Flogging in the heat

I have a knife show coming up over Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas. I had a few pieces left in stock from the Blade Show back at the beginning of June, plus a month to prepare. Figured I could knock out a few commissions and have plenty of time to build inventory.

Then, I caught a cold/flu-like bug at my niece's first birthday party the last weekend in July that knocked me on my back where I barely left the couch for at least 10 days. And everything that I had on hand sold.

So now I'm scrambling in 100+ degree south Texas late summer to get some work together so I won't have an empty table. And I haven't posted work in a while, so I figured I'd do so before getting a shower and crawling into bed.

A batch of Benghazi Warfighters as pre-forms.



And with the blades rough forged, trimmed, final forged, and awaiting final profile cleanup before cutting out the tangs and normalizing.



A few cord-wrapped knives waiting to get trimmed and impregnated with marine epoxy. The one with the retina-searing yellow is a commission.



A stack of tomahawks waiting to be ground. Probably not all of these will be done for the show. Gotta make strategic decisions on where to dedicate time.



And finally a couple of bush swords post-heat treatment. The blunt-ended one is about a 14" blade and the slender, sinuous one is about 16".

You got your work cut out for you! Good luck.

I hate being sick. I hope you recover quickly and start feeling a little bit better.

Good luck on the show.

DeMo

Thank y'all!

DeMo - No worries; I'm all recovered now. Just busy.

Made some more progress today.

First got the wraps impregnated with marine epoxy, essentially making a composite material in place on the tangs. They're solid now.



Then worked on the Benghazi Warfighters.

After cleanup grinding on the profiles, time to cut out the tangs with my fancy-shmancy high-moolah bandsaw.







Some cleanup grinding.







Drilled the rivet and lightening holes, then triple normalized.



And now they're soaking in vinegar overnight to eat the scale off. All going well, they should have stock removal and heat treatment done tomorrow.

Here are the Benghazi Warfighters between their first and second tempering cycles.



My goal for the day is to grind and heat treat tomahawks.

Looking good!

Finished up the bush swords and got some pics.





Tried to get some of the tomahawks and my camera ran out of juice!

Off to bed. One day left to get everything finished up.

Back in Texas, though not back home yet. It was interesting in Las Vegas because while it was above 100 degrees like in San Antonio, the much lower humidity meant that it actually felt comfortable in comparison! We're putting in long days and lots of miles to get back and made our only early stop in Lubbock, my old college stomping grounds, this afternoon. We saw the extreme of 113 degrees in Needles, California, with $4.89 gas and 77 degrees near the Grand Canyon, with $3.14 gas here in Lubbock.

I did manage to have a respectably full table, even if I did finish up sharpening in the hotel room and putting straps on the tomahawk sheaths at the show.

My loverly bride, Allie, always makes knife shows more fun. God bless her patience!



Right side of the table, with the bush swords.



Left side, featuring the new 15" tomahawks.



Three lengths of Wrecker 'hawks for comparison.



The 15" hammer poll sold. I got a picture before it left the table.



And a couple of the Benghazi Warfighters. I missed getting sheaths built for the black ones. I'll get those together this week after getting back home.





The 15" 'hawks and the Benghazi Warfighters both feature a new handle material for me: Tero Tuf. It's a composite material similar in concept to Micarta, but tougher and less toxic to work with, as well as feeling similar to canvas Micarta on the hand but a bit more comfortable. I'm pretty happy with it, and sure plan to make use of it more in the future.

Had a lot of fun, met new folks, talked with old folks, made good contacts, sold some blades. Good show!