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An Unexpected Journey: A Newbie's Walk In Wet Shaving

Majorrich said:
My Mom passed away without walking for more than 100 steps at most on her new hip. I’m kinda wondering if there’s a market for gently used parts like that.
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There's a lot of those devices out there due to hip revisions. If mine wears out prematurely I want that thing because it would make a great cane someday.

Here's a picture of my American themed knife in progress. No finish on the handle, only a treatment of aquafortis and final sanding. The thin "guard" is just a stand-in piece to get the shape I want to forge out. The final guard will be much beefier and look like a good old Bowie knife guard. I haven't glued in the Indian head nickle yet either or the blade so that's just a loose fit that you see in the picture. I may do some refining on the glass blade too, depends on how much time I have. It's my first ever knife like this and when I want to keep it for myself I know it's going to turn out positive.

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That's the most epic looking glass knife I've ever seen. And it's not even done yet! Great work!
 
Thanks everyone for you kind words on the knife. Hopefully it will only get better from here on out. I just have to figure out how the steel guard will mate up with the handle and the glass blade. Normally with a steel blade there are things there to hold the guard from sliding forward on the blade and the handle mount keeps the guard from sliding that way. Many knife makers hot fit the guard to the blade. Steel shrinks when it cools and that thing is not moving anywhere especially with some epoxy added to the handle. I won't have any of those advantages and I have to make sure there's plenty of epoxy cushion between the glass and the steel guard as glass & metal don't get along too well. I think I have it figured out - lots of blacksmith work ahead.
 
That knife is truly amazing! You might have to get a hobbyist tag and provide a service for the Cadre!
 
There is an epoxy that has a softer cure. Gives more flex in a situation like that. I'll look it up when I get home and pm you with the details. Might help you out there.
Also, if you can manage to have tabs running back up into the handle scales from the guard like liners it may help keep it in place when it's all pinned and glued.
Blade-meister said:
Thanks everyone for you kind words on the knife. Hopefully it will only get better from here on out. I just have to figure out how the steel guard will mate up with the handle and the glass blade. Normally with a steel blade there are things there to hold the guard from sliding forward on the blade and the handle mount keeps the guard from sliding that way. Many knife makers hot fit the guard to the blade. Steel shrinks when it cools and that thing is not moving anywhere especially with some epoxy added to the handle. I won't have any of those advantages and I have to make sure there's plenty of epoxy cushion between the glass and the steel guard as glass & metal don't get along too well. I think I have it figured out - lots of blacksmith work ahead.
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ShawnF said:
There is an epoxy that has a softer cure. Gives more flex in a situation like that. I'll look it up when I get home and pm you with the details. Might help you out there.
Also, if you can manage to have tabs running back up into the handle scales from the guard like liners it may help keep it in place when it's all pinned and glued.
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That's actually what my thinking was. Drill out the center of the guard & saw tabs that fold out & down the sides of the handle. I can inlet those areas the thickness of the metal tabs so everything is flush. A pin might work, but 2 tiny screws might just be better. I hate to put screws in there because it will look so low rent so I may just fill in the screws with pewter and file it flush....yeah, that's the ticket!!!!!
 
This morning I had a really good shave. MW Bay Rum, Badger brush, and Master Bay Rum AS. Yesterday I used the Feather SS knock-off and got a little bit of irritation. Last night before bed I washed my face in some quality shaving soap and did a light rinse so my face would dry absorbing the soap's goodness. I've used this trick a few times in my short shaving career when irritation occurs. I think the rubbing action activates the natural lubricants in the hair follicles and the moisturizing stuff in the soap helps sooth it.

Feeling great after that treatment I did dial the Variant down to 4.5 from 5.0 just to give the face a little break. Worked out great and I got an effortless BBS shave that felt and looked great. It's funny, since I started face lathering sometimes my brush seems to get thinned out in the soap department. Probably due to lack of loading the brush enough. That's where mammoth painting comes into play. I add a trickle of water to the brush and use the old chest hairs to revive the lather and bingo, fresh quality lather to finish out the shave.

On the personal side, my wife and I went out to the cabin last night and got the rafter tails trimmed and the fascia up on the other side of the building. Tomorrow I hope to push it and get all the plywood decking on. If the weather cooperates for Saturday I hope to get the metal roof on.
 
Woke up this morning to a surprise..........every cold water shaver's dream..............no hot water. I went down and inspected the hot water heater and couldn't get the pilot light to stay on......ah probably the thermocoupler. Cleaned it up, still didn't stay lit. Dang if that's not an easy fix but I had court this morning so I'm going to have to take this one in the wallet and have somebody come out and replace it while I'm at work. Glad I'm a cold water shaver!!

I actually noticed that my cold "Army" shower this morning made the shave just a tad bit better for some reason.

On the personal side, I haven't done much updating on the cabin. The roof decking was all on this past weekend and I finally broke down and hired a contractor guy I know to put the metal roof on it. He said he'd do it for the little money I had laying around and he does good quality work.

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Here's the roof decking all on. There I am lurking in the far right of the picture.

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Another view

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Rare picture of Blade-Meister getting ready to start closing in the peak area of the roof.

With any luck, I'll come home tonight to having the roof on it...oh and hot water too at the house. I really hope it all goes well. This is the first time I've not been there to working / supervising the work being done. One step closer to Nurse Dave's @NurseDave dream of a TSC clubhouse.
 
Dave in KY said:
Time for some Tyvek, looking good
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Thanks Dave. I probably won't get to the Tyvek before winter. I'm not sure what I will do to protect it. The OSB will probably be able to stand a second winter being that it's so far off the ground. I was actually thinking about painting it, but our paint drying weather is gone unfortunately so my options are pretty lean right now. I still have to close-in the gable ends before winter too. I have everything I need for that though.

It sure is beautiful working out there in the fall!
 
I had a really great shave this morning. In fact, I had great shaves Saturday and Sunday as well. Of course I'm using MW shaving soap as usual but I've thrown in Kyle's SR for one or two passes and it's really performing well. It just needs to be stropped a little before each shave. Throwing the SR in with the DE is getting me in the DBBS range. I just have to add a little water to my lather while on the face so that the SR glides nice. Caribbean theme this morning with Coconut Sandalwood soap and Master Bay Rum AS. Smelled great, looked great, and felt great to start the week.

On the personal side, I had my last show this weekend. I brought 5 knives including the American themed one. By Sunday afternoon they were all sold. A customer of mine from Florida snapped up the American themed knife as soon as he saw it. It was hard to see that one go, but it will join several other of my knives at his home in Florida. We had a record weekend for this show so it looks like it's time to pay the fee and get my hobbyist badge. Great show. I even took a partial trade on a pipe tomahawk which netted me an Alaskan bear skull and a grizzly bear claw among a box of other critter parts. I picked up a beaver pelt and a bobcat head too, so I was happy to come home with some things to enjoy. More importantly, I got to talk to so many great people of all walks of life. I got to show them artifacts I've found and points I've made in the cases I have on display. I met engineers, cabinet makers, farmers, cops, house wives, teachers and many other people so it was interesting to switch gears to find common ground to talk with each one. The engineer appreciated my explanations of the physics involved with flintknapping while others just enjoyed other aspects. It was really cold, but being so busy you forget about that. I could see the blacksmith demo all day so the smell of coal smoke and the "ting-ting" of forging was also music to my ears among the sound of bluegrass bands playing live. Great event, and we love going there every year.

The contractor also got the metal roof on the cabin. He did a great job. I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally have a finished roof on the cabin. This weekend I'll close in the gable ends and it will be mostly ready for winter.

Pictures of the cabin and that American knife will be posted this evening.
 
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