I cannot do much walking or cycling at the moment - so just keeping busy 
My Covid-19 and later projects
- Thread starter John Fenna
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Project 63
A knife handle for a friend.
One of the ladies I work with has a repro "Iron Age" knife and it has been in a shocking state since I first saw it years ago ... so with time on my hands I offered to fix it ...
The blade was bent , notched and blunt, the handle string and a bit of antler that used to stay on but fell off all the time now, the tang was rusted and ... well - I could go on...
I replaced the fore end of the handle with a mix of Red Deer antler, horn and leather and glued everything with resin/charcoal dust glue, cleaned up and tried to sharpen the blade (without a full regrind and reheat treating it will never be good!). I did not "over finish it so that it looks a "used tool" in her costume kit. Good enough for site work -
I hope she likes it!
A knife handle for a friend.
One of the ladies I work with has a repro "Iron Age" knife and it has been in a shocking state since I first saw it years ago ... so with time on my hands I offered to fix it ...
The blade was bent , notched and blunt, the handle string and a bit of antler that used to stay on but fell off all the time now, the tang was rusted and ... well - I could go on...
I replaced the fore end of the handle with a mix of Red Deer antler, horn and leather and glued everything with resin/charcoal dust glue, cleaned up and tried to sharpen the blade (without a full regrind and reheat treating it will never be good!). I did not "over finish it so that it looks a "used tool" in her costume kit. Good enough for site work -
I hope she likes it!
Very nice John. Good to see you've kept the manufacture authentic too.
I think she'll love it!
Project 64
I had some tools to give handles ... a hand forged adze and hand forged hammer for work, an old Entrenching tool (WW2?) needed a tomahawk style handle and spare and my throwing/general duties hawk needed a spare handle. The E tool needed regrinding but the rest of the work was all shaping wood, making wooden wedges and rescuing a couple of metal wedges from an old broken hammer (kept just for "in case" )
I had some tools to give handles ... a hand forged adze and hand forged hammer for work, an old Entrenching tool (WW2?) needed a tomahawk style handle and spare and my throwing/general duties hawk needed a spare handle. The E tool needed regrinding but the rest of the work was all shaping wood, making wooden wedges and rescuing a couple of metal wedges from an old broken hammer (kept just for "in case"
)
Project 65
Refurb and test mini projects.
My long suffering sewing machine died and I had to replace it - I bought a Necchi NM2000 from Aldi as the closest to the old one I had and it needed trying out ...
At the same time I decided to make a new belt case for my camera and a carry cover for the entrenching tool ... and I found a good daysack in a charity shop for £2.50 and it needed refurbing...
All that was wrong with the pack was that someone had shortened the lower shoulder straps and the side compression straps and the waist belt - and then sewed more webbing on to lengthen them again! Naturally the joins would not pass through the buckles ... so I trimmed everything short and replaced the straps with webbing and buckles I had by - in my pile of "that will be useful one day" bits. No sewing was needed on this mini project.
The E-tool cover was made with bits from the same source and is designed to carry the tool either "flat-packed" hanging from a belt or pack, or "Ready for use" on ice-ax loops on a pack, while the camera case used the same material source and some velcro I have had for years after finding a roll in a skip
...
The machine has held up brilliantly coping well with up to 3 layers of MOD spec webbing and 2 layers of heavy duty fabric
Refurb and test mini projects.
My long suffering sewing machine died and I had to replace it - I bought a Necchi NM2000 from Aldi as the closest to the old one I had and it needed trying out ...
At the same time I decided to make a new belt case for my camera and a carry cover for the entrenching tool ... and I found a good daysack in a charity shop for £2.50 and it needed refurbing...
All that was wrong with the pack was that someone had shortened the lower shoulder straps and the side compression straps and the waist belt - and then sewed more webbing on to lengthen them again! Naturally the joins would not pass through the buckles ... so I trimmed everything short and replaced the straps with webbing and buckles I had by - in my pile of "that will be useful one day" bits. No sewing was needed on this mini project.
The E-tool cover was made with bits from the same source and is designed to carry the tool either "flat-packed" hanging from a belt or pack, or "Ready for use" on ice-ax loops on a pack, while the camera case used the same material source and some velcro I have had for years after finding a roll in a skip
...The machine has held up brilliantly coping well with up to 3 layers of MOD spec webbing and 2 layers of heavy duty fabric
Nice work there John.The machine has held up brilliantly coping well with up to 3 layers of MOD spec webbing and 2 layers of heavy duty fabric
Glad to hear the new machine turned out alright, sadly I had to cancel getting one as our shower pump died and I needed to get a replacement one
Project 66
Another pouch - this time with Velcro belt loops that will fit my DD rucksack!
Last sewing before Xmas!
Again - bits from the bits box and sewn with my new machine - mainly for practice
Sorry about the poor photos!
Another pouch - this time with Velcro belt loops that will fit my DD rucksack!
Last sewing before Xmas!
Again - bits from the bits box and sewn with my new machine - mainly for practice
Sorry about the poor photos!
Good work as always.
Have a good Christmas!
You knew it was coming, quick question why the Velcro on the top?
Have a good Christmas!
You knew it was coming, quick question why the Velcro on the top?
What wood do you use for the handles? It's one of the things I enjoy doing, fitting new handles to old tools.
I was lucky to score a couple of Hickory(?) slasher handles at a sensible price and it was these I cut down for the tool handles
Project 67
Danish Poly Cotton trousers
Well - this is really more machine practice to get used to my new machine and it's quirks ... I actually have plenty of trousers...
I used my usual (home made) pattern but the fabric is some I got from The Prepper Shop - Danish Military Olive 67/33 Cotton Poly fabric 1.5m wide ... and only £3.47 per meter! Very affordable and I knew that even if I fouled everything up I would not be too badly out of pocket...
I had some issues - the fabric is quite "soft" and moves under the machine a fair bit... and it frays very easily and quickly! The photos make the fit look a bit strange but that is because of my strange pose and the way the new (summer weight) trousers hang up on the thermals and blanket wool shirt (home made a while back) I am also wearing.
Overall I am fairly happy with the trousers, the fabric and my new machine ... but it was a steep learning curve with a fair few resewn seams!
Danish Poly Cotton trousers
Well - this is really more machine practice to get used to my new machine and it's quirks ... I actually have plenty of trousers...
I used my usual (home made) pattern but the fabric is some I got from The Prepper Shop - Danish Military Olive 67/33 Cotton Poly fabric 1.5m wide ... and only £3.47 per meter! Very affordable and I knew that even if I fouled everything up I would not be too badly out of pocket...
I had some issues - the fabric is quite "soft" and moves under the machine a fair bit... and it frays very easily and quickly! The photos make the fit look a bit strange but that is because of my strange pose and the way the new (summer weight) trousers hang up on the thermals and blanket wool shirt (home made a while back) I am also wearing.
Overall I am fairly happy with the trousers, the fabric and my new machine ... but it was a steep learning curve with a fair few resewn seams!
Nice work there John 
Looks like the Aldi machine was a good buy if you're turning out stuff like that
Looks like the Aldi machine was a good buy if you're turning out stuff like that
I just edited the thread title - it is not exactly all about time off for a pandemic any more!
Project 69
Another "scraps" belt pouch.... finishing off the scraps used for the last one!
Another "scraps" belt pouch.... finishing off the scraps used for the last one!
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