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"Cauterize the wound..." Yes. That one goes in my "Wish I Had Written That One" file. And I'll have to give you (and my wife would heartily agree) there's not many stranger than me.😜
Mr. Airy is somewhat normal compared to larger cities around us. They kinda sorta obeyed the shutdown orders and mask mandates. The rank and file down around these parts are still a bunch who doesn't like to be told what to do. Any given day I go to the grocery store maybe 50% of the folks are wearing masks. The "experts" from the President's advisors on down have flip-flopped so much on everything they've said about the virus, social distancing, and masks, that I do not know who to believe. I'm to the point in my observations, that I think this whole mess is much more about control that it is about public health. And, being a NTMS, I've never liked rules much myself. My wife has serious heart and lung problems, so I play ball for her sake, but I do it only for her. And not because they tell me to.
It's cooling down a bit here, which makes it nice for forging. During the summer I was having to get in the forge about 6:00AM because by 11:00 AM it was at about 130 degrees in the shop. When I came in after a session, it looked like I had jumped in a swimming pool with my clothes on. Be that as it may, it didn't stop me.
Lately my emphasis has been on smaller knives, neck knives, and multi-tool type knives that I can sell for $100.00 or less. Also I began making Kydes sheaths, as they take less time, hence I have to charge lessfor them. When everything shut down and the economy with it, I figured it just wasn't the right time to be making $600.00 Bowies. A person might buy a hand forged neck knife for $100.00 or less and not have their wife start divorce proceedings against them. However should the same fellow come in one evening with a $500.00+ giant zombie chopper, then I'd have to put "Knifesmith and Home Wrecker" on my business card, which is never good for business.
My neck knife multi-tools have been popular. I've been using either 1/8" or 3/16" X 1" flat stock in 1080-1095. I forge a small, maybe 1.5" - 2" blade, and somewhere on the piece I also carve out a bottle opener, and hammer in a pry bar on the back end. On some I put small handles (usually my micarta, copper, or wood scraps). I'm ever trying to make them smaller, so I can get them down into the $50.00 range, as so many people cannot even afford $100.00. Since I'm retired now and Uncle Sam sends me a check each month, it pleases me to be able to put well made hand forged items in people's hands for something they can afford without having to dip into the food budget. And, I've pretty much given up on the idea of ever getting rich in the knife market, so I'm doing this more out of love of what I do, than out a profit motive. And if I sell one, then woohoo, I've got some walking around money!
What are you making these days?
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