New Years Update

Well there was a little mix up in my order, so i ended up getting an Endura instead of a UKPK.... but after a quick PM its all been cleared up and i will be getting a UKPK as soon as the young lady gets another in. Plus i get to keep the Endura (for free). I also got the Benchmade which i have been using LOADS and its proven to be one of the best knifes I have even seen or used.  Edge holding is supreme, looks, sharpness, and just how damn comfortable it is to use, its completely none threatening as well (due to the sheepsfoot blade).

Firstly the Griptillian

simple lines extremely comfortable, very well made - plus its got a cool axis lock and very nice to use

The Endura

first impressions aside with it not only being the wrong knife and the fact its Pink...  its quite nice, havent really played with it as i thought it would be going home but it did feel comfortable in the hand, the pink kinda kills the scary knife image away lol 

plus its for breast cancer awareness with Sal donating money from every knife going to the trust.  Will have a play with it tonight so i can write some more on it.

Bali Progress

Well i tried filling down the teak but it was taking too long and was annoying, after asking some advice people said use a craft knife to remove the bulk of the material.  so i broke out the BM Griptillian, the knife made quick work of the Teak inserts as you can see from all the shavings in the picture.

they are shavings from all 8 inserts not just that one handle - that handle just shows one insert virtually finished, just need to smooth and polish then its al finished.

And Finally

HAPPY NEW EVERYONE, All the best for 2008 to you and your Families

Skipp'

Progress on the Bali

so tonight i didnt have nothing to do so i thought i might as well do something productive - since i was bored

i decided to get the Bali sorted out - since i am still waiting on the sandpaper to finish the folder, and i cant really be using a dremel at this time of the night.

So here's what happened:

Sanded and Shaped the Teak so that they would fit into the corresponding holes, didnt take as long as i thought but it was a bit of a pain due to them needing to be a tight tight fit so you get a flush finish.

this is how it looked after i had them all sanded and gave them a dry fit

i decided to mark them as they do not all fit in the others holes, so a quick bit of masking and numbering and its all good

then i got the epoxy out its a 2-ton epoxy (i am guessing that means its strong) but it takes a while to cure and needs pressure to hold it together so it can truely bond to the materials.

since i hadnt worked with this before i took 10minutes to read and understand the instructions, mixed it up and got it on the teak then inserted them in to the correct holes.

as i dont have loads of clamps (i have 2 i think) but i got 8 inserts i decided to go high tech, 2 lumps of steel and a weight lol

next update will be tomorrow as i cant do anything for at least 6 hours and i dont think i will be up at 6 to do some more work on it

Peace,

Skipp'

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone

Hope you all had a good christmas

Didnt get all the things i wanted (well didnt get any of them) but what the hell its been a great day and been loads of fun,

My bits i ordered are going to be coming soon so then i will have my prezzies lol got a busy few weeks ahead of me now, got to fix the sisters computer tomorrow... then got to get all my crap together and finish off the coursework and make sure i do some hardcore revision cos i wanna get a good grade (oh yeah and finish off the bali, folder and the bowie) 

All the best

Skipp'

Update

well progress has ground to a halt... No info on the sandpaper as of yet, plus i kinda got a full house so its a bit difficult to get anything done.

So i decided to get myself organised, i got my days planed out for coursework and working out. As i need to get back in shape i decided to include working out in my days, so its going to be a busy holiday.

Well i plan on starting the working out tonight, and do a session every morning between 7 and 9-10am and 2 nights a week, its gonna be hard getting up but i am sure i can manage it, hopefully it will become second nature.

i got mainly cardio workouts, with 2-3 weights sessions a week so hopefully i can get a little bigger while losing weight.

I will keep people informed on how its going

The case and Progress

The Bali Blade is Uber sharp as i found out

This is the Display case i ordered, although i was expecting a black backing the red gives it a really nice contrast, as you can see all three of my projects are in the case.

Progress:

Little Folder 90% done. Just got to finish the sanding/polishing and loctite it all together (still waiting on sand paper)

Bali 75% complete, inserts need to be epoxied in place and shaped, the washers need to be changed to the Bronze Phosphorous ones. then loctited together

Bowie 40% done, this is by far the hardest are the 3.  I still need to finish shaping the other bolster and peen the pins once thats done i need to fit the scales and then sand it super smooth and bring it all up with a polish. also need to fit the sheath and most likely die the sheath to make it match the cocobolo scales.

skipp's happy

IT CAME TODAY WOHOO

the blades a beauty, its shaving sharp aswell

Just need to fix on the Inlays, using the Teflon washers at the moment but when i get the inlays sorted, in goes the Phosphorous Bronze washers and loctite

Just got to figure out whether to glue or fix them with screws????

I am gonna super glue them

The display case came aswell, I was expecting a black background but its red.. looks pretty good tho gives a decent contrast :D Just need the sand paper to finish the folder at the moment

well today

ok so my legs are wrecked...  was a test subject for my mates dissertation, had to do leg extensions:

started with a maximal voluntary contraction against a static bar (to work out force as it was hooked up to a computer)

then had to do 3 sets of 10 reps at 124kg

then 3 sets of 10 reps at 115kg

then 4 sets of 10 reps at 105kg

then another maximal contraction

My legs are now like jelly, i nearly fell down the stairs on the way out of uni, plus there was no trains in central london due to something happening so it took me over 2hours to get home when it usually only takes 40 minutes

Delivery today

Wohoo got the first of the packages today, the first half of the tsunami kit arrived, with the loctite and diamond bits

the walnut display case and blade should arrive very soon (hopefully tomorrow)

Just being held up waiting for sandpaper... or my little folder would of been done and finished now.  oh well i got something else to play with now, its certainly more complicated than the folder as there are four handles 8 teak inlays, locking mechanism plus others.

I really want that bloody sandpaper.......

the weekend so far

Well the weekends been a bit crap really... was meant to go out last night but people cancelled (story of my life) so stayed home, hatton lost to mayweather seriously disappointing to say the least i wanted hatton to batter mayweather,

well today was crap today as well; i get woke up early as my uncles stupid and called me at 7am!!! then got dragged out to sort out the rest of the windows, we finished most of the stuff off yesterday but today we had to put up the trim round the edges use the foam stuff and then take the scaffold down...  talk about killing off your sunday

decided to do some photoshop work, as i needed a sig... need to get some other bits and pieces sorted out.

hopefully i will be out partying tomorrow... but you never know

The poll

well i cant copy the pics cos they are copy righted the W******

but UKPK and Dragonfly are on www.spyderco.com

the griptilian/mini-griptilian are on www.benchmade.com

and the recon-1 is on Coldsteels page

the poll is cos i cant decide what to get, the poll is going to run till 2008,

i want a new knife and was thinking about spending a little more than a tenner lol

vote away

Where things are

Thought I should fill people in, on where things are - at this moment in time, some might have seen the progress of these but i thought it would be better to post in here,

First lets start with my ever so small work shop

 

yeah thats it at the moment... theres also a Rotary tool (thanks to BB) the whole lot came to about £40

First Blade, My Custom Folder

Although this came as a kit its undergone quite a bit of modification.

specs: 

Blade: 440 stainless (52-55rc) 

Handle Length: 3 1/2 

Blade Length: 2 1/2 

Overall Length: 6 

Liner lock mechanism 

Thats it when i first slapped it together the fit and finish wernt great at the time

After some work and some pictures it looked like this...   then I got bored lol and decided that I didnt like the bead blasted look so I ripped it apart and decided to change it.

After some hard sanding I got it to this sort of finish

when i put it back together i noticed some things that I didnt like,  they were a little knobbly bit sticking out when in the closed position.  Plus there was a seam between the liners and scales which I thought looked ugly.

After some filing and sanding I got it to this finish 

As you can see the liners and scales look like they are a single piece, I also did inside the liners at this point smoothing them down fully. eg no screws poking through

I also tackled the knobbly, if you look close you can see it in the black background picture in the bottom left corner

Its not really a massive issue for most people but I could feel it and knew it was there so it had to go 

You can clearly see the better finish in that picture, i am just waiting on some 1200 grit sand paper then I will have this folder fully finished.

The Bowie

This is my personal favourite at the moment, its very very difficult due to the design and what i want to do....

Basically, fulltang bowie with vine file worked tang, with bolsters and cocobolo scales. so far I have the filework virtually done, one bolsters shaped the other is getting there.

Aint going to go through all the steps just a few clear ones, as this one I know exactly how it will look when done.

 

This is where I am at now, its going well considering I am doing this between studies and with mainly hand tools

Thanks for looking 

Skipp'

First Blog

Well where to start, I am mainly starting this as i often find myself bored out of my head with loads of ideas buzzing around...

I guess the obligatory about me section is needed, I am a student so I got loads of spare time on my hands... even tho I am a third year doing a degree in Sports Science, I have competed at world level but recently I have not been training or competing, reason being I got put on medication (roaccutane more specifically isotretinoin) basically it stopped me training as it caused my muscles to go extremely stiff and it took days to recover from a training session so my fitness levels dropped and I did actually get quite depressed.  I finished the tablets about 3weeks ago and now I feel much better about myself and want to go and enjoy life.

The Hobbies, well I have a rather strange hobby and collection.  I have been collecting swords for a while and have a pretty good collection, although with the change in laws the collection had to stop (although I personally think that my collection is perfectly balanced), since the new laws I got more into the smaller blades.  Thus meaning Knives... I have a few production knives but since looking around and becoming familiar on a few forums I have started to make my own.  Yes making my own custom knives, unsure about selling them as i am doing this as a hobby and quite honestly the skills need to improve a great deal first.

I will  mainly be posting updates on what's going on with me, uni, my customs, etc. so expect loads of pictures, as I do have pretty strong views and opinions - I hope I do not offend anyone with my views.

Thanks for reading the ramblings of my first post