First Kiridashi

Scavenger writes:

Things have been somewhat whirlwind with me for various reasons, and I haven't gotten as much work done as I'd like. Today, rather than twiddle my thumbs and look glum while waiting for adequate power to be installed in my new shop location to run my big belt grinder, I made my first kiridashi. These are Japanese woodworker's knives. They apparantly used to be carried by Japanese schoolchildren to sharpen their pencils and use for craft projects. I've been wanting to make some for a while.

Here's a quick-and-dirty picture of the kiridashi.

It is 4 1/4" in length, with a cutting edge of approximately 1 1/6". The steel is automobile coil spring quenched in vegetable oil and temper drawn at 350 degrees. It is chisel ground for a lefty, with a long primary bevel and short secondary. It shaves hair. I'll either make a Kydex sheath or a wooden case for it. I'm working on a righty kiridashi, too.

These things do get carried in various degrees of traditional/tactical by Westerners as utility knives and last-ditch self defense.

Scavenger writes:

I've been busy since the beginning of October getting set up in my own work space. Since I started blacksmithing over 10 years ago, I haven't had really adequate working space. I started out in a horse shed that must have been made for Shetland ponies. Add coal smoke to a low ceiling, and you have all kinds of unpleasant black boogers. So I ended up outside under a shade tree. That of course has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, but at least I could work without asphyxiating. Since then, I have had to do my work either outside or in other people's workspace. Which means moving equipment and materials around a *lot* and always feeling like you're in someone's way. I was coordinating materials and tools in five different locations. I now have it down to three. :-)

But I finally am renting space in a former architectural millworks and have set up shop. This knife is the first piece of work I've started and finished in my new work space.

It is a commissioned blade based on my basic work knife design. It is forged from leaf spring with a minimal amount of grinding to clean up the profile. The cutting edge is filed by hand. It was hardened in vegetable oil. The wrap is 20 gauge jeweler's copper wire with cotton cord Turk's head knots on the end. The wrap is sealed with amber shellac. The sheath is Kydex.

NANOWRIMO

http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Wow, this is cool. I just stumbled across this a few minutes ago when I did a google search on creative writing. Essentially, you have thirty days to write a novel of 50,000 words.

I have always secretly hoped to become a writer but have 'never gotten around to it'. I'd imagine that is how it is for everyone. It's been an on again off again thing; mostly off. Recently I had to write a newsletter for work and I had fellow employees proof it for me. One of my co-workers remarked, " Wow Feral Man (name changed), you really are a writer!" It got me thinking, maybe I am. Funny how one comment can impact our thinking, especially if it is something we have always believed deep down.

So, I am going to do this if at all possible. I want to write; to make people feel and think and laugh and cry and shake their heads in wonder. To say, "That was so cool, I wish I could come up with something like that! You've got to read this." Sometimes I want to roar like a lion or howl like a coyote because there are these things inside of me trapped and trying to get out. Maybe it is part of my feral nature, a bit of the beast that seeks freedom. Honestly, I find some liberation in writing, though few or none may read my words.

Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation". Well I won't be quiet and I won't be desperate! I will seek my muse and try my hand at this thing and see what I can do.

Here is to hoping that we may each find our own paths.

-Feral Man

18th Century Hunting Shirt

Attached is a photo showing the collar of an 18th century hunting shirt I made about two years ago. I used the measured drawing in Beth Gilgun's book, "Tidings From the 18th Century." The directions were easy to follow and the pattern is simply a series of squares, rectangles and triangles of various sizes. I began hand stitching using a backstitch (shown in an early chapter) and did the front seams and much of the collar in this way. It was challenging and it made me realize that if something takes you that long to do you had better do it right. You come to understand the saying about a stitch in time saving nine as well. You are much better off fixing the problem before it gets severe, possibly necessitating the construction of a new garment. If goods were so hard to come by in our time people might take more pride in their work and take better care of what they have. Craftsmanship is a rare skill I think.

I ended up finishing this shirt with my wife's Singer sewing machine, but there were still a few spots that required hand stitching. It's a good skill for a woodsman of any century to have.

Enjoy your journey.

-The Feral Man

direction and paradox

Imagine if you can a compass to show you which direction to take in your life; an oracle to direct and guide you. Would that it were so simple.

I like what I am doing for a living but I have a small problem. I perceive that ultimately I cannot make a living for my family in my current occupation. Factors too tedious to explain here limit my earning potential. Before long I will have one son and then another in college.

It seems that I must once again make a choice. To choose what I am doing and know that the years ahead will be a financial strain for all involved; or to change direction and try to limit the financial strain although the job might not be as satisfying.

Ultimately, I know I will choose to support my family by any means I may. If the job is satisfying but the pay is not then in the end the job will eventually become unsatisfying. The flip side is that some jobs are not worth any amount of money. I simply seek the middle ground; a relatively fulfilling job at what I deem a fair salary. A bit of freedom, a bit of direction, the opportunity and resources to create and explore. Finally, the ability to give my wife and sons what they need and maybe a bit of what they don't . I had these things once but had no balance. I did not realize and appreciate what I had and I was at times a work-a-holic. Now I have more free time and appreciate my family but cannot give them all they need much less want. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

So it is with a heavy heart that I must update the resume and strike out once again in search of employment, knowing that ultimately, I will likely end up once again in a corporation. Without such corporate support I would have little chance to run wild. The time and money to nurture the animal within is what gave me strength and sanity. How's that for a paradox; a feral man that must accept the bonds and constraints of a corporation to feed his nature?


-The Feral Man

Pirogues and skin-on-frame kayak books

Finally, a project photo! Here is a shot of my pirogue that I built about 5 years ago. I have paddled canoes and kayaks for years and owned a large sit on top kayak at one time. I enjoyed the sit on top but it was heavy and hard to move by myself. After several years of research and contemplation I decided to take the plunge and build my own boat. I went with a kit from www.unclejohns.com It included cypress stems and ribs. I added 1/4" plywood gussets to strengthen the ribs. It is covered with a layer of 3.5 oz fiberglass cloth and 5 or so coats of epoxy. The boat ended up being 11'9" long and weighing less than 25 pounds. A far cry from my 80#, 14' sit on top. It's a great boat for playa lakes and I have had it on Conchas lake in New Mexico. While on Conchas I encountered some 12" waves and a wind of about 10 mph. That was probably the limit of what I would put this boat through.

There is something very satisfying about paddling a boat of this type on still water, particularly in an area inaccessible to larger boats and those accursed jet skis. It is even more enjoyable if you built the boat yourself.

I plan to try some mouse boats at some point or perhaps a skin on frame kayak. As stated I do a lot of research and I have read portions of several skin on frame boat books over the past few years. Each has it's own merits and here is my analysis of them:

Wood and canvas kayak building, George Putz: If you have no desire to steam bend wood this is the book for you. built on plywood forms and assembled with glue and screws Putz' method is accessible to everyone. The canvas covering is attached with nails. Not interested in steam bending and stitching on a skin? If so this is your book.

Building the Greenland Kayak, Christopher Cunningham: An incredibly detailed book devoted solely to building one specific design. It introduces the reader to steam bending, construction using mortise and tennon joints, wooden pegs, lashing with artificial sinew and sewing on nylon coverings. Great chapters on making paddles, spray skirts, a tuilik ( paddling jacket), float bags, kid's kayaks and a balance stool. A balance stool is a plank attached to rockers to help train paddlers for the tippiness they will encounter in a kayak. It also includes instruction on launching and landing, rolling and paddling. If you know you want to build a Greenland this is the book for you.

Building Skin-on-Frame Boats, Robert Morris: Thorough instruction on building NINE models of skin-on-frame boats. Steam bending, joinery, lashing, stitched on coverings. A short chapter on paddle building. Good information on building using anthropometric measurements( spans, cubits and fistmeles). In addition to the good photos each book contains this volume also has excellent drawings. The voice of this book is very appealing to me as well. Here is a quote from the preface. "They are looking for a place where the human eye is regarded as a precise measuring tool, a place where "sweet" and "fair" and "true"are understood as technical terms, and romance is part of the working language." If you are not certain what type of boat you want to build this book is an excellent choice.

Enjoy your journey,

-The Feral Man

Neo-Tribal Razor

I said to myself a while back that after shaving my left cheek with my work knife that I wanted to make a razor. So I did.

The design was inspired by a decorative scroll that I'm making hundreds of at work, as well as a little knife I had seen from Neo-Tribal Metalsmith Tai Goo several years back. I saw how the scroll made a nice handle that I could slip two fingers into comfortably and then control the blade-like flaring of the scroll end.
So I took a little section of car coil spring and, while working on a commissioned long blade, forged it out as well.

First I drew out the tang very long. I rounded the corners a bit with my hammer. When it was good, I flattened the remaining stub of stock with the face of my hammer before switching to the cross pein of my hammer to spread it out into a fishtail. The spring had been cut at an angle, which gave me a blade angled pretty much as I wanted it. I just cleaned up a little with a belt grinder.


The next day I used files to round the edges of the handle a bit and smooth out the sides of the blade where my thumb and fingers would brace. After that, I forged a little pig-tail scroll at the end and curled the handle around. I came out with a larger scroll than the decorative scroll that inspired the design, but decided that it was where I wanted it. I can comfortably grip the handle with four, three, or two fingers now.

After forging, I used a file to bring it down to a cutting edge. I forged it thinner than I would a regular knife blade and filed it at a steeper angle. The corners were somewhat rounded to reduce the chances of cutting off prominent features of my visage. Once I was done filing, I heated just the edge and quenched it in veggie oil. This picture shows it right after quenching.

[img]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/jamesbhelm/Knives/razor02.jpg[/img]

After taking it home and tossing it in the oven at 350 degrees, I took a nice relaxing swim in the pool with a couple of visiting out-of-town friends and my girlfriend. After all, forging all day in San Antonio, Texas in July is hot work!

Afterwards, I took the blade out and tossed it into some white vinegar I have on hand for such purposes. It will eat the scale off of the metal, leaving the texture but not doing anything much to the blade. I left it in for a few hours, then washed off the sludge of the liquefied scale. It wasn't completely clean, but I wanted to work on the edge so I could shave in the morning. I used my coarse whetrock to work the edge at a steep angle, moving the blade in circular motions for a given number of revolutions and then switching sides. This is a weird whetrock, to me at least; it absorbs oil like a sponge, which I had never seen before. I guess it's a water stone. Spit works well as the lubricant for it.
Here's the blade after the brief vinegar soak and work with the coarse whetrock.

[img]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/jamesbhelm/Knives/razor03.jpg[/img]

In the morning, after pulling it out of the vinegar again and washing it off, I started to work with my medium whetrock, using 3-in-1 oil for lubricant. After cleaning up the edge some on the medium where it was more polished and I could feel and see better what was going on, I returned to the coarse stone. Sometimes that's what you have to do to get the edge established before you can really sharpen. After that, I moved back to my medium stone, moving the edge forward like I'm taking a thin slice out of the stone. Usually I go straight from my coarse stone to my fine stone and get it where it will shave hair effortlessly off the back of my hand. However, the face is more sensitive, and my beard stubble is thicker than the hairs on the back of my hand. In addition, from reading a bit about razor sharpening, I knew that the more polished the edge, the better. After working a while on the medium stone, I moved to a combination stone with a somewhat finer medium grit and a fine stone. I worked it on both sides. When I had the blade where it would shave hairs decently off the back of my hand, I took it to my strop, a long triangular piece of scrap leather that I secure on one end. I put a little Simichrome polish on it and then repeated my whetting motion but in reverse. At the same angle that I had been whetting it on the stone, I draw it backwards along the leather. I do one stroke on one side and then one stroke on the other. With work knives I typically do it about six strokes per side, but I did it more for my razor.

Here it is after the longer vinegar soak and sharpening:

[img]http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff35/jamesbhelm/Knives/razor04.jpg[/img]

After all this, I shaved with the sucker. I didn't have a mug and brush, which I know I should, and I knew that the edge needed more polishing to be really comfortable. I started off with a hot shower to soften the stubble and made sure that my spray lather covered everything well.

The razor worked pretty well. I was slow and careful and I had to think a little bit about what angle to approach the strokes with sometimes, but I was in no hurry. I gave myself a tiny nick in my nostril from the tip extending a bit further than I was paying attention to. It did quite nicely on my cheeks and jawline and around my mouth. The neck was a different issue. It's always the most sensitive area and the one that razor blades seem to have the hardest time shaving smoothly without nicking. It was not comfortable shaving the neck. I ended up with little nicks, but nothing worse than I would get on a clumsy morning with my normal Gillette. Splashed on aftershave, cleaned off the blood and I was good to go. After giving it a few mintues I washed my face to clear the dried blood from the nicks and you couldn't tell that I had been nicked at all afterwards.

This little razor slices leather quite nicely, too. I re-stropped the blade, then cut a little protective square of leather, folded it over the edge, and held it in place with a spring clamp. My buddies and I were on our way to visit with one of the other original Neo-Tribal Metalsmiths, Tim Lively, and I wanted to show it to him. When I have the chance, I'll build a little carrying case out of red cedar. I intend to keep working on getting the edge more polished and keep shaving with this. If I don't get lazy, I think this or another I make will be my razor that I use from here on. It's currently soaking in vingar. I'll leave it in until all of the scale is eaten away, then polish the edge some more.

I had never shaved with a straight razor before. I had never watched anyone in real life shave with a straight razor before.