DIY Knife Update

Here are some new pictures of how the knife is coming along...

 

I plan to use some clear polyurethane to seal the antler and keep it from getting dirty.

Moving on to the next knife.  These show some birch bark I was able to get from a guy up the street that had some branches falling off his birch tree.  I flattened out a section of bark by soaking it in hot water and setting it under a plank and some weights.  I cut sections at close to 2" by 2". This will make up the handle of my carving knife... 

Belt Sander Table

The latest project...

This belt sander was my Grandfather's.  He originally had it set up so that it was about a foot off the ground.  That made it very difficult to work on projects since you essentially needed to be sitting on the ground to use it.  Finally, the drive belt started shredding and it became unusable.  Since I could not find a belt the right size, I decided to rebuild it with a fairly common and inexpensive belt that can be found in any hardware store.  Here's how it turned out...

DIY Knife

Here's the latest progress with one of the knives I'm making.  More updates to come...

DIY Knives

    This is another interesting project.  My son found a deer antler several years ago and we had always talked about making it in to a knife handle.  I thought that building one with him would be a fun project and he might learn something along the way.
    I had seen several places on the internet that sell knife blanks but never got around to ordering one.  Then a friend mentioned something about making blanks from old circular saw blades.  What a great idea!  A little internet research helped hatch a plan.
    Last night, a buddy and I decided we would give it a shot.  We were able to get several cut out in an hours time or so.  Below are some pictures of how our first night turned out.  Admittedly they're pretty rough.  Some filing, sanding, grinding and polishing should shape them up nicely.  I'll keep updating this to show the progress.

Home Theatre Projector Screen

I bought a used projector off Craigslist late last fall.  After looking at different screens available, I decided I would get more bang for my buck if I made it myself.  I basically made it from brick molding, blackout curtain liner, a window screen kit, a couple of "L" brackets, and flat black spray paint.  Here's how it turned out...

The Front:

The back Corner:  Note, this is where I used the flat "L" to give strength to the corners.

The back with the flush mount brackets:

Leather Knife Pouch

This is a project that we did for Cub Scouts.  The hope was to learn about leather working and have something at the end that the boys will be able to keep for years...

Uilleann Pipes

I've picked up something new.  I've always been fascinated with Bagpipes and especially the Uillean pipes.  They are meant to be played indoors while sitting down and are much quieter than the Scottish War Pipes.  There are several different names for them "Union Pipes", "Irish Pipes", and "Uilleann Pipes".  Some believe that the word "Uilleann" means elbow in Goidelic language (Irish Language).  That makes sense since the instrument is played using both elbows. For more information, click here.

What I picked up is a practice set most likely made by John Pendersen, owner of Amazing Grace music store in San Rafael, CA in the early 70's.

The pictures:

If you are interested in hearing what they sound like, click here.