Update: New Projects

Hi Folks,

Well, the lotteries have been very successful and I just want to thank everyone for signing up. I deeply appreciate the interest in my little tools and knives and I want to wish everyone the very best this holiday season! :)

I have a lot of stuff coming up even though it seems like it is taking forever. The long awaited extended G3 Prybabies are getting a pretumble right now. They should be back to me any day now...as soon as I get them I will be doing my name stamp and then sending them back to heat treat and then on to a final bright polish tumble. My aim here is to raise the bar on my finish and I think these may very well be the best that I have been able to achieve so far. I think the small delays in working out the new schedule will be well worth it. I'm not sure they will be completed before the heat treater breaks for the Christmas holiday though. If that is the case then these will not be done until the second week in January. I'll be pestering them though to get them to me before Christmas so keep your fingers crossed.

At the same time as the G3s there is a large batch of Mini Keytons that will be getting the same treatment.

In other news, I have long had an interest in antique tools as many of you know. My collection has grown over the years and I have a very wide range of hand tools. Everything from old pliers to wrenches to screwdrivers to pocket tools of all sorts. I'm always researching and evaluating that which came before my own little creations. One of my favorites has always been little rulers and I have about 40 of various sizes including the cool old boxwood and brass folding rulers as well as metal machinist rulers of all sorts.

So I got to thinking...how about a small pocket Atwood ruler? Even more interesting, how about an Atwood ruler tool? The first hurdle was to find a reliable laser engraver. My previous attempts to hook up with local companies was a disaster. They wouldn't return my calls, had unreasonable charges, etc. One place actually had a sample with promises to return it and never got to the project despite a dozen phone call reminders. I finally gave up in disgust. I recently attended a small trade show however and found a terrific place in eastern MA that will do the job for a reasonable price and turnaround time.

Anyway, this was just a first pass sample. The final tool will have the American scale across the top and metric scale on the bottom:



Cool huh? :) I thought it was pretty neat...but it gets even better:



Hehe, I've seen a lot of rulers but never one in ti. Lots of fun! If this works out as I hope it will open up a whole new palette of possibilities and I already have several drawings for future tool ideas.

Many of you might have seen pictures on the forums of a small Ringtool with captive bit. I had a couple of prototypes cut in steel to test the design. Recently I did some tweaks to the drawings and came up with something slightly more robust. Made of much thicker 3/16" stock, these are not only look much better but have a bit more weight to them as well. Well, the steel ones did anyway...but everything is better in titanium isn't it? :D



There's more too but that's it for now. I'm not sure if any of the above projects will be completed in time for Christmas but if not then January is going to be rather busy. In the meantime stay warm!