"The Game" came to me last year when I was laying in the bathtub looking up at the ceiling!
I have supplies of three rather unique materials:
1.) I have 2400 feet (120 20 foot bars) of 1 inch square 5160 that was made all from one melt for a manufacturing process in 1984. It was never used in manufacturing and I found it laying in a pile of weeds and saved it from a trip to the recycle plant! It's higher in carbon than normal 5160, and mmost importantly, it was made all from raw materials (no "scrap" or recycled material) all from the same mix.
2.) I also have a rather healthy supply of a high grade of wrought iron that was made in 1903. This was used on a large bridge that collapsed into a river near my home, and I happen to be a life-long friend of the guy who was Foremanon the company that pulled the bridge out of the river. Being used in bridges and any other facility occupied by the public, back around the turn of the century, even wrought iron had manufacturing specs that it had to meet. Wrought iron used in chain and and other applications had little regulation, but in construction use, it had to meet cetain standards. So this stuff is as good as wrought iron gets.
3.) Bakelite!! The worlds first plastic. I have a buddy in Wisconsin who is an electrical engineer and was called in to do some configuring on a old building in Madison. They were doing a re-hab and he need to configure the new service.
Went down into the basement and all of the old fuse boxes were mounted to the wall on a 1 1/4" thick sheet of BAKELITE!!
I got a supply of that as well.
Anyway, I have always been a fan of Lin's work and I admire this collector named Roger Pinnock from Canada. Now, last year about this time, Roger was just really getting his feet wet in knife making. I said I admired him and that is because I wish more collectors would actuall spend some time in the shop making their own knives to have some idea of what it takes to put a knife together.
So, I had this idea!
Whay not take these three very unique materials and give them to three entirely different people at very different levels of knife making experience, and see what they come up with!
Roger is a good friend of a Journeyman Smith just across the borer from him in the US by the name of Dan Farr. But the rule is that it had to be entirely made my Roger himself.
Roger's knife is mostly done.
I'm about to forge mine.
Lin is understandably consumed with getting his knives ready for Master Smith judging. If he doesn't get his knife done, we'll just have to live with that and do it later.
Not even sure what we'll do with the knives yet.
As well, we are to each document the process.
More later!
Topic: Lin & Karl--Little Friendly Competition (Read 667 times)
