So the plan is to build four knives for the groomsmen’s gifts.
Dean and Westin will get leather handled fixed bladed “classic cowboy” knives
Luis will get a folding knife with circuit board/epoxy handle
Wes will get a sword
Since I’m not making any of the blades, just the handles, I figured I need to make something for each of the knives, so I thought I’d melt some brass down and cast it for the guards or pommel or something for each knife.
The cowboy knives already have guards, so I think I’ll make spacers from the brass and add them to the leather spacers to make up the handle. They should look sharp.
Luis’ folder I think already has a bolster, so I may make the brass thin and use it for a decorative liner that gets fileworked.
Wes’ sword will get the most brass, as I need a guard and a pommel. I think it’d be real cool to have the pommel have an animal head cast into it, like a lion or a bear or a wolf. I’ve seen those on swords before. But for Wes maybe it should be Godzilla’s head or something like that And, it should be easy-ish to do: just buy a toy Godzilla, cut off the head, mount it securely to a wodden model of the pommel, and use that to make a mold to cast the brass into. Seems easy, we will see…
Anywho, the first step is: building the furnace to melt the brass. So first I bought a book on building a charcoal furnace. It arrived today, so I’ll start reading it, and the book I bought on making sand molds, tonight.
I’m thinking about melting down some brass shells and using that brass to make guards or bolsters or something for some knives I’ll be making for my groomsmen.
I think Westin is getting a leather handled fixed blade knife. Might look good with a brass spacer or two.
Dean will be getting a dive knife. Need a guard for it. And an end cap.
Luis will maybe get a pocketknife with circuit board and epoxy handles. No brass needed there.
Wes? He wants a sword, so either I’ll make a handle for an old F. Hefer cavalry sabre (for which I’ll need maybe a brass guard) or I’ll put a handle on a neat old Kukri, which will need a brass endcap, and maybe bolster/guard.
Sunday night, June 13th, 2010. New Mexico desert. Mile marker 5 on NM 39, 8:30pm. The sun was setting. There was a small sliver of gold just above a distant mesa. Then a band of dark, dark red you only see in the desert. The rest of the sky was cobalt blue. The stars were coming out, and the moon was up. Just a sliver of a moon, but it was there. We stopped at a scenic vista because it was sooo beautiful and Shanna wanted a rock from there to go in our garden. I looked around a bit, then came up to her window and handed her a jewelery box, THE jewelery box. I said “I found this rock.” She didn’t get it at first,and thought I handed her some trash, so she looked grossed out. Then in the fading sunlight she figured out what it was that I was handing her,and wondered why I went down on my knee. “YESS!!!!” She squealed with glee and smacked me in the head with the door as she tried to get out of the car while I was still kneeling
The ring is beautiful.
I took my greatgrandmother’s, grandmother’s, her greatgrandmother’s, gandmother’s, and mother’s rings, and a necklace from my mom and combined them all into two rings.
Shanna has not seen the wedding band yet, she wants it to be a surprise on her wedding day.
PEO Solider(*) has published a document [PDF] called “Weapons Painting 101″. Looks good.
* “Program Executive Office (PEO) Soldier was created by the Army with one primary purpose: to develop the best equipment and field it as quickly as possible so that our Soldiers remain second to none in missions that span the full spectrum of military operations.
As recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have vividly demonstrated, getting the right equipment to our military men and women is absolutely critical.
By viewing the Soldier as part of an integrated system, PEO Soldier ensures that the Soldier and everything he or she wears or carries works together as an integrated system. The result is an overall systematic design that benefits Soldiers by enhancing their ability to accomplish individual and collective tasks, improving quality of life, building confidence, and saving lives. In this respect, PEO Soldier is at the vanguard of Army transformation.
Headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, PEO Soldier designs, develops, procures, fields, and sustains virtually everything the Soldier wears or carries. By employing innovative concepts and technologies, PEO Soldier has made great strides in quickly getting improved equipment into the hands of Soldiers when and where they need it. “
Go read the whole article, it’s three pages, but there are lots of pictures.
This is very interesting technology. Basically you make a concrete pit with a domed top and dump in poop (people as well as animal) and you end up with good fertilizer (better than raw poop) and a biogas that can power stoves and lights! So instead of spending hours per day trying to find wood to burn, you can spend that time doing other things, like growing vegetables (with the newer better fertilizer) and sell them to make money! Or just to better feed your family. Really it’s win/win.
Too bad it’s not allowed here. Think of all the much cleaner rivers and such if we did this here instead of treating waste and then dumping it into the river!
An account by Mike Williams, Deepwater Horizon‘s chief electronics technician, who survived the explosion and fire, and was one of the last people to make it off the rig alive. He describes how the last life raft full of survivors almost didn’t escape the burning oil slick under the doomed rig because no one had a knife to cut the sea painter with due to Transocean’s no-knife policy:
“This is one of those “stop the madness” moments that comes along periodically, so I have to take advantage of it. Starting last fall I ran a 3-part series (Part I, Part II & Part III) on the numerous types of knives that may be useful to working mariners, along with various sharpening implements to keep them sharp and functional. Knives are one of the oldest known tools invented by humans, and have been carried and used by seafarers for as long as we’ve been putting to sea. We need knives, and they must be kept sharp because a dull knife is ineffective at best and dangerous at worst. Everyone should know this by now…..
During the time that I was writing those posts I found several discussion threads on the gCaptain forums about the fairly widespread company policies in the Gulf of Mexico forbidding the possession of any edged “weapons” on board their boats and drilling rigs. I have to admit I was surprised by this, and also disgusted that the state of affairs for seamen had gotten so bad that we were now being systematically stripped of one of our most useful and traditional tools in the name of safety. “What the hell is the matter, has everyone lost their minds?”, I thought.
Since then there’s been a horrible “accident” in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon blowout and ongoing oil gusher (the term “spill” is both technically and rhetorically inaccurate) in Mississippi Canyon Block 252, roughly forty miles off the southeast Louisiana coast. In the course of following this tragedy I watched the coverage afforded it by CBS’s 60 Minutes. On their website was a 2:41-long video “extra” that tells in searing detail the recollections of Mike Williams, Deepwater Horizon‘s chief electronics technician, who survived the explosion and fire, and was one of the last people to make it off the rig alive. He describes how the last life raft full of survivors almost didn’t escape the burning oil slick under the doomed rig because no one had a knife to cut the sea painter with due to Transocean’s no-knife policy. WTF???!!!
Here it is…..
Yeah, I know that life rafts are supposed to be equipped with knives in their emergency equipment package. Was it missing, or there all along and they just couldn’t find it quickly enough when they needed it? Did they locate it but find it to be useless? Who knows? Given the scale of the disaster I have doubts that this small aspect of it will ever be looked at as closely as it ought to be. Regardless, if most everyone was carrying a knife in their pocket or on their belt someone would surely have remembered it in time. Redundant, back-up safety systems…..
Knives are simply tools that we need to do our jobs and, not least, to potentially save our own lives when things go badly wrong. Like all tools, they can be abused, but that is insufficient reason to do away with them. I’m well aware that sometimes humans hurt themselves, and others, with knives. Most of the time accidentally, but some of the time intentionally. But a no-knives policy for mariners and maritime workers is just stupidity of a higher order than we normally see. I wish the safety manager or management executive at Transocean that dreamed up their policy was in the liferaft that night, experiencing firsthand what happens when you are barred from having the tools you need by people who should but apparently don’t know any better, whose personal physical safety isn’t directly at stake, but are still in important decision-making positions nonetheless. Working on the water is no joke…..and at the risk of sounding extreme I would say that mariners faced with being stripped by company policy of their otherwise-lawful work knives should seriously consider wide-scale “civil” disobedience of those rules. This shows just how far the stupidity has permeated both our society and our profession.”
“Barack Obama is setting a record-setting number of records during his first year in office.
Largest budget ever. Largest deficit ever. Largest number of broken promises ever. Most self-serving speeches ever. Largest number of agenda-setting failures ever. Fastest dive in popularity ever.
Wow. Talk about change.
Just one year ago, fresh from his inauguration celebrations, President Obama was flying high. After one of the nation’s most inspiring political campaigns, the election of America ’s first black president had captured the hopes and dreams of millions. To his devout followers, it was inconceivable that a year later his administration would be gripped in self-imposed crisis.
Of course, they don’t see it as self imposed. It’s all George Bush’s fault.
George Bush, who doesn’t have a vote in Congress and who no longer occupies the White House, is to blame for it all.
He broke Obama’s promise to put all bills on the White House web site for five days before signing them.
He broke Obama’s promise to have the congressional health care negotiations broadcast live on C-SPAN.
He broke Obama’s promise to end earmarks.
He broke Obama’s promise to keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent.
He broke Obama’s promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo in the first year.
He broke Obama’s promise to make peace with direct, no pre-condition talks with America ’s most hate-filled enemies during his first year in office, ushering in a new era of global cooperation.
He broke Obama’s promise to end the hiring of former lobbyists into high White House jobs.
He broke Obama’s promise to end no-compete contracts with the government.
He broke Obama’s promise to disclose the names of all attendees at closed White House meetings.
He broke Obama’s promise for a new era of bipartisan cooperation in all matters.
He broke Obama’s promise to have chosen a home church to attend Sunday services with his family by Easter of last year.
Yes, it’s all George Bush’s fault. President Obama is nothing more than a puppet in the never-ending, failed Bush administration.
If only George Bush wasn’t still in charge, all of President Obama’s problems would be solved. His promises would have been kept, the economy would be back on track, Iran would have stopped its work on developing a nuclear bomb and would be negotiating a peace treaty with Israel , North Korea would have ended its tyrannical regime, and integrity would have been restored to the federal government.
Oh, and did I mention what it would be like if the Democrats, under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, didn’t have the heavy yoke of George Bush around their necks. There would be no earmarks, no closed-door drafting of bills, no increase in deficit spending, no special-interest influence (unions), no vote buying ( Nebraska , Louisiana ).
If only George Bush wasn’t still in charge, we’d have real change by now.
All the broken promises, all the failed legislation and delay (health care reform, immigration reform) is not President Obama’s fault or the fault of the Democrat-controlled Congress. It’s all George Bush’s fault.
Take for example the decision of Eric Holder, the president’s attorney general, to hold terrorists’ trials in New York City . Or his decision to try the Christmas Day underpants bomber as a civilian.
Two disastrous decisions.
Certainly those were bad judgments based on poor advice from George Bush.
Need more proof?
You might recall that when Scott Brown won last month’s election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts , capturing “the Ted Kennedy seat,” President Obama said that Brown’s victory was the result of the same voter anger that propelled Obama into office in 2008. People were still angry about George Bush and the policies of the past 10 years, and they wanted change.
Yes, according to the president, the voter rebellion in Massachusetts last month was George Bush’s fault.
Therefore, in retaliation, they elected a Republican to the Ted Kennedy seat, ending a half-century of domination by Democrats.
It is all George Bush’s fault.
Will the failed administration of George Bush ever end, and the time for hope and change ever arrive?
Will President Obama ever accept responsibility for something — anything?“
Galactic Empire State of Mind is a Star Wars parody fo Jay-Z and Alica Keys Empire State of Mind. Very funny, and good. I’d embed it, but they turned that off for some reason. Here are the lyrics:
“[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Yeah
No longer Anakin
Formerly a Skywalker
Son’s next rebel hero
But I’ll be Sith forever
I’m the newest Dark lord And since my training years
I can choke from anywhere
Yeah my force is everywhere Used to run with Obi Wan We were both best buds foreva
But after three movies Now I’ve got a blood vendetta Grew up on Tatooine
No vegetation Catch me rolling through the cosmos in a moon-like station to Leia’s home nation Death Star wrecks it Now princess knows, Vader ain’t one to mess with
Flying through the trenches
Blasting rebel noobies
What happened to the fat one
Think he died of heart disease All that’s left is this guy
Chasing him in my TIE I won’t deny That his force is pretty damn high
Damn i just got wiped out
Falcon shot the back of me
Spinning into outerspace
But I’ll be back definitely
[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS]
In Star Wars Empire is out to find Leia Death star plans in R2 Shoot the exhaust port Kenobi may now be see-through But the force is within Luke
Let’s hear it for new hope, new hope, new hope
[Vader: You’re welcome Obi Wan… I made you a ghost!]
[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Catch me rockin boots and a cape like superman
Hell, I made wearing black more famous than that Jay-Z can
You should know I’d find you, hiding out at Echo
Now I got a Blizzard Force eliminate you quick yo
Welcome to the planet Hoth AT-ATs hit the spot Walking tanks are too legit
But they fall down a lot Check the front, check the back, cant find the Falcon yet
We need them all alive, so no disintegrations Boba Fett 8 million asteroids, where’d your little ship go?
Get me to Cloud City, I got Lando on my payroll
Me I gotta double check if carbonite’s ok If freezin’s safe for Han
Doing Luke the same way
New deal Lando
Ain’t no pardon
Kid blew up my boys
Rest in peace Moff Tarkin
Turns out we are family
Embrace your dark fate
Dad and son together, yo No way the emperor’s safe, cause…
[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS] In Star Wars
Now Han Solo’s a coffee table
There’s nothing Luke can do [Vader: Should’ve joined me, bro!]
He’s on Dagobah
With some dyslexic Jedi dude
Right hand still got sliced through Looks like they struck back, struck back, struck back
[DARTH VADER/JAY-Z]
Lightsabers grinding
Palpatine’s smiling
Cause he knew it would come to this The light side is blind with casualties
Who do evil casually, then gradually become worse
Don’t fight your destiny
Wasn’t a great dad, true
Absent all the while
No happy times behind us, and plus, now I’m killin’ you
Keep fencing mister, ’cause now I sense a sister
You don’t go bad, maybe I’ll enlist her
Now Emperor wants you, only wants me rubbed out You controlled your anger, stayed light side devout Watch out kid, he’s got lightning bolts to immolate Uh-uh, hell no, daddy powers activate
End this prune with a badass murder suicide
Bald headed, mask off, heart melted kid you were right Burn all my gear so those Ewoks can’t wear it again
Do it, I’ll be watching you, a ghost, name of Anakin
[PRINCESS LEIA/ALICIA KEYS] In Star Wars
Destroy new Death Star’s generator
Ewoks to the rescue
Blast through to the core
This Regime’s gonna be brand new
Galactic Empire’s through
The Jedi have returned, returned, returned“
“You think that I go home at night
Take off my clothes, turn out the lights
But I burn letters that I write
To you, to make you love me
Yeah, I drive naked through the park
And run the stop sign in the dark
Stand in the street, yell out my heart
To make, to make you love me
I am extraordinary, if you’d ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
You may not believe in me
But I believe in you
So I still take the trash out
Does that make me too normal for you?
So dig a little deeper, cause
You still don’t get it yet
See me lickin’ my lips, need a primitive fix
And I’ll make, I’ll make you love me
I am extraordinary, if you’d ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
See me jump through hoops for you
You stand there watching me performing
What exactly do you do?
Have you ever thought it’s you that’s boring?
Who the hell are you?
I am extraordinary, if you’d ever get to know me
I am extraordinary, I am just your ordinary
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
Average every day sane psycho
Supergoddess
Average every day sane psycho
This time it only took five months to get my suppressor approved. Yay! I should be picking my SWR Warlock up tomorrow.
Unrelated, but this is the second coolest flare gun I’ve seen and certainly much more affordable than the double barreled German WWII ones. Are there just flares available in 26.5mm? Or are there neat stuff like OC/Tear Gas or bean bag rounds, or foam batons? Or is all that just in 37mm? Wonder how hard it would be to make a 37mm barrel for it? hmmmmm……
The same guy wrote “50 dangerous things to do with your children” which I think I’ll have to add to my growing library-of-cool-stuff-to-do-with-the-nephews-(and-future-kids).
And, it should be easy-ish to do: just buy a toy Godzilla, cut off the head, mount it securely to a wodden model of the pommel, and use that to make a mold to cast the brass into. Seems easy, we will see…
Think of all the much cleaner rivers and such if we did this here instead of treating waste and then dumping it into the river!