Avalus has sent this absolutely gorgeous picture of a fly thawing of frost in the early morning sun.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Now try to find the fly in this picture (solution below the fold).
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Today was finishing day – I finished six knives, three of which are Japanese-style santoku kitchen knives.
Three santoku knives. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size
Japanese knives are not my forte. I know a bit about them, but not much. I do not intend to make them in significant numbers. Not only because I am not Japanese, but also because some of them are highly specialized tools optimized for one specific task and most people here in Europe would have no clue whatsoever how to use them or care for them and those who do would probably prefer to buy them from actual Japanese craftsmen. But I had three offcuts that just lent themselves for this type of blade and I am all for making the most with the least amount of waste.
Where I (afaik) differ most significantly from Japanese blades is the round-heeled ricasso. And the knives are glued together with epoxy.
Olive wood handle. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
This one has a handle from olive wood, cow bone, and buffalo horn. The handle is asymmetrical – the bone piece is not flat but rounded. Fitting the wood, bone, and horn together was thus a bit of work, but I have managed to fit them together fairly well, albeit not perfectly. The handle has a D profile, with a flat-ish top and rounded belly.
Olive wood is extremely beautiful and I should have probably saved the piece for a worthier blade. But it stinks to the heavens when worked and is somewhat greasy so it tends to clog up abrasives something awful. Due to the greasiness of the wood, I have finished the handle with tung oil, five layers over two weeks. And when I was at it, I used the same finish for the other two as well.
Santos mahogany handle. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
This is just a simple two-piece handle, bone bolster, and Santos mahogany wood. This wood works reasonably well and is very dry, the exact opposite of Olive. It does not gum up the tools, but it makes a lot of dust that likes to float around. I think it is a neat knife. The handle has a rounded belly and a faceted back.
Cherry handle. © Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
And last a knife with a handle from my late cherry tree, cow bone, and buffalo horn. The handle is faceted, probably the closest to a true Japanese-style knife.
They are all 160-170 mm long blades, with handles 110-130 mm. I am not planning to make more unless I get suitable offcuts again.,
I hope you’re all having a great weekend. This was supposed to go up yesterday, but apparently my computer fucked up.We went to our friends yesterday for a traditional “St.Martin’s goose”, which was nice, especially as social events will go down again with Covid going through the roof in Germany. I’m anxiously waiting for my booster, because if we do one thing well, it is fucking shit up with bureaucracy. Doctors say “5 months after your second shot”, public vaccine clinics are allowed to give it to you after 5.5 months, doctors only after 6…
Thankfully my friends and family are all very sensible, so we’re meeting on an “as vaxxed as possible and tested” basis. That’s all I really want: meet a couple of people, but I guess that’s being jeopardized again by people who neeeeed to celebrate carnival with thousands of strangers in close proximity. Here I’m ranting again…
Finally, have a rainbow:
©Giliell, all rights reserved
I do not remember ever seeing a thistle flower with frost on it. Hereabouts they are generally all ripe and fluffy when the frost comes.
With or without frost, thistles are surely beautiful.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
My new circular table saw arrived today. I haven’t got round to using it yet, for I had some time-sensitive work to do in the garden, but tomorrow I am definitely going to use it because I have bought a small bedside table that needs some modifications to fit into my living room properly.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
It is not the most prestigious and expensive tool imaginable, but it was fairly expensive so I really, really, really hope it works well. I was putting off this purchase for as long as I could, but I needed a proper table saw for a long time by now. This one seems to be sturdy, the table is nice and flat and it has built-in extension support and various end-stops, as well as grooves for cutting jigs.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
It can cut up to 87 mm depth, which is nearly double what I was able to cut with my previous setup. And of course, setting of cutting depth and angle is much more convenient with no fiddling under the table and cursing the whole time because I cannot get the depth and/or angle right. It is powerful but can still be connected to my shop vacuum (it has 2000 W usage, which is near the maximum), so I do not need to plug it separately and turn on two devices for each cut or have the vacuum run continuously – the vacuum will start automatically with the saw when the saw is plugged into it.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
And the thing that makes me most happy so far – the legs can be folded and it can be stowed away under my workbench in the same place where my previous saw was residing. Hooray! I need not do any big changes to the Shoppe!
Yesterday I was sorting my black locust wood into two piles – usable and firewood. And whilst cutting the wood, my little circular saw started to make a weird rattling noise. So I turned it off instantly. Then I disassembled it and I started to poke around in its guts to see if I can find what is the issue. I have thought that I found it – two ball bearings were a bit worn and had a rough feel to them so I have replaced them. Then I have assembled everything again. The weird rattling noise was gone and it was running smoothly.
Hooray! I plugged it in and started it and I rejoiced for a few seconds until a billowing cloud of smoke emerged. The stators isolation has suddenly started to burn, god knows why.
I have already ordered a new, better and bigger circular saw, a proper, stable, table saw (this one was handled saw fixed to a table). I am glad that it died now when I still have some money to spare rather than later when I run out and have to chew tree bark, but I’d be happier if it hadn’t died at all.
Well, it had a good run at least. I have bought it nearly twenty years ago and the first thing I used it to make was a table for my PC. A few years later I have used it to build another, bigger and better PC table, accompanied by a bookcase, a wardrobe, and a small tea table. Then came my own set of back horn speakers and several smaller projects. I have used it to cut material for my belt grinder and to build a lot of my current shop furniture.
I still have all those things and they serve me well, so the saw did pay its purchasing price several times over. When I have disassembled it, there was noticeable wear in the gears, so even though I did not feel like I have been using it that much, I was using it enough and it did not die prematurely.
I hope the replacement arrives soon. I have a lot of work t do.
There’s some things I’ve been eyeballing for ages, but could never justify the expenses, and one of those things is a die cutting machine. Basically those things are two drums that are moved with a crank and the cutting happened via pressure. You can make very fiddly and intricate designs . Having paid off my teeth (and just before I got a new toothache and our washing machine broke), I decided to treat myself to a basic die cutting set and make some paper crafts.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
These are beautiful. And a lot of work. They are about 10 cm in total and consist of three parts: the bottom and two side pieces. Not to mention the deer and squirrel, which are added separately.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Making the little boxes from colourful paper was a good time filler for the little one’s birthday. I guess I#ll be making my own christmas cards this year.
I’m sorry, here I am again apologising for being a bad host, but what can I say, meatspace is demanding right now. But we got to celebrate the little one’s birthday this year, with cake and her first Covid shot.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
The filling is one of my favourite fillings right now: a cream cheese and cream filling stabilized and favoured with jello, in this case lemon jello. It makes for a light filling and you can add fruit to taste.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Next step: frosting with vanilla buttercream. Thankfully it doesn’t have to be too even. This is after the cake spent some time in the freezer, because on top you get mirror glaze.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
When working with mirror glaze, you always have leftovers. I decided to refrigerate them and use them for Halloween. Here’s two things I learned:
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Well, on Halloween things are supposed to look horrible, aren’t they?
Just like avalus, I have no clue whatsoever what flower this is. And I also agree that it is beautiful, both with the ice crystals as well when covered with tiny water droplets after they melt.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Avalus has seen this fellow peck at the grass. What a peaceful frosty morning picture – a bright-colored dinosaur mercilessly massacring an underground ant’s nest.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Maybe “robbed” is not the exact word, because no violence or threat thereof was used, but I’ve not been pickpocketed either. I have definitively had money stolen from my person.
When I went shopping with my parents today, I was approached by a man who pretended to want to exchange a 2,-€ coin for smaller ones to be able to take the shopping cart. I have looked into my purse and I told him that I do not have the exchange, at which point he started approaching me and touching my purse as if trying to search for the change himself. I batted his hand away several times and I told him to not touch it but he did not understand Czech and he also either did not understand or (possibly) pretended to not understand Russian and German too, despite telling me that he is German. During this exchange, an elderly lady approached and told me that he stole money from her under the same pretense moment ago and that she has just found out when she saw him trying the same thing on me. At which point I closed my purse and endeavored to call the police.
He of course scarpered. I did not attempt to hold him up, I do not think that would be very wise.
Only when talking to the police later and explaining what happened I have found out that despite my attempts at keeping him away, he did successfully manage to snatch some bills from my purse, over 150,-€ worth. I never carry big amounts of cash and I would not have even this much if I had not needed some cash the previous week, of which this was just the rest. I might not have even noticed the theft at all, but I keep € and crown bills separately and the € compartment of my purse was suddenly completely empty.
Any act of kindness won’t go unpunished. The most jarring result of this is that I shall be more wary of panhandlers and generally of anyone asking for any help. I do not feel quite well right now. A shitty human just made me into a worse human too. That pisses me off more than the loss of money.
Avalus went on a walk one frosty morning and he was kind enough to take his camera and make some beautiful pictures. So let’s begin with some moody shots of colorful fall landscapes.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© avalus, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
This is the last post of this series this year. I was saving up something special – Aglais io, the peacock butterfly. These butterflies are so ridiculously beautiful that some of the pictures look fake.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
© Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.