Metalworkings!

[Destichado]

God, I haven't posted here in Creative in forever.  Not that I haven't done anything!  I've been decently busy, but I just don't seem to get around to posting (or even taking) pictures and posting my projects.     Well, allow me to remedy that.


Did I ever mention the time I tried to build a butterfly knife?  I was fifteen at the time.  My boss, a Filipino mechanic, had told me about how back home nobody bought knives, unless they were really fancy, they made them.  They'd take a saw blade or file or car spring and grind the blade, bend some sheet metal and drill holes for the rivets or bolts, and that was their bali-song, or butterfly knife.  So I tried to do the same thing!  I took a big reciprocating saw blade, ground what I now think of as a tiny knife out of it, bent some expanded metal around it... oh, it was horrible.  I never did get it to work.   

About... oh, two months ago, I was looking at a knife catalog and saw a balisong for sale, and it had a single-edge, clip-point blade.  I ranted and raved for about five minutes, because the whole beauty of a butterfly knife is being able to safely carry a double edged blade in your pocket.  If you want a single edge, get a jack knife!  And that got me thinking about my old attempt, and how laughable it was, and whether or not I could do better today.  Of course I could do better, but how much better?  And as you can imagine, a challenge to myself like that can only lead to one thing.














It led to a darn nice butterfly knife sitting on my desk, that's where it led!  If the knife looks rough and unfinished in those last pictures, well, that's because it was.  But it was assembled at the time, and it WORKED, and I was so happy (relieved might be more like it!) that I had to take pictures with my phone.    

This thing is, as you can see, rather robust.  Big.  It's also ridiculously fun to flip.  Everyone who sees it in person gets this big stupid grin and has to play with it for at least a minute. 

[Destichado]

Backtrack six months.  In the middle of the summer as you may remember, I was pulling concrete for a living.  A big part of the job involved wrecking out old concrete, sometimes where  it was too tight to get a piece of machinery, so you had to do it the old fashioned way, with a sledgehammer and a pickaxe.  Fun times.  Another big part involved setting up and taking down forms, which primarily involved plywood sheets, and stakes to hold them up.  Lots of stakes.  Stakes which had to be hammered in deep, with sledgehammers. 

You know, you'd think it would be hard to miss the end of a 2x4 with a sledgehammer, but it's not.     Too often, the (rather rounded) face of the hammer just catches the side or corner of the stake, and you half knock it over.  BLAH.  So often I thought to myself, "Why can't I have a hammer that just has a bigger face???"  So, me being me, I decided to do something about it.  I would MAKE a sledgehammer!  A concrete worker's sledgehammer!  I wanted something with a big face, and maybe even a spike on the other side so I could break up sidewalks and stuff instead of needing to use a pickaxe.

So I started on this grand project. ...and started again because I didn't like what I had. ....and started AGAIN because I screwed up the last time. ...and by the time I started the last time I had quit the concrete job three months back.   On a completely unrelated note, about a week ago, I started playing Warhammer Online.  I play as one of these folks.  Don't know why I brought that up.  Anyway,I still had the darn hammer head lying around, so by God I might as well finish it, right? 

So I sat down, fired up the welder, and I did.  The next day, guess what showed up on my phone's camera?






 













The horrible thing is, I think I've just made it too pretty to use.     But I said that about the Estwing hammer I engraved, and look how hard I used it.  We'll see. 

I happened to surprise the heck out of myself when I finished this.  It looks like it ought to be impossibly heavy, but really it's only 10 lbs!  That's a very normal weight for a sledgehammer, some would even say diminutive, and it happens to be exactly what I was aiming at. 

Still needs to be hardened and tempered -and maybe engraved?   But that's a job for another day.

[Emma]

Yep.  Now you just need to start pulling concrete again. 

Anyway, I am srsly envious.    Metal working would be such a hardcore skill for costume making.  ;_;

[Delfina]

Yeah.. very hard core @_@ seeing you all dirty makes me feel dirty Des ~_^ Very nice ka-niff though

[Ollie]

Yeah.. very hard core @_@ seeing you all dirty makes me feel dirty Des ~_^

*snort*

Good stuff, man! i'm still waiting on that kniiife...  (yesyes I know the "requirements" for it, I still want it)

[Destichado]

Yeah.. very hard core @_@ seeing you all dirty makes me feel dirty Des ~_^

I believe a heybaby is called for. 

Also, it occurred to me that with that hammer, I have pretty much everything I would need to cosplay as a battle priest.   ...I wonder if there are any cons around between now and the middle of January.   

[Emma]

http://www.animecons.com/

[Titch]

I would pay money to see Des show up at an AnimeCon dressed in full plate with a horse.

Except not, but it would be awesome.

[Rook]

I would pay money to see Des show up at an AnimeCon dressed in full plate with a horse.

Except not, but it would be awesome.

Maybe we could make a pool?

[Emma]

And you can all pay the money to me.  So that Des will do it.  Yes.  This makes perfect sense.  DON'T QUESTION ME.

[Destichado]

Of course not.  You just want to pool the money so I have to show up at a con in Vancouver.  AMIRITE!?   

=P

I would pay money to see Des show up at an AnimeCon dressed in full plate with a horse.

Except not, but it would be awesome.

If they'd let a horse through the door, I'm pretty sure I could borrow a horse to do it. 

Actually, being on a tall horse is about the only way I'd feel safe at an anime con.   

[Titch]

Don't worry Des, nobody would try and glomp you if you where wearing full plate armor.

And if they did they would probably regret it.

[Rook]

If worst came to worst, just add spikes 

[Poil]

Menacing spikes of iron, green glass and cat leather! Sorry, Dwarf Fortress joke... <_<

Me want shiny weapons. Do you think santa would be likely to steal them for me?

[Delfina]

Des.. you should post more metal works <_<..Shirtless mind you.. Has to be shirtless or its unacceptible..

..SAME WITH YOU WOMEN FOLK!!!...

[Hadrian Emrys]

I know this is way late, so what?

Have you yet thought of trying to sell the hammer to concrete workers? There has to be some money to be found in such a neglected market, and I imagine that they'd appreciate a tool to make their lives easier.