What's new
The Shaving Cadre

Welcome to The Shaving Cadre, a forum dedicated to gentlemanly discourse about wet shaving and other topics of common interests. Membership is always free so register today and join in the fun

Mike's Flintknapping, Blacksmithing, & Primitive Crafts

I had one of those stellar shaves this morning. Brand new Feather, Williams Mug soap, and my Parker Variant set on 4 for the first pass and 3.5 for the remaining passes. Boy that shave felt great. BBS and smooth. One thing I noticed about my pirate Bay Rum concoction is that it really needs to sit in the glass bottle for a while to merge and become the scent I'm used to. I mixed a new bottle of it and then used some after shaking it up and it did not have the scent I was used to. I thought I got the proportions wrong of the different Bay Rum's I combined, but it looks like the longer it sits in the glass bottle the better it gets. I used an old Worchester Sauce bottle so maybe there's some extra spice in there (naw, I washed it out good).
 
Blade-meister said:
God given for sure! I don't believe in coincidences either. I'm ordained to be where I am and what I'm doing and none of it is by chance. One of my favorite things to tell people after a good conversation is: "It's no coincidence that you and I ran into each other and had this conversation."

One thing that amazes me to think about is that a particular stone was created by God knowing that I someday would make something out of it.
Click to expand...
Amen. I was having a similar conversation the other day with a friend. It amazes me that people with no faith in anything besides themselves even get out of bed in the AM!

Somedays I have trouble fighting the good fight and I know the One that has my back!
 
Spider said:
I have a wood flute as well. I love playing it. And love listening to it.
Click to expand...
I have a friend who makes them and his are larger and have that low haunting note scale that sounds great. We knew a flintknapper's wife who could just wing it with the Indian flute and it was quite a treat to listen to her as the fire died down on a great night of talking around the campfire.

Here's a beauty of a camp or trail belt axe I made some years back. They are low cost really when compared to anything hand forged. I don't forge the heads. It's a replica of an axe found in a Mohawk Indian burial back when folks thought it was ok to do that sort of thing. I remember having this one at the show and it was gone before I'd finished setting up my display. This is an economical, but quality axe.

DSCN2944.JPG

Here's a pestle and mortar set with the mortar being a turtle effigy. I ran into the guy who bought it at another show and he said his wife has been using it to grind up all their herbs and spices that they grow naturally out in the garden and loves it. My Dad owns a real artifact pestle that is identical to the one I made only larger. Amazing artifact. It takes a LONG time to peck these stones into the final shape you see below, but it's all done the way it was done anciently. It takes an incredible amount of time to age it and give it the right feel, but I think the guy's wife will certainly add a lot to that patina over the years.

DSCN2954.JPG

DSCN2955.JPG
 
Blade-meister said:
We knew a flintknapper's wife who could just wing it with the Indian flute
Click to expand...
Is there any other way to play it? I was taught by Odell Borg when I lived in AZ. Everything is free form and not planned at all.
Mine is a pretty beginner flute, in the key of A. I’d love to get a nice deeper sounding flute.
 
Spider said:
Is there any other way to play it? I was taught by Odell Borg when I lived in AZ. Everything is free form and not planned at all.
Mine is a pretty beginner flute, in the key of A. I’d love to get a nice deeper sounding flute.
Click to expand...
I tried the finger hole type teaching aids for specific songs and found I just didn't like it. I felt like the best I could do came right from my heart. I developed pieces I likes and linked them to other pieces and I enjoy playing it this way. I didn't enjoy and got frustrated trying to learn songs by the finger hole charts. I'm still not very good in the sense that I haven't been taught by anyone, but my family enjoys hearing my playing so it can't be too bad. Now my flute has a proper flute bag to rest in vs. just sitting on my bedroom dresser. Perhaps you could post a short example of your playing before one of your shaving videos. That would be cool. Let me know if you do because I don't alway watch the shaving vids like I used to.
 
I've been working on this pipe tomahawk special order for a few months now. I had to wait for the weather to warm up enough for me to put the finish on the handle! I finally just sat myself down this morning and finished it. I normally do period correct, old looking stuff so it's always a challenge when the customer wants shiny and polished. This one is a bit more polished than the period ones were, but that's what this customer wanted. It actually takes more time to get it this shiny and pretty vs. making it look like it has 200 years of miles on it. The handle is curly maple, the head is solid brass, and the mouth piece is cast pewter. I cast my own mouth pieces so I can customize them to the piece I'm working on. Lots of hand work involved and I was pleasantly surprised when it was done because normally I have hours of brass tacks to fit and install. This customer doesn't like brass tacks and believes it mars the beautiful pattern in the wood. He has a point. That piece of wood for the handle is one of the nicest pieces of curly maple I've had the pleasure of working with. Last special order of the year since we are likely moving south this year. Lots of house projects to finish and searching for houses in the south. Roll Tide Roll!

IMG_1748.JPG

IMG_1749.JPG

IMG_1750.JPG
 
That’s a gorgeous piece, Mike. Come on down to Bama. What part of the state are you looking to move to?
 
Blade-meister said:
I've been working on this pipe tomahawk special order for a few months now. I had to wait for the weather to warm up enough for me to put the finish on the handle! I finally just sat myself down this morning and finished it. I normally do period correct, old looking stuff so it's always a challenge when the customer wants shiny and polished. This one is a bit more polished than the period ones were, but that's what this customer wanted. It actually takes more time to get it this shiny and pretty vs. making it look like it has 200 years of miles on it. The handle is curly maple, the head is solid brass, and the mouth piece is cast pewter. I cast my own mouth pieces so I can customize them to the piece I'm working on. Lots of hand work involved and I was pleasantly surprised when it was done because normally I have hours of brass tacks to fit and install. This customer doesn't like brass tacks and believes it mars the beautiful pattern in the wood. He has a point. That piece of wood for the handle is one of the nicest pieces of curly maple I've had the pleasure of working with. Last special order of the year since we are likely moving south this year. Lots of house projects to finish and searching for houses in the south. Roll Tide Roll!

View attachment 52084

View attachment 52085

View attachment 52086
Click to expand...
Wow, beautiful piece there. That wood is exquisite!

Ok, if this one is for @Smattayu you're going to need to take off quite a bit more from that edge before he can shave with it.
 
I've had this beautiful 1800's mountain man knife made by Foster Bros from NY and I started a proper sheath for it then got distracted. I finally took the time to finish it. Finally something that's for me to keep! On the advice of people who do better work than I do, I tried to vary the brass tacks and put some out of alignment as many of the originals were. The only thing I forgot to do was color the fringe at the bottom. I'll darken it up to look like it has some miles on it. The fringe serves a dual purpose actually. It looks good, but is folded over inside the sheath to act as a stop for the tip of the knife blade so you don't poke it through the sheath should you fall. The knife is 13 inches long from the end of the handle to the tip of the blade. This early Foster Bros knife was also hand forged on an anvil because they didn't yet build the power hammers. This very well could have been used by mountain men or settlers that headed west, nobody knows. It will be my carry knife when I want to make a statement or when I'm at shows with mountain men. I also carry it in the woods when out there. I've always wanted one of these, and now I have this one and a buffalo skinner.

IMG_1755.JPG

IMG_1756.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top