Thursday Through Sunday

This is an older picture of Brian's knife.  These are the walnut knife scales I will be shaping and carving out the channel for the blade shank Thursday morning.  If the process goes smoothly, I am going to use the momentum.  So much of the time these past few weeks have been tied up in obtaining the materials, tools, and supplies to do this project.
Three years ago, I found a company in London Ohio that heat treats, and tempers steel blade shanks.  Even back then, they wanted $90 to do it.  They use ovens and carefully controlled temperature gauges.  To save the $90, I used my eyeball to determine cherry red before quenching in oil.  Then again, I used my eye to coax the spectrum of colors to temper the blade..  Heat treating the blade makes it hard, but it would be brittle if I didn't follow up with tempering the blade to give it back some of it's strength.  It is my understanding that if I would have somehow dropped the blade between the two processes, it could have shattered.  I didn't take any chances...after all, I have a cat.  I have a cat that likes to brush items off the workbench, if he decides to nap, or bathe.  Keeping Syd safe, and out of the work area, has been somewhat of a challenge.  What I try to do is put him outside while I am operating machinery, and let him in periodically so that I can get through each part of the process.  I anticipate that it will take me all weekend to finish this knife.  In addition, I have two Christmas orders for feather ear rings that I am anxious to get started on.