Dragon finished

It was a rainy dreary day out this morning so I did not have my usual sunshine to use my photo box. But all things considered these didn't turn out too bad. I caught a few stray reflections but not horrible. I am sure Mark (the owner) will take better pics. He has a better set up than I do and does a pretty good job with it.

The dragon wraps around the spine of the knife so the dragon dance covers three sides of the folder. The yellow is 24K gold inlay. The red lanterns are copper inlay and the green eyes are emeralds.

This was a very different type of work than I usually do and I found the change to be fun.

Now its back to the bench to finish up the Falcon pen project. I also have pics of my finished rod wraps to post. The reel seat for that is almost ready to anodize. At that point all the components will be ready to glue together into a finished rod.

Ray

Almost done

Almost done seams to be the theme of the day. I almost have the Dragon Knife done. I almost have the Falcon pen done. I almost have my new aluminum anodizing line finished. The goal is to have them all wrapped up before the weekend is over.

Once the Anodizing line is set up I will be able to make my fly rod parts out of aluminum and anodize them. This will make those ultralight rods a lot better to take that extra weight off.
I have all my chemicals now. I have the agitation device set up in the anodizing tank. It basically is a grid of acrylic tubing drilled full of holes to agitate the tank with aeration. I have my hot tanks (I used cookers and crock pots since my items will be small) for the other chemicals, dyes and sealers set up. Good lighting over the line with the power supply at eye level on a VERY sturdy shelf.

What's left? Well I need to finish the lead plate hook up and the hanging aluminum buss bar to complete the anode and cathode in the system. I need some heavy duty gallon jugs for dye and chemical storage. I still need a rinse tank. I have a water hose just outside the garage door next to the line but I still need a collection tank or tub next to the line for the water from the hose to collect. I think that is about it.

One more part to engrave on the reel seat (Oh ya that's almost done too) and its ready to anodize. I am really looking forward to giving this a shot.

Ray

Back to the rod

Finally we got some more done to the rod this weekend. I had the opportunity to do some work on the lathe this weekend and managed to turn out the rest of the parts. I even got the hood engraved and rough cut out.

Parts from left to right.
Trim Band, front hood, wood barrel insert, thread sleeve, slide band, threaded nut, fighting butt housing, end cap.

I am engraving this set with a flair cut style of bright cutting I have been playing with lately. It is a bold and relatively quick style to cut but it still looks good. When the engraving is done this will be anodized.

I think I have all the materials to set up my anodizing station. I am waiting for my friend Mark to finish with my hammer drill so I can bolt the shelving on the wall over the bench. Hopefully one evening this week I will get that done and be ready to do my own aluminum anodizing.

Ray

Ready to hunt

This week was spent mostly engraving. My daughter had her hunter safety classes a few evenings this week and most of today. I spent that time with her at the class. She passed her test with a 96% BTW and we are ready to start doing some squirrel hunting to get her ready for deer season this year.

I have done a lot on the falcon pen. I am far enough along that I will probably go ahead and finish that up in the earlier days this coming week. The copper for the dragon knife has arrived. so as soon as the pen is finished I will be back to that. Both of those projects should be finished (or close to it) by the end of this coming week if everything goes right.

I hope to get back to rod work tomorrow after church and finish up some drawings for the African themed knife and the Native American themed knife.

I have also been setting up my own anodizing set up for aluminum and titanium. That will allow me to make my reel seat hardware out of aluminum to reduce weight even farther than the titanium offers. That will be a benefit (I hope) on the ultralight rods.

Hang the weatherman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friends and I had planned a fishing trip for this past weekend. We expected the water to be a bit high due to the remnants of Gustav but the weather forecast was for two days of bright sunny skies for the weekend. Granny Clampets beetles can forecast weather more accurately than those boneheads. Two gloomy drizzly days with heavy cloud cover most of both days. There were few minutes each day the sun peeked through but definitely NOT what the Weatherman told us to expect.

We did catch fish but not as many as usual. The water was a bit cloudy due to the runoff and it was about a foot high. All three of us had decent catches but not at our regular numbers.

Its been a few days since I posted . I have been nose to the grindstone trying to get enough work done to be able to take off for the weekend. Projects are going well. I have the first coat of epoxy on the rod, I have the falcon pen started and I almost hav ethe inlay finished on the Dragon knife. The dragon knife has given me fits. There is one copper inlay around a curve on the butt end of the knife that is driving me nuts. I have inlaid it twice and can't get it to stick. Its wanting to bow up in the middle. I have tried cutting it deeper and recutting the footing. Today I ordered some new dead soft pure copper sheet (I think my current stuff is alloyed). When it gets here I will clamp this inlay as I go to make sure it seats the way it should. In the mean time I will continue to work on the falcon knife for David.

Sketches are also going on now in the evenings. I almost have the drawings for the African Elephant and Lions knife done. I am also working on sketches for a Ron Lake Fixed Blade with a Native American theme.

Back to work,

Ray

Getting started on a couple new ones

I have had the weekend to play around with some rod building now its time to get back to the grindstone.

Here are the designs for the projects I will be cutting on today. One is a falcon themed engraivng for a pen sleeve and the other is the parade dragon theme for the Sawby Knife. I am still working on the African elephant and lion designs for the other knife. The scroll on that is a bit complex and is taking a while. Hopefully, I will get that sketch finished in the next evening or two.