The Drawing Board

Well, looks like the stretch of nice weather is coming to a close. It's supposed to be cloudy and cooler with showers for the next week so maybe now I can get out of the rest of those honey-do chores that I've been stuck with lately. Most of the spring cleanup stuff has been done anyway and besides, the first of those darned biting black flies have been appearing like clockwork every time I step outside now. So it's just about time to get back in the shop and get some stuff cranking again.

Currently in heat treat is a batch of Crawdaddies and a small batch of Nibbles. I have a whole bunch more Nibbles to finish grinding and they will go into the next heat treat batch. But the current batches should be back very soon, maybe by the end of next week or early the following week. The Crawdaddies have been beefed up slightly and I'll be using larger O-rings on them.

Just finished the drawings for two cool new tools. The first is the compact version of the FunnyBone tool that I showed a few posts back. I eliminated the captive bit feature and shortened the whole thing so it will fit onto a keychain if desired. I think I have all the sizes so that they will work, no small feat there. The bottle opener is retained and I added a few scallops for added grip on the top edge. I think it will be a dynamite little piece and will be making a lot of them.

The second brand new piece draws on two old designs for inspiration. I have been a collector of keychain tools for years and always have enjoyed the old Proto Screwdriver design. There are a lot of other keychain screwdriver designs as well including a nifty little one from Snap-On that features a small wrench. Both of these have been in my collection for a few years, snagged off of Ebay or scrounged from yard sales. Well, I drew on those two designs and did a little updating and Atwoodizing. The new tool, tentatively called the Atwrench, is much larger than those tiny originals but it will pack a whole lot of function in comparison and still fit onto a keychain. Pics coming soon... :)

Another Speed Bump

This serpent was from the Bermuda Triangle though. :)

Yuck! But it's getting better... :)

That's all I have to say about it. A nasty little stomach bug has had me laying low for a couple of days now. Hopefully will be feeling better tomorrow and can get back to it.

This is also the one spring week here in New England where we're having perfect weather. It's just the right humidity and there are wonderful temperatures in the 60's and mid 70's. The biting bugs are still sleeping and the pollen hasn't yet been released in any great quantities. It's also yard cleanup season. So I expect I'll be slacking a bit all this next week or so...will try to get a few things done for the end of the week though.

This is Cool

Check these out! My friend Kenny down at the local machine shop made these neat little keyfobs. It's like a ball inside of a cube and the center is hollow with little satellite cubes. They are machined from solid aluminum and then anodized black, supposedly with hard coat but I'm not sure if it's HA III or not. At any rate they are nifty and he has some available, think he's asking $25 for them, might be slightly more, not sure. If anyone is interested please post here and I'll take a count. If enough folks want one I might ask Gary Moore if he's interested in carrying them as Kenny is not set up with email.

Update

I know it's been pretty quiet around here for the past few days. I have a bunch of stuff almost ready to send out to heat treat but I was hoping to grind a few more pieces before I do so that the batch is cost effective. So maybe by the weekend that will happen and we can get the ball rolling again. This batch will have Nibbles and slightly redesigned Crawdaddies. Maybe the Mini FunnyBones if I can get them cut in time. And I have something brand new, a neat little tool in the works as well.

I have had a bunch of distractions keeping me out of the shop too...end of the quarter paperwork before taxes, general kicking back for a few days before I burn myself out completely and the arrival of a few days when the sun has *actually* been out for the whole day and the snow has *almost* completely melted from my yard have all conspired to keep me from my work. What a hard winter it has been around here this year! Just miserable...when 70 degrees and sunny finally gets here there will be a few days of serious kicking back going on I can tell you that! :)

Anyhow, there won't be a whole lot happening on my site as far as available tools go until early next week. I need to finish the sheaths for the rest of the SharkTooth batch and I have a few other items to finish as well. Mostly just dribs and drabs...a few steel G2 Gasbabies, those mini Keytons I mentioned a while back, a couple of ti Bug Out Bars I finally cord wrapped, some BugBites, etc.

South American Speedbump?

My uncle just sent me this pic from a colleague who was down in South America. Them anacondas sure do grow big down there... =:0

SharkTooth Teaser

Got a sample piece back from the tumbler yesterday. Awesome finish on these and it looks like they will be coming back to me early next week. Then it will be sheath time...so we're getting closer. :) Meanwhile here's a little preview to whet your whistles:

Metric Question!

Hey Metric Heads, we Americans are not as familiar with your system as we probably ought to be. Or at least this American isn't.... :D

Here's my situation: I'm playing with the FunnyBone drawings and looking at common metric wrench sizes. Now, the ideal size progression on my tool is 6,8,10,12,14,16,18mm.

It is my understanding though that 13mm is a very important and common size. It also happens to be very close to our American 1/2" which is an extremely common size here so I can see the attraction. My question is, how critical is 13mm? The reason is, if I include it then it throws off the whole progression of sizes on the tool and they need to be 2mm apart to work out and be stepped correctly.

So I guess I'm wondering, what are the most important metric sizes that the rest of the world needs? I have other configurations worked out if the above mentioned list isn't good enough.

Glimpse in the Notebook

Couple of rough sketches and trying out various names...This is close to what the RingCutter will look like. The other drawing is of a possible future double ended wrench tool that I am calling the FunnyBone. Metric on one end and SAE on the other. :)

I'm always tweaking, doodling and coming up with these while I'm reading or watching movies and during commercials when the football games are on.

Going to be a Good Weekend

Finishing up some small stuff today. :)

OK, here's something new. This is the SharkBite variant that I had mentioned in an earlier post....called the RingLeader. Same specs as a SharkBite basically but it has a nice 3/4" diameter ring opening. This was a small test run of these and I still have a few more in the shop to grind and what not. So there will be this wave of stonewashed ones, a wave of bead blasted ones and then another very small wave in a couple of weeks. I may cut more though if the response is strong and if so will make a few little tweaks. I'd like to see the larger bottle opener of the Nibble and maybe nudge the ring to 1" diameter.

In Progress: SharkTooth

The upcoming SharkTooth...these are a couple of rough "in progress" shots to get an idea what the tool will be. Basically it's a Pop n Chop morphed onto a BugBite with a SharkBite thrown into the mix.

These are super handy little guys. I've been carrying a proto for a few weeks now and I can tell you that I am more than pleased with it's performance. Talk about a great little tool... I was using it to open packages this week, break down boxes in the garage and popped a couple of beers with it too. :) And I'm doing the sheaths so that the bit will be accessible without removing the whole tool from the sheath. Neat little piece.

Still weeks away though from being finished...check out how close to the same I ground all these. Whew! :D

Web and Email Trouble

The Atwoodknives website is just having a heck of a time lately. My web host is having major problems with their server for some reason and for the past week it comes and goes frequently throughout the day. I have to call them every couple of hours it seems to get them to reset the server. This is really starting to tick me off and I'm afraid I've been losing some email lately too as this is also my email server. So please bear with me if you can. If they do not get it fixed soon I may be forced to move the site to another server and that will mean a ton of down time and a bunch of work. So I'm trying to put it off and see if the problems will resolve but it seems to be getting worse every day....

What's Coming?

In the weeks ahead this is what I have planned:

BugBites
Flat Ti Gasbabies
G2 Gasbabies
Crawdaddies
Bermuda Triangles
Triangle+
A51 Keytons (small batch)

Also a few new things are in the works, one is a SharkBite variant and the other a brand new tool with a cutting edge.

I'll be grinding for a few days so there won't be much action on the Available Tools page.

Wow!

OK, that was mighty quick, in fact it was a record. I had just under two dozen Nibbles ready, posted them and they were gone in less than 10 minutes. I swear you guys are going to eat me alive if I'm not careful .... :D Sheesh!

I ran out of Phillips bits this morning and have more ordered for tomorrow. So I was not able to finish the BugBites but will work on them once I get all these packages out. Thanks folks! I certainly do appreciate it. :)

Few More Nibbles and BugBites.....

....will be coming tomorrow if I can get them finished in the morning.

This time of year is always tough to keep to a work schedule because there's endless interruptions. Between the constant snow and ice storms we've had this year which have kept me busy on the driveway and the piles of paperwork from tax season I've been having trouble just staying in the shop for any length of time. Plus I never have gotten my heating situation totally straightened out in the shop and it's in the low to mid 50's for most of the day. Cold! But it looks like a lot of the worst is now past and I should be getting some good stretches of work done over the next few weeks. :)

Alright, this is Geeky :D

I was playing around a couple of weeks ago just looking for something a little different. I do not currently plan to make any of these, just exploring the idea a little. It is possible I may do something for a wrist though at some point or maybe a belt buckle or a titanium slide tool for nylon webbing. This particular piece is 44mm in diameter and uses a 22mm Maratac one piece Zulu strap.

My Apologies

I apologize to anyone who was offended by my last comments on the Ebay post. But the fact of the matter is, I learned as a young boy, if you poke a dog with a stick long enough he's going to bite you. I do have a temper.

I will no longer post comments from anonymous posters. I've had enough of people who would belittle me and others and whose sole purpose seems to be to stir up crap and act like bullies. You guys don't see plenty of comments that I have deleted in the past because of foul language and/or personal attacks but I allowed a few in that last posting so folks could see what comes in. But if you aren't willing to put your name on it I think that I am going to have to stop putting those comments up. Some of the anonymous stuff is downright vicious.

Also, I appreciate that many folks are well meaning in their suggestions on how I could improve my business and the processes related to it but I'm in good shape and have a clear vision. I'm doing the best I can, trying to satisfy the demand and keep everyone happy. So thank you all, I very much appreciate your business and your support and like I said, sorry if I turned anyone off with my responses.

Ebay Policy Spelled Out

OK, here’s how I’m looking at it. For stuff that I sell you this week and next week it shows up on Ebay at an inflated price…

First Time: You buy a tool and decide it’s not for you and so you put it on Ebay. OK, no problem, I understand, you’re moving on to some other Atwood product or something else entirely. I don’t have a big problem with this and I appreciate you checking my stuff out.

Second Time: This is not looking good but hey, shit happens. If I can identify the seller (and I usually can pretty easily) I will try to send a polite warning that they are being watched. That’s if I have time of course, I am very busy and frankly have no time for stupid games.

Third Time: OK, it’s pretty clear what you’re all about. You’re obviously more interested in trying to make a quick buck off my stuff and could care less about collectors who often are unable to get to my site in time to pick up something at a reasonable price for their collections. Part of the reason they couldn’t get the piece was because YOU were there cherry picking for your own selfish ends. Well, you’re now cut off from further purchases. Purchases will be refunded if you try to buy during a sale. And I will be saving names on a do not sell list for circulation to my dealers too.

So far I have barred about 5 or 6 people because of this kind of behavior. I hated to do it, I really did, but this is about fairness and I felt I owed it to my fans to try to rein in this kind of thing. And I should mention I’m not real crazy about the related practice of scanning the BST sections on the forums with the sole intent of turning things around on Ebay.

So please folks, have a heart and think about this. I’m really not trying to be a hard ass, I’m just trying to stand firm and do what’s right. It would be a shame if I started to have to spend all my time babysitting a bunch of jerks rather than making the next batch of cool stuff.

Triangle Plus

Here's a neat little addition to the lineup, the Triangle Plus. These are exactly the same size as a Bermuda Triangle but have the benefit of hex bit storage, something not possible with the original design. I've beefed up the bottle opener opening to 5/16" so it works a little better too. This tool lacks the big center hex hole obviously but it still makes a fun little spin toy on the end of a pen or pencil. Alternatively, the lanyard can be tied through the center hole if desired which is how I've been carrying mine lately.

I just finished a small batch of these in 1/8" thick titanium and will be posting them tomorrow. Most are stonewashed and a few will be bead blasted and anodized solid colors. No Tropicals this time around. Also, a huge batch of Bermuda Triangles will be coming in about two weeks so many more of the originals will be available soon.

What's a Nibble?

These will be coming sometime next week. Little brother to the SharkBite and Bike Tool..