needles-and-pins

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My younger child turns 23 today. Since he often makes decisions like what to wear or which menu item to get by flipping a coin, I made him his own custom brass coin.

His name is Linus, and the "Nihil Obstat" means "Nothing obstructs", or, in other words, "There's nothing in your way." I think it's a good wish for someone's birthday.

I really enjoyed making this, even though the tolerances are stupid tight.

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These are prototypes, so I don't have any on the etsy shop yet, but I'm working on getting different varieties ready for the holiday shopping season.

The one on the left is made with maple, and the one on the right with HDPE. Woods tend to crack when being drilled, so I'd hoped the plastic would work better (and it does work beautifully), but adhesives don't like to stick to it. Fortunately I can make a silicone mold and do epoxy resin in any color.

So I think once I cast some, I'll start making some with different numbers of gems. Next up will be trans... I have some nice big acrylic gems for those. Finally, I wanted to let you know I invested in a sharpening system that gets my blades wicked sharp.

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I did this one for myself, but I'll probably still list it on my Etsy shop.

This gyuto features a Japanese gate called a torii, with a tiny shrine in the background, and a tranquil forested landscape. On the bottom is an etching of a crane on a thin piece of steel. The handle is swirled red and black resin, and the guard is cut from some stainless steel bar stock left over from another knife.

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Always trying to be diverse in our inclusivity: this Pride season we're adding the MLM flag and the Disability flag.

We're hosting a booth for the first time this June at our local festival so we're pumping up our inventory. Our Etsy store will still be open, so surf by and check it out.

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Love Critters

So my disabled daughter makes little polymer clay sculptures for our Etsy shop. Making these little creatures makes her happy.

Several people have liked our red and black octopuses, so we decided we could go ahead and be more inclusive, so there are several pride flag varieties to choose from. She also has started to do this with other critters, her green snake and this cute li'l crab.

And she (and thus I) would be over the moon if you considered one of her pride dragons; our logo comes from these.

Stop by our shop and have a look at the things she's made, and I've made, and maybe you'll find something you like. Buy it this week and you'll probably still get it before Valentine's day… but really, love is for every day of the year.

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Practice does make perfect

See this notch? I drilled this through a 3/16" (4.762mm) thick brass bar. Then I used tiny jeweler's files to cut and shape the metal.

I cut it to fit the tang of this knife blade, 7/32" (5.556mm) wide by 1/16" (1.5875mm) tall.

My cut is snug and straight. It's taken me two years to get a cut this tight. Practice has finally improved my craft.

It's frustratingly slow, but don't give up. You'll get better at whatever you practice.

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Hey... I worked my butt off to get some of these ready to show you.

These are a new style of pocket knife I have on our Etsy shop. Now we're able to put in more detail than ever, and include even more people than before!

Here are the currently available designs, including the just announced Polyam flag. Of course, if you want something custom, be sure to ask!

It's all in time for your holiday gift giving, even if you're only giving to yourself.

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@slowdissolve refurbished a pair of knives for me.

What a fantastic job she did!

@needles-and-pins

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My most recent knife is made to cut the wedding cake for a friend’s daughter. The handle is white resin coated with white mica powder, pinned with brass. The guard is also brass. The blade is polished stainless steel, engraved with a diamond drag bit on a CNC router. It’s my third wedding cake knife, but I’d love to make more! If you know of a wedding coming up where the couple (or throuple!) would appreciate a customized blade like this, I’d be delighted to create one with you!

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My most recent commission. Based on the cherry blossom gyuto that's been so popular, this person asked for Hokusai's Great Wave Over Kanagawa on the blade, a seafoam green handle with blue and silver sparkly swirls, and the water tribe symbol on the handle. It was a struggle... I poured eight resin blocks until I got one that satisfied both of us. I had to draw the right part of the wave image because the original isn't that wide. Where I usually use brass for the guard and pommel, this time I used nickel, which has a hardness closer to steel. That said, I'm happy with how it turned out. If you think you'd like something like this, with (almost) any colors or design, gimme a shout.

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I can't believe I forgot to post this draft! I did a couple of these custom kitchen knives for @ohforfucksakearethereanyurlsleft. I kinda dig the custom knife biz.

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I can't believe I forgot to post this draft! I did a couple of these custom kitchen knives for @ohforfucksakearethereanyurlsleft. I kinda dig the custom knife biz.

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I've been working on this since May, in between other things. A big, butch Bowie knife with a mahogany handle, with a bas-relief of a rose.

I got a new little CNC router in April, and hopefully you've seen my Pride Signs that showed my first efforts on it. Well, since then I've been struggling to learn learning how to do 3D modelling to make this, which has been an idea I've had since I got the blade last year.

I'll be working on setting up a new web store for my not-Pride-related curios and knives. Until then, let me know if you like it! I take commissions too!

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ferric chloride is magical

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A couple of recent commissions. The rainbow kitchen knives (8" and 4") were requested by @ohforfucksakearethereanyurlsleft. After some trouble with shipping, the knives were finally received recently.

The other is a request based off the cherry-blossom knife I posted last time. This person liked the idea, but wanted to use violets from her grandmother's china pattern. So I drew those with a little extra to fill up the area. The handle is a marbled purple resin, and the bolster and pommel are brass. It's also smaller than the cherry blossom (6" instead of 9").

My pride pocket knives are doing all right, in terms of sales, but I could definitely stand to sell more. Would YOU be interested in custom kitchen cutlery?

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Another cherry blossom knife. After the first one was featured by the YouTube channel Annika's Leaf, I received a few inquiries from people who wanted one just like it. This is my third after the original, and I was really lucky with the marbling on the handle, which was nearly a failure: the pink started to solidify too early.

I really enjoy making them, and if you would like one (or even a omething a little different) send me a note and we'll talk.

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I...I uh... I made a video of how our pride pocket knives are put together, by hand, one at a time. This one's been hurried along, but you can watch it at regular speed with captions explaining what's happening on youtube.

And, as always, they're available at www.etsy.com/shop/FeelGoodFrens

the background music: gift wrapped caper by Analog By Nature (c) copyright 2009 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/cdk/22397