Sometimes in NC, it snows in the winter. The first big snow I remember was back in 1987 or 88, after we had fully moved into our house, and dad had a Toyota skid steer loader that he would let me drive occasionally. For some reason, I don’t remember my big brother ever driving it. That year, it snowed about 12″ all in one big dump, so lots of things shut down, and somehow my dad got a job to clear the parking lot at the closest shopping center. Since I couldn’t legally drive the truck, or really even reach the pedals very well, I had the job of driving the skid steer about 4.5 miles on the main road, following dad, and my brother in the truck. (I still don’t recall if my brother was there or not, because he didn’t take part in any of the driving; perhaps he’ll correct me if he ever reads this)
The night before last, the sky dumped about 5 inches of very wet, heavy snow, which collapsed part of our blueberry netting and supports (see picture) and broke several branches off trees around the property and in the woods beyond.
On a note more in tune with work and progress around the shop: I spent the last two days mostly working on a tool to do flat sanding of knife blades using the KMG grinder. See video Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWPIRGPkzS4
Other work in progress:
1. Orders that have been paid in full are being processed as quickly as possible, with the exception of daily distractions which inevitably delay shipping dates. Doing a Job “Right” or doing a job quick seem to be mutually exclusive concepts.
2. Tomahawks are at a local CNC machine shop so the majority of metal removal can be done by machine instead of me.
3.1095 knives, swords, and cutting tools other than tomahawks are being processed in the SRE shop, and are nearing the state in which they will be heat treated
4. A new family of blades is in the final stages of design and will be born this spring. Our first foray into the realm of premium steel (CPM 3V and AEBL Stainless) will bring a few high end versions of our standard knives, as well as a whole new family to the Omnivore Blade-Works product line. (Tomahawks will continue to be made from 1095 because it is the most cost effective) Our new series doesn’t have a name yet, but it will share a handle that I hope to have CNC machined from both a custom layup of hemp canvas Micarta, and some multicolor G10 laminate. The handle accommodates several grip orientations for cutting and thrusting techniques that are otherwise limited to weapons of specific style or ethnic origin. More data on this subject will come to light soon.
Last note:
It has come to my attention (after looking at a few competitors websites) that my work is priced ridiculously low considering the quality of craftsmanship. I will be listing new prices on all products in the coming months, which will be adjusted for both my time and material costs. Our tomahawk prices should go down a bit, and hopefully will be low enough so that everybody who’s in the market for a Tomahawk will choose the 3B or ETA tomahawks over all the others.