New Knife Work - June 2018

I've been working on getting a "surplus" of knives going. I have about six knives that are WIP (work in progress) - these are a couple of them that I've been working on today (June 2, 2018). 

I cut off the end of the rasp to start forging the shape of the blade. 

7.5" Clip Point Bowie - This was a 14" Farrier's Rasp when I started (see first photo). 

I drilled a 3/8" lanyard hole in the handle for hanging, I can see this in the kitchen or in the greenhouse. 

And another one I started today - a "Baby Bowie" - I think I'll make these on the regular! 

Homestead Work - May 2018

It's amazing to think that it's May of 2018! Not sure where the time is going, but it's going fast. I see the need to tighten up a bit and get the big things in place for our homestead build. 

We've acccomplished the things we needed to these first few months; now, we need to get serious about the following: 

1) Build an "Outhouse". Why would we do this? There are several reasons; for people staying with us (camping/glamping), any workers or outside contractors, and for ourselves (although we have our trailer). We don't want to use the black water system in the trailer, I don't want to haul the trailer to a dump site every few months. Our outhouse will be a compost toilet; low maintenance and very permaculture-ish! 

2) Build a "Wellhouse". We have our well in, but we need to build a small (4'x8') enclousure for security, 55 gallon HDPE water barrel, and an outdoor shower. Basically, this is just a small shed that covers our well and allows us to add a simple way to retrieve water, take a shower, or use an outdoor sink. 

3) Finish fencing. We have about 800 feet of fence to put in. We have the pull post and corner posts set in concrete and are placed at our property pins. This will be completed sometime in the fall. 

We were on the homestead yesterday and when we pulled in, we saw this! 

Not much damage, it could have been worse! I need to get my chainsaw in here and remove these standing dead trees. 12 acres and I pu the trailer where a tree falls on it!!

Ponderosa Pine starting to make cones! We have pinon pine on the homestead, too! Tasty pine nuts! 

Almost 10 gallons a minute! We are still running the well system to clear it (murky water from the drilling sediment) - it can take several days to clear a well. Other than that, we are clear on tests and good to go! This is where we're building the first little structure (cover the well site).

6" Clip Point Bowie (My Personal EDC)

I decided that it was time to make myself a knife - a personal every day carry (EDC). This is 1084 NC steel - this is the first time I've tried a flat grind and I love it!

Short Bio/Doc on Quinn Jacobson by Jim Presley

Making The Case For Carbon

I've been thinking a lot about the connection between my two passions; wet collodion photography/printing and knifemaking.

Before I run down a rabbit hole, I understand that the claim I'm about to make can be applied to any Atomic #6 material. This is a DIRECT connection and I'll try to make my case clearly.

Atomic #6, or carbon is the the basis for the connection. Beryllium (Atomic #4) and Helium (Atomic #2) form Carbon (Atomic #6). I work in both, blade/blacksmiting and wet plate collodion photography. I make negatives and then print those negatives onto a "tissue" of gelatin/ink/carbon and transfer that to a final support as a print. The basis of the image is Carbon. 

The carbon connection is strong: High carbon steel in my blades and carbon in my print. I would like to try the following experiment: Save some iron oxide (forge scale) from a knife build, add it to the gelatin/ink (aka Black Jello) and make a negative/Carbon print of that very knife. 

The ultimate in knife collecting and 19th century photography; the Carbon print (1855, Alphonse Louis Poitevin) and the Bowie knife (Jim Bowie, early-mid 19th century) share some heritage. Again, the connection is strong!!

Here's what you'll see from me: I'll make a knife (this one in progress is a small Bowie) and save some of the fine grinding material from the shaping and add that to the Black Jello mixture. Then, I'll photograph the knife with the Carbon transfer process. Both the print and the knife will be made of Carbon #6!!