Milwaukee Pabst Brewery

Here are a few selected photos that were taken with Kodak 400 CN film in my Nikon FM2 in the Spring of 2009. The property of the old Pabst Brewery is under current redevelopment and some buildings are currently for sale.

Logo on a roll door of the 'Shipping Center' building

View of 'Malt Elevator' from the west side next to the First German Methodist Church

View of the west side 'Bottling Building'

View from the north east of building 21(Mill House)

First Teeth

If you look close, you can see one of Eliza's two new bottom teeth

Neck Knife

Here is a knife made from 0.125" thick O-1 tool steel that was designed to be carried as a neck knife on a bead chain as pictured above or on a key ring. It measures 3" long and the blade is convex ground on one side only and has a 1.25" long cutting edge. The sheath is simple fold over Kydex sheath with holes drilled for neck or key ring carry.

Periodic Flowing Water?

I wonder how many others have taken this same shot?

Adam

This picture of 'Adam' was taken in Chicago's 'Old Town' neighborhood.

Embossed Silver, Gold and Pearl Pendant

This pendant was constructed from sterling silver and 18 K gold. The embossed texture was produced by rolling the silver with a piece of nylon mesh in my rolling mill. The pendant is set with a post-mounted freshwater cultured pearl.

Bushcraft Knife

Handle detail showing brass and copper mosaic pins

JRE Bushcraft sheath with Firesteel

Here is a knife I made this summer from O-1 flat ground tool steel. It measures 7.5" long overall, with a 3.5" blade. The blade has a 11 degree bevel grind on each side with a steeper micro-bevel at the very edge. The handle is purpleheart wood affixed with epoxy and brass and copper pins. The wood is finished with melted wax and then hand buffed.

A Walk To The Farmers Market

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is to walk to the South Shore Farmers Market here in Bay View.  I sometimes stop to take pictures as we walk to South Shore Park where the farmer's market takes place on Saturday mornings. Here are a few pictures that I took last week on our walk.

What are they thinking?

I always wonder what animals are thinking and what they might say if they were able.

It seems pretty obvious what thoughts are going on here and whether he would say anything at all.

I constantly imagine what Zoe is thinking when she gets in boxes.

Front Carry For Me

We realized recently that Eliza does not like to be carried 'cradle style' any longer, but prefers to face out. Here she is in her sun hat on a recent summer walk in our neighborhood of Bay View and at home with her 'papa Joe'.

Finally Finished

I have finally finished a project that I started somewhere around 1989 or 1990! I had designed some knife blades to be cut from a retired circular saw blade while I was in junior high. I somehow talked my metal shop teacher into letting me work on them before or after school if I didn't tell other students that I was making knives in school. Well.... I put most of the blades aside until recently, when I had my father look for them in their storage shed in Wyoming and bring them out to me in Milwaukee. I liked only a couple of the original designs and decided to clean up one of the rough blades and turned it into a camping / bushcraft knife.

The knife is ground with an edge that is about as flat as I could get, which still ends up being somewhat convex. The handle is polyurethane finished walnut that is attached with epoxy and hollow brass tubing for pins.

I have a new 'bushcraft' sheath from JRE that this knife will be carried in along with a firesteel for fire starting. I actually purchased this set-up from Ben's Backwoods a Michigan bussiness that sells camping and bushcraft supplies.

Summertime Stenciling

After watching a Martha Stewart show that featured stencil making a month or so back, I have wanted to make my own stencils for shirts. Thus far, I have made stencils that feature the profile of some noted trees (giant sequoia and bonsai juniper) as well as an abstract bicycle chain ring and chain detail and a nightlatch key. 

To make the stencils, I have used a Sharpie to draw on some
polyethylene stencil making sheet and used a sharp knife or razor to cut out the design. My stencils are to be used on shirts, so I used Tulip brand spray fabric paint in 'asphalt' black color.

Overshadowed but not forgotten

This is a tribute to Henry our wire-haired fox terrier who has been slightly demoted since the arrival of Eliza. You would think he gets no attention sometimes when you see how he pouts.

The Life of Zoe and Henry

Here is a series of 5 images of our cat Zoe and Henry. The story starts with Zoe relaxing upstairs, then Henry joins... the pictures tell the rest of the story.

New Tool

I have recently been making small tools that can be carried on a key chain or in your pocket from O-1 tool steel. Here is a bottle opener/pry tool that I recently finished. The best thing is that it only takes one pry (as it should) to open your favorite brew! I really dislike bottle openers that slip off of the cap after it is part way lifted, only to have to pry yet again to finish the job. This tool is made from 1/8" thick O-1 tool steel and is 3" long. In addition to the obvious bottle opener, there are two pry edges and a medium flat-head screwdriver.

Hand Play?

Eliza has recently discovered her hands. She is now 4 months old and supposedly this discovery is fairly common at this age.  The funniest thing about this is that it is known as 'hand play' in parenting books. The accompanying images are a tribute to hand play.

Albuquerque Art Museum - Gate

Here is a series of images taken on Memorial Day weekend in Albuquerque at the art museum. These fused metal plaques are part of a metal gate to the courtyard on the south side of the museum. If you look closely at the individual plaques, you can see what recycled metal parts they are made of.

Eliza

Here are a couple of images of our new baby Eliza (born 2/17/10) taken with a Nikon D3000 and 18-55mm kit lens. The B & W images were converted to monochrome using in-camera editing features.

New Projects

Here is a progression of pictures through my most recent project. I have a basic knife/chisel tool design patterned after a Graham Knives Razel. I made this tool from flat ground O-1 tool steel in 1/8 inch by 3/4 inch dimension, here it is cut to length.
After cutting to length, I transferred the design to the metal and ground the knife's outline and then ground one side only on the bench grinder and belt sander. When I finished sanding, I heat treated it to around 1500 degrees and quenched in vegetable oil. I tempered it in the oven at 450 degrees for 1 hour. After tempering, I did the final sanding. The knife is now awaiting a handle and it will be finished.