Bear "Fun", "Jungle" Tools, Ideas and Special / Member Projects

That is just downright sweeeeettttt!!

 

Yup, now you know why I don't try this!!!!

I'm more into chainsaw work.

 

If the knife owner trims or reshapes the handle, will that affect the kydex retention, @Bear?

 

Aloha Monkeys... will get to the questions in a bit...

Here is the last of this project... this one is done!

Carefully measuring and marking the placement for the hollow rivets....

I use a set I rolled over so I also know where the outer edge of the rivet will be... if you get too close to the formed cavity... the sheath will be too tight in some places....

Every hollow rivet is spaced to fit the Tek lok... for a variety of mounting positions... including upside down....

Rivets are set with 1/2 ton arbor press and the appropriate sized dies....

Used the mini heat gun again.... for adjusting the thumb break... yes... with a bolster this big... you need a big thumb break to get the bolster to push past the formed sheath that locks it.... filing, sanding, test fitting... I use a scrap piece of leather so I don't mess up other areas while I am filing or sanding one particular area...

The rest is kinda self explanatory... but happy to answer questions...

Final picture.... Sheath locks with very satisfying "Snap"...

Thanks for coming along... hope this helps someone out there with their project....

Have a great weekend!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

A class act for sure, great job Bear.

Thanks
HK

 

Here you go @HK_User ... picture worth a thousand words... Video... near priceless

Also @Ganado and @Hanzo answered your questions... in the video

Enjoy all...

Thanks for all the nice comments, likes and questions....

Phew!...

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Great youtube vid.

HK

 

Really well done!

 

Aloha Monkeys....

Here's another interesting experiment I've performed while finishing up projects...

Bear tip #3...

LOL... sort of related to a post @Ganado did recently ....

So let's take a moment to talk about .... ahem... foot odor... foul smelling feet and shoes...

Now I know this won't apply to the female Monkeys here... because we all know it's the big hairy old fart smelly male Monkeys that stink up the place ... and I am sure all we all know that Women do not "sweat"... nor do they "perspire"... they "glisten"

Some technical stuff... our feet contain the most amount of sweat glands of our whole body... supposedly going back to the days when we were all barefoot and the glands helped cool and protect our feet...

Well now they are stuffed in socks, then shoes and boots or worse yet ... five finger toe thingys...

Two kinds of bacteria are common in those shoes and socks... and thrive in the warm moist atmosphere...

Did I mention that they feed on the skin cells that are shed continuously ?.... that's what causes that terrible smell (ok I know I'm not the only one with smelly feet here )

So when you smell that wonderful aroma when you take your shoes off... or worse... when someone else does... you're smelling the by products of the bacteria feeding of your skin cells ... yuck!

And each bacterial is supposedly responsible for a certain type of smell ... grossed out yet???

So here is the process...

Yes I used to use foot spray daily... that supposedly keeps the bacterial at bay and drys and cools your feet... some work... sometimes not....

But I use steel toe boots that are leather and waterproof when I am in the shop and most of the day... yes hot and sweaty feet for sure...

So I decided to really grow some super bacteria cultures of my own for a real test of my theory....

For 3 weeks ... no spray....

Man... can you imagine how bad it was... when 1/2 hour after taking off my shoes and socks... I could still smell my feet and it was pretty nasty... I wouldn't go near my boots... yes the same ones every day....

Y'all can stop laughing now... this was in the name of "Monkey" science and for y'alls benefit....

Then the solution...

Know what colloidal and ionic silver is ????....

Kills bacteria... heck... bandaids used to have them for a while.... then they stopped... hmmmm.... TPTB sure didn't want us to think that silver was actually useful for that... the pharmaceuticals would have a fit...

Anyway, I've got two silver generators (yes one is none and two is one) and I know other folks like @melbo have them and use them as well...

Well I've got it so I use it... whipped up a big batch of 10% ionic and put it in a spray bottle and set that spray bottle on mist...

And I shot that into my boots every night ... and I gotta tell you... they were extra ripe when I started .... (sorry @Hanzo if you were wondering what that smell was at lunches during that time )

The next day after the first "treatment" I could tell the difference... did this for a whole week and boy what a difference...

Now I won't tell you that the smell completely went away... but it was hardly noticeable...

The next step... spray the socks... but first... wash them inside out... remember that shed skin... you want to get rid of as much of that as possible... then spray them inside out and let dry....

Within 2 days... there was no more "foot" smell... there is still the smell of a warm boot ... but not that distinctive foot smell... actually no foul smell at all....

I kept that up for a week....

Then I decided to stop... no spraying the boot and no spraying the socks... still no smell so... 3 days... then decided to go back to spraying....

So give it a try... taking care of your feet is pretty darn important... feet are also not as sore anymore...

Also in SHTF situation... might not be a bad idea to have sprayed and let dry all your socks underwear clothes that you have packed... they may last longer before getting rank... and if you need to use that bandana for a bandaid... you might just wish it was impregnated with silver before you wrap that bleeding body part... did that already

Carry a handkerchief daily ... spray that after washing and let dry... we all know what goes in there ... yuck!

Hope that helps... it really surprised me... but when I thought about it... it makes perfect sense... no more foot spray expense...

Thanks for stopping by... let me know if you try it and how it works for you... I'm convinced ....

Have a great week all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

So THAT's what the smell has been... And to think I thought it was MY sweaty feet. [emoji13]

 

Aloha Monkeys...

More plant fun... this is actually pretty darn easy to grow ... heck... even an old fart Bear can do it

Remember those Vanilla flowers a few posts back... (did you know vanilla is actually an orchid?) and how you have to hand pollinate them with a specialized tool (a teriyaki stick split in half) ?...

Well I suck at that... but after a few tries... SUCCESS!

See those elongated flower stems with the dried flower at the end?....

In five to six months ... those will be vanilla beans ready for further processing into real Hawaiian Vanilla beans...

Yeah @Hanzo I'll save you a few for your culinary delights

Phew!... Glad this old fart Monkey still has it when it comes to "pollinating" and I'm not just shooting "blanks" with un-pollinated dried up flowers dropping to the ground ... LOL....

Now I know some of you won't be able to resist your off color comments and jokes... so go ahead and fire away... this is a "Fun" thread after all...

Have a great day!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Bear I snorted my drink over that shoe post.

Have you ever smelled a woman's shoes after a night of dancing? Now you know why we have so many different shoes. So we can rotate them and give them time to air out so we can pretend our feet never smell.

If I ever figure out how the 'make your own' colloidal silver thing works I will try this

 

LOL @Ganado ... sorry about that... I didn't think women "snorted" either

Have to say that I've never smelled a woman's shoes after a night of dancing... but I'll take your word for it and I guess that's about the best explanation for why women need so many shoes I have ever heard.....

Pretty simple to make silver solution... I think there's a couple tutorials here somewhere...

I'll see what I can find....

Thanks again for the laugh and enlightenment

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Aloha Monkeys...

Started work on those two blades... finished up the profiling and got in the scandi type bevels... I like about a 17 degree bevel... these are beveled on both sides... not a chisel grind...

I sanded them down to 320 before heat treating... made sure any stress points were gone to avoid cracks in the final quench....

Pics of the blades out of the quench... you can see the hardened edge where the scale just blows off .... then the file test to make sure it did harden...

Another sanding to get all the crud off and check for cracks.... they are tempering now... for about a 60 rc hardness....

Then it's final finishes on the edges and the blade... and work on the handles....

Thanks for looking...

Have a great weekend all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Aloha Monkeys,

Very busy weekend with family stuff....

Hope y'all had a great one!

Not much progress but did manage to get these two tempered... pretty critical process....

O-1 High Carbon steel... two 2 hour tempering cycles at 420 for refined toughness... about 61 -62 rc hardness....

File checked and still skates across the edge like glass....

Thought I would take some pics of the nice colors the oxides form on the surface after the tempering process.... for those that have never seen it....

Thanks for looking....

Have a great week all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

LOVELY! Are those really blue? Or is it just the light?

I'm curious (i know very little about knives) what does the pointed bit opposite the blade do for the knife? Is that for style or do you use that for something?

 

Aloha @Ganado Yup... that's pretty true colors in the pics... not the lighting... it's a light oxide coating from the tempering process to add toughness to the knives... straight out of the oil quench as shown in the earlier pictures... the knives a somewhat brittle and would crack easily... tempering draws back some of the hardness or brittleness so that the knife won't crack or snap...
hence the old saying... "don't lose your temper"

Good questions.... that pointed bit opposite the knife edge or blade... is an index point for your finger or thumb ... the blade shape is also designed for skinning or filleting ... the overall design lets your "choke" up on the blade and place your finger just behind that point and gives you better control of the knife and tip....

The point also serves as a catch/grab point for when you wish to baton the knife to split wood or cut other items... if you have ever seen a hammer with a points ground into the face rather than being smooth to facilitate hammering nails... it is somewhat the same concept...

Also, rather than a smooth back... that little point, even though it will ground with a radius... will grab the soft wood of a baton and focus the force of the baton better and more evenly IMHO.... the whole area in front of that point to the tip will have a nice smooth radius ... the area on the spin closest to the handle will have a nice 90 degree profile for those that also want to use it for scraping a fire steel... or a bit of sandpaper and you can radius it to your liking....

Most of these designs are not new... many are 100s of years old... frankly not much is new in the edged tool world except for materials and processes... simple tried and true for the right application just works... another old saying... the right tool for the right job in the hands of the right person

Hope that helps answer your question.... if not and I have totally missed your point... just let me know... I'm getting old and that wouldn't be the first time... LOL...

Have a great week!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Works great for cracking open coconut shells. As well as other pounding applications. Would be awesome breaking down plant fibers too.

 

Aloha Monkeys,

One more step to see if there is a Hamon or Heat Affected Zone... basically the transition zone between the hardened edge and the softer back... Samurai swords are know for the variety of simple to complicated and beautiful Hamons... functional beauty that makes for a very tough tool...

I decided to take the extra steps to see if the o-1 steel and my heat treat brought out a visible Hamon... and it did

First clean blades of all oil ... acetone again...

Then a quick dip in white vinegar (food safe) to make sure there are no splotches where there might be oil or fingerprints... then a 3 hour soak....

(Note... you can also use lemon juice - slower or ferric chloride from Radio Shack - faster.... heating all three will speed up the etching... but I prefer a nice slow etc)

Neutralized with window cleaner that has ammonia....

Pics attached... slow rubbing with 1200 grit and oil (yeah... I know... but I am not going to take the hours with finger stones and water that is traditionally used)....

Nice Hamon... so it's back for one more 3 hour soak and then a final polish before epoxy and scales...

Blade has already been polished / sharpened and is hair popping, limp paper towel slicing sharp....

Hope you are enjoying the wip and that it will help you with your own projects....

Have a great week all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear