Hi Everyone,
It's a bright and sunny day here in the Northeast. I love the light this time of year because it's getting a little bit stronger finally, and we're on the right side of the solstice.
Today I have a tiny little tool for you, a stubby version of the steel MiniBar tools. I only have 10 of these so I expect they will be gone in a flash. I may make more up the road though because it's just too darned cute!
Stubby MiniBars will be $55 plus shipping and obviously just one per customer on them please due to the very limited number. Thanks as always and hope your week is going well.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Son of BeadThings!
Hi Everyone,
It's looking a little cloudy today, but mostly it's been a fairly reasonable and mild winter so far, with just a few super cold stretches. I will take it.
Not too much to report project wise. I'm not sure yet what I will tackle next, but there is a ton of stuff to choose from and I need to get through some tool batches soon. Maybe I will make most of next week a grinding week...
Anyhow, today I have something unusual for you. This is an object that I have wanted to make for a long time. It's a Do It Yourself key fob project, called Son of BeadThing. These hefty little beauties are turned and milled from solid bars of 303 stainless steel and are a wild mashup of past and present bead shapes and concepts. They have a 5 flute element combined with the 3 rib shape from the old whistles and the recent 3 rib beads. Also, a small Terminator style "bell" shaped end which can be used to hide the knot.
The through hole for these is not as big as regular beads though so you would need to use either 550 cord with inner strings removed, or some smaller diameter cord stock. These will come simply by themselves and you can supply whatever you want to create your own personalized piece. A pictorial example of how I did one of mine is below. But I leave it totally up to you and YOUR creative imagination as to how you want to finish, assemble and use these, after all, that's the whole point of DIY! It will be cool to see what you all come up with. :)
This is a first run in steel and a smaller batch in lead free brass will come soon...but this may very well be the first and only batch of these as the production costs were just too crazy high for them. I made the cards for them when I was in the middle of turning them, and I listed aluminum and titanium as possible future runs, but now that is looking unlikely. So in other words, there is a good chance that I won't be making these again.
Son of BeadThings will run $75 each plus shipping and I'll make it a two per customer limit on them please. Thanks for swinging by this week and hope everyone is staying warm.
All gone, thank you so much everyone!
It's looking a little cloudy today, but mostly it's been a fairly reasonable and mild winter so far, with just a few super cold stretches. I will take it.
Not too much to report project wise. I'm not sure yet what I will tackle next, but there is a ton of stuff to choose from and I need to get through some tool batches soon. Maybe I will make most of next week a grinding week...
Anyhow, today I have something unusual for you. This is an object that I have wanted to make for a long time. It's a Do It Yourself key fob project, called Son of BeadThing. These hefty little beauties are turned and milled from solid bars of 303 stainless steel and are a wild mashup of past and present bead shapes and concepts. They have a 5 flute element combined with the 3 rib shape from the old whistles and the recent 3 rib beads. Also, a small Terminator style "bell" shaped end which can be used to hide the knot.
The through hole for these is not as big as regular beads though so you would need to use either 550 cord with inner strings removed, or some smaller diameter cord stock. These will come simply by themselves and you can supply whatever you want to create your own personalized piece. A pictorial example of how I did one of mine is below. But I leave it totally up to you and YOUR creative imagination as to how you want to finish, assemble and use these, after all, that's the whole point of DIY! It will be cool to see what you all come up with. :)
This is a first run in steel and a smaller batch in lead free brass will come soon...but this may very well be the first and only batch of these as the production costs were just too crazy high for them. I made the cards for them when I was in the middle of turning them, and I listed aluminum and titanium as possible future runs, but now that is looking unlikely. So in other words, there is a good chance that I won't be making these again.
Son of BeadThings will run $75 each plus shipping and I'll make it a two per customer limit on them please. Thanks for swinging by this week and hope everyone is staying warm.
All gone, thank you so much everyone!
Tuesday, January 21, 2020
Titanium 3 Rib Magnum Beads
Hi Everyone,
Brrr...it is freezing cold out there this morning, in the single digits F. Looks like it will warm up a bit in a couple of days though.
Well I'm back already with another fresh batch of goodies. For quite some time I've been aching to revisit the old ribbed bead designs from years ago. I finally got a chance to make a few this past fall but didn't have time to finish them up before the holidays. That's the great thing about playoff football though, because it's the perfect time to tie some lanyard strings, in between enjoying some beers and hitting mute on the remote every two minutes when the darned commercials come on. But I digress...
The new Titanium 3 Rib beads borrow from the old ribbed whistle design, but with slightly tapered ends, and they have a great sleek look to them. These are 5/8" diameter, so I would consider these to be Magnum sized beads. I will no doubt be looking into a 1/2" diameter batch at some point but this is a nice starting point for a new series. They have a smooth, bright tumbled finish, without anodizing, and feel great in the hand.
The Ti 3 Rib Magnum beads will run $35 each plus shipping, and there is no quantity limit on them. Thanks for stopping by and hope your week is going great!
Brrr...it is freezing cold out there this morning, in the single digits F. Looks like it will warm up a bit in a couple of days though.
Well I'm back already with another fresh batch of goodies. For quite some time I've been aching to revisit the old ribbed bead designs from years ago. I finally got a chance to make a few this past fall but didn't have time to finish them up before the holidays. That's the great thing about playoff football though, because it's the perfect time to tie some lanyard strings, in between enjoying some beers and hitting mute on the remote every two minutes when the darned commercials come on. But I digress...
The new Titanium 3 Rib beads borrow from the old ribbed whistle design, but with slightly tapered ends, and they have a great sleek look to them. These are 5/8" diameter, so I would consider these to be Magnum sized beads. I will no doubt be looking into a 1/2" diameter batch at some point but this is a nice starting point for a new series. They have a smooth, bright tumbled finish, without anodizing, and feel great in the hand.
The Ti 3 Rib Magnum beads will run $35 each plus shipping, and there is no quantity limit on them. Thanks for stopping by and hope your week is going great!
Monday, January 20, 2020
BagBoy Clips
Hi Everyone,
Happy New Year!
Wow, it's so hard to believe it's 2020 already. I'm really hoping this next decade is a good one, although the current events are often disheartening. The horrific fires in Australia are a good example...to that end, I will be contributing some of the proceeds from today's sale to the New South Wales Rural Fire Brigade, one of the many important groups who are desperate for help right now.
Well, I certainly do have tons of new stuff coming up this winter. Brand new ribbed beads are on the way, newly redesigned TightWads, titanium TommyKnockers, Zirconium Hangman hooks, several different newly designed twisted tools, steel metric Prybabies and new captive bit tools. There is more craziness in the wings too, such as something called Son of BeadThing...And I haven't even started looking at potential new drawings for the year yet. It's going to be a wild and wacky year ahead for sure.
Today I have something new for your kitchen or workshop. In my opinion, mass produced magnetic clips are generally so poorly made that they barely stick to the fridge. And if they do get knocked off and hit the floor, I have seen several shatter into pieces because of the flimsy brittle plastic they are often made from. This happened to me again last summer, so I finally got fed up and decided to come up with something better....
After extensive research I came across these fantastic stainless steel clips which are very strong, stay clipped in place and are able to provide almost pinpoint accuracy when clipped to a bag or anything else. The only catch: no magnets. So I did more experimenting and finally came up with a working solution.
My BagBoy clips are made of high carbon stainless steel. I designed a custom shaped fastener with hub which is drilled and tapped, then snapped tightly into place inside the clip handle. The titanium fasteners are knurled on the edge and I left them with a plain satin finish and Atwood stamp. Then I used a doughnut shaped rare earth magnet held firmly in place with a machine screw to bring the whole assembly together. A thin sticky dot made of cork finishes the back side elegantly. These are very sturdy clips, the best of their kind, and should last virtually forever. Use them in the kitchen for keeping foods fresh in the pantry or freezer, in the workshop for holding small flashlights, notes, etc.
BagBoy Clips will run $30 plus shipping and there is no quantity limit on them. Thanks for dropping by today, and I hope this new decade ahead is a great one for everyone!
All gone for now, thank you so much!
Happy New Year!
Wow, it's so hard to believe it's 2020 already. I'm really hoping this next decade is a good one, although the current events are often disheartening. The horrific fires in Australia are a good example...to that end, I will be contributing some of the proceeds from today's sale to the New South Wales Rural Fire Brigade, one of the many important groups who are desperate for help right now.
Well, I certainly do have tons of new stuff coming up this winter. Brand new ribbed beads are on the way, newly redesigned TightWads, titanium TommyKnockers, Zirconium Hangman hooks, several different newly designed twisted tools, steel metric Prybabies and new captive bit tools. There is more craziness in the wings too, such as something called Son of BeadThing...And I haven't even started looking at potential new drawings for the year yet. It's going to be a wild and wacky year ahead for sure.
Today I have something new for your kitchen or workshop. In my opinion, mass produced magnetic clips are generally so poorly made that they barely stick to the fridge. And if they do get knocked off and hit the floor, I have seen several shatter into pieces because of the flimsy brittle plastic they are often made from. This happened to me again last summer, so I finally got fed up and decided to come up with something better....
After extensive research I came across these fantastic stainless steel clips which are very strong, stay clipped in place and are able to provide almost pinpoint accuracy when clipped to a bag or anything else. The only catch: no magnets. So I did more experimenting and finally came up with a working solution.
My BagBoy clips are made of high carbon stainless steel. I designed a custom shaped fastener with hub which is drilled and tapped, then snapped tightly into place inside the clip handle. The titanium fasteners are knurled on the edge and I left them with a plain satin finish and Atwood stamp. Then I used a doughnut shaped rare earth magnet held firmly in place with a machine screw to bring the whole assembly together. A thin sticky dot made of cork finishes the back side elegantly. These are very sturdy clips, the best of their kind, and should last virtually forever. Use them in the kitchen for keeping foods fresh in the pantry or freezer, in the workshop for holding small flashlights, notes, etc.
BagBoy Clips will run $30 plus shipping and there is no quantity limit on them. Thanks for dropping by today, and I hope this new decade ahead is a great one for everyone!
All gone for now, thank you so much!
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