Warm Jam

Treated myself: http://www.christopherward.co.uk/men/limited/c5awt.html

Really, really nice watch. Just need to give it a few days’ run-in and then, if needs be, spend a lunch break on it at work & get it properly regulated. Internals: ETA 2824-2, uprated shock protection, well-finished. Pretty much a Tag or Breitling, without the badge (or price!)

Oh – I haven’t actually mentioned work yet, have I? It’s been so long. I’m in full-time employ for the first time in a couple of years, my own little business endeavour being a casualty of recession. I now service watches Monday through Friday, which is hardly work at all, and the regular wage leaves me with little trouble fitting seven days’ debauchery into every weekend!

Life is good.

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Found ‘em! Choc Dips are not forgotten – apparently I simply wasn’t looking into the darkest back corners of corner shops, remained unchanged for decades… I even found Space Raiders and Transform-A-Snack, still at an inflation-defying ten pence a packet

But a guy’s gotta have standards. Moderation, however, is still an issue:

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Snapped on the beach at Hastings Seafood & Wine festival today:

Very good day, despite having to wash the fish smell off my fingers every half hour (that’s what she said) (ahem, sorry).

Mussels, fish & chips, paella, my first ever oyster, local wine, FILO microbrewery bitters, and a really nice gooey chocolate dessert thing in a shot glass with a polenta biscuit that reminded me of a poshed-up version of a KP Choc Dip – anybody remember those? I want more…

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The William Whitmore gig on the twelfth was amazing. Quite aside from being a phenomenal live performer, the guy’s also incredibly personable, & hung around chatting with the crowd either side of his set.

Also, best merch shirts EVER, which are apparently designed by the drummer.

So I went to see him again on Monday, up in London this time. It seemed only fair. Another amazing night, hammered, and walked away with a copy of Hymns For The Hopeless on 12″ that was miraculously intact the next morning, even though my head and insides definitely weren’t!! Better yet – signed copy.

The weather on Tuesday matched my hangover, despite sunny forecasts, so I got soaked through heading for the train. Check out the soaked gig ticket, from the inside pocket of my jacket! Thankfully it was the only casualty. Screw you, BBC Weather.

Gratuitous imagery to follow:

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Worked hard today, but got nothing much finished – took big chunks out of a few projects though. I’ll post those here when they’re finished, as they warrant a proper unveiling!

In lieu of real fanciness, here’s something put together in what passed for my lunch break -

Click to enlarge

Oak scales fitted to a Victorinox Climber Swiss army knife. A much loved little knife – I can’t stand the Swiss Champ-type giants, but this thing has a nice balance of size with a simple set of useful tools & still slips in a jeans pocket, and with a little maintenance stays sharp as sin. A friend gave it me, and it’s been carried pretty much everywhere since, so it’s not surprising my keys scuffed the plastic scales into a bit of a mess (I’m not a careful person, much as I try)! This seemed more fun than cleaning them up.

The photo can’t really do it justice, the oak has this lovely shimmery quality to it when it moves in the light. I’m playing with oak a lot lately – just found a local supplier & it’s endearingly cheap compared to the fancy woods I keep in stock for plugs!

For the sake of an hour or so’s work, I think the result is very attractive. Definitely staying on my EDC list.
(Sorry, I’ve never used an acronym tag before, that felt patronising)

And yes, of course I’m still a knots nerd.

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Another shot courtesy of my trip to the forge – getting a little hands-on experience shaping mild steel:

Click to enlarge

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On my recent trip up North to visit an amazing blacksmith I’m dealing with and some old friends, the ’smith offered to make me a blade as a demonstration while I was there.

I sketched out a shape, and a couple of hours later he’d rough-forged the most amazing blade. I’ve reprofiled it & ground the sides, etched the steel & sharpened the edge ’til it took hairs off my arm. I don’t know if this is how I’ll keep the finish – the deep etch is perhaps a little over-the-top for my tastes, although I really want to do justice to the work the guy did folding the original billet (although the rough shaping took only a couple of hours, pattern welding the damascus takes several more!)

So, it’s a damascus steel body with a carbon steel fillet folded in for an edge – the guy absolutely nailed it, with the carbon edge steel being wafer thin but absolutely bang-on central. Now I’ve filed it into form, I’m dying to get it hardened so I can get to work on a wooden handle…

There’s a second blade, very different, to follow at a later date as well. That’s still looking too rough to show though, so stay tuned.

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Finally got to try out something I’ve been meaning to for a while, a little more engineered than usual.

9mm tongue bar.
Delrin.
Internally threaded.

I think this should be OK down to 6-7mm, then probably too much hassle to be cost effective – at least as all-plastics, though maybe OK with a steel ball.

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OK, time to give that little knife a test-run. Remember all those pumpkins & courgettes I planted up back in April? The leaves are finally dying back on a few, so it’s time to get some gourds home.

Those marrows are HUGE! I hadn’t been out for a couple of weeks, last time I saw them they were just little courgettes. The sweetcorn’s come up a treat as well, last year the best cob we got still looked like the inside of a tramp’s mouth with half a dozen little yellow stubs. Germination was around 95% this year, with pearly yellow corns all round. Also of note are the vegetable spaghetti squash – I have no idea what they’re like inside yet, but should be fun finding out.

Barrow two – a Hundredweight pumpkin & two Blue Hubbard squash, spuds, peas & tomatoes:

All this stuff came home in one day! OK, that’s not exactly typical, but it’s fun when it does happen.

Oh, and the knife? Held up a treat. Not a trace of rust, and still razor sharp. Skinny little point got in really nicely between the stems & fell through everything with minimal work.
I forgot to mention specifically last time – it’s a model 106 wood carving knife. Get one! Or better yet, order one through me & I’ll do all the modifications for you…

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Stopping in at Axminster Tools the other day to grab some abrasives, I spotted a few Mora knives on a shelf – I’ve read a lot of reviews over the years saying they’re amazing little knives for the money (generally under £15) and having handled one at a friend’s a couple of weeks back I was totally sold. Fortuitously, one had a misprinted label, and I walked out with one of these for the princely sum of £7 -

You’ll note it’s an ugly bugger, and with a godawful oversized plastic tube sheath to boot, but it’s a shaving-sharp carbon steel blade wrapped sides-and-spine in stainless – for £7!

Still, I can’t abide poor aesthetics. Here’s another couple of shots after 15 minutes on the belt sander, some blowtorching to blacken & harden the handle, soaking in teak oil, and a basic wetformed leather sheath. Forgive the dirty-looking blade, it’s a thick smear of wax to keep the rust back. Ordinarily it will simply be oiled, but the modification process meant a lot of handling, so it got a temporary coat of something more resilient.

I fully expect this thing to be with me decades from now, and probably another half dozen in reserve. As much as I adore and appreciate expensive knives (if anyone wants to buy me a Fallkniven Idun NL5cx for a touch over £1100, I’ll love you forever) I believe there’s a lot to be said for the practicality of a knife you don’t need to worry about losing. A knife is only a tool when you don’t hesitate to use it – all else is (gorgeous, shiny, sharp) ornament.

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