Rolling In 2015

Hello Everyone,

Well, the holidays are now behind us and I hope it was a great time for you all. I was contending with a nasty stomach bug for most of last week but am back to my old self again finally. Winter has truly arrived here in western MA and we are looking at a thin layer of snow and ice on everything. Temps are frigid right now and going down in the single digits or below 0F overnight most of this week. It's to be expected this time of year and honestly, aside from the Thanksgiving snow and power outage we are getting off relatively easy so far.

I have numerous projects underway or in the planning stages as I map out what I want to do for 2015. I have some stuff that I did not get to last year that I need to finish up such as the second round of Tombstones. There are still a handful of bead projects yet to get to and a few other odds and ends.

Some winter projects for 2015 will include a brand new ruler tool. The R25 (that's R-Two-Five) will be a tiny tool with 2 inch and 5cm scales. Following that, I will be doing a reprise of the original ruler tool with few minor changes (R37) and then perhaps a couple more new variations after those. We'll see how they go from the production standpoint but judging from initial tests I am confident that I can achieve the high quality that I am after, far better than my previous attempts with this genre.

Also coming will be some updates to a couple of older favorites, details coming soon. So far I do not have any knives planned but the year is very very young so we'll see how things unfold.

.........................................................................................

Today I have the first wave of 2015 Roll Bars done. I decided to switch to my favorite rifle knurl and am absolutely thrilled with the results. These are just gorgeous... I find the rifle knurl to be very elegant and by far my favorite look.

Anyway, Roll Bars are turning all this week so this is just a first wave and more of them are on the way. I'm considering some other materials and/or variations, so there may be others coming this month as well.

The Roll Bars will run $48 each plus the shipping and I will put a limit of two per customer on them so that a few more folks will have a chance at them. The order link is below. Thanks for stopping in and I'm looking forward to a fun and productive 2015 ahead!

Roll Bars are gone today but more coming in a few days. Thank you!

With 1/2" neon "Spike" tape

   

Happy 2015!

Happy New Year Everyone! I'm just getting over a nasty stomach bug and am drained so no parties for me this year but that's OK. I will be back at it next week. Hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday. :)

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and New Year's! I hope you all have a good time this holiday and stay safe and warm. Also, I want to thank everyone for making 2014 a really great year for me, one of the best yet. Much new stuff is coming up for 2015 so keep your seatbelts fastened, it's going to be terrific. :)   

Fancy Titanium Atwrenches

Hi Folks,

Thanks for the great sale yesterday.  I was able to raise $1100 for the three local organizations and the donations have been made. Thank you so much and I know that everyone in this area will be very grateful to have those services continue to be available. I may make some further donations as well when I get some time to take a breather from cranking out all these goodies. :)

As I mentioned below, someone at the post office late yesterday afternoon mistakenly set their scan machine wrong and so the tracking is messed up on the packages I sent out yesterday. Don't worry though, this happened once before and everything did reach the recipients in the usual time so no worries! Of course, mail is a bit slow this week due to the holiday volume but I am sure most everything will get there OK and I hope before Christmas for the US bound packages. If anything does go missing beyond a week or so just be patient or email me and we'll see if we can track it down.

Today I have a few Titanium Atwrenches done with fancy Vintage Style Anodizing! These are once again tough to photograph and get the vibrant colors right but you can get the idea I think...multiple textures and multiple anodizing steps make these very special indeed. The colors range from warm gold and orangey copper tones to bright pinks, UV purples, deep electric blues and minty greens. Some of these effects I have never been able to achieve before so I'm stoked for what they portend for future projects as well. I'm definitely keeping a couple for my own collection...

Anyhow, the Fancy Ti Atwrenches are $75 plus shipping and the link is below. I have a limited number of these so will keep to one per customer please. There are a few more on deck but not sure if I can get to them right away so this is all for now...thank you for stopping in today and as always it is much appreciated!


These are Sold Out for now, thank you everyone and have a great weekend!

  

Tracking

Hi Folks,

The PO received the packages I dropped off yesterday and they mistakenly scanned them as delivered in Turners Falls. This has happened before. All packages are on their way to the correct destinations so just ignore the screwed up tracking message. Thanks!

Peter

Titanium Sweethearts!

Hi Everyone,

Woohoo, the holidays are coming fast! At the beginning of December I always think that time is stretching on ahead in abundance but the closer that Christmas looms the more time gets crunched. I think we nearly approaching black hole compression levels now.

Anyhow, I'm still scrambling here to get some last minute work done. The days are quite overcast lately for the most part so it's a challenge to get nice light for photos...especially when those photos are of colored titanium, which is already very difficult to capture accurately. Therefore I can only give you approximations in my images but I think you will find these objects to be quite vibrant in real life.

Today I have a big batch of Titanium Sweethearts done. These are a bit thicker than the stainless ones and measure a hair under 5/32 thick while still weighing slightly less than their prior counterparts. I spent a lot of time playing with these little guys and the results are nothing less than intriguing.

The Sweethearts feature multiple surface textures and multiple anodizing effects. The final finishes are absolutely stunning. I have tried to vary not only the edge colors and surface plane colors but the textures as well to create both interesting contrasts and light catching effects. Even with the same general color combinations no two pieces are exactly alike.

As before, I will be donating a healthy portion of the Sweetheart proceeds to charity. In this case, given the time of year, I'm making those donations to several of my favorite local community organizations which are sorely in need of funds such as the Food Bank of Western Mass, the Brick House Teen Center, and the Turners Falls Public Library all of which provide vital services. It's always good to give something back to the local community.

The Titanium Sweethearts will be $55 plus shipping and I will make it a two per customer limit on them please. The link to order is below and if it is not there when you see this post it means the sale is over and they are sold out. Thank you as always everyone, I hugely appreciate your enthusiasm and support this year and hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years!


Ti Sweethearts are sold out for now, thank you so much everyone!

Minty Green Ti 5 Flutes!

Hi Everyone,

Hope your holiday season is going great so far. I've been quite busy trying to wrap up a few projects here and maybe at some point I might even get a chance start my Christmas shopping. :)

More Roll Bars will be running in a few days but I really don't know if I will have any done before Christmas or not. Even if I did they might not make it to you in time for Christmas...however, I'm pretty confident that there will be another sale of them before the year is over....also, in the pipeline for mid January, something brand new from the Measuring Instrument Department here at Atwood Studios! And hopefully that will be the start of a new line of cool items for 2015.    


Today I have some more of the beautiful titanium 5 Flute beads done. This time I have given them a long slow tumble followed by anodizing. They have an intense bright green color which looks even brighter on the brilliant Purple Haze cord. Great fun.

The Green Ti 5 Flutes will run $30 plus shipping and it's a two per customer limit on them please as the batch is not very big. The link is below. Thanks everyone and have a terrific week!

Green ones are gone for now, thank you!

Titanium 5 Flutes

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We lost power for a couple of days but managed to have a good time despite it all. I did a lot of cold weather backup gear assessments which is always interesting and concluded that we were in pretty good shape as far as emergency preparedness goes. I used a lot of different flashlights of course and all performed well, particularly enjoyed the Maratac AAA lights as well as the McGizmo Mule. My Goal Zero backup chargers and lanterns were terrific and kept us juiced and well lit with power to spare. I even had a chance to use my Roll Bar with 550 cord to reattach the cable wire after it fell off the house and was draped across the driveway. Fun times...that I could have done without! :)  

Well today I have the first wave of titanium 5 Flute Mega Lanslides done. It took quite a while but these are finally running. I decided to make some plain ones first with no pinstripe and no anodizing as I know people really want some basic ones. They have a simple tumbled finish and look great on the cool Undead (they shoulda called it Zombie) cord from Supply Captain. I will probably be doing some Ti 5 Flutes with anodizing and maybe some with pinstripes up the road as well. We'll see how the run goes.

The Titanium 5 Flute Lanslides will run $30 each plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping in folks and stay warm out there!

These are sold out for now but lots more are on the way shortly...Thank you!

Tippler: Last Call

Hi Folks,

Well we're heading into the festive time of year. We still have bare grass in our yard but that may be changing in the week ahead as they are calling for a dusting right before Thanksgiving. It certainly has been cold lately.

The Roll Bars have generated a lot of interest and many enthusiastic emails, comments and social media mentions. Thanks everyone, I truly appreciate all the great feedback and kind words! More of them will be coming in a few weeks for sure.

Also on the upcoming list... those titanium 5 flute Lanslides I've been talking about for the past few months. They are finally underway and will be coming very soon!  I'm not sure if they will happen before Thanksgiving but certainly within the next week. They will be plain with no pin stripe or knurling for the first round and not sure yet on anodizing.

Today I have the very last of the stainless Tipplers finished. This is the end of the batch so now is the time if you have been waiting or if you wanted to pick up an extra one for a gift. The Tipplers are $65 each plus shipping and the link is below. As before, I will set a two per customer limit on them as the remaining batch is small.

Thanks for stopping by everyone and have a great rest of the weekend! Some good football games are scheduled today, Pats and Lions at 1pm. :)


Tipplers are Sold Out, thank you everyone!

Roll Bars

Happy Weekend My Friends!

It's getting quite chilly here this weekend so I guess you folks down in the South and Midwest are sending us your recent frigid temps...This coming week it looks like it will barely get out of the 30's with some precipitation in the forecast . Time to get the sand and salt ready and make sure the snow blower will fire up.    

Well, the day has finally come when I am able to offer the first batch of Roll Bars!

So what is a Roll Bar? It's a small spool type accessory designed to carry tape, cord or other roll goods in a convenient and tiny package. I created these primarily with tape in mind as it seems like I am in constant need of a piece of tape for sealing something or for making a film reminder tag on a camera for instance. There are literally tons of uses for a little piece of tape as I keep finding the more I carry these. Just yesterday I needed to leave a note for someone and was able to stick it to their door. 

The Roll Bars are designed to carry any 1 inch wide tape so you could carry electrical tape, masking tape, gaffer tape, packing tape or any other kind that you regularly use. I made the opening between the protective roll ends slightly over 1 inch so that you could rip a piece of duct tape in half lengthwise and still have a little wiggle room in case the halves weren't perfectly even. It's nice having those spool ends on there so that you keep the edges of the tape roll clean and they prevent adhesive from getting all over your hands or pockets.

As for capacity, I can fit 36 inches of cloth style tape or more of thin painter's blue tape with ease. For 550 paracord with the 7 strand core intact I can get 32 inches on there or more if I take the core out. The rubber o-ring adds additional grip to the diamond knurl and gives you a little bumper to keep the noise down when attached to your gear. It also works in conjunction with the small milled groove so the band can act as a keeper for a cord end.         

The Roll Bars are turned from bars of 303 stainless steel, just under 2 inches overall length and 3/4 inch in diameter so they are quite compact indeed. They have been well tumbled to give a beautiful vintage style finish and they look like something that might have come off your granddad's workbench 50 years ago. A pair of o-rings are included so there is an extra one and also a NiteIze S clip which allows for handy attachment to keys or gear bag.

This is a tiny batch of Roll Bars so one per customer on them please. If there is a big demand I may make another run of them in the next few weeks. They will be $45 each plus shipping and the purchase link as always is right below....have a great rest of the weekend folks and stay warm!


Thanks everyone! I will do up the packages for these in the morning.

Rest of the Bronze 5 Flutes

Howdy Folks,

It's a great week here and much work is getting done. I'm finally finishing up numerous projects and the sales will be rolling over the next few days...

Today I have a small batch of bronze 5 Flute Mega Lanslides to offer. I had misplaced these and rediscovered them the other day when I was getting the copper diamond knurl Lanslides done. They have a nice satin finish on them and are on black cord, very sharp looking.

The Bronze 5 Flute Mega Lanslides are $25 each plus shipping and I'll make it 2 per customer since the batch is tiny. Purchase link is below...thanks for stopping in today everyone and stay tuned for more sales over the weekend. :)

Bronze Lanslides are gone, thank you again!

 

Copper 5 Flutes with Diamond Knurl

Hi Folks,

Hope everyone is having a fine week. It's damp and chilly here today with a slight chance of the dreaded white stuff in the forecast over the weekend. I hope it holds off for a bit because I still have more yard work to do before winter kicks in. Those oak leaves don't rake themselves I have discovered.

I'm finally making some headway on various projects and will get a bunch of items finished over the next couple of weeks. More Tombstones are underway but probably won't be completed until early December. The last of the stainless Tipplers are awaiting packaging. The Roll Bars are done and I just have to finish inspection and packaging on those. (What are Roll Bars? They are fancy spool type objects for holding EDC tape or other roll goods.) Those long promised and much delayed ti 5 flute beads are supposed to start turning next week, which is what I have been told every week for the past two months, grrr...also coming are some more ti Atwrenches and a few odds and ends from other earlier projects.

Today I have some sweet copper 5 Flute Lanslides with pin stripes and diamond knurl. It's fun to keep messing around with these designs and seeing what else you can do with them. The flat knurling adds yet another subtle tactile dimension and they look awesome on the Alien Green cord.

The Copper Lanslides with Diamond Knurl are $25 each plus shipping and the purchase link is below. Thanks for stopping in today and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Sold Out, thank you so much!

HA3 Terminators

Happy Halloween Folks!

We're flirting with winter here in New England this weekend. It looks like it will finally drop below freezing at night so I can pretty much guess what lies ahead. At least those darned ticks will go to sleep soon and leave my cat alone.

First a report on the Sweethearts. I'm delighted to announce that we raised $2360 for the Cure SMA charity and the donation has been sent to them! Hopefully that money will go towards research and support for families dealing with this difficult illness. Thank you again everyone. The tremendous strength of character, generosity and kindness that you all possess shows itself time and again. It's a beautiful thing indeed. ;)

Today I have a small batch of Terminators to offer. These are aluminum with rifle knurling and natural HA III hardcoat. They are feather light and look fantastic on the Yellow Jacket cord. I've been saving these for quite a while as the batch is pretty small. I kept hoping we could make a few more to get the numbers up but it doesn't look like there will be enough machine time coming up anytime soon and I would rather use the available time for ti 5 flute beads anyway. So off they go...

The HA3 Terminators will be $30 plus shipping and it will be a two per customer limit on them please. As always, thanks for stopping in today and have a great weekend!

These are gone, thank you!

 

Stainless Sweethearts

Hi Folks,

You may recall that I was coming down with a cold during the last sale more than two weeks ago...well, I'm still recovering from the darned thing! What a nasty one, a very energy draining virus and the worst cold I've had in many years. Anyhow, I'm finally feeling much better and my energy is mostly back.

As many of you know, my little 2 year old niece Elena was diagnosed this spring with a rare genetic disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). This debilitating illness affects the nerves controlling the muscles in her body. Luckily her condition is of the less severe variety but nevertheless it is doubtful that she will ever be able to walk and she has a number of associated disabilities that will require constant lifelong care.

My sister Megan realized that the family would need a van with handicap accessibility and was quite shocked to discover how expensive they are. So they held a couple of fundraisers over the summer including an online one. I had posted a small link to it on the blog here (which I have recently taken down). I can tell you that we were all absolutely blown away by the MANY kind and extremely generous donations as well as the supportive words. Truly we cannot thank you all enough! It's very humbling indeed.

Well, Megan's original goal of a brand new van turned out to be a little ambitious but she finally settled on a more affordable used Honda Odyssey with low mileage. The family is currently having it outfitted with the necessary wheel chair accessible gear and it should serve them brilliantly for several years. Elena is doing pretty well all things considered and I look forward to seeing the whole family around Christmas time.

Today I have a cute little item to offer. I came up with this idea over the summer while thinking of my family situation and I gave it a lot of thought. The Atwood Sweetheart is a simple lightweight key fob design in 304 stainless steel, just a hair under 1/8" thick. The tool does feature a cap lifter but I think it's most important and meaningful function may be a bit loftier. Is there anything better than love in this world? I think not... With that idea in mind, half of the proceeds from the Sweethearts will be donated to charity, in this case Cure SMA, (curesma.org) which is the only organization devoted to Elena's illness. In future runs of Sweethearts, I might do something different as far as a charity target but this seems like a great place to start.

The Sweethearts will run $45 each plus shipping and the link is below. Once again, on behalf of my sister Megan, niece Elena and our whole family, I thank you all so very much and God Bless!


Sweethearts are sold out for today but I have a few more coming shortly. Thank you all once again!

Tipplers: Second Round

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the long silence. It's been a busy fall so far, albeit a little frustrating...it started with a few days away which were nice but then progressed to a series of machinery maintenance issues in the shop which are now solved. In addition, the change of seasons often brings colds and I'm about to come down with a miserable one if other family member's experiences are any gauge of the situation. Finally, autumn only comes once a year here in New England and those nice colors and light are here for just a brief time so I've been out shooting photos like crazy for the past week when not dealing with all the rest of it. Anyway, it's back to the grindstone for now.

Now that my tumbler with the leaky and cracked bowl is fixed up again I can get back to working on several projects which have been delayed. I will have more copper 5 flute beads with added embellishments coming up soon, also those Roll Bars I had mentioned a while back, more ti Atwrenches and some new key fob items.

Today I have more of the 303 stainless steel Tipplers finished. This is the second half of the batch with the same elegant design as the previous ones. As before, these will run $65 each plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by everyone and for your endless patience. Have a great weekend!


Tipplers are gone for now, thanks so much everyone!

SAE Tombstones

Happy Monday Folks!

Looks like we're heading for a little bit of Indian summer here this week. I'm going to try to take advantage of the pleasant temps to do some photo shoots later this week so it will be mixed as far as PPT action is concerned.

Today I have the SAE Tombstones done. These are the same as the previous metric version insofar as the material is CPM 154 with raw bar finish. The wrench sizes are 1/4-7/16. Again, it's a tiny batch but another one is already cut and will be underway soon.

Also coming up, probably early next week, will the next round of Tipplers. More 5 Flute Lanslides will be coming as well.

The SAE Tombstones are $55 plus shipping and it's a one per customer sale again please. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope everyone has a stellar week ahead!


These are all gone, thanks again everyone!

Bronze 5 Flutes!

Hi Folks,

It's a bit cool and drizzling very lightly here today...great day for a sale!

Updates: Not too much to report actually. I'm still recovering from all the activity last week with the sales and then catching up on paperwork and taxes. However, more shot glasses will be coming up soon as well as the SAE Tombstones and the new Roll Bar tools. The second round of Tombstones in both styles have been cut and I have just started working on them. It looks like we might have another batch of raw bar ahead but I won't know for sure until I get a little further along. Fingers crossed...    

Today I have some more of the beautiful 5 Flute Mega Lanslides done, this time in bronze! I have given them a long gentle tumble in mixed polishing media and they have taken on a lovely patina with a slightly olive color. Really sharp looking. Most of them are on a pale moss colored 550 cord which is a great complement to them, but they look good on anything.  

The Mega 5 Flute beads are $25 plus shipping and the batch is sizable so no limit on them. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is a great one!

Sold Out for now, thank you everyone!

Metric Tombstones

Hi Folks,

Happy Wednesday! Gray and overcast here today with a hint of cool fall in the air. I can't believe summer is already drawing to a close. I didn't do half as much as I thought I was going to but I did manage to see the beach twice (briefly) so that's progress I guess.

I'm scrambling to button up the current projects. More Tipplers are coming in a week or so once they are cleaned up and I can get to my finish work on them. I have more pin striped Mega Lanslides on the way as well, this time in bronze. A new item, the Roll Bar is on the way for next week...And of course the Tombstones are in the mix too. And to top it off I'm exploring several new drawings. Someday, who knows, maybe I'll even catch some sleep!

Today I have the first wave of Tombstones done. These have a light Raw Bar texture that in the right light sort of reminds me a little bit of concrete steps. Raw Bar is a term I coined for steel that has not been surface ground. So in this case the CPM 154 steel is exactly as it came from the hot rollers of the mill and you can expect a certain amount of scars, character marks and other imperfections. They looked good enough though that I couldn't bear to grind it all off and the added benefit is I preserved the full thickness of the parts instead of losing 10-20 thousandths from surface grinding.

Incidentally, I think Crucible has been changing their rolls out more often these days or something because I'm not seeing as much textured steel coming through as in years past. I talked to them about this a few years ago and when I asked the guy for textured sheets he couldn't believe it at first because generally people are calling him and ragging on them for sending sheets out that are too rough. So here I am asking for the rougher ones... go figure. :)

Anyway, these are Metric Tombstones with odd number wrench sizes 5-11mm. They feature a broad pry tip/scraper edge and cap lifter in a hefty but compact 4.5mm thick, 62mm long, 19mm wide package. That's 3/4" wide, 2.4" long and .176 thick for you metrically challenged folks. :) These little gems carry nicely on your keys but they look great on the included bead chain too and they are drilled for easy neck carry.

The batch is unfortunately quite small so these will be one per customer please. The good news is that a second batch of equal size is scheduled for cutting so more will be coming down the road. I have no idea what the steel will look like on the next ones so whether they will be raw or not I do not know yet. And the SAE batch is also forthcoming, same exact batch size and a second batch of those are on the cutting schedule as well.

The Metric Tombstones are $55 plus shipping, link is below. Thanks for stopping by my friends, I do very much appreciate the continued support and never ending enthusiasm for my little creations!

Metric ones are gone for now, thank you everyone!

    

 

DotShot Tipplers

Hi Everyone,

Fall is a great time of year here in New England. The days get cooler and the leaves start to turn their bright and beautiful colors. It's also the start of the NFL football season and that is always good news for Atwood tool fans because I usually get a lot of packaging done while watching the games. Yesterday was no exception...

Today I have the first wave of 303 stainless steel Tipplers done. These little beauties feature my DotShot or Satellite pattern, without the knurling this time. They are truly gorgeous and I'm super happy with how they have turned out.

The Tipplers weigh in at a hefty 117 grams, or just over 4 ounces. They have a capacity of one standard shot. These cups have been "passivated" which is a special cleaning process that removes free iron and sulfur on the surface. Passivation greatly reduces most of the metallic odors, however you may notice a slight metallic smell remaining. That will disappear over time and with use.

These vessels are dishwasher safe but usually a simple hand rinse in soapy water and a soft towel wipe is all that is required for cleanup. I would avoid putting pure salt in them as 303 stainless is not impervious to salt but otherwise they should withstand just about any sort of abuse short of a nuclear bomb blast. Indeed, these cups will definitely outlast us all and our heirs as well! :D

This is a good sized batch so I will make it a two per customer limit. There is another big wave coming next week too so plenty of these are on the way. The Tipplers will run $65 plus shipping, purchase link is below. Thanks for stopping in and I hope you have marvelous week ahead!

These are gone for now. Thank you so much everyone! More on the way soon.

   

Copper 5 Flutes: Round Two

Hi Everyone,

I hope your holiday weekend has been fun and relaxing. After a superb past few days it has gotten quite warm and humid here so it's a good day to stay indoors and have a little sale.

Today I have the rest of the mega sized Copper 5 Flute Lanslides finished. I decided to add a small pin stripe notch to these and I like the result very much. Both designs are nice but I think the pin stripe adds a little something and brings the basic design up a bit. These are gently tumbled out resulting in a beautiful soft luster with light patina that will continue to deepen and develop over time.

I will be making more of these in bronze over the next few weeks and possibly titanium as well. We'll see how the scheduling goes.  

These Copper 5 Flute Lanslides are the same price as the last batch, $25 each plus shipping, and as before I will make it a two per customer limit. The link is below...Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of the weekend!

Copper Lanslides are all gone, thanks so much everyone!