Guitar bridge piece

To take a break from the craze was of my current situation. I made a new bridge piece for a friend of mine, the bridge piece on his Gretch was cracked. The bridge piece is made from African black wood. Sanded to 400 grit and finished with some bees wax to seal it. 

 

The original looks like it may have been a type of rose wood, it was lite weight. And roughly finished, not what you would expect if you're paying R12 000 for a guitar. I'm sure they have good reason for using this specific type of wood but I know the African black wood will be plenty strong enough, if not better sounding.  

DEKS

The Durban knife show this year I felt was excellent, I did notice an improvement from previous exhibitors. Over all atmosphere was very friendly and out going. As said before is a great inspiration for my own work, after showing some of my own work to a Mr. Mitchell it was suggested that I take part and display next and maybe share a table. And I bought myself some exciting goodies

He's Here!

I have a nephew! He was born yesterday! Timothy Stefanus Moodley. I am very excited to watch this boy grow, lots of boy stuff to do!

Knife Shows!

The Durban Eastwr Knife Show is here! I am so excited, last year being the first I've ever attended. This year I am really looking forward to once again seeing the incredible crafts ship of the different knife makes/smiths. It serves as a real inspiration and motivation for my own level of quality, in both jewellery and knife smithing. 

Car shock absorb-er spring

Last week I was on my way back from the petrol station. At one of the intersections I saw lots of scattered pieces from an accident that looked fairly recent. Amongst the bits and pieces I found a spring from a shock absorber. I immediately made a left turn to go and pick it up, Spring such as shock absorber springs, leaf springs have a high carbon content. Through many hours of looking at knife makers and different types of steels which are good for knife forging, springs were always mentioned as being great for knife making because of their high carbon content which is excellent for holding an edge.

Birthday Gifts

LOOK AT THIS!  These are my birthday gifts fro mys Friend Carlo. Two cold steel knives, The little black dagger is a boot knife tactical more self defense knife, easily concealable. It is made of weather resisitant fiber glass reinforced plastic. The Balisong looking knife is "the Paradox" from cold steel, feature slipjoint locking mechanisms on either handle. The blade is stainless steel spear point, featuring a hollow grind. This blade is razor sharp,literally I shaved a layer off my palm by mistake; a small spot. Thank you so much, I love them

One for me one for you?

I decided to take a break and forge some kiridashi, From tomorrow we start designing and coming up with a piece for the AngloPlatinum competition. These kiridashi have just been forged and profiled, it took me around about 4 hour to get h of them done

Air rifle

While my puuko was curing, I got busy on the stock of my air rifle. I am yet to find the type of wood it is, I thought it was poplar wood. As you can see after some working the wood seems to have a pink hue to the grain and not a green-yellow of poplar. I will keep you posted.

What it is meant to look like

This is what the air rifle is supposed to look like, all the exposed metal parts were heavily pitted and rusted. According to all the gun specialists, one is never to use abrasives to restore a gun. Unfortunately I did but it's looking okay,  and I used good old vinegar to dissolve all the rust off all the screws and pins. I did not want to soak the barrel and spring chamber in vinegar for fear of the insides becoming sticky.

Bicycle!

I spruced my bicyle up today; new tyres, tubes, handle bar wrapping. The seat might look new but it needs to be replaced as well. After I finished up with the tune up I took it for a ride, to check for anymore adjustment. Next thing is a new seat then we can cycle to work and still be comfortable when  I get there.