hammerforged

Best of luck Ben to you and your Dad.

My wife and I left home on September 4th on a trip celebrating her retirement. Original plans had us going to Banff but my sister-in-law's passport did not come in time so we adjusted and went to Yellowstone instead. My wife and I left early on the morning of September 4th headed to Richmond, VA. for my nephew's wedding that evening, then up at the crack of dawn on the 5th headed for Louisville, Kentucky to visit with my daughter and her husband for her birthday. Up again at the crack of dawn on the 6th headed for Lockesburg, Arkansas to hook-up with sister-in-law and her husband for the trip west and north. Not quite so early on the 7th headed out for Amarillo, Texas for an overnight. Left Amarillo for Colorado Springs, CO. Spent 2 1/2 days in Colorado Springs. Went to the summit of Pikes Peak on the Cog Railway. 72 degrees at the base - 14 at the summit. visited with a young friend at the Olympic Training Center who is in residence there and one of the best on our Olympic Shooting Team - watch for Jon Michael Mcgrath in competition, he is currently the world champion in Skeet. he gave us all a behind the scenes tour of the center. Saw the Garden of the Gods - very aptly named indeed. My wife and I visited with a high school friend of her's who hadn't seen each other in 40 years. On our way out of town on Saturday headed for Rock Springs, Wyoming we stopped at the Air Force Academy and watched the cadets on morning parade as well as touring the awe inspiring Chapel. The Academy had a home football game that day but we had miles to go so we did not stay. Spent a day and a half in Rock Springs visiting some of my sister-in-law's relatives. Left Rock Springs for West Yellowstone, Montana. Spent a week in West Yellowstone - what an amazing week. While there we made a trip to Virginia City, Montana - the first established city in Montana and is now a preserved living history city. The original hotel is still in operation and we thought seriously about getting a room and spending the night but we had an early bus tour of the lower loop of Yellowstone the next morning so passed this time. On the way to and from Virginia City we saw a family of Moose on the side of the road who were co-operative enough to allow some pictures taken. While in West Yellowstone we took the opportunity to travel to Grand Teton National park for the day and through to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. After our wonderful week in West Yellowstone we headed east for Rapid City, SD for a 3 day stay. while there we took a bus tour of Mount Rushmore, the Custer State Forest and the Crazy Horse Monument. At one point on the tour through the forest it was pointed out to us that the road we were traveling on was built and designed back in the 30's and that the designer purposely designed it so that traffic could travel no faster than 20 miles per hour while traversing the road. his thoughts was that this would cause everyone to slow down and appreciate the beauty surrounding them, I must agree with his assessment. The other issue with the road being that old was that it was built with the vehicles of the time in mind and NOT modern 40 passenger buses, there are several tunnels through the mountains on this road and each one is narrower than the previous one. Ultimately you come to a tunnel known as the "Eye of the Needle". the bus we were traveling on for this tour was a refurbished Greyhound Bus and there were literally 3 inches clearance on each side of the bus and the walls of the tunnel. After our time in Rapid City we headed for Sioux Falls and visits with friends. My brother-in-law and I had hoped to bag some Pheasant on the trip but this has not been a good year for SD Pheasant and the season has been pushed back some. While in Sioux Falls or rather Tea, SD it was my wonderful pleasure to meet and visit with (although for a very short time) our own Dakota Case. After a few days visiting in Tea, we headed south for Branson, Missouri. This was an ordeal to say the least. The road south had sustained severe damage from the spring flooding of the Missouri and we had 5 detours that took us several hours out of our way. An 8 hour trip became 15. We spent 3 days in Branson then headed back to Lockesburg, Arkansas. On the way we saw many amazing vistas and met many wonderful people. I was reminded all along the way that this is indeed a great country we are priveledged to live in. The Lord has truly blessed us. I personally took over 900 photographs and my brother-in-law took over 700 himself. It will take me a while to edit them but I promise that eventually I will post pics of our trip. Thank you for allowing me to ramble on.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family Chris.

I use both the Rage 2 blade and have never had any disappointments in them.

Sorry I missed this - Happy Birthday Chris - belatedly.

A belt, inlay for a knife sheath, wallet? :yes:

Great meeting up with you as well Dakota, wish we could have had some time to sit down and jam for a while.

Very nice guest indeed! Would love to have him stop by my place anytime.

I have posted my first ever anywhere Blog here on RT. It is a 4 part post and picture heavy. Entitled "A journey to completion" parts 1 through 4.

Thanks Chris - hopefully Anthony (Adjam5) will chime in here. What makes this folder different from every other folder I have ever made or for that matter every other folder on the planet is the blade. The blade in this folder was made from a billet of Damascus that I forged from a very singular piece of cable. While not very pretty it has imbued in it the hearts and souls of each and every one of us. My good friend Adjam5 sent me the cable that I used to forge this billet from the site of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum which he is working on. For some reason this folder took me longer to make than any other folder I have ever made. (I didn't want to screw it up). It is my hopes that this folder will serve Chris and his family for generations to come and that with each passing down the significance of the blade in this folder is not lost on the next generation.

Anyone else watch this on the Discovery Channel? Documentary about the building of "Tower One" the Freedom Tower that our fellow forumite Anthony (Adjam5) is working on. Amazing to see behind the scenes what all is going into this building. They are really breaking new ground in building construction. Taking lessons from 9/11 and applying them to the structure and fortification in this building.

Lousiville, Kentucky - Fern Valley Inn and Confernece Center. NKCA sanctioned Spirit of Steel Custom Knife Show. I will be there. Don't have my table number yet. Would love to see some forumites drop by for a visit.

Prayers on the way!

Got back in last night from moving my daughter and son-in-law to Louisville, Kentucky where my son-in-law will be attending the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Happy for this new chapter in their lives but sad that they will be so far from us and won't be able to visit over Sunday dinner anymore. Mama is taking it pretty hard having her youngest move so far away but knows that it is a good thing. Prayers for my daughter finding a job soon will be most appreciated as my son-in-law will be a full time student. She has sent resumes to over 80 schools in the area but has heard nothing yet.

Dang Joe, sorry to hear this. Been there, done that and it ain't fun.

Thanks everyone - still can't decide between the Droid or the I-phone but will let you know what I decide.

Storage? JK, although mine never really goes into storage because I enjoy shooting it too much. I do try and check mine every other month, I like the Bore Butter too.

I am looking for a new phone and need to get a "Smart Phone". I am on Verizon and am looking at several different ones. Leaning heavily to the Motorola Droid 3 but am looking at the Iphone and the HTC Thunderbolt. cost isn't the issue (Verizon screwed up and owes me a new FREE phone of my choice). The reason for the "Smart Phone" is the ability to accept credit cards via SquareUp. Best way to take credit cards I have found yet, the card reader is free and they charge a flat 2.75% rate per transaction, no matter the amount. App is free and money is deposited straight into my checking account, not routed through another account like PayPal. So please, any advice you good folks could send my way as to which phone to go with I would be most appreciative.

Justin - beautiful knife and may I say Thank You for making the decision to carry the knife. We knifemakers pride ourselves on making tools meant to be used. All too often I hear "But it is too pretty to use." Use that knife and each time you make a cut with it remember your Great Grandfather and all the times you were able to stand by his side watching him work, creating tools for generations to use and enjoy.

Sorry I have been MIA. Between adding on to the shop and trips to Florida and Arkansas I have been covered up but I am back for a while at least. I now have my forge and anvil home from Arkansas and as soon as I get the area set up I can really begin to annoy the neighbors.

The Blade Show is next weekend June 10-12 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA. Any forum members going to be there? Would love to meet some in person. This is the world's largest strictly edge related show. No guns or anything to do with guns. Kinves, Swords, and anything and everything related to the care and creation of edged "tools". custom makers from all over the world will be in attendance as well as dealers and every factory is represented. I do not have a table this year but will be in attendance on Saturday roaming the aisles and salivating on all the wonderful edged wonders. Will also be hand-picking some choice Desert Ironwood for a set of steak knives. I hope to see some members there. If you are going to be there shoot me a PM with contact info and I will reply with same.

Burgers, Hot Dogs, Potato Salad, Chips and Dip, Baked Beans, Steamed ShoePeg Corn on the Cob, Watermelon, Cheesecake for dessert. An empty place at the table in honor of one who cannot be here. Time with the kids and grandkids.

Happy Birthday Blade!

Outstanding! Congratulations Joe!

Dang! Wish I had the room. Sweeeet deal on a dynamite safe!