My First New Tool For New Shop - What is it?

Well, at least you didn’t find it in someones back!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Now that is scary! It looks like it has been there a while too.

-- Scott - Chico California http://chicowoodnut.home.comcast.net

sharpened butter knife, now days plastic forks sharpened to a point, broken off where a person is stabbed. very hard to stop bleeding.

-- Pretzel L8agn

Now you just have to hope that the previous owner doesn’t find out that you got his shanki :-)). If those guys would put that much effort into honest efforts, the world would be better off. I always get a kick out of the guys that bring their knives to my gun fight.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

wow, that is scary. i’m happy i’ve never some across one of those before.

It’s a letter opener! :- )

-- Dave Leitem,Butler,Pa.,http://dlcarver.etsy.com

Crazy find!!

-- Living on the square...

Inventive aren’t they? I’ll have to show this to my step-son. He’s a Corrections Officer!

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

WOW- that is an intriguing story- It reveals quite a bit about the dangers that existed in your former job! If those prisoners could have devoted that ingenuity to legitimate work, they never would have been in prison.

Thanks for posting that is a great story I will be passing around !

The Real Concern- hope you did not overpay for that cabinet- :)

-- Bill - - Ad-Marketing Guy, Ramsey NJ

Ya Know… that kinda reminds me about a fellow who built a gun cabinet in a doorway to hide a whole room!!!!! You never know what you can find in an antique. I wouldn’t remove the tape but if you have a friend that works around an X-ray machine, it would be interesting to see what’s under the handle.

-- Frank, Florissant, Missouri

I taught them will Frank! Too bad they didn’t use there talents in a better way. I am just glad I fond it and not someone else on the street with kids. You can shave with it!

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

We are fortunate to not have had to be in a situation where someone feels a shank is a necessity. It’s a little creepy.

Dalec

Dale :
It is bad enough when a person has to go to prison but then these fools keep trying to kill each other. There is a definite pecking order within a predator environment. I feel so sorry for these young kids that comes into a place like this.

Francisco Luna :
The 2 X 4 did had a pivot screw covered with putty and painted over. All they had to do was break the paint joint and it could be pulled forward.

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Gives me the SHIV-ers. Some how in my travels I picked up one of these (I can’t remember where I got it) that had been made from a piece of tubing that had been forged flat at one end and crudely sharped. This one is much better.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Like I said Douglas I trained them will. A tooth brush is a favorite weapon. Heat it and shape the handle into a blade before it cools. The worst one I fond in my career was a piece of flat steel, 1/4 X 2 X 20 sharpened on one edge with a wood handle. They had it hanging on a string with a paper clip in an old sewer pipe. The guy must of thought he could be a gladiator on the yard. That one made me swallow a little hard!

God Bless
tom

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

Couldn’t remember which cabinet I left that in!

-- Greg, CT

That is why in corrections we search, search, and search again. I use to have a team of staff whose job it was to take prison details outside the wire for work. Every day I had to observe every strip search on every returning prisoner in my shop. I have seen more A-holes than a proctologist has. That is how it had to be. One nut can mess things up for everyone. Their favorite hiding place was in the tubing of the bed frames, disassembled and reassembled to look untouched. Dental floss would suspend the shank in the tube, and unless you shook the bed you wouldn’t likely know it was there. These kids would take the old toothbrushes, a razor from a disposable, wrap the blade on the end of the brush with the plastic wrapper from a cigarette pack. Then fuse it together with a match. A very lite, small and nasty weapon. I am sure you have done a great deal of good for all the of the young men you trained Tom. There will always be some people who are not ready to be helped. That is just what we have to live with.

There is a national museum of prison weapons that might like to see pictures of your example. I think it is run by the US Department of Corrections.

Very interesting posting, thanks. Terry

-- Terry Roswell, L.A. (Lower Alabama) "Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans."

In this case, Better out of jail than in.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python

You should keep it in there…...just in case.

-- Tony, Ohio

If only a person used that kind of ingenuity for something productive, but then I guess in his/her eyes, a possible life saving device may be necessary. I am not agreeing with the use of a shank as an offensive weapon, but …

Nise find and a great story.

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

Tom, how did you ever get into that kind of a job? I would guess you have a lot of story’s to tell.

-- Ron in Osseo, Minnesota

Beats a sharpened toothbrush any day…

Unique find. Is that your first marking knife?

Sloyd makes a nice one too.

-- The only easy wood project is a fire

Had a hearing today. My client had robbed a store but claimed that some other dude did it (the SODDI defense)
(He did rob the store, not al of my clients are innocent)
One of my witnesses (to show that some other dude could have done it) was his former plant manager. As fine and upstanding gentleman as there can be.
Before our hearing he got to listen to a bunch of probation revocations. People who had already been convicted and were so stupid that they got caught on some new criminal charge.
My witness thanked me for subpoenaing him to be there. Not because he wanted to be there or that he wanted to help my client. But because he was able to be thankful that he had raised two great sons, had a good life, saw what might have been if he had not had the upbringing he had had and had given.

Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

This is a trip. One of those real life stories that you think only happens on TV. Martin, I think this should be the next challenge. The hidden compartment challenge!

-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog

When I saw the photo…I said shank…..shiv…whatever…frankly, I think you ought to sharpen it up and use it your shop for something…or keep for the time when the screws are really tough on you….huh?

-- /\/\/\ BarryW /\/\/\ Stay so busy you don't have time to die.

Scary. Very, very scary.

-- Maplewood, MN

Every day that I go to work, it continues to amaze me at the stupid things that people do. If they would take just 1/2 of that destructive energy and put it into something constructive (like GETTING A JOB), they’d be much, much better off. I just don’t understand or grasp the chain of thought, I can’t comprehend what they can possibly think the benefits are by doing crime, or ESPECIALLY doing crime in prison… that is TRUELY crazy. A very smart man once told me that ”a man can’t expect a different result if he keeps doin’ the same thing over an over.” However, for those that change their lives after doing wrong, I applaud them, and look forward to them being productive members of society.
Sorry… got on my soapbox for a minute… hope I didn’t offend anyone. :^)

By the way, I agree with BarryW… I think you outta use it in the shop somehow…

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

you do realize that the piece of furniture just went up in value—the story alone adds a lots of $$$ value to it.

I learned a lot about their world while facilitating a parenting program at a correctional centre…it was really educational for me. Most of their rationale behind choices made perfect sense “from their world”. I also learned how to make a weapon (none of the options listed above).
And then after hearing all the shocking stuff I’d watch them cry as they talked about their children.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Scary. When I saw the pic, and before I read the article, I thought “That looks like a prison shank!” I thought I was joking… you should frame it and keep it in the shop.

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

Glad it never ended up in my side or back! Whewww, it’s a goody too. Hopefully it never made it to the yard. Most inmates are too smart for their own good and the sad thing about it is they often never learn to channel the energy toward something that could help society rather than tear it down.

-- --Chuck

I’m impressed, they even used a forstner bit for a flat bottom compartment… looks like a pretty tight grouping of holes… that was one determined crook… At least they didn’t put that kind of care and attention to detail into whatever they got caught for… It might might have been 2 years + time served + however long that things been there before anyone figured it out!

-- Looking for free wood working plans? Visit us at www.AwlFreePlans.com