In Progress

<-- That old three-dollar Kabar/Navy blade en route to a new life as a knockabout hunter. Some pits remain, and the "blood groove" shows residual grinding marks. I decided to let well enough alone after already reducing the blade thickness by at least 1/16th.

I decided I didn't like the koa wood and subbed the walnut . Everything is done through the 100-grit level. I'll probably stop at 180 and may just spray some leftover fake parkerizing on the blade. The grip -- shaped to be comfortable in my hand -- gets a few of coats of highly thinned linseed oil. The finished product will represent about four bucks and something like three hours of pleasant tinkering.

Good People Down There

The New Zealand Libertarians were kind enough to let me join their mailing list, and it's pleasant to keep an eye on our colleagues in the South Pacific. They're fighting the same sorts of statist diddlydowops we are.

The latest I have from them is a notice that their next meeting won't be a talkity-talk session. They're gathering to lend a hand to one of their own who has a mission:

"A friend of Liberty is running a working bee to continue upgrading his facilities north of Auckland. Graham Crawshaw continues his independent campaign to provide literacy skills to boys (mainly) falling through the cracks in our education system so I thought we could have lunch there and pitch in."

So, if you happen to be in the Aukland vicinity this weekend ...

Cutlery

A couple of annoying obligations kept me around here over the weekend. At least there was enough dead time to give some of the shop tools a workout, and there's a new letter opener on my desk. With it's symmetrical dagger blade (decent enough stainless) and sturdy walnut handle, it looks a lot like a dangerous knife, but that's just a coincidence.

The other one is that trashed out Navy Mark II Kabar I mentioned a few days back. Draw filing and polishing erased nearly all the pits, not to mention about a quarter of the original blade thickness. Its walnut handle is rough cut, just enough to make me think this one will turn out well, so I guess I'll take some pains with the final finish.

It's fun to plug this minor hobby of creating useful edged tools from junk. The required skill level isn't very high, the cost is negligible, and the rewards are substantial. I'll post a picture or two when I return from a short trip south.

(I urge caution in recommending home brew cutlery for readers who live where Great Britain used to be.)

Happy Brithday to Me

TheTMR is a year old today.