Saturday, February 20, 2016

Fancy Hangmen

Howdy Folks,

Started out a bit dreary today but it's now sunny and very mild this afternoon here in Massachusetts. Compared to last year this winter has been a breeze and we are all looking forward to an early spring, which is really only just a few weeks away.

I've been working steadily on several projects at once this past week. So even though it doesn't seem like much is happening, it's actually just the opposite. This is the time of year when I tend to have a lot of ideas too, so lately I've worked out a bunch of new drawings and have started preparing for a whole lot of nifty new tools.

The prep work on the Mini Wedgies is finally getting closer to finished. The milling is done on them at long last and I just have to do the extra grinds and final cleanup to get them ready for heat treat. Same with the P10 metric Prybabies. Both of those projects are 3v steel.

Also well on the way to completion is a cute titanium mini pry bar tool which I mentioned previously, the Little Jimmy. Krinkle Ti Termites are about to be milled also. A brand new design, the Gremlin, is a definite go and that one will be cut shortly along with some variations of it I think, in a variety of materials. I have several more bead projects coming up shortly, as well as the next design in the shot glass series, slated for late spring. There is a brand new mini tool on the drawing board for those of you who like the really small items, and two new Prybaby variations that I think you will find quite intriguing. I'm also looking at a Krinkle Ti Mini G3 Keyton variation and reprises of several older designs which I am still considering. Tons and tons of cool new stuff ahead this year!

Today I have a very small batch of fancy Hangman 2.0 tools finished. These have alternate style grinds, some extra grinds and most have two tone contrast anodizing.

The Fancy Hangmen will run $70 plus shipping and the link to purchase is below. Thanks for stopping by today everyone and I hope your weekend is delightful!


Sold out, thank you folks!




 

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Ti Sweethearts

Hey guys, just a reminder, coming up next Sunday is a VERY significant day....and you sure don't want to forget about it because I hear the Dog House is rather chilly this time of year! Haha...

Besides that critically important sentimental card, the lovely flowers and the really good DARK chocolates you might want to consider some other small token of your affection. I recently came across the remaining titanium Sweethearts, finished them up and thought I would offer them this weekend as a cute little something for the sweetheart in your life. Definitely a much smarter choice than a vacuum cleaner, trust me on this...

These simple key fob openers are made of brushed titanium, .160 thick. Most of them are various shades of pink and UV purple, with a few rainbows and colors fades as well. She'll love it even if Every Day Carry culture isn't exactly her thing!

The ti Sweethearts will run $50 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Super Bowl Sunday.


Ti Sweethearts are all gone, thanks again everyone!


 

Friday, February 05, 2016

Stamped Zirconium Mini P15s

Hi Folks,

Happy Super Bowl Weekend! After a long period of relatively mild temps and bare ground we are finally getting some of the white stuff falling today. It's light and fluffy though and I don't think it is here to stay for very long as it will be in the 40's F. this weekend. Sure is pretty at the moment.

Well I have a cool little surprise for you today. After much hemming and hawing I finally decided to do another Zirconium 702 tool. I could have done almost anything but I chose the SAE Mini P15 as it is one of my current favorite designs. These tools are made from my "normal" thickness stock, .160, so they have just enough heft to them, the weight falling squarely between titanium and steel. The material has a subtle sandy texture to it which is the natural mill finish on the sheets. The deep black finish comes from a long process of sanding, tumbling, blasting and burnishing. Finally they are slowly and gently FlameWashed, one by one, and then oiled to bring up the final shine.



In addition I have stamped these Prybabies with a wide variety of both my antique and modern stamps. Great fun and a nice way to showcase this rare and exotic material.

The Zirconium Mini P15s will run $110 each plus shipping and obviously it's a one per customer sale. The link to purchase is below...have a terrific weekend everyone and enjoy the big game on Sunday.

These are sold out, thank you once again everyone!







  

Friday, January 29, 2016

T-Wrex Winner List!

Wow, another terrific turnout. Thank you so much!

Without further ado, here is the randomly drawn list:

5 Ansel1
47 Elysium1230
48 tmw
81 Andwoodle
82 Hammertime
112 JHS
138 stnphoto 
161 Eskerbillion 
165 parallax
172 kevinK
177 Joe
178 SexyT-Rexy-baby!
186 alva
192 Bkturnr
229 Kahowell13
250 Jalessi
355 buckerroo1
366 NickNardone
380 artmax
392 Han
393 BadKarma
394 Hope to get it
405 jdbeltran
420 bluejay68


Thanks again everyone, will send the emails out shortly!

Xtra-Wrex!

Hi Everyone,

Well, January is rapidly drawing to a close and I'm always happy to see it go, because it means spring is not too far away now. This year we have lucked out big time, especially compared to the miserable winter we had last year. Luckily the big storm last week missed us entirely and we currently have no snow cover at all. That's hard on some local wildlife and certain trees but it's quite pleasant for humans and for my winter heating bills!

Much progress has been made this week. I worked on a broad variety of projects. Almost ready to send CPM 3V P10 Metric Prybabies to heat treat. 3V Mini Wedgies will be next on the steel to do list and they are already well underway. Krinkle ti Termites are cut and I started prep work on those to make them ready for milling. (They will be straight btw, no XL bends because bends on interrupted edges cause micro cracking and high rate of tool loss.) I also came up with a couple of brand new drawings, one of which is headed for fast track production: Little Jimmy, aka the SikStik. And in other news I managed to secure a nice supply of the gorgeous Krinkle textured ti material before it disappears forever, enough for several years of future projects. Lastly, I am finishing up the last steps for some rather special Mini Prybabies and those will be forthcoming very soon.

Today I have a little Sign Up Sale for you. I have a couple dozen heavy duty Roid CPM 3V steel T-Wrex tools with extra grinds and vintage finish. These are the remaining pieces from last year's batch and I just got around to putting the final touches on them. They are identical to the originals but have extra grinds, mostly of the face grind variety.

The Xtra-Wrexes will run $90 plus shipping and the link to sign up is below. (If the link is no longer there it means the sale is over...) The Sign Up period will run 30 minutes, from 2PM eastern time until 2:30 PM eastern time, after which I will remove the sign up link, sort the entries and pick the winners. PLEASE ONLY SIGN UP ONCE! Duplicates will be discarded.


Sign up is over and I will post the winner list shortly. Thanks again folks!

List of Entrants

Sign Up Sale Rules, Please Read!




Thursday, January 21, 2016

Do You Live in Hong Kong or Singapore? Also, Postage Rate Changes

Hi Folks,

Just a quick note...paypal shipping labels have changed and I'm having trouble with certain Asian cities...if you live in Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan please take a moment and go into your paypal account and make an address change.

The problem is that those cities are also considered countries. You need to make sure that you put down for example, Hong Kong, as BOTH your country AND your city. Otherwise, the paypal software does not allow me to edit your address and add your city. In other words, there is no city address field to which to add the correct city and so the software rejects it and I end up having to tediously create the mailing labels by hand.

Also, I just noticed today that the postal rates (including US) have changed across the board. New International Priority Mail rates are as follows:

Most International: $29-31
Canada: $23

I know there are a bunch of folks using remailing services in the US so that they can pay the US shipping rate. I am not sure exactly how that works but it is definitely worth looking into if you buy a lot of stuff from the USA. Maybe someone can chime in here and let us all know how those services work.

Thanks for bearing with me! 

      

Plain Hangman 2.0

Hi Everyone!

It's a bright and sunny week here in Massachusetts, although seasonably chilly. Certainly there are no complaints here though, this winter has been very mild compared to the brutal temps we had last year. And it's looking like the big storm that is bearing down on the mid Atlantic states will miss us. We'll take it.

Not too much new to report with projects. I'm slowly working on a few things and will try to get at least one batch of steel items out to heat treat this month. More will follow next month too.

Today I have the rest of the Krinkle Titanium Hangman 2.0 batch done. These are the plain ones, without anodizing. They will run the same as the previous ones, $65 plus shipping. The batch is fairly small so it will be one per customer on them as usual. Thanks for stopping by folks, and I hope everyone is having a great week!

Hangmen are gone for now, thank you as always!



Thursday, January 14, 2016

Hangman 2.0

Well, Happy 2016 Everyone!

I hope the New Year is treating you well. Mine started off a bit rocky with a nasty stomach bug but I'm long past that now and settling back into a nice work routine this week.

I still have a pile of projects left unfinished from last year and I will be working on those over the winter as well as a few new items. Those 3v steel Mini Wedgies (same thick stock as the T-Wrexes) are still lying on the shelf taunting me and I will have to start grinding those pretty soon. I still have a batch of Tombstones that need grinding and milling and hope to get them going in the next month or two as well as 3v steel P10 Metric Prybabies.

Then there are some brand new items. A newly redesigned and updated Termite in Krinkle Titanium is already cut and on the bench as well as two more textured ti tools on paper. There are a couple more bead variations coming as well. And for those fans of stamped and textured items, something completely new and different will be forthcoming later this winter if I can get it all working to my satisfaction.

Today I have the first wave of new Hangman tools. These little hooks have been one of my most popular offerings in the past year or so and for very good reason. They not only look cool but they are so handy to suspend your keys from the inside edge of your pocket. I hate having my keys and tools bunched up at the bottom of my pocket and have grown rather fond of keeping them tucked up towards the inside where they almost disappear into the crease of my leg.

You cannot imagine how many variations of this tool I have played with over the past three years. I tested sample after sample, at least a dozen, before finally settling on the existing design. So when I set out to update it I tried yet again to make a larger and more complicated configuration and finally concluded that you just can't beat small, strong and simple.

The new Hangman is made of thick Krinkle textured titanium so is more robust than the first version and of course they look fantastic as well. I added a little extra length at the bottom and ground a small pry tip, but they are essentially the same footprint as the originals. These are anodized a wide variety of colors, mostly solids, and there are some rainbows and color fades here and there too. If there are enough left for a second wave I will probably leave them without anodizing for all the plain vanilla fans out there. (You know who you are!)

The new Hangmen will run $65 plus shipping and it will be one per customer on them. The link is below...thanks again for your patience everyone and for making 2015 such a great year for me. Lots of goodies ahead for 2016 so stay tuned!

These are gone for now, thank you as always folks! :)










Sunday, December 20, 2015

The List!

Thanks everyone, I always appreciate all the participation and kind words! You guys are the best. :)

So without further ado, drumroll please...

33    PUZI
37    Glen
86    Mark B
100    Randy
125    JohnnieBlade
139    wellthisiskj
164    double-edge
175    Rayray
188    Ladusway
189    Billylin93
207    markdjr
259    Merry Christmas
273    Thorn
282    DismalScientist
291    snowewhite00214
293    Cerhio
310    blueumbrella
322    Strured5
325    Jimmmyz
338    Andydoc
353    STLWill
355    Nibs and Coffee
391    whopperjr
406    bebrown1075

I will send out emails in a few minutes. Thanks so much everyone and Merry Christmas to all!

Fancy Stamped Nibbles: SUSale

Hi Folks,

Hope you all are having a nice relaxing weekend! The holidays are often a bit stressful but it's also a great time of year and one that I look forward to. Spooky warm this year though.

So, how about something a little different? I was having fun when I stamped this batch of Nibbles and I went a little crazy on some of them. As I was doing the stamps it occurred to me that some of them seemed to tell a little story. Or maybe they suggested a phrase or perhaps a title to me.

Anyway, I finished the batch and sent them off to heat treat but I kept thinking about the multi stamped ones and those words kept running through my mind. So when they came back from HT and I finished them up I decided to put these aside and write a little something on each card. Some are pure whimsy and some are very descriptive, others are simple stream of consciousness and association; whatever came to mind in the moment. Kind of a performance art kind of thing I suppose...I hope you enjoy them!

There are a total of 24 of these and I will send you whatever I send you, they are all cool though.

The Fancy Nibble SUSale will run until 11AM Eastern Time so one hour. After that I will shut it down and pick the winners via random number.

These special multi stamped Nibbles will run $85 plus shipping and the Sign Up Sale link is below. If you have not participated in one of these before please do read the rules! There is a strict one entry per person and please make sure your email address is valid or I won't be able to contact you in the event that you are one of the winners.

Sign up is over and I will post the winner list shortly. Thanks so much everyone and have a great holiday week ahead! 



List of Entrants

Sign Up Sale Rules: Please Read!



     

Friday, December 18, 2015

Ti Multi Grip Beads!

Hi Folks,

Happy Friday! I'm looking forward to the weekend myself and taking a day or two off. We're supposed to have a little bit of sun too which is always nice during these darkest days of the year.

Today I have a sweet treat for you. These Multi Grip Beads in titanium came out so nice, absolutely gorgeous colors. I was able to figure out some new anodizing tricks this week and so the majority of these are rainbows, color fades and multiple colors of all descriptions and combinations. There are a few solid colors mixed in as well but by far most of these are multi colored. So much fun.    

The Ti Multi Grips will run $33 each and the link to purchase is below. The batch is modest in size so I will make it a two per customer limit on them. Hopefully this winter I can do another run and get some more of them out there, maybe even a batch of plain ones, but for now these are all anodized.

All gone for now, thank you so much everyone!



Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Stamped Stainless Steel GripCoins

Hi Folks,

And a happy Wednesday to everyone! We're finally getting a break in the gloom and a little sunshine is brightening up the day here. I can't believe we've escaped that fluffy white stuff so far but I will certainly take the mild temps this winter. And they are predicting almost 60F on Christmas, crazy! Thank you El Nino.

I'm slowly but surely making my way through all these projects. I'm not yet sure what else I will be able to finish this year but almost certainly the titanium Multi Grip beads will be happening in a day or two. If we are lucky I might get one more tool sale of some kind in before Christmas and there is a strong possibility I might have something else done in the week between Christmas and New Year's. We'll see how it all shakes out and how ambitious I am. Whatever the case, so much is going on that January is certainly going to be a busier than usual start to the New Year so please stay tuned.

Today I have a small batch of 303 Stainless Steel GripCoins done. These have a variety of my familiar antique stamps as well as a few carefully chosen modern newcomers. I dug up several seldom used examples of the antiques too so there is an interesting variety of images here. Fun stuff and I think you will really enjoy them.

The stainless GCs will run $45 plus shipping and the link is below. One per customer on them please. Thank you so much as always for coming by today and hope you all aren't too stressed out from the holidays yet!

Stainless are gone, thank you everybody!





 

Friday, December 11, 2015

Multi Grip Bronze Lanslides

Howdy Folks,

Yup, me again! Did I mention that I have been a very busy boy lately? Oh so busy...this is what happens when I start too many projects, they inevitably have to all be finished. I'm just taking advantage of the gray and gloom again today to get one more sale in because we are supposed to have glorious temperatures in the 50's and partly sunny skies for the next week and I intend to take at least one day off and enjoy it while it lasts.

I've been mulling the possibility of creating a brand new bead design for quite a while. I wanted something a bit smaller than the very popular 5 Flute Mega design which we have enjoyed so much this past year. But what would this new design look like and what sort of features should it have? What materials to use and what exactly am I trying to accomplish? I gave this new challenge much thought and this is the kind of design problem that I really enjoy. I think about it at various times such as when I'm driving, standing at the grinder, sitting around or in the shower. Incidentally, I get some of my best design ideas in the shower it seems.

Anyway, for this new design I went back to the basics. Years ago I coined the term "Lanslide" to mean "Lanyard Sliding Bead". To my way of thinking, this type of bead should serve various functions...primarily I want the bead to act as an additional grip, so if it is used as a zipper pull on a gear bag or jacket it should be easy to grasp with thumb and forefinger and afford a positive grip. If it is to be used on a knife or tool as a lanyard aid it should be easy to nestle into the small fingers as an additional safety to prevent drops and add control for the user. Or it can act as an easy to grasp pull for retrieving a knife from a sheath or pocket. That's the functional part, but of course it also needs to look cool.

This new item could almost be called a Multi Grip Bead. It offers two distinctive looks and modes of function. The elegant hourglass shape provides multiple grip points and though small, ample room for your fingers to conform to the shape. If you wish, you can alter the look and the feel by adding a small rubber O-ring. The O-ring also can provide additional grip for wet conditions. Lastly, a double row of rifle knurling adds a classic beauty and even more non slip goodness. Go ahead, I absolutely DARE you to try to drop this thing! :)

The first wave of Multi Grip Lanslides are in 655 silicon bronze. Bronze is one of the most durable of the red metals and the lovely warm patina that it develops as it ages is very attractive indeed. These new beads measure 1/2" in diameter and are a little over 1/2" in length. The optional tiny black rubber O-ring is included. 

Bronze Multi Grips will run $30 each plus shipping. I will make it a limit of 3 on them and for now this is going to be the only batch. Up the road I will be making titanium and aluminum Multi Grips as well, coming soon, but today all I have finished are the bronze ones. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend ahead.


Bronze beads are gone, thank you everyone!



 

        

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Steel Mini P15 Prybabies

Hi Everyone,

It's a gray and gloomy day here in New England. The air has that raw feeling this morning, the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up with a good book and a hot drink, although no amount of coffee will completely wake you up. But alas, looks like I'll be working instead...

I'm making steady headway on projects. Brand new bronze beads are on deck followed shortly thereafter by stainless GripCoins and then new titanium beads. The new HangMan tool is underway too and hopefully I can get the milling and finish grinding done before too long.

Today I have CPM 154 Steel Mini P15 Prybabies done. These are the SAE version and are identical in size to the earlier titanium ones released this year, but they are the "normal" .160 (5/32) in thickness. Still, they have a satisfying heft in the hand and maintain a slim and unobtrusive profile on your key ring.

The finish on these minis is a little different than usual. For these tools, the back side of the sheet had many scratches but the front side had a pleasing light raw bar texture. So rather than surface grind both sides I decided to give this batch a sort of Jekyll and Hyde two tone effect. Front side is light raw bar and back side is surface ground and stonewashed. Kind of fun!

This whole batch is fairly uniform. No stamps, no extra grinds, nothing unusual with these. A couple have raw bar on both sides, a couple are surface ground on both sides.  

The steel Mini P15 Prybabies will be $65 plus shipping and the link is below. Once again, smallish batch so it will be one per customer on them. Thanks for stopping by folks, and may your week shape up to be a great one!

These are gone for today, thanks so much everyone!




Friday, December 04, 2015

Return of the Steel Nibbles

Happy Friday Folks!

We're enjoying relatively mild temps here in Massachusetts this week and looks as if this trend will continue through next week. Let's hope El Nino gives us an easy winter this year.

Well, I've been slowly plugging away on current projects and finishing some tools up this week. Coming up will be steel Mini P15 Prybabies, a cool new titanium bead design for next week and maybe a SUSale or two. Just starting the milling on the new Krinkle ti Hangman tool as well. And I am working on a new round of drawings with some interesting directions for 2016.

Today I have a blast from the past! Old timers will no doubt remember the original Nibble and the closely related Sharkbite tools. I always liked that design as it is kind of a Keyton on steroids with a captive bit function added in. Anyway, the first Nibbles were made quite a few years ago, the batch was small and I thought it might be time for a reprise.

For this updated Nibble I decided for once to leave the original design relatively unchanged. I made a few small tweaks to soften the O-ring grooves and chamfer some of the corners but basically the design is true to the original.

The Nibbles are made of .160 thick CPM 154 steel and measure just under 3 inches long by 1.125 inches wide. In addition to the large main pry tip there is a smaller secondary pry/screwdriver tip on the bottom corner, a 5/16 wrench opening that doubles as a cap lifter and an oxygen wrench/lanyard opening.

Other features include the captive bit slot that will retain any standard 1 inch long by 1/4 shank hex bit. The bit is held in place by two large #204 O-rings and I am including a #1 or #2 phillips bit, whichever size I have on hand. A separate 1/4 hex opening will accept the bit and hold it in place with smaller #203 O-ring grooves. The bits fit tightly on most of these so the optional #203 O-ring is not necessary on most of them but I will include one anyway. Incidentally, I am including two full sets of O-rings so that you have a spare set as well.

Speaking of O-rings, to make the Nibbles flatter for shipping purposes I will give people the pleasure of assembling their own. This image shows the simple way to get the O-rings on. I really like this little trick and it can be used on any of my tools where there is an interruption that makes the O-rings hard to put on. Just slip a piece of string or paracord through the O-ring and pop it over the opening:

       
So not only do we have the Nibble reprise today but I played around a little bit with them too. There are a couple different combinations of grinds on them as well as a limited selection of my cool antique stamps. I have a few unstamped Nibbles in reserve as well for later but today I am offering the stamped ones.

The Stamped Nibbles will run $75 plus shipping and the link is below. There is a very limited number of these so it's one per person as usual. Thank you everyone and I hope you have a great weekend ahead!

Stamped Nibbles are gone, thank you everyone!





Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Smooth P15 Roid Prybabies!

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend Everyone!

If I had to list all the things I was thankful for this year it would take hours and I would soon run out of space on the blog. Man, it's been such a terrific year and I know I say thank you to everyone quite often, but the truth is, I cannot say it enough. You guys and gals are truly the best, and I am incredibly grateful for the wonderful support you give me all year long, as well as your patience and many kind words. And it's not just this year but every year for the past decade, it's just been an amazing time in my life.

This time of year I always give a generous donation to my local food bank. I feel strongly that people should not go hungry and they certainly can't get a firm footing in life with an empty stomach. So I want you to know that a portion of the proceeds from today is going towards that very worthy cause.

Project Update: More steel tools are on deck with Mini P15s and Nibbles on the way over the next week. I will be working on finishing and packaging them over the weekend...and I have a beautiful new bead design coming up in a couple of weeks so stay tuned for that as well. A few SUSales are also in the cards for early December. I have a brand new Hangman tool coming in mid December too, hopefully will have them done before Christmas. Lots of cool new stuff is on the horizon!

Today I finally have the other half of the CPM 154 steel P15 Roid Prybaby batch ready to go. These are surface ground so are not quite as thick as the earlier ones, measuring in around .200 inches thick. A little shy of 1/4 but still quite massive, these are some heavy duty steel tools that are built for use and abuse. Wrench sizes 1-4-9/16. They are lightly stonewashed which has proven to be my most durable steel finish as far as hiding scratches goes.

Smooth Roids will run $75 plus shipping and they are one per customer limit on them as usual. Thanks once again folks, and I wish you all a fantastic and safe Thanksgiving with friends and family!

These are gone for now, thank so much! :)





Monday, November 23, 2015

Dial M for Metric

Howdy Everyone,

Lovely sunny week here in the northeast, albeit a little chilly today. We've been spoiled lately with some very mild temperatures but I'm sure that will end very soon. Looks like Thanksgiving will be quite pleasant though this year, unlike last year's huge blizzard where we lost power for a couple of days and ended up having our turkey on the following Saturday.

Well, things are moving right along finally and I'm starting on the finishing phase on several projects. The steel tools that I mentioned earlier this week will start coming on in a couple of days, hopefully I will be able to sneak one more sale in before the holidays start. Probably the big Roid P15s first.

Today I have the Metric Mini P15 Prybabies in Krinkle texture titanium done. The material is nice and hefty measuring in at .195 give or take a few thousandths. Great thickness for a tool this size. The Metric Minis are slightly longer than the SAE P15 Minis in order to fit the new metric wrench set inside, measuring in at just 2.75 inches OAL. The raw bar texture on these is mostly very light, kind of resembles concrete or a slightly porous stone. Just enough there to give them some character and a little extra grip.

As I mentioned, the Metric Minis have an all new 6 wrench set with sizes 7,8,9,10,11 and 12mm! Originally I planned to make the set 7-14mm but that would be for a future full sized Prybaby that has not yet been made. This Mini is a great compact size however and covers much of the range, so I think people will be quite pleased, especially my long suffering and very patient international customers. :)

These are mostly solid colors, rainbows, color fades, etc. Nothing overly fancy, no extra grinds or crazy variations, other than a little creative anodizing, as I know people want them to use. I will maybe make another run in the same material or possibly in steel for 2016, we'll see, haven't quite gotten that far yet. But I do think more of this design or some variation of it is definitely in the cards for next year.

The Metric Mini P15 Prybabies will run $70 plus shipping and the link is below, one per customer on them for now. Thank you for stopping by folks, wishing everyone a terrific and relaxing week ahead!

Metrics are gone for now but a few more are still coming, thank you so much everyone!








      

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Don't Worry, Be Bronzey!

Hi Everyone,

Fall is rapidly slipping away here in New England. The leaves are almost completely gone now, even the oaks, and we're getting a heavy frost each morning. Won't be long until the dreaded white stuff starts flying. Maybe this year I will embrace it, but it would be nice if we didn't get the horrible cold snap that went on for over a month last winter where temps never got out of the single digits and teens.

Well, I'm still waiting on the steel tools to come back from heat treat. I am resigning myself to the fact that I may not be able to get too much more out to heat treat this year except for possibly one more batch of the metric P13 Prybabies...Wedgies might have to wait until after New Year's, we shall see if there is still time for me to grind and finish them....

Anyhow, today I have something a little different for you. Quite literally, buried treasure! These big bronze GripCoins feature my antique stamp images. They measure 1 inch in diameter and although the original intent for these larger sized GripCoins was to create customized finger holds for electronics or other objects, the 1 inch diameter ones are really better suited to be pocket "worry stones" and the smaller stainless steel ones that I released earlier this year are better for creating actual grip points. Nevertheless, I am including a 3m adhesive dot with these just in case someone wishes to try it on a camera or tablet.

These little beauties have been aging patiently for the past year and I just dug them up this past weekend. Mother Nature has been having her wicked way with them all year! Expect to see minor dings, machine marks and plenty of heavy patina still clinging to the grooves. Some of the stamps are a little off center as well which contributes to the somewhat primitive feel.

I have not cleaned the bronze GripCoins very much so you can simply leave them as they are and let them shine up naturally in your pocket over time. Or you can hasten the process but hitting them with a little Brasso or Flitz on a paper towel or use a piece of worn out green scotchbrite cloth if you wish to bring up the highlights. I think most metal detector folks will tell you that over cleaning old coins is a no-no but here we are free to do as we wish and make our own personal interpretations as to the appearance and value of a modern created "artifact".

The stamped bronze GripCoins will run $45 plus shipping and the batch is very modest in size so once again, one per customer please. The link is below...thank you as always my friends and a safe and happy week ahead to you all!


Bronze ones are gone, thanks everyone! :)





    

Monday, November 16, 2015

Fancy P15 Minis!

Hi Folks and a Happy Monday to you all!

It's been a busy couple of weeks here even if I haven't had very much to show for it. The projects are steadily moving along but there's been a lot of sports to watch between the many football and baseball games, and lots of fall domestic duties to attend to including long deferred shop maintenance. In short, the usual distractions.

However, I've been very hard at work cranking through batches of steel tools for the past couple of weeks. I'm happy to report that the rest of the P15 Roid Prybabies are at heat treat now. Also at heat treat right now are steel Mini P15 Prybabies and, in a reprise of an older tool design, CPM 154 steel Nibbles! I have more steel tools on deck here for grinding as well and we'll see if I can squeeze one more batch out before too long.

Today I have a small batch of lovely little SAE P15 Mini Prybabies with Krinkle texture titanium and A51 style extra grinds! These vary a bit in style and finish. They are quite colorful due to a series of high contrast multiple anodizing treatments. Fun stuff and something a little different.

The Fancy P15 Mini Prybabies will run $85 plus $5 shipping, one per customer on these as usual with small batches, and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific week ahead!

Fancy P15 Minis are all gone, thank you so much!




 

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Plainsies!

Hi Folks,

It's a bit cool and wet this week here in New England. Fall is in full swing though finally and I do believe that this weekend will probably be peak foliage. No doubt many leaf peepers will be driving through our state over the weekend. Sometimes the leaves are more dramatic against a gray sky and other times the sunshine lights up individual trees or branches. It's always a lovely time of year here regardless.

Project updates: Actually not too much to report because I've been busy working on finishing these ti Minis. But I am happy to announce that a Krinkle Textured Metric P15 Mini Prybaby is in the works and will be cut soon. So you can expect to see those in a month or so. I still have not ground the steel Mini Wedgies, the SAE and Metric Tombstones and the rest of the P15 surface ground Roids but those are all also on deck.  

Thanks so much for the enthusiastic response for the anodized P15 Mini Prybabies! As the many beautiful Toolbook photos show, they are quite extraordinary both in texture and in color. I have to tell you that it has not been easy for me to part with them because I sort of wish I could keep them all. :)


Today I have the other half of the Krinkle Textured Mini P15 Prybaby batch done. I'm leaving these plain with no anodizing because I know that many folks want user tools or maybe they just prefer vanilla over maple fudge swirl.... Others might want a plain one so they can do their own anodizing. In any case, this next group has fantastic and varied texture on them so you Raw Bar lovers are really in for a treat.

The plain Krinkle Ti Minis are $70 plus shipping and the link is below. One per customer please on them. Thanks everyone and happy autumn!

Plain ones are gone for now, thanks again everyone!