Wrunts have a small wrench set with SAE sizes 1/4"-1/2" and a simple cap lifter area rather than the wrench/bottle opener. Cords will vary in color.

The Wrunts will be $55 plus shipping. The batch is fairly large but not huge so I'm going to make these two per customer please. International purchases will ship via Priority Mail for one or Express for two pieces. Thanks for stopping by today, always appreciated!

First wave is sold out, thank you!

Count Sporkula...

...the Prince of Forkness!! :D

Hehe, I crack myself up!

I have been working on this design for quite some time (ever since having some ice cream at the drive-in last fall) and it's been killing me to keep it secret. But finally I have the first batch of them cut and have the very first wave ready to go. They are made of .063 titanium, 3.5" long, and are virtually weightless, a flat tool that will get the job done and will ride easily in your wallet. Practically unbendable too. True, since it's flat you won't be eating soup with it... but chili, yogurt, ice cream, mashed potatoes, chicken salad, mac and cheese, really just about anything else is fair game for the Count. Spread cream cheese on your bagel with ease. And of course it opens your beer or soda pop too.

I decided to pattern all of these for several reasons. The ti has all sorts of minor imperfections in it and unfortunately it does not tumble well. Because these pieces are so light and flat they just clump up instantly in the tumbler. They all have to be individually sanded out which just makes all the little scratches and stuff show up and it's a bit slow going. So, it looks like patterning is going to be the way to go on this whole batch probably. I may do some of the next ones without the anodized coloring though and those look very nice too, very elegant and understated.

This is only the first of numerous waves of these. I'll make this bunch one per customer but no worries, there really are tons of them left to finish up over the next week or two. Count Sporkulas will run $50 plus shipping and the link is below. As always, thank you for stopping by today and thanks for your patience!

Gotta shut them down for now, thank you so much folks! I have a ton more coming, just need to finish them up.





The inspiration for CS came from the humble ice cream stick:

Diamond Knurl SpanSlides

Hi Everyone,

Well, the early spring heatwave has passed and we're back to chilly temps and biting cold wind today. It was a good day to spend some time in the shop and get some stuff done. I'm slowly but surely working my way through the S30v steel Wrunts and should have them ready for heat treat in another couple of days. Have not touched the 3V steel Roid G2 Keytons and I'm just not sure when I will get to them...I'm probably going to end up finishing 3V steel G5 Prybabies first. These are Roid G5s but not quite as thick as I first intended so maybe we'll call them Semi Roids. Still, at 3/16 thick, they are going to be quite robust.

For ti projects I will have more ti Keytons coming up and will be doing a variety of finishes on them. And there's always the possibility of a ti mystery tool. ;)

Anyway, today I managed to get more of the ti SpanSlides done. These are diamond knurled and I have left them plain with no anodizing. They are mostly on Teal cord but I have some Tan cord too. They are $35 plus shipping.

Plain diamond ones are all gone, thank you folks!

SpanSlides!

Hi Folks,

Hey, any Strider Knives fans in the house? :D

As many of you may remember, some years ago I made a few batches of Prybabies(R) and I incorporated a spanner wrench in the butt end to fit the pivot pins on Strider folding knives. Well, I won't be making any more of the Spannerbabies, but I still get requests quite frequently for them. So recently I was playing around with my old school AR folder and I realized that there might be a way to incorporate the spanner tabs into a Lanslide bead. So, after some quick drawings and a couple of days spent fine tuning the design at the machine shop I have some of these little beauties ready to rock and roll.

The SpanSlides have a jewel like quality to them. They are made of 1/2" titanium bar stock and there's quite a bit of milling involved to get them to work correctly. They are roughly the same size as the 5 rib Longslides, slightly longer if you take the spanner wrenches into account. I wanted to make them so that they could be used when on a paracord lanyard so I milled a deep channel into the sides so the cord has a place to go and the resulting spanner works very well indeed. In addition, there is a deep O-ring groove for enhanced grip or to keep them quiet when banging against another metal object and a couple of o-rings are included with each one.

The first wave is rifle knurled and they are anodized green. I'll have blue ones coming up early next week and then some diamond knurled ones after that in various colors. Maybe I'll do some in plain bead blast finish on military colored cord for the folks in the service too.

The SpanSlides run $35 each plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by and hope everyone is having a great weekend!

First Wave is gone! Wow, that was quick. I have a ton more of these coming but this is all I had time to finish so far. Thanks so much everyone!