Vintage Craftool Swivel Knife

I bought this swivel knife on eBay recently. The knife is an earlier Craftool and only the saddle and stem are chrome plated. The barrel has really nice and crisp checkering, but is non-plated steel. I haven't seen any others like this, but I am guessing that this non-adjustable model was fairly common. Judging by my other Craftool swivel knives that I know the approximate dates on, I think this tool may be from the early to mid-1950's. Any comments/corrections here are appreciated.

iPhone 4 Case

Front

Back

I just finished up this slip case for my wife's iPhone 4. The floral pattern was taken from the book: Lucky Seven - Foto Carve Patterns and Instructions for Carving Leather.  I made the template for the case by adding 1/4" to the dimensions of the phone.

After I carved the design, I cut a back to match and then saddle stitched the two sides together and finished the edges. Once it was stitched and had its edges burnished, I wet the leather inside and out and inserted a wood 'iPhone' made from plywood and formed the case and let it dry. This slip case is finished with Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene which was applied with a wet sponge.

Stihl 015 Chainsaw

Stihl 015

My childhood dreams of owning my own chainsaw are finally realized! On a walk in my neighborhood this last Sunday I found this at a rummage sale. I have cleaned and inspected it throughout and it doesn't outwardly seem to need any parts so far. Over the past few days, researching online, I have found that this saw is popular as an arborist saw due to its compact, top-handle design. I did a little research about chains and bars as well and found that I could true the bar on my bench top disk sander, as one side had uneven wear. When I put the saw back together, I flipped the bar and retensioned the chain and there is very little side-to-side play in the chain. I need to pick up some bar oil and also some oil to mix the gasoline. I cannot wait to start it up and find a use for this little classic saw.

Below are a few pictures of the saw disassembled during the cleaning.

Right, rear view showing engine and clutch

Freshly cleaned starter side case and chain

Here is all the crud that I cleaned out from the groove in the bar! Lots for a little space.

Scandinavian Sheath

I made this sheath using the tutorial by Gerd Jorgensen that I mentioned in a previous post. I am quite happy with the fit, although I would have tapered the pattern at the tip portion to narrow the sheath at the very end. The sheath was oiled with neatsfoot oil and sealed inside with Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene.

Leatherman Wave Sheath

I made this sheath for a Leatherman Wave that I found last year as I was headed to work. Surprisingly, the multi-tool had only scratches. Pretty good for the middle of a busy road in Milwaukee. I made the sheath after being inspired by the sheaths that JRE Industries makes for different tools.

Birch Bark Handled Puukko

A while back I posted pictures of this knife without a sheath. This post is a follow up to show the Scandinavian style sheath I made for it. This knife was made as a gift for my mom.

The sheath was made from a belly cut of cowhide that I had purchased to make some other sheaths this summer and I decided to use it for this sheath as well. The plans for this style of sheath were based on the tutorial I found on British Blades forum called "Scandi Sheaths My Way" by Gerd Jorgensen. The author has this tutorial on his website here.  Gerd also has a pouch style sheath tutorial on the same page which is also great.

The knife handle was lightly coated with mineral oil and the sheath was coated with neatsfoot oil after it was completely finished drying.

Leather Handled Puukko

This morning I finished the handle on the Polar blade that I wrote about in the previous post. As my first stacked leather handle, I am quite proud of how it turned out.

The handle is stacked leather with green canvas Micarta spacers and hand-hammered brass. I sanded the handle to shape on my belt sander with a coarse belt and then did the final sanding with 100 grit Aluminum Oxide sand paper while the knife was in my bench vise. After sanding by hand, I dusted off the leather dust and used Bick 4 leather conditioner and a piece of canvas to burnish/polish the leather.
 
The only thing I might change about the knife if I were going to do it again would be the glue type that I used for gluing up the leather. I used Titebond II glue which I have seen recommended in some tutorials on line, however I think I would not have had such pronounced lines between leather pieces if I used an epoxy. I noticed that there is a little darkening of the leather at each junction and I think this might be from the glue interacting with the steel tang of the blade. Anyway... I am overall very pleased.