Fancy Titanium Rulers

Hi Everyone,

Well it's snowing pretty hard out there this morning and we're due for another couple of inches it looks like. It might turn to rain later and make a crusty top before turning colder later this week. Good time to make some hot cocoa and have a sale I think.

Well today I have something super special for you guys. It's been a long time since I did any pattern finishes but I had it in mind for some of these R37 Rulers even before I first cut them this summer. These are part of the same batch as the last ones, 5/32 thick material. These tools are also stamped with the same wide ranging variety of stamps that we saw on the previous batch.

So we have stamps as well as patterning...Now, I was a bit limited on the patterns as all of my pattern making materials are very old, worn out and need replacing, so most of these have the gorgeous coral reef pattern on them. That's my own favorite pattern, but there are a few others here as well. The anodized colors vary widely too with many tools having multiple colors and color fades. For those of you seeking unique pieces, these certainly qualify, as every single one of them is spectacular and different from the others.

Pattern anodized finishes are delicate and not repairable so you might want to think twice before mounting on a key ring and banging them up. As with all anodized titanium you should clean periodically with a soft cloth and some Windex to remove finger oils and restore the vibrant colors.

The Fancy Ti Rulers will run $95 plus shipping. The batch is quite small unfortunately so it is a strict limit of one per customer please! Hope you all are staying warm this week and as always I thank you for stopping by today.


Fancy rulers are all gone, thanks so much everyone!

    

Steel Superbugs

Hi Folks,

Happy Thursday! Almost the weekend...we were due for some snow but now it's out of the forecast for the time being. That's totally fine by me as I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of it soon enough.

I'm still cranking along here, trying to button up the rest of the fancy ti rulers which are taking a little more time than I thought. Also need to tie some cord and get going on some more Mini 5 flute beads. Metric steel Crawdaddies are in doubt as far as finishing this year but in the worst case they will be coming in early 2018. Zr Mini Triangles are still in the running for finishing this year though as are some of the SpinCoin designs. 

In the meantime, today I have the remaining CPM 154 Superbugs available. It's just a few stragglers but enough for a quick sale I thought. They feature extra leverage pry tip/screwdriver, 5/16 open wrench/cap lifter, rear pry/screwdriver tip and my captive bit system which holds any standard 1 inch long 1/4" tool bit, philips bit included as well as spare set of o-rings...This was one of my favorite tools designs this year and a very handy little item. No lefties remain, just right handed ones in this small bunch.

Superbugs will run $70 plus shipping and the link is down below. If you don't see a link it means they are sold out but you can always email me directly and ask if I have any extras or other tools and accessory items on hand. Thanks as always for stopping by today.

Superbugs are all gone, thank you everyone!

Smooth Steel Metric Wrunts

Hi Everyone,

Here's a super quickie sale this morning...smooth surface ground CPM 154 Metric Wrunts. There are only a handful of these available.... Thanks for stopping by today!

These are gone! I still have a few metrics with raw bar and some SAE ones left if you care to email btw...Thanks again everyone!

 

Stamped Rulers!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday! After a gray and gloomy weekend it is much brighter here today although definitely turning colder. We might be getting our first snow later this week or early next week.

Got something very cool for you guys today...this is the next batch of R37 Titanium Rulers in the "regular" thickness of 5/32 or .160 inches. However, this group has my antique stamps and a beautiful hand rubbed satin finish. They are super sweet.  The stamps are not as crazy as the last batch of SpinWrenches, mostly singles, but they sure do look nice paired with this style of surface finish.

These tools feature a 3 inch measuring scale on the front side, 7cm metric scale on the back side, 8,9,10mm closed metric wrench set, 1/4 hex opening, open 5/16 wrench, cap lifter and center 3/8 opening reamed for a press fit for optional MD Engineering spin bearings. 

And also, a very fancy small batch of these with special anodizing is almost done and coming later this week so you will really want to stay tuned for those if you are a color lover. ;)

The Stamped R37 Ti Rulers with satin finish will run $80 plus shipping and the link to purchase is just below. There is a limit of two per customer on them...please note that due to holiday package volumes, the post office is a bit slow right now. And also paypal sometimes doesn't send shipment notifications but these will all be going out today and tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by today and hope your week is shaping up to be a great one.

Gone for now, thank you so much everyone! Stay tuned for ano patterned rulers later this week!

Stamped Wroid SpinWrenches!

Howdy all,

Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was terrific! Mine was great and included several delicious turkey dinners...

Well as usual I am way behind on my many projects. Ever the optimist, I always think I'm making great progress only to be reminded when I take actual stock of said progress that a tremendous amount of work still remains. There are never enough hours in the day to get to it all either it seems...I'm not too worried however as many of the largest batches of items are either done or close to it. There will no doubt be plenty to keep me busy into the New Year as well. I'm going to try to ramp up the sales between now and the rest of the year though so we'll see how it all goes.

Well today I have a very cool new steel tool for you. These CPM 154 Wroid thickness SpinWrenches feature a 1/2 inch 12 Point wrench, 1/4" hex opening, extra leverage pry/screwdriver tip, 5/16 open wrench which doubles as a cap lifter and a center 3/8" pivot opening which is reamed to accept the spin cores from MD Engineering.  They are 3.25 inches long, weigh in at a whopping 37 grams and are .200 inches thick, so bruisers indeed. The weight is distributed towards the two ends so, while not precisely balanced, they are the closest of all my tools so far and they do spin pretty well.

The SpinWrenches feel fairly hefty in the hand and will actually spin easily even without a spin core if held lightly between thumb and forefinger tips. In profile they remind me a little of the older Hatchling tools but are much chunkier overall. Perhaps they are growing up and are at the "juvenile" stage of the series, hehe.

These tools have no extra grinds but they are stamped with a wide variety of my popular antique and modern blacksmith and jeweler stamps. I had a bit of fun with them and there are many unique examples here...I will send these out with random stamps as usual. There are a handful of lefties among these too btw.

These SpinWrenches will run $75 plus shipping. The batch is quite large so I will make it a limit of two per customer. If ordering more than one from a location outside the US, they will ship via Priority Mail International...a portion of the sale today will go to Fisher House Foundation in support of our military families. The link to order is right below and thank you so much for stopping by today!


All gone for now, thank you so much everyone! :)

Stainless Steel Wrunts

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Hard to believe it's the holiday season once again. Seems like we just had Thanksgiving about five minutes ago...time is certainly flying this year.

Well, there's been lots of progress here on numerous projects. I just finished prepping out some Zirconium Mini Bermuda Triangle spinners and will be trying to get them finished for a mid December time frame. Still working on the metric 3v steel Crawdaddies and I have those halfway prepped out as well, shooting for a similar time frame finish on those.

In other project news, I have more Mini 5 flute beads coming up soon. I'll be doing a second batch of titanium ones and this time will be anodizing them. There are a few bronze ones left as well so lots of anodizing and string tying is in my future.

Right now I am trying to finish up a big batch of steel Spin Wrench tools. These look somewhat similar to the Hatchling tools I made a while back but are much larger and they are all stamped. Will have those done right after Thanksgiving I hope.

Today I have the 17-4ph Stainless Steel Wrunts done. This is an interesting material and one that I have not used before, so this is basically a small first run test batch. They are all SAE, are Wroid thickness, have a great raw bar texture finish on both sides and there are a few lefties among them...

17-4ph stainless is a highly alloyed steel and has excellent corrosion resistance properties as well as high strength. Not only that, but it is one of the few true stainless steels that is hardenable and it is also magnetic. The maximum hardness is only in the mid 40's Rockwell so it won't hold a cutting edge which is why knifemakers have traditionally ignored it. However, it is plenty hard enough for a pry tool and I was pleasantly surprised at the durability in my performance testing. It held up beautifully to everything I threw at it, including several weeks of keychain carry and heavy use before heat treat, and even an overnight salt water soak after heat treat. The worst I saw was some minor surface discoloration where I had dumped a pile of pure salt directly on top of it for 10 hours and that light tea colored surface stain came off easily using a worn out green scotchbrite scrubby. Normal high carbon knife steels would be heavily pitted after such abuse so that was quite impressive. I'll be using this material again for sure in future projects.

The 17-4ph Stainless Steel Wrunts will run $70 plus shipping and the link is below. A portion of the sale today will be going to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Wishing you all the very best for the upcoming holidays!

These are sold out for today, thank you again everyone!

   

Metric Wrunts!

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Yup, I'm back again. Still having somewhat mild weather here although it is starting to look a lot like November...no snow in the forecast so far though which is fine by me. It's quite chilly and raw outside today so I'm sure that white stuff is not too far away.

Well today the Wrunt Parade continues! These are the Metric Wrunts with raw bar finish. Steel is the same, CPM 154 at 58-59 Rockwell, and these stout tools are once again built to outlast both you AND your heirs...hehe. The metric wrench set includes all sizes 8-12mm.

These will run $70 plus shipping and since this batch is once again fairly limited in size I will make it one per customer on them. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

All gone, thank you so much!

Smooth Steel Wrunts

Howdy All,

Happy Friday everyone! I'm back with more...

First of all, thanks so much for the many kind words and emails after the first steel Wrunts sale! They are indeed stout and heavy little guys and I know you're all going to love them. There's something really satisfying about super chunky little tools like this that is hard to define but you know it as soon as it hits your hand. Like little nuggets or something...Great fun...anyway, the first ones went out days ago and should be getting to you today or tomorrow at the latest.

Well today I have the surface ground 58-59 Rockwell CPM 154 SAE Wrunts done. These are still quite hefty even though they are a little bit slimmer than the earlier raw bar version. I consider anything over .200 inches thick to be "wroid" thickness and at .210 inches thick and 30 grams each these certainly qualify. They tumbled for quite a while so have a nice soft feel to them.


These surface ground SAE Wrunts will run $70 plus shipping and the batch is small, only a few dozen, so one per customer on them please. Thanks for stopping by today and I will be coming back in a day or two with the metric raw bar version once I get them finished up so stay tuned.


Smooth ones are gone, thanks once again and hope you have a great weekend ahead!

Wroidy Steel Wrunts!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Wednesday! It's getting kind of raw out there this week, overcast skies and the air is starting to get that cold weather bite. Typical November weather. I have a sinking feeling I know what's coming next...

Well, the steel Wrunts have come back from heat treat at last and I've been busy with final finishes and sorting them. There are 5 different flavors here, all in fairly small batches. We'll start with the SAE ones first.

Today I have the SAE steel Wrunts completed. These are CPM 154 steel, and at .220 inches thick they are just shy of 1/4", so they certainly qualify as members of the "Wroid" series. They weigh in at 31 grams so they are hefty little guys, that's for sure. The raw bar mill texture varies but is fairly heavy on most of these which is why I elected to preserve it, heavier on the front side and lighter on the reverse side. And a second, smaller wave of these with smooth surface ground finish is waiting in the wings.

The CPM 154 Steel Wrunts will run $70 each plus shipping and it's a one per customer limit on them as the batch is small. Thanks for stopping by today and hope your week is terrific!

Raw Bars are gone, thank you so much!

 

Anodized Bermuda Beads

Hey Everyone,

Hope your week is going well!

We're still having freakishly warm weather this fall, but it looks like that is about to come to an end this week with our first and very late frost. It's due by the end of the week for sure as Friday's overnight temps are forecast to be around 13F! This will be good because the lawn, trees and gardens are a bit confused this year and need a good freeze so we can finish the end of the year cleanup. Also my cat has become an expert tick collector so I'm hoping the cold weather will finally slow everything down and knock out the bad bugs until Spring.

I've been working my brains out lately, not only prepping my house and shop for the coming frigid winter months, but also cranking out the tool projects. Tons of steel Wrunts are at heat treat and should be back sometime within the next week. I also sent a large batch of a new steel wroid thickness SpinWrench tool, with stamps, off to heat treat last Friday. So there will be some very interesting items coming up as the month progresses. ;)

Also in the works is the final batch of titanium R37 rulers. Hoping to start finishing those next week when they come back from getting their lines milled. In addition, I am halfway through prepping the 3v steel metric Crawdaddies and hope to have those done around early or mid December. And, new batches of special bronze, stainless and brass SpinCoins are finally almost finished...a few other tasty goodies are on the way as well so lots to look forward to before the end of the year.  Zr Mini Triangles anyone? :D

Today I have the rest of the titanium Bermuda Beads done. These all have cute little "wingtip" grinds on them and are anodized a wide variety of solid colors and color fades. Really cool looking. I will be sending these out randomly so can't get into color requests, but they are all nice, and the colors are much more vibrant than how my quick and lousy photo turned out. Terrible flat light yesterday is my excuse and I'm too lazy to reshoot them! Haha......anyway, there is a limit of 4 per customer please and they will run $35 plus shipping....thanks again everyone and I hope the rest of your week ahead is great.

All gone, thanks again folks! 

Fancy R37 Rulers!

Hi Folks,

Hope you're winding up a good week and getting ready for a super weekend ahead! We're still having very mild weather here and despite the drab foliage a few bright leaves have popped out here and there. Very disappointing foliage season though, so hopefully we will have a better one next year...

Well, it's been a very eventful week here. Had some moments of panic after a big equipment breakdown but that is thankfully fixed now. So I can head into the winter months without worry, now that things are up to date and better organized as well. I also managed to get some grinding in and quite a bit of finish work too, so it was an extremely productive week all around....the steel Wrunts are finishing up in the tumbler today and will finally be heading out to heat treat over the weekend. I also got going on the next big batch of ti rulers and will try to get them prepped out for milling next week.

Today I have the next wave of R37 Ti Rulers done. This is a medium sized batch and the bright ano lovers are going to be very pleased I think...I had a lot of fun making these super bright with two tone contrast anodizing. The textured titanium is just shy of 1/4" thick so they are very hefty, and the center holes are reamed for a press fit if you want to install a 3/8 spinner button from Scott McCoskery. The texturing was light and much of it tumbled away but that left very cool mint green colored flecks on these. When contrast anodized to dark colors it makes a sort of Van Gogh Starry Night effect. Very fun stuff and I wish my feeble pics below did a better job capturing just how bright these are.

None of these tools are stamped, but I do plan to stamp the next wave of regular 5/32 thickness titanium R37s that I am just starting to work on now.

I do have some lefties today though... and, for those folks who just can't stand color, I did save out a dozen plain rulers. So if you want a plain one of these super thick R37s just give me a holler (via email please, not in the comments here, as I do not always know who all the folks are who leave messages) and I will do my best to hook you up. ;) lottagear2000-pp@yahoo dot com

The fancy ti R37s will run $85 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for stopping by everyone, and have a fabulous weekend ahead!


Sold out, thank you so much everyone!

Zirconium KingPins!

Hi Folks,

Happy Wednesday to you all! Hope your week is going well...

Yup, believe it or not, I'm back for the second day in a row with another sale. The slow periods over the past few months were well spent I can assure you, and even though things have been somewhat quiet for long stretches I have been toiling away daily on various projects. So I am hoping that all that preparation and groundwork will set us up for a very busy fall season as I set out to finish many of these projects which I have started and are in various stages of completion. That's the plan anyway, haha.

Well today I have the next wave of KingPins ready to go. I am still in the middle of hand grinding all the pins, so as I continue to pick away at those I will have a few more of these zirconium ones coming, as well as the copper and titanium versions. But for now I have a good bunch of these done in Zr... so, just enough for a decent sale. A few dozen more unmounted Zr heads remain however which I will finish up as soon as I can get to them.

Now then, I have spent a lot of time on these Zr KingPins and I'm pleased with the results so far with this batch. They're a bit tricky to grind but I have a good system figured out for them now and these have a decent amount of taper on the pins. I think you will be pleased as well with the final product.

The Zr KingPins have a heat colored 1/2 diameter head with my familiar 5 flute design. The 5 flute shape is easy to grip and manipulate and provides an excellent anti roll effect, so this tool will stay put when you lay it down! The tapered pins themselves are hardened steel and are 1/8 inch in diameter so quite stout. The KingPins are just under 3 inches in overall length, just about 3 inches total with the included vinyl slip sheath. The simple tubing sheath makes these quite safe to carry in a pocket and is of course easily replaceable. A great tool for all sorts of delicate picking, scraping, poking, sorting and mixing tasks.

The Zr KingPins will run $85 plus shipping and it's a one per customer sale on them for now as the batch is not enormous. If you really need more than one though, just let me know via email and I can hook you up as more will be coming down the road. Thanks for stopping in today folks and stay safe out there!

These are gone for today, thank you so much everyone!

Plain Ti Wrunts!

Hi Everyone,

Well Happy Tuesday to you! Hope all is well out there and you're enjoying the first week of fall. We have been having very unusual weather here lately, quite hot for this time of year but now temps are starting to come down to more normal levels. The trees are suffering this year though from a variety of factors and are very drab, particularly the maples which have a fungal blight, so the famous New England foliage season looks like it is going to be a bust.

Since my fine grinding belts still have not arrived (due sometime this week) I've been busy grinding pins for the KingPin series. Almost ready to do the Zirconium ones next up! Copper and Titanium KingPin heads are still in the wings too so lots more pin grinding is ahead for me this fall. In other news, the next ti R37 rulers have been milled this week so those will be on the way in a few days as well.

Well today I have the remaining titanium Wrunts finished. These are the plain ones and it's a very small batch...there are a few lefties among them and I also have maybe a dozen anodized Wrunts remaining if anyone wants to email and ask for them. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is a great one!

Plains are sold out, thanks again!

Titanium Wrunts

Hi Everyone,

Hope everyone is surviving all the weather calamities around the world. It's just relentlessly awful  lately, and in so many different places...tough year for so many people!

I've been steadily chipping away at all sorts of stuff this past week, but slower to finish things than I would like. I recently ran out of fine grinding belts and discovered that the one box that I thought was full turned out to contain some coarser grit belts that I am no longer using. Will be another week or two before Norton makes me the ones I need by special order. In the meantime I will try to continue to make progress on some of the other neglected projects over the coming weeks...As far as tools that needed cleanup grinding are concerned, I do have some more R37 Rulers in super thick 1/4" inch Krinkle ti coming up and those are well on their way to completion. Other tool projects will have to wait a week or so before work can resume...

Today I have the first wave of Wrunts finished. The Wrunts are redesigned for 2017 and these first ones are made of lightly textured Krinkle Titanium. Upcoming batches will be in two different steels and some will be metric, but this batch is entirely "SAE",  meaning American wrench sizes only. The wrench set includes sizes 1/4-1/2", and there is also an improved cap lifter and a stout pry tip. The material is almost 1/4" thick so they are quite beefy indeed and overall this tool feels far more robust than the older Wrunts I made years ago.

The new Wrunts are just a little bit longer (OAL is 2.8") than the originals so that I could get the geometry of the pry tip into a more manageable angle. Also, the thumb grip area features my old "tiki grind" shape which is not only very cool looking but also provides a welcome tactile feel and sure grip. I elected to keep the grinds simple on these so there is not much variation in that department. However, these are anodized in a very wide variety of colors, both solid colors and many types of color fades and color "splash" looks. There are some plain non ano ones too, available upon request, as well as a few lefties in the batch.

The Titanium Wrunt17s will run $65 plus shipping and the link to order is below. It's not a huge batch so it will be one per customer on them please. Thank you as always for stopping by, and I do hope everyone is staying safe and dry!


All gone for today, thank you so much everyone!

Steel Superbugs!

Hi Folks,

Hope you're having a great week. I have been working my brains out this past week on projects and before that took a few days off to enjoy a little bit of summer vacation. But I am back and working hard to get some stuff done.

Obviously things are a bit of a mess down South, to put it mildly, and by the looks of things it's about to get worse with hurricane Irma bearing down on Florida. Thoughts, prayers and love are with our friends in the southern states this week! As a small contribution I am setting aside some funds today for the Food Bank of Houston...could be doing the same next week for Miami. :(

Well, there is a lot of stuff in play at the moment. It's been a crazy hive of activity here as I move projects along and a few are even hitting the finish line. Finally! Steel Wrunts are about to receive their final grinds, and titanium Wrunts are in the tumblers right now before getting some ano lovin'...I have a new wroidy spinning steel tool in progress called the Juggernaut and those are heading for the tumblers next before their final touches, and then they will be headed to heat treat. The next two waves of ti rulers are in the beginning stages of work, still a few weeks away on those.

Today I have most of the steel Superbug17s ready to go. I say "most" because these darn things gave me fits! It seems that when I applied the name stamp I had repositioned the tools in the stamp press in a different way than normal. When stamping I failed to notice that a small burr on the anvil was imprinting into the back side of the tool on every hammer strike. I never noticed a thing until the final polish tumbling step after heat treat when a mysterious mark appeared on the back side. Grrrrrrrr. Luckily I was able to sort them out and most of the tools turned out to be perfectly acceptable although you might spot a faint shadow mark in certain lights. The remaining pieces that had actual dents had to be sanded down and refinished over the past several days, and so the batch has now been pretty much rescued. This past week just underscores how something can go wrong anywhere in the making process and getting to the finish line is always a perpetual balancing act. 

The CPM 154 Steel Superbug17 offers a cool update to the old Superbug series. They are just shy of 3 inches long and the material is nearly 3/16" thick. I have given them a more effective screwdriver/XL pry tip/wrench/cap lifter arrangement for the nose. They have a cool new curved, ergonomic middle section, plus my usual captive bit system and a rear pry tip with Area 51 style grinds. The batch is quite uniform so there are no grind variations on these and no decorative stamps at all on this batch. There are a few lefties though...     

The Superbug 17s will run $70 plus shipping and it's a one per customer sale on them please...if you need more than one just drop me a line as I do have more of these on the way over the next few days as I continue to finish them up....stay safe everyone, especially you folks who are in the path of the storms, and thanks so much for dropping by today.

Superbugs are gone for today, thank you!

    

R37 Ruler Tools!

Hi Everyone,

Wow, we are hurtling along through August at Mach 1. Hard to believe the summer is almost gone...

Not too much to report on projects, but hopefully Superbugs will be back from heat treat around the end of next week. I have a bunch of grinding in front of me too, so it's always a never ending challenge to juggle production and sales. We'll see how it goes.

Today I have the first wave of titanium R37 Rulers done. A number of people asked for plain ones, so I decided to do one full release with totally plain finish, with no stamping and no color anodizing. The second and third batches are already scheduled to cut next week and so stamped rulers and fancy color anodized ones will be coming in subsequent releases. But these today are all simple and very clean looking, and I will not be coloring any of these or adding stamps.

The R37 Rulers are made from the same robust 5/32 6al4v titanium stock as the older R25 series. They feature a 1/4 hex opening, 5/16 open wrench which doubles as a cap lifter, a 8,9,10mm metric wrench set and a center opening which is reamed to accept Scott McCoskery's nifty 3/8" spin cores. The 3 inch ruler scale is permanently marked (thanks to Kenn Jordan for a fantastic job on the deep CNC milling!) and there is a 70mm scale on the reverse side. All in all, this is a gorgeous heirloom quality tool with quite a variety of functions. I am sure your great grand kids and generations beyond will love it as much as you do!

R37 ti Rulers will run $75 plus shipping, and it is one per customer on these please. As I said, plenty more of these ruler tools are coming so no worries if you miss today, will be many chances to score them up the road. Thanks for dropping by this morning everyone, and I hope your weekend is great.


R37 Rulers are gone for now, more coming up the road, Thanks so much everyone!

Titanium Mini 5 Flutes!

Hi Everyone,

Happy Monday! It's shaping up to be a lovely mid August week here in the northeast, although there has already been a tinge of fall in the air. This really has been the coolest and wettest summer in recent memory and I hope it doesn't mean we are in for another very long and cold winter.

Well the projects are in full swing right now. The steel Superbugs are at heat treat and should be back very soon. I have the new titanium R37 Rulers Tools close to done so those will be coming along hopefully around the end of the week, with a second batch already tentatively planned. Once these two projects are done I will be moving along to both steel and titanium Wrunts, and also Zr KingPins for early September. There is a ton of work ahead but I am taking my time and trying to enjoy the little bit of summer we have remaining.

Well today I finally have the first wave of titanium Mini 5 Flute beads done. I decided to leave these with a neutral stonewashed finish and they are on a variety of cord colors. I still have more in process down in the shop and so a future release will probably be color anodized. I'm not planning on making any stainless steel Minis so these will probably be the only ones for those of you who want a bare "silver" metal color choice.

The Titanium Mini 5 Flutes will run $30 each plus shipping and there is a four per customer limit on them. Thanks as always for dropping by today and hope your week is productive one!

These are all gone for today, thank you so much!

Bronze Mini 5 Flutes

Hi Everyone,

Happy Thursday! It's a cool one here in the northeast, and in fact it's been a bit chilly and almost fall like this week. Crazy summer so far...

Well, I'm picking away at stuff this week but not too much to report. I will be taking a few days off next week so things won't really be picking up until mid August it looks like. However, lots of tools are in progress and so much is on the way.

Today I have a great big batch of red bronze Mini 5 Flute beads done. They have a warm red patina started on them and a crisp finish. These new Minis have quickly become my new favorite bead size and I'm really enjoying them on my camera bag zippers and pocket tools. Plain titanium Minis will be coming very soon too!

The red bronze Mini 5 Flutes will run $30 as usual and it's a fairly big batch so a limit of 4 per customer on them please...link to purchase is below. Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope your weekend ahead is a great one.


Sold out for today, thank so much!

Stamped Zirconium Keytons

Hi Everyone,

Happy Friday! I know much of the nation is sizzling today with the high temps but I hope all is well and you're gearing up for a relaxing weekend ahead.

Well I've been rather quiet lately, but I have certainly not been idle. I've been grinding my brains out and trying to move projects along. The belts have been turning madly and the tumblers have been running almost continuously for the past two weeks. And I have taken a few hours to fix up and clean my dusty and slightly disorganized shop, critically important work that has been long overdue. I'm planning on upgrading some of my lighting soon as well. All these changes are going to make it a lot more efficient and a healthier place to work.

I still haven't gotten the steel pins ground for the zirconium KingPins, but they are one of the next tasks in line. The Wroidy steel Wrunts are still languishing as well...however, steel Superbugs are well along towards finishing and just need a little more grinding before they are ready for heat treat. The titanium R37 Ruler tools are definitely happening and have just been cut, really looking forward to these... Krinkle titanium SAE Wrunts have also just been cut. I am waiting for some special stainless steel Wrunts to be cut next as well as a new steel Wroid thickness tool.

Beads are moving along nicely. I will be tying up and packaging titanium Mini 5 Flutes and then the bronze Mini 5 Flutes over the next few days. I also have anodized titanium Bermuda Beads with grinds completed and nearly ready to go. I also got the next spin coins prepped out further and they are waiting for stamps and other treatments.

Today I finally have the Zirconium K4 Keytons done! These have been sitting around for several months and it took a huge effort this week to get them through the many many steps to completion. Lots of grinding, tumbling, stamping, more tumbling, individual heat coloring and finally applying an oil finish. Ridiculously complicated and time consuming...It does feel good to get them finished at last and they look awesome.

These have a wide variety of grinds and stamps. They will run $95 plus shipping and it's a one per customer sale even though the batch is large, so that many folks will have a chance at them.

Thanks as always for stopping in today and I hope you all are staying cool this week!

Sold out for now, thank you so much folks!

 

Antique Brass Mini 5 Flutes

Hi Everyone,

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend. It was a difficult one here with a variety of annoying petty health issues and one major family crisis which is still ongoing. Fingers crossed on that last part...

Well, not much has been getting done lately here, but I continue to limp along, picking away at things every day. Wrunts are still on the bench awaiting their finish grinds, Zr Kingpins still await their ground pins which are residing cozily next to the Wrunts. A bright spot is the steel Superbug17s which I did a bunch of prep work on yesterday. My goal is to get these three projects finished by the end of the month, and in the case of Wrunts and Superbugs, out to heat treat at least.

In other news, I continue to explore the R37 ruler series and it's looking like that project may go forward finally, but I'm still finalizing details and costs. I do have a final drawing though and I'm very pleased, so if all works out as I hope that will be a great project for the fall.

Today I finally have the first wave of "SlimFlutes", all new Mini 5 Flute beads, ready to go. Old timers may remember the original 5 flute beads which were quite small and had very shallow fluting. While I love the current 5 Flute design, they are fairly large beads and I was missing the older version, especially on zipper pulls. So this spring I worked up a revised design and dialed in the proportions to produce what I am now regarding as my own personal favorite fluted bead design.

The new Mini 5 Flutes are made of brass, bronze and titanium for now. I am waiting for the mill to produce more 1/2" Zr stock this summer and so hopefully can add those to the lineup at some point as well. There are no variations on these, all just straight up 5 flute beads. First up are the brass Minis and these have a cool antique finish on them.

Antique Brass Mini 5 Flutes will run $30 each and shipping is the usual $5-7 depending on how many you want. The batch is good sized so it's a limit of three per customer. Thanks for stopping by and I hope your summer is shaping up to be a great one!


Brass ones are gone, thanks folks! :)

 

Copper Multi Grip, Original Mini 5 Flute in teflon, new Mini 5 Flute and current Mega 5 Flute for size comparison: