A friend from a gamecall website told me about a group of wood maniacs and I figured I'd come in from the cold and sit with you around the woodstove and maybe learn a thing or two about wood.
I'm 66 and have enjoyed working with wood since high school woodshop, about the only subject I felt confident of passing each year! :) After high school I volunteered to be drafted into the Army and spent a year in Vietnam where I was wounded twice. I'm still married to my first wife and have a 31 year old daughter. I'm active in a veterans group, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, that raises money to help veterans in nursing homes.
I enjoy making hiking sticks, wooden paperweights and decorator pieces, kitchen and hunting knives. I use wood I find while hiking for much of my work and I also sell fancy wood to gamecall makers and knifemakers. This wood I purchase from a sawmill after it is kiln dried, curly and crotch maple and crotch walnut. I don't advertise or have a website, all the wood I get sells to existing customers and when I get extra it usually goes to their friends or I offer it locally. I took a drive this week to the mountains of Pa. near Jim Thorpe to harvest some Witch Hazel and Hawthorn, some for hiking sticks and some for knife handles. I love the density of Hawthorn when I get it growing in the shade under large oaks, sometimes 20-25 years old and only 1 1/2" diameter at ground level.
Here's a recent kitchen knife with Ambrosia Maple handle. The blade was cut by waterjet from an old handsaw I inherited from my Dad. A customer in NC bought it. The second photo shows 7 blade blanks after the waterjet did it's thing. I only make hidden tang knives using wood or antler for my handles. The third photo shows from the top Sycamore, Mountain Laurel, Sweetgum and Ambrosia Maple on the bottom. The Sweetgum is spalted so I'll have to show a 4th photo to show the other side. I was going to use it for the dagger blade shown in the 4th photo but changed my mind. Dagger blades and hunting blades I usually have cut by waterjet from old circular sawblades. I'll post a 5th and final photo showing that process. The handle at the bottom of the photo is blackened Dogwood, a nice wood for handles but plain looking unless it's from the crotch of the tree or spalted. I won't post photos of hunting knives because I have a feeling I'll wear out my welcome with all these photos.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to being the kind of member you will consider a good friend.
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/AmbrosiaKitchenKnife001_zpsca759e10.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/KitchenBlades_zps52c9312c.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/4KitchenKnives001_zps6cbe5c7f.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/BladesandHandles_zps8a6ae258.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/DaggersWharnyBlades_zpsf2c117d4.jpg
I'm 66 and have enjoyed working with wood since high school woodshop, about the only subject I felt confident of passing each year! :) After high school I volunteered to be drafted into the Army and spent a year in Vietnam where I was wounded twice. I'm still married to my first wife and have a 31 year old daughter. I'm active in a veterans group, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, that raises money to help veterans in nursing homes.
I enjoy making hiking sticks, wooden paperweights and decorator pieces, kitchen and hunting knives. I use wood I find while hiking for much of my work and I also sell fancy wood to gamecall makers and knifemakers. This wood I purchase from a sawmill after it is kiln dried, curly and crotch maple and crotch walnut. I don't advertise or have a website, all the wood I get sells to existing customers and when I get extra it usually goes to their friends or I offer it locally. I took a drive this week to the mountains of Pa. near Jim Thorpe to harvest some Witch Hazel and Hawthorn, some for hiking sticks and some for knife handles. I love the density of Hawthorn when I get it growing in the shade under large oaks, sometimes 20-25 years old and only 1 1/2" diameter at ground level.
Here's a recent kitchen knife with Ambrosia Maple handle. The blade was cut by waterjet from an old handsaw I inherited from my Dad. A customer in NC bought it. The second photo shows 7 blade blanks after the waterjet did it's thing. I only make hidden tang knives using wood or antler for my handles. The third photo shows from the top Sycamore, Mountain Laurel, Sweetgum and Ambrosia Maple on the bottom. The Sweetgum is spalted so I'll have to show a 4th photo to show the other side. I was going to use it for the dagger blade shown in the 4th photo but changed my mind. Dagger blades and hunting blades I usually have cut by waterjet from old circular sawblades. I'll post a 5th and final photo showing that process. The handle at the bottom of the photo is blackened Dogwood, a nice wood for handles but plain looking unless it's from the crotch of the tree or spalted. I won't post photos of hunting knives because I have a feeling I'll wear out my welcome with all these photos.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to being the kind of member you will consider a good friend.
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/AmbrosiaKitchenKnife001_zpsca759e10.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/KitchenBlades_zps52c9312c.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/4KitchenKnives001_zps6cbe5c7f.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/BladesandHandles_zps8a6ae258.jpg
http://i594.Rule #2/albums/tt28/lakeridge3/DaggersWharnyBlades_zpsf2c117d4.jpg
Fron Mauk, GA. I like the knife. We like pictures. Way to go starting off.
