Steel Bookie Tools!

 Hi Everyone,

Well, fall has arrived very suddenly during this past week. There were a few cold nights where we briefly flirted with an early frost but somehow managed to narrowly escape each time. After that we went from tired green leaves everywhere to spots of orange, yellow and red. It's been so dry all summer that I don't know what effect it will have on fall foliage though, and it might end up being a bit subdued... At any rate, I always savor the warm afternoons this time of year filled with golden light and the delicious smell of decomposing leaves.

The projects continue to slowly chug along. I just need to put in two more days of work and I will be ready to send a batch of a new steel pry tool called the Oddvark out to heat treat. Steel MiniBar+ tools are next in line after those. Not too much else to report at the moment, but I will stay with it and have more cool tools coming up soon.

Today I have some New Old Stock items for you. I was going through boxes this summer and came across a batch of 10 year old Steel Bookies that I never finished. It has been a very long time since I have had any edged tools to offer and so I figured I ought to finish these up.

The concept behind the Bookie was to make a thin bookmark tool that could be kept sheathed in a journal or book. They are made of hardened 420 stainless cutlery steel with stonewashed finish and have a 2.5 inch sharpened edge. And naturally they also have a cap lifter built in. These are intended to be used primarily as a desk tool and they make for a unique letter opener. They will ship with a simple plastic edge cover and it is up to you to find the perfect book, Moleskine journal or other home for them. 

In our frenetic electronic age, it is almost becoming quaint to use pen and ink and to read a book printed on paper. But I still love doing things the old fashioned way at times, and thankfully no battery is required!

Steel Bookies will run $70 plus shipping and the link is below. Thanks for dropping by and I hope you are gearing up for a nice weekend.

Bookies are gone for today, thank you so much!

 

 

 

 

Roidy Tims!

Hi Everyone,

Well it sure is gorgeous outside this week. We're enjoying some of the last warm days right now, and there is not a red or yellow leaf anywhere to be seen. Usually by this time of year we have a few branches here and there showing colors, but so far there is nothing at all. Maybe the unusually dry summer and the warmer than usual nights are keeping them back. But I am sure that fall cannot be denied and we will start seeing some nice foliage in the next week or two. Generally the first week of October is when we are at the peak of color.

As I mentioned last week, the CPM 154 steel Tiny Tims did indeed make it back from heat treat, and I worked on them all weekend. These are my favorite Tiny Tim design variation so far, and rather chunky, at just under 1/4 inch in thickness. So I think they can be officially considered Roids...

The functions include 1/4, 5/16 and 7/16 hex wrenches, cap lifter, and extra leverage pry tip/screwdriver. They are 2.1 inches long compared to the earlier titanium version which was 1.95 inches long, so a little bit more working room on the pry tip end. They have a silky antique satin finish which will wear like iron. Oh wait, they ARE iron (and carbon, chromium, etc.), haha... 

I used my usual wide variety of stamps on them, and the stamps are very deep and well defined on this batch. I had some fun with them and so there are quite a few with interesting image combinations as well as some sweet understated single stamped pieces. There are a few lefties here as well.

Roidy Tims will run $60 plus shipping, no quantity limit on them, and the purchase link is below. Thanks for visiting today, and I hope your holiday shortened week is going great so far!

Sold out, thank you so much folks!

Titanium MiniBar+

Hello Everyone!

I am back. I have been taking care of an older family member for the past several weeks who has been having some emergency health issues. So I was doing a lot of driving them to the ER, many doctor visits, surgery, helping at home, etc. Everything is cool now though, all is well thank goodness, and it looks like I have my life back...health care stuff is never fun during the best of times but during this pandemic navigating everything has become a nightmare, especially for older folks.

Anyhow, my production certainly suffered during August. I did still manage to get a few things done however, and I'm happy to report that a large batch of steel Tiny Tims is coming back from heat treat today so will be finished by next week. I also just finished milling some other steel projects and so will have at least two more steel tool batches coming up for the fall. I'm thinking of cutting a brand new titanium gas wrench tool, the GasBone, this month. I do have a pile of other designs in the wings too, including brand new Prybaby designs, so as I work through my backlog of projects this fall I will look at cutting more tools.

Today I have some nifty new titanium tools finished. The MiniBar+ is based on my Stubby MiniBar design which I released a while back. I had only made 10 of those Stubbies at the time but had so many people asking for them that I decided to make a similar tool, and I ended up adding a cap lifter and second rear pry tip. As with many of my designs, it has a fun form factor with a lot of potential function in a small package.

This is the first batch, in titanium, but a second batch in steel is nearly done as I mentioned above, and will be coming soon. So if you're a steel fan and not crazy about titanium then not to worry, I will have you covered in a few weeks. And if you're a ti fan but don't like anodizing, not to worry as I have a handful of these today set aside without anodizing. So please just drop me an email if you want a plain finish. I think there are even a few without stamps and grinds if you want super minimalist.

Otherwise, this batch today is all stamped and anodized with my wide range of decorative stamps and anodized colors. Most are contrast anodized for maximum variety and I left some grind marks on these for even more subtle contrast color effects...the one thing I forgot to do on this batch was to make some lefty only pieces. Sorry about that, but there will be some lefty ones in the upcoming steel batch.

Titanium MiniBar+ tools will run $65 plus shipping, no limit on them. Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you're gearing up for a great holiday weekend!

Sold Out, thank you everyone!