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Mike's Flintknapping, Blacksmithing, & Primitive Crafts

CBLindsay said:
So, I’m guessing if someone wanted to send you some G10 material (ghost jade), bone or something that is used for scales you could do inlay or scrimshaw? Can you also cut and shape material into the shape of scales? How about brush handles or stands?
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I usually make the mistake of saying "Yeah, I can do that." get the stuff and say "Oh man, what did I get myself into?". I've never done anything like you've described, but I usually just ask people to send me an example of what they want done so I can better evaluate if I can do it. I've actually thought about grinding some stone brush handles, but I'm not sure how I will get the knot space carved out of the top. I can for sure forge brush and razor stands. I've not seen anyone doing the hand forged razor and brush holders so I plan on fooling around with a few prototypes. I've got some cool ideas for them. I've also got some ideas for creating hook systems that could be installed inside cabinets to hold brushes and razors. For me it's not a lack of ideas but time to commit to getting them done.
 
There's a good story behind this anvil. It's a German Trenton dating to around the 1890's. It was manufactured in Germany and imported by Herman Boker (yes the same Boker who was famous with old blades) to sell under the Trenton name. It's the earliest Trenton anvil and is a bit of a rare and collectible anvil. Blacksmiths care more about the quality of the anvil as a tool than it's collectibility so I put this old girl right to work after a proper cleaning.

Rewinding a bit, I was in search of an anvil for over a year. I put the word out to everyone I knew that I wanted an anvil and finally I was told that a friend of a friend's nephew had anvils. This guy was hard to get a hold of, but I finally nailed him down to a Friday night. He was a super good guy who had a garage that would fit in with any American Picker's episode due to it being packed full of antiques and blacksmithing tools. I wasn't super happy with what he had in the garage (besides the armful of tongs and hammers I quickly snatched up) and then he said "Hey, I've got a trailer full of anvils out back if you want to look." So I went out and he flips off a tarp and there were 10 or 15 anvils on the trailer. Two anvils where already claimed by two snakes coiled up on them so I decided to go with this anvil. I love it and got a really good price on it. It looked like this when I got it, but I restored it so as to preserve the patina yet get all the rust and old paint off it. Contrary to popular belief, a good anvil doesn't have crisp, sharp edges. Many anvils have been ruined by well-meaning people trying to grind them down or mill them down so they have crisp edges. There's only a thin plate of hardened steel on the tops of these old anvils and once it's gone, it's gone. There are solid cast tool steel anvils that were made, but I'd say the majority out there were made with a wrought iron base and a hardened steel top plate welded onto it.

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Here's the stamp of my forge name that goes on most of my forged work. The anvil on the maker's mark is a shadow copy of my German Trenton above. I'll have to take updated pictures of my forge area.

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Some of you may have seen the cane I made for myself when I needed it to get around before and after my hip replacement. The head of the cane is made from a railroad spike. Custom file work of a popular Owasco pottery design was applied to the body of the cane head to give it character. The shaft is decorated like many of my tomahawks and stained to look old. I have 3 cane heads in the works currently and hope to work on them soon.

The cane below is the one I made for myself for the hip issues. I can make many types of cane heads, so if anyone is interested just send me PM.

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The Monkey said:
That file work is incredible!
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Thanks! It took a lot of time, but I brought a mini vise to work and filed it on my lunch breaks and at night.

ShawnF said:
I can't remember if you told me before, did you drill or drift the handle hole?
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I slit the hole first, and then drifted it with an ovil punch. Slitting ensures that you don't remove material like you would with a round punch that produces a plug. A round punch will bulge out the sides, but the ovil one will not do that as much and you can just hammer it back into square. The ones I did a few months ago I drifted them with a round punch and liked how they turned out. Having a cone mandrel or a mini horn to go in your hardy hole helps a lot. I mounted the head like I would one of my blacksmith hammers. It's solid and supported me, but the ones I sell will be drilled and pinned to ensure the head doesn't come off. I'd hate to see that happen and someone to get hurt.
 
Adds some nice weight on the end for keeping the flippin' whipper snappers in line!
 
NurseDave said:
Adds some nice weight on the end for keeping the flippin' whipper snappers in line!
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I'd hate to get hit with it for sure. I went through the metal detectors at court with it and the guy was pretty sure it was a cane sword or something because he looked it over really well. If I had a dapper suit with a nice derby hat, I'd be tempted to take the cane out on the town just for fashion :LOL:
 
Here's a picture I took a few years ago of most of the points I've made that are in my own personal collection. These are all points that I just loved too much to let go. Someday I'm going to get shirts made with this picture.

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I also can draw too. I love to do pen and ink drawings. I haven't had much time in the past few years to devote to it, but here's some of my work.

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Here's a point that was a special order for a prominent Pennsylvania collector. It's one of the few points that really was painful to see leave my hands. It's a replica of a point named Perkiomen and they are a high dollar point in the Northeast when made of PA Jasper. This type of flint goes for over $10 a pound because you just can't get it anymore in this quality. The veins running through it are pure quartz and when held up to a light source the light shines right through the veins. These points are typically asymmetrical like this which makes them hard to make for a lot of knappers used making perfect looking points. The quartz veins are really hard to get flakes to travel through sometimes, but everything went perfectly with this one.

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GearNoir said:
Fantastic artistry! I can see why you have museum quality work!
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Thanks Chris. Museums are great to work with. My favorite museum project had a replica I made displayed in the same room as Ishi's real equipment. Ishi was the last Yahi Indian to wander out of the hills of California and without this desperate attempt by him to find social connection after his family was all killed or died off, we wouldn't know half of what we know today about flintknapping.

The Monkey said:
@bli just checked out your website. Very cool stuff.
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Thanks! 🍌🍌🍌
 
I have an order for two pipe tomahawks that came in. The hawk heads are pretty complicated because they are brass and I have to dovetail in a steel cutting edge on each one. The cuts have to be pretty exact, and then they are silver soldered into place. This was what was done traditionally. I've drilled-out the bowls and last night I got one steel edge rough-fit into it's brass head. The last time I made one of these I wasn't a blacksmith so it's nice to have an anvil to peen the brass head that last little bit to get a tight fitting connection. Once the the steel cutting edges are soldered in, I'll have to pour pewter mouth pieces then comes the easy part of fit and finish of the handles. I'll post some photos along the way.
 
I can only imagine bits and pieces of that process and it looks so awesome in my head. I can't wait to see how they turn out.
 
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