February 27, 2016

Over the couple of weeks, I really have been in a whirlwind of labor, reorganization and emotion.  Yesterday, blades came home from heat treat.

Labor:

Manual metalwork (filing and sanding) that must be done prior to heat treat required more time than expected due to the unnatural body contortion that I do in order to watch every particle of steel removed during that process.  A physical and mental tax is taken by this monotonous process, so frequent breaks are required in order to maintain health and sanity.

Reorganization:

In order to create a more efficient and quieter operating condition for the CNC router, I felt the need to move things around in the shop once again.  I wish I had arrived on this optimal placement from the get go.  Isolating it in the back room will allow for control of noise and dust when it is running so that other tasks may be undertaken in the shop more pleasantly.   A new dust collection method for the router still needs to be designed assembled before the machine can be put back in action, and the repaired controller card must be fully reinstalled, with the hope that at that point, everything will work properly and we can start making new handle scales and sheath parts.

Emotion:

The termination of a  2.5 year relationship with my first serious girlfriend challenged my very soul.  After a week of various forms of processing, managed by the logical “Vulcan” mental self programming I have attempted to live by since my early adulthood, I have overcome most of the mental and physical anguish that is heartbreak.  While I expect there will be more emotion to come as time goes by, this new experience has inspired me to redouble my efforts of progress in all facets of my life.  I will live more in the present, and achieve a perfect attitude in all situations.  As the future unfolds, I will strive to seize the day, instead of waiting for life or love to happen.  I will pursue my passion, and promote in myself and others, a way of thinking that is positive and will help make my world a better place.

Heat treat:

The new batch of blades came home and are up to spec as far as I can tell.  A few sample blades that had been improperly heat treated were included in this new batch, and also seem to be as hard as the new ones, so it appears that decarburization was not an issue and we will be able to successfully re-harden the rest of the previous batch.  This is great news, and while it has taken a long time to figure out whether or not we have a solution to a potentially bankrupting problem, it means we’ll be delivering tomahawks this spring instead of late summer.

I am also nearly ready to send a new batch of 28 Anubis tomahawk blanks to the CNC shop so the majority of metal removal can be done without blowing out my elbows and back.  This means I’ll also be delivering Tomahawks throughout the spring and into summer, and as soon as I get a solid read on how many more tomahawks I need to make over the next year, I’ll be ordering more fresh blanks to do it all over again.

That’s all I have for now. Thank you for your patience, patronage and support of our business.  We hope to grow this into something really great, and use our resources not only to produce fine tools, but to educate folks and promote a world wide attitude of self reliance and sustainability so that our world and its resources may be preserved for the enjoyment of those who come after us.