Thumbs Up

I have gotten two replies from people I have had look at my heavy staff video and both were positive.  Now I just have to come up with some way of getting more people to see it.  I would be ecstatic if someone wanted to actually use my ideas. 

leaving behind my Luddite tendencies

A few days ago my journey into modernity took a big step forward.  Last winter I made a wooden staff with extra weight on the ends to use as an exercise tool.  The principle of this tool is the same as using Indian clubs.  The angular momentum gives a good workout as you swing the club through various patterns.  If anyone reads this and wants to see the video go to You Tube and look for "heavy staff exercise" or jimstumo. and let me know what you think.

Possibilities, Chapter Three

What , you may ask, is another possibility for making knives?  Bronze.  Who would want a bronze knife? Would there be collectors or re-enactors who would be interested in weapons and tools that predate designs from the iron age?  To make bronze knives/ axes/ swords I would need to learn to make proper molds and pour molten bronze and then learn to hammer harden the edges so that the tool will take and hold an edge.  The learning curve on all of these things would be both steep and long.  Would the long learning curve and the need for specialized equipment be impediments?  Yes they would, but they would also be fun projects to overcome.  I will have to think hard to come to some conclusion about this conundrum.  I will get back to you later.

Possibilities, Chapter Two

How else could I make knives without having to use the modern materials that cause me grief?  Well, the first thing that comes to mind is to go completely "tribal" or use nothing but old fashioned and low tech methods.  I personally care for the term tribal in situations like this because it could be used in a condescending way as Primitive is sometimes used to mean not good enough or unfashionable because it is unmodern. Going low tech could mean going to a solid fuel forge (coal or charcoal) and doing all the finishing work by hand with files, scrapers and stones.  Another possibility would be to use a propane forge and hammer blades to shape , then finish by hand.  Both of these routes would require building the necessary equipment and procuring or making a suitable anvil.  Actually,  I would enjoy the process of doing the building and procuring , especially if I could find some one knowledgeable to help me.  Perhaps the solid fuel alternative would be better.  I personally would like to use charcoal because its use goes very far back in history and because of the fact that I hate the smell of burning coal.  


Perhaps the thing to do would be to look around for blacksmiths in this area ( Pella Iowa) and get some advice.  Whatever happens I will keep all of my faithful readers posted.  Please note the irony of that last sentence.

Possibilities, Chapter One

The first possibility that I can think of for how to keep making knives is this; I can  continue to use found objects of hardened steel without using readily available abrasives by making a metal cutting bandsaw and using diamond wheels and files to shape the edge profiles.  There are bandsaw blades available which have tungsten carbide particles along the edge.  With these I could cut knife profiles out of just about any sort of material.  After that diamond wheels and hones could be used to make and sharpen the edges.  The biggest problem I can see with this approach would be that these tools would have a fairly high up front cost, but if I want to continue with my idea of taking found objects that are already hardened and tempered steel and making knives out of them without destroying the heat treatment in them it would make it possible without the types of abrasives that I am allergic to.  Stay tuned for chapters two and three to come.

Allergies and other hobbies

I went to the garage today to work on a knife and later had an allergic reaction to the abrasives I used.  How am I going to do the things I like when the grease and oil from my motorcycle and the abrasives I grind knife blades with make me feel this crappy?  Maybe I can get help with the modifications I want to do to my bike and I could go to using all traditional ( pre- modern) techniques in my knife making.  The worst part of the allergies is that I get really short tempered when they flare up and am a pain in the ass to my family.  If anyone out there in the blogosphere wants to talk about motorcycles, bicycles, knives or allergies let me know.

Eponymus posting

Grab your dictionary if you don't get the name of this posting.  Why would anyone call a blog Two Wheels and Sharp Edges?  I call it that because those are the things that fascinate me the most.  Anything that rolls on two wheels and knives, swords, axes and anything else that I can make really sharp and useful.  All of that and perhaps a bit of my own philosophy to boot. Watch out world I am finally joining the 21st century.  Now I just have to make it interesting enough to get other people to want to read it.