Builds By Baz

Prospecting Australia

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Sneak out front... check coast is clear... listen for cars... check for sneaky dog-walkers...
RIPROLLERDOORUPTAKEPHOTOSCLOSEROLLERDOOR!!!
and done.

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Latest.

Damascus steel, forged hunter. Stainless steel guard and domed pin, with dyed and stabilised Maple burl handle.
Blade length 125mm
Overall length 245mm

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Forged high carbon steel hunter, textured flats. Brown Mallee burl handle, Brass guard.

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Cheese knives. Hand forged, textured flats, high carbon steel with yellow box handles.

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Made a spotted gum saya for my wife's kitchen knife.

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Busy busy. Work, kids, gold prospecting, astronomy in the dome, knife making, Viper building, it never ends. COVID has hit our family twice now, so I'm currently in ISO again for the next 7 days.

I got the Viper weighed using vehicle scales borrowed from a local racing club. Total 752kg, but likely to reach the ton by the time I've skinned it, put the other wing and gun on, plus a few layers of paint and some extra mechanical accessories.

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Now I can get to work. I built some vehicle dollys out of 14mm thick leaf spring stiffeners. Each trolley is rated to 800kg+ and has been tested, so well over engineered. Now I can move it around in the workshop and with the addition of some securing stirrups over the foot, I can winch it up the ramp of the trailer, currently in the design phase.

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I've made a quick cardboard concept. It may go to three axles and they may or may not have to be positioned further rearward, but that's for the engineers to decide. The roof comes off in overlapping sections, the sides fold down to become platforms. Stabilisers wind down in the corners, bollards and stairs pop into holes and recesses, plus a ladder over the wing to enter the cockpit. There's a lot going on.

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Finally, I got some hardware to test for the reaction control systems (RCS). 8 ports forward and 8 ports rear, from an on board air compressor mounted inside the nose, to be controlled via Arduino, connected to the joystick in the cockpit. These will fire each RCS port individually, picking up a bit of water from a reservoir via a siphon between the solenoid valve and the port.

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Yesterday after a bit of a delay caused by Australia Post I recieved a knife made by Baz.
It is an excellent piece of craftsmanship and Baz was great to deal with, so if anyone is contemplating buying a quality knife I would highly recommend contacting him.The knife was the Damascus hunter pictured above and to say that I am happy is an understatement!
Maybe if I say some nice things he will give me a good deal on that Viper that is cluttering up his shed?
 
Japanese Katana WIP

I am doing as much of this in traditional style, by hand and avoiding machinery where possible. After the initial round bar was belted flat with a power hammer, I stretched it out the rest of the way with the hammer on the anvil, then completely hand forged the geometries. Lots of hand filing then inventing a tool out of whatever I had available to scrape in the fuller. (NOT A BLOOD GROOVE!!)

In keeping with tradition also, I am using materials from scraps to make the fittings. Scrap copper and steel to make the tsuba, habaki, seppa, etc etc
Instead of buying mekugi pins from china, I sourced the correct bamboo, made my own and hardened them in the oven.

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