The First of the New Tools

This pair was inspired by an older Peter Atwood design that he called the KeyCutters. Each tool is completely handmade and ground, and so the specs vary slightly for each. As a general guideline though, for both of these, the blade lengths are just a hair under 1 inch with the tools being 2 13/16" long overall. Both of these are very sharp, and the bottleopener should only be utilized when the tool is sheathed. Both are made from heattreated CPM S30V, and the sheaths are kydex. I haven't thought up proper/formal names for these yet, though I do think they resemble the Minnow and Pryranha tools with blades instead of the pryends. If I can't come up with something good, I may hold a contest to try to name them:) I will try to put these up for sale on the website tonight, after doing some reorganizing.

I thought I would announce that there are big changes (out of necessity for continuation) coming to JDR Knife and Tool. I started doing this as a hobby a couple of years ago, and never set it up/planned for it to be self sustaining. All of my tools are completely made by me from scratch, and have hours invested into each one. Old pricing may cover my time, but not the materials, electricity, equipment,etc., all of which are very expensive. I've actually gone into some real debt pursuing this dream, and have to make an adjustment to survive. To my knowledge, this is the only line of entirely custom tools, consistently available for order. They cannot be priced alongside similar offerings that were machined or made in any kind of quantity. I'm going to keep doing my old customs, but want to announce that I'm fortunate enough to be able to collaborate with my favorite jeweler and artist, Derrick Obatake of Steel Flame. Coming soon will be a line of tools a little larger than my keychain sized offerings, one of which is pictured above. Based on the Mini Makemake design, these debuted at the USN Gathering recently. The one above is made from CPM 3V toolsteel, and features a clip designed by Derrick with his trademark accents:) These pieces will still be handmade but will feature some design elements, such as the hex hole driver, that can only be achieved with the use of a waterjet. More of these, as well as a couple other designs, are in the works and should be available soon. We will try to get them done in a variety of materials including titanium and stainless steel, and there will be options for clips etc. as well.

Update

I've been quiet lately, trying to focus on getting some non knife/tool-related things taken care of. It's also been murderously hot in the shop this summer, and I seem to only be productive for a few hours in the evening. I do have some new stuff coming out in the next month or two, including some of the edged items.
I'll be attending the USN Gathering in Las Vegas (my first time) at the beginning of September, and need to save a little spending money, so I'll be listing a few pieces at a discounted price on the website soon. There is just one of each piece so snag it if you see one you like.

2 More Mokume Crosses: Ladder Pattern

Pics of Mokume Cross 3 & 4, made from Chad Nichols' 3 tone Ladder mokume.

Business Cards +

I finally got around to ordering business cards. I had a few refrigerator magnets and a return address stamp printed up also:)

Mokume Cross

The first piece I made from Chad Nichols' mokume was a cross that I kept for myself from the Ladder pattern. This one is made from his Scrambled Eggs pattern, and is also composed of copper, brass, and nickel silver. A short time at just over 500 degrees brings out the colors of each material.

Large Stainless Damascus Batch: Installment 3

Here are the last 4 pieces from the recent batch of Chad Nichols' stainless damascus.

left to right:

Constitution Baby Pacu

Iguana Baby Pacu

Iguana Hammerhead

Lizard Minnow