Talonite Mini Prymera

My second piece made from Talonite.

Talonite MiniMakemake

My first Talonite tool:)

Recent Prymera

Pics aren't so great; guess it's time to clean the ol' camera:)

This is the most recent fullsized Prymera I've finished. It's been sitting around for months (since the last batch) waiting to be completed. I know there has been some demand for these again, so I hope to get moving on more in the very near future. This one has a grind that separates the blade from the scraping/pry end. I like it much better as you can use each tool without much fear of messing up the other. I think it will make it easier to sharpen as well, though time will tell.

Mosaic Mini Makemakes

Butter/Snack Knife in Titanium

Made this one up for my keychain. Never know when it may be time for peanut butter and crackers;)

3 inches in length and titanium.

Most Recent Damascus Including MiniMakemakes

Flamed Ti

Practicing with the torch:) Adam (Crux) gave me some good pointers concerning flame coloring; thanks Adam!
Company present, so I'll check in with more info soon:)

Damascus Thumbnails: Sharkstooth and Fireball Varieties

Another Variation: Mini Makemake

Just a little shorter than the Makemake, these have a finger choil incorporated into the design. This one is the Proto.
Made from titanium, and 2.25" in length.

More Damascus Makemakes

Just a quick pic of the latest batch. A couple are sold/spoken for, and I'll put the rest up on the website this evening:)

Been Brutally Hot Lately

I've been sort of quiet lately; not getting as much done as I would like, as it's been really hot in the shop, often topping out around 115 degrees. It's early in the summer, so I'll toughen up;) (hopefully)

Here's a quick pic of the last custom order I just completed as well as a pic of the shop themometer taken a couple hours ago.

Stainless Damascus Makemake 2.5s

These are the latest 4 damascus pieces I've made while working down in what can only be described as the ninth circle of hell (aka. my shop) It has been hot!!! , and is only gonna get worse as the summer progresses.
left: Herringbone
2nd: Raindrop
3rd: Ladder
right: Spirograph

I still need to clean and polish each piece with Renaissance Wax, but wanted to snap a quick pic before I lost the light.

**I've also changed the names of this piece, as there is another knifemaker using the name "PryMate" for one of their models. In keeping with the Moai theme, I'm naming these Makemake, which is the term for the god of the Birdman Cult on Easter Island (Rapa Nui).

Latest Work and a New Forum

Here is a recent custom order I finished up for someone:)
Titanium PryMate Thumbnail with mosaic pin and ultragreen glowdot
The stainless damascus piece from a couple posts below
Titanium Baby Pacu with mosaic pin and ultrablue glowdot
Titanium Ported Baby Pacu with mosaic pin and ultragreen glowdot

As early as this evening, I should have my own forum on the USN (Usual Suspect Network)
This is the place where I met Larry Davidson who is ultimately responsible for introducing me to the world of metalworking and knife/tool making. I'm very excited about it and am exceedingly grateful to my friend John (aka Gadget Guy) for his help in making it possible. Come by and say hello if you get the chance!:)

Abbreviated Baby Pacu

A new one (sort of) that I'm thinking of adding to lineup, along with the Prymates. This one closely resembles the damascus piece posted below, and I'm just calling it an Abbreviated Baby Pacu for the moment.

*As a side note; I was watching "River Monsters" on television last night, and it dawned on my that I've been spelling "piranha" incorrectly when labeling the Pryranhas. I had been adding two R's.

Couple of New Damascus Pieces

Here are a couple of pics of the last couple pieces I've managed to finish up. One is a tiny plankton sized ladder damascus Pacu. I made it for someone, and really like how it's small, damascus, and entirely functional:)

The other piece is a Vines and Roses Prymate (Jake, you must be psychic). I've been trying to scale most of the tools down to 2.5", which is the length of this piece:)

New Tool Design: Prymate?

I wanted to get up a few quick shots of a new tool I've been playing with. I've just made the one so far, and here it is next to the Reptilian Hammerhead I kept for myself. It's a basic design, and I think it would be easy to modify, as well as serve as a good platform for ports, mosaics, glowdots and such. Not sure what to call them, and I've just been referring to them as Prymates.

Click on the pics for a high resolution shot:)

DotMatrix Pacu and Raindrop Betta

Camera's acting crazy again, and the colors are coming up screwy. Here are the latest two damascus pieces: one Raindrop Betta, and one DotMatrix Pacu. Both of these turned out pretty nice.

I have two patterns of damascus that when finished, I'm not happy with. The Fireball and Sharkstooth pattern stock I have both appear to have impurities in parts of the bar or something in one of the steel layers. Although handled and finished exactly the same way, they just don't produce the smoothness and visual appeal of the other patterns (which is a shame, because they are really neat). With this batch, I also finished up a Fireball Betta, that exhibits the problem. Structurally, I'm sure it's fine, but because of its appearance, I can't sell it as "first" quality. I'll likely either sell these pieces at a heavily discounted price (as seconds), or I'll give them as bonuses for certain orders. For anyone taking both pieces above, I'll include the Fireball Betta for free to serve as "user". I'll also try to start listing these pieces in the "Seconds" section of the website, so keep an eye out:)

Tool ID Cards

I've always like how Peter Atwood, CRK, and others include an ID/"Born on" card with their knives and tools, and today I finally managed to order a few hundred to try out. I ended up with 3 colors (100 of each), and will be including one of them with each tool/knife in the future. This is just the first batch; I'll try to get the lynx logo on the next set:)

I should have pics of a few new damascus pieces tomorrow.

A Few Unique Titanium Pieces

left: ported Baby Pacu with a single 1/8" mosaic pin
center: ported Betta with a glow-dot and single 1/8" mosaic pin
right: the first Baby Pacu I made with the new titanium stock. It was the experimental piece I made that I also attempted to heat color numerous times with varied degrees of success (or failure, depending on how you look at it) ;)
On the ported pieces, on one of the ports on each piece, I had a little trouble with the drill bit. If you look very closely, you may be able to see that one of the holes on each piece isn't perfectly rounded.

Thick Titanium's Here!

Top photo:

Sharkstooth damascus Thumbnail

Long Baby Pacu. The first piece I made to try out the new titanium shipment. I also practiced heat coloring with a torch. At first, I got an amazing contrast of colors, but got "greedy" and tried to control the patterning to get the tiger striping effect so many others are able to get. I've heard that beadblasting the finish before hand helps. Anyway, I tried numerous other times, before just giving up and letting it be light blue (for the most part).

Middle photo:

An ultralean titanium Hammerhead. The stock was not quite wide enough to allow for a regular sized Hammerhead, but I wanted to see what I could do anyway. This one will remain a one of a kind piece, as I'll probably get wider material before making more of the Hammerheads.

A large Thumbnail type piece that is thicker and longer than most other pieces. It also has nicely radiused edges down the sides:)

Bottom photo:

An example of the three tools I'll be making from the .190" thick barstock shipment.

Baby Pacu, Betta, and Minnows

Latest Damascus Group

These all turned out really nice, and a couple are already spoken for:)

Top

left: One of a kind piece I made from the end of a bar of Ladder Twist that has an interesting pattern.

center: Spirograph Pryrranha

right: Vines and Roses Pacu

Bottom

left: lightly etched high contrast Basketweave Pacu (as opposed to the deeper etched antique finish) made for someone by request

center: Ladder Twist Pacu (looks like exotic tiger striping or something similar)

right: Ladder Pacu

All pieces are made from Devin Thomas's stainless damascus.

I'll try to get the pieces that are available up on the website sometime this afternoon or evening.

Clicking on the pictures should reveal a large detailed version of the photos:)

Another Small Batch

top picture:

left: "Moonscape" hammerdinged surface on a Pryrranha made from D.Thomas Dot Matrix stainless damascus

middle: Raindrop Pacu

right: Fireball Pacu

Both the Moonscape DM Pryrranha, and the Raindrop Pacu are both sold, but I should be listing the Fireball Pacu on the site this evening, along with the MegaMosaicMoai (though I forgot to get a smaller picture of it).

bottom picture:

Titanium Moai with 15 1/8" mosaic pins. 3 types of pins, 5 of each type. The previous record for pins I've put in a piece (that I can remember anyway) is 7:)

Small Batch

As usual, I ran out of light for pictures. Here's the latest batch of damascus goodies.
Top: Herringbone Hammerhead
2nd: Razorwire Hammerhead
3rd: Basketweave Pacu
Bottom: Spirograph Pacu
Right: Shorty Razorwire Betta I made for someone

Good News Concerning Damascus:)

I've redone the math after shopping around, and think I can actually lower prices some on the pieces now that I can get the material a little cheaper. Initial investments such as etchant can be reused and I've improved some in efficiency They should be around $20 less per piece, and though it's not much, every little bit helps:)

Thick Titanium Mosaic Baby Pacu

Here's one featuring 3 1/8" mosaic pins; it's made from the last bit of the same thick ti stock I made the Behemothfish run from.

This one's spoken for, but I'm on the hunt for more titanium barstock:)

Razorwire Baby Pacu

Here is a better picture of the Bettas from the previous post, along with the two baby Pacu(s? not sure what the plural is...maybe Paci?) I just finished up. All are made from Devin Thomas's Razorwire stainless damascus.