Thursday, September 30, 2021

P20 Mini Prybabies

Hi Everyone,

Well it has cooled down finally with the arrival of Fall. The transition has been rather sudden, and the trees have clearly not gotten the message yet as they are still mostly a sad and forlorn green. Usually the peak of foliage season in New England is in about a week but I have seen very few colors yet and I don't know what is in store this year given the unusual prolonged warmth and record rainfall amounts. We shall see...

I've been catching up on all sorts of projects, and some even involve the shop, hehe...fancy Zr QuickDraws with decorations are getting close to the finish line, and those should be coming in a couple of weeks. I'm still working through the BabySharks and have more sheaths coming soon. Zr R25 ruler tools are being milled right now and will be coming along in a few weeks. Mini Wedgies are now milled and just need grinding before sending to heat treat. S30v Mini Prybabies with milled feature are on the bench now and I have started grinding them. Titanium Medallions are on the bench awaiting stamping.

Today I have the first wave of S30v Mini Prybabies done. This is the 20 year anniversary of the first Prybaby release and if I had known then that I would still be making them today I would have been amazed...at any rate, this design pays homage to those first simple tools, although I have made some subtle updates. I had a sheet of 5/32" thick S30v steel lying around so I decided to use it up for this run. These little cuties are just 2.5 inches long and feature the original style milled V notch. I made the lanyard opening into a 1/4 hex so it serves double duty and I also gave these tools the original style rear pry tip. They are chunky, robust and very useful. A second group with an added milled design is coming soon as mentioned above.

The P20 Minis are all stamped with a wide variety of my decorative stamps. There are a few lefties if folks want to email me for them. Please note, this steel will have various minor marks, visible grind line remnants and other little surface irregularities. It's next to impossible to get them all out so please expect some character marks on them. The final finish is stonewashed for maximum wearability although I do have a couple of bead blasted ones here too.

P20 Mini Prybabies will run $65 each plus shipping. This is a small batch so it will be one per customer please....the link is below. Thank you for dropping by and I hope you're having a great week!

 These are gone for now, thank you everyone!

   


 

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

BabySharks!

Hi Everyone,

Well, we're in the waning days of summer up here in the Northeast. The days are getting a lot shorter lately, and it's finally cooling down a bit after what seemed like an endless procession of hot days. Indeed, it was the hottest summer on average that we have ever had, and must have been one of the wettest as well. I lost a lot of veggies this year due to rot as the rains simply would not quit. We had about 30 inches total in July and August which is a crazy amount. And we're on track for a a very wet September too.

So, the projects are slowly moving along. I sent a batch of Mini Prybabies to heat treat last week and they should be done about a week from now. A second batch of Prybabies with additional milled feature is next up on the bench and will be sent out probably next week. Also, Mini Wedgies have been milled and now just need some grinding and stamps and then they will go out for heat treat as well. Zr R25 ruler tools are getting milled right now, and Zr QuickDraws will follow those.

Sheaths have been slow to finish on the long awaited BabySharks, but I finally have enough done to put up a sale for some of them! This is the first wave and is only about a 1/4 of the entire batch. More will be coming through the month of September as I receive them. I am hoping to get through them all by mid October, so fear not, many more of these BabySharks are on the way. These first two waves are all just stamped, but some slightly different ones will come in the final group and those will have some further embellishments.

BabySharks are my latest take on ultra compact fixed utility blades. These cute little guys are made of CPM 154 steel with a forward canted 1.25 inch cutting edge. They have a tumbled stonewash finish. I gave them a Tiny Tim style rear utility feature for the handle, and so we have a 5/16 wrench, a small prytip and a cap lifter built in. A 1/4 hex in the center provides a handy grip control point as well as a sheath detent area for secure carry. The top thumb grip area and deep forefinger cutout provide further control and a secure holding position. The ergonomics are very nice on these and the fiddle factor is excellent.

I don't recommend you try to use any of the tool features unless the blade is securely held in the sheath, but these minimalist sheaths have a nice fit and the ensemble makes for a very handy package to have in your pocket or on a key ring. I wasn't really thinking neck knife when I made this stripped down sheath design, but of course you could easily put a small split ring on them and run some bead chain through if you want to carry them that way.

The BabySharks are stamped with a wide variety of my antique and modern stamped images. There are a handful of lefties here as well if anyone wants to email me for those.

Stamped BabySharks will run $150 plus shipping, and due to the very limited quantities these are going to be one per customer please. Thanks for your great patience this summer and hope you all are enjoying the warm weather while it lasts...stay safe out there!

Wow, gone in a flash!! Thank you so much everyone!