Uncle Howard

I thought I'd say a few words about my dear old Uncle Howard. He passed away a few years ago at the age of 90 or so and I wish I had gotten to spend more time with him before he died.

Uncle Howard was my great uncle, my Mom's uncle. He lived in CT and worked at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft for many years in the experimental engine department. Before that he had worked at Chance Vaught in the 1930's, one of the early aviation companies. He had met Amelia Earhart on a few occasions and he knew Igor Sikorsky very well and used to have lunch with him sometimes. In fact he was present at the very first helicopter test flights. Pretty neat stuff.

Anyway, Uncle Howard had a wonderful workshop in a barn next to the little 1830's house in Vernon, CT. I used to love going there as a kid and hanging out in the shop. It was mostly a woodworking shop as I remember it with workbenches covered in shavings and sawdust. Uncle Howard would give me a hand drill and some wood and set me to drilling holes just for fun. Upstairs in the barn there was a loft full of all sorts of junk, antiques and trunks of all descriptions. He had a little office up there where he could go to get away from Aunt Mary and smoke his cigars. On the end wall of the loft he had hung a dart board and I remember standing there many times throwing darts. I used to really love that and still do!

Downstairs he had an experimental car that he had built. The body was entirely of fiberglass and it had a motorcycle engine to power it. I don't think it ever saw much time on the road but it was pretty cool. I remember how he showed me the little pieces of fiberglass on which he was testing coatings. He told me that the first pieces had failed which is why it was important to test on pieces of scrap before committing to the whole thing. That was good advice and I have never forgotten it.

He retired in the late 1970's I think. He and Aunt Mary sold the house in Vernon and moved to a small town in VT. There he set up a very impressive home machine shop and continued to tinker for years. I wish I had been more interested in these things as a young man because Uncle Howard could have passed on so much knowledge to me. Unfortunately I didn't really get into this stuff until after he had declined and by the time I was fully involved with knifemaking Uncle Howard had passed. It's a shame that he never knew how valuable the time spent with him was to me. He gave me a wonderful gift and I'll always cherish it.

Sick of Damascus Yet?

Gotta love that Sunstorm damascus! These were left dark, love the way they came out.

More Dam Whistle Shots

This is a new Damasteel pattern. Don't know the name but it sure does make a purty whistle. :)

The Man with No Butt

That's right, I'm working it right off lately. :) LOL, trying to keep up with all the Christmas requests so I've been a little quiet lately. Have a few new items to post this week and I will as soon as I can snap some pics. I'm looking forward to taking a few days off after Christmas but right now it's strictly all work all the time with a small dose of football in between.

Into the category of failed experiments goes the carbon fiber whistle. We tried to do one this weekend and unfortunately it just disintegrated into a mass of hairy fibers. Oh well. It was the thought that counted! Too bad because the outside was looking pretty good but as soon as we went to bore it, pooof!

I'm still not ready to conceed defeat on the titanium whistle. The outside of the one we tried looked fabulous, better than any of the steel ones in fact. But the boring turned out to be a problem and I think we did not have the proper tooling or feed rates so we stalled out halfway into the piece and fried the bit. I think that can be solved fairly easily though and someday it just might become a reality.

Another Son of a PryThing!

Another Son of A PryThing rescued from the Old Shed in the Area51 complex. This one definitely shows signs of Alien intervention.... :P

High Voltage Imp

Five Turn Twist

Five Turn Twist Damasteel has a very natural looking wood grain kind of pattern that I find most appealing. Especially when it's on a teeny tiny Son of PryThing with rubber cordwrap. This is my personal carry piece lately. :)

Whistle Closeups

Had a couple more Whistle shots so I thought I'd post them.

Closeups!

Here's a couple of closeup shots of an Odin's Eye Damasteel Nano card. I really liked the second one in particular.

Nose to the Grinding Belt

It's that time of year. Leaves, lime and one last mowing to take care of the lawn and button it up for the winter. We've been having some very mild weather this fall and so the grass keep growing. The oaks have finally given up most of their leaves except for a few stragglers and there were a few big piles to haul away. The good weather is nice for working in the shop as my heat is not the best and I'm dreading the days when it will start to get really cold. It isn't uncommon to see temps in the lower 50's down in the shop on the coldest days, brrrrr!

So, aside from making piles of Prybabies, Whistles and Keytons to get a jump on the holiday orders this past week, the knife production has been suffering. Will be getting back to sheath making and the stuff that cuts real soon. I promise. :)

Also, Some Random

Apparently Mike Norris doesn't make much stainless random pattern dasmascus so when I heard about a few pieces that were available I snapped one up. Might have to try and get more.

Mike Norris Sunstorm

I picked up a piece with this pattern recently. Beautiful stuff! :)

Dam Whistle

Here were a couple of shots of a recent damascus whistle. This one is happy in its new home in CA but there may be more coming in the next few weeks.

Double Your Pleasure, Double Your Fun

Scooter

My new little shop buddy. Well, actually he's not allowed in the shop but he's good for after hours diversions. :)

The TT Returns

I finally got around to finishing a couple of these that have been sitting around for way too long. I'm really digging the rubber cord even though the 3/16" diameter stuff was a major pain on the bigger piece. The finished effect is really nice though, offering an incredibly comfortable and secure grip.

Tray 'o Boogers!

Knives!

I finally got off my lazy butt and ground a few knives recently. This is just a small sampling of what I just added to my site. Micro Bug Out Blades in several flavors...

Damascus Imp

Made from thick Mike Norris Gator damascus with rubber cordwrap. A unique piece! :)

Coupla Scouts