Project Information
...If you had participated in the Summer 2016 Tool Swap.
These were the marking tools that I made for the 2016 Marking and Layout tool swap. Both the awl and the Japanese marking knife and handle were inspired by articles from the now defunct Shopnotes magazine. Instead of buying a Japanese marking knife, I decided to make one out of W1 tool steel and was shaped so that it can be used with or without the handle for those times when the handle might get in the way and to make it easier to resharpen it later.
The wood for both is ambrosia hickory harvested from a neighbor's dead tree. This wood works and finishes like a dream and even though it has some spalting is not punky at all. I finished the wood with Tried and True varnish oil which yields a silky smooth texture on this wood. The ferrule on the awl was made from a copper pipe. During the process of shaping it square, it was heated and anneal several times to prevent splitting and it developed this really cool red patina that I decided to keep rather than polish like most people do with copper ferules. The ferrule on the knife handle was a brass pipe fitting. The knife handle tapers towards the blade end.
The lightning bolt affect on the awl was done by heating the steel to red hot and giving it a 3/4 twist and then grinding the twisted corners flat. The marking knife was ground to rough shape, hardened, tempered and honed. The inside of the knife handle has a V shape so that you can put the blade in backwards to protect the tip when not in use. The blade has a friction fit in the handle but I added a lock screw in case it loosens with age.
As a swap bonus and sort of a joke, I made the 2 tiny squares using a very thin strip of the hickory and some walnut. They turned out so nice I decided to whip out another full size one to make a matched set. The walnut was given to me by my wife's uncle who said that it was given to him by a friend who somehow got it from the Library of Congress. We don't really know what that means but it is a good story anyway.
The swap was a blast and being my first foray into some metal working I learned a lot. I'll definitely do another one. If you want to see all of the tools that were made for the swap, you can see them here.
These were the marking tools that I made for the 2016 Marking and Layout tool swap. Both the awl and the Japanese marking knife and handle were inspired by articles from the now defunct Shopnotes magazine. Instead of buying a Japanese marking knife, I decided to make one out of W1 tool steel and was shaped so that it can be used with or without the handle for those times when the handle might get in the way and to make it easier to resharpen it later.
The wood for both is ambrosia hickory harvested from a neighbor's dead tree. This wood works and finishes like a dream and even though it has some spalting is not punky at all. I finished the wood with Tried and True varnish oil which yields a silky smooth texture on this wood. The ferrule on the awl was made from a copper pipe. During the process of shaping it square, it was heated and anneal several times to prevent splitting and it developed this really cool red patina that I decided to keep rather than polish like most people do with copper ferules. The ferrule on the knife handle was a brass pipe fitting. The knife handle tapers towards the blade end.
The lightning bolt affect on the awl was done by heating the steel to red hot and giving it a 3/4 twist and then grinding the twisted corners flat. The marking knife was ground to rough shape, hardened, tempered and honed. The inside of the knife handle has a V shape so that you can put the blade in backwards to protect the tip when not in use. The blade has a friction fit in the handle but I added a lock screw in case it loosens with age.
As a swap bonus and sort of a joke, I made the 2 tiny squares using a very thin strip of the hickory and some walnut. They turned out so nice I decided to whip out another full size one to make a matched set. The walnut was given to me by my wife's uncle who said that it was given to him by a friend who somehow got it from the Library of Congress. We don't really know what that means but it is a good story anyway.
The swap was a blast and being my first foray into some metal working I learned a lot. I'll definitely do another one. If you want to see all of the tools that were made for the swap, you can see them here.