The Wasteland Crow Project

Another Wasteland Crow Project Complete

2011-12-24T11:53:00.000-07:00

Another Preview

2011-12-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

The sheaths are nearly done and then the baldric will need to be made before this set is completely finished--here is another little sneak peak:

Preview of Coming Attractions

2011-11-30T22:24:00.001-07:00

It has been a busy few weeks but the newest Wasteland Crow set is coming along! Here are some pictures of before and after the edging process:

Finished Primal Bowie Sheath

2011-10-11T09:21:00.001-07:00

The knife and sheath

All closed up

The backside

A Little Warmup

2011-10-09T21:27:00.002-07:00

The pieces with the base dye on them

The pieces after a little dye work and distressing

The sheath assembled with contact cement and brass eyelets

Stitched and molded to fit a Primal Bowie forged by Stormcrow

Some more distressing and the closure stud has been added

Stay tuned to see the final set! Helm Forge and Wasteland Leatherwork are just getting warmed up for their next big collaboration!

Phase Three

2010-07-18T20:33:00.007-07:00

Stormcrow writes:

We are working on two different phases of the Wasteland Crow at once this go-around. We're changing things a bit, introducing new elements.

The blades for Phase 3 are completed. This time, we have another 13.5" long main chopping blade and a smaller companion knife. The chopper is based on the Filipino Moro barong. It is forged from leaf spring, the cutting edge and false edge filed by hand, and the blade hardened multiple times in vegetable oil. It has been differentially tempered to maximize the performance, giving it a springy spine for durability and a harder edge for edge retention. The false edge does not come to a sharp point, making it easier to use it in conjunction with a baton to split wood.

This is the blade as forged, filed, and heat treated. Note the integral socket handle. This is an incredibly strong construction, probably the strongest way to build a tang/blade transition. The integral socket handle is found in many blades forged by the Igorot headhunters of the Philippines.

For the handle, I went with a simple cotton cord handle wrap sealed with black shellac; that is, clear shellac with India ink mixed with it. The cotton soaks the shellac in well, making it into a composite material in place on the handle. It is comfortable and durable.

This picture was taken before the handle wrap was completed, and before any kind of a sharp edge was put on. At this point, I could literally whack the edge hard against my hand and it would bounce off without doing any damage. In spite of lacking any real cutting edge, I chopped through this elm (a hardwood) branch thicker than my wrist without too much extra effort. The design of this knife makes for an excellent chopper. The edge profile is an elongated sine curve, which is often found on powerful chopping knives, and the angle of the handle in relation to the blade places the sweet spot for chopping the exact spot it needs to be for maximum chopping power. In addition, both the width of the blade profile and the thickness of the spine taper from the handle to the chopping sweet spot and from that area to the tip. That concentrates the inertia over the sweet spot while reducing overall blade weight and keeping it lively in the hand.

To get a sense of scale of this blade, here is a shot of it in my hand (I'm a lefty). Note the handle is still unfinished in the picture.

As great a chopper as the barong is, there are times when a smaller blade is more appropriate for the task at hand. That's where the companion blade, or symbiote as I like to term them, comes in. The blade shape of this one is based loosley on Filipino balisong blades, while reflecting its relationship to the barong with its shared integral socket handle and raised clip. It is forged from the same piece of leaf spring as the barong, cutting edge filed by hand, differentially hardened in vegetable oil, and given a similar cotton cord and black shellac handle treatment. The butt end of the handle has a double Turk's head knot in cotton cord, while the front of the handle, near the finger notch, features a single Turk's head knot. Almost everyone who has picked this blade up has commented on how comfortable it feels in the hand. The blade will shave hair.

And finally, the pair together. Notice that the handle of the barong is finished with single Turk's head knots in leather lace at either end, and that the cotton cord has seen several more coats of shellac, smoothing out the roughness but leaving some texture for extra grip.

When the blades for Phase Two are completed, they'll be packaged with those from Phase Three and shipped to Noah to work his magic on dressing them.

Number 2

2010-07-06T07:45:00.001-07:00

Well look at that--Stormcrow has another blade for us! This should be good!

A New Wasteland Crow Project

We Have a Winner!

2010-05-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for!

Using Random.org's True Random Number Generator, I first determined how many times to run the generator between 1 and 10, and I came up with 8. After running the Generator 8 times, we have our winning number!

Congratulations to Number 59, Allen Rountree of Arlington, Washington! I will be shipping the Wasteland Crow Collaboration Set to you on Monday!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated, and I think you can look forward to at least one more Wasteland Crow Collaboration!

Stormcrow stopping in

2010-05-17T06:50:00.002-07:00

Hi, everyone.

I'm very pleased with how this project has turned out. We both pushed ourselves further this time than anything we've worked on before.

This was, in part, us testing the waters. We have a number of future projects that we'd love to do if this raffle goes well. So if you've enjoyed watching the progress of this current Wastleand Crow project and would like to see more in the future (and have a chance to own it for much less than it would cost to custom order it), support your friendly iron pounder and leather slinger.

Because those blasted zombies just aren't going to decapitate themselves.

Raffle Status

2010-05-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

The raffle is going well so far, with nearly 200 of the 300 tickets sold! We have successfully transitioned to GPal for all of our ticket payments, so if you haven't joined GPal yet and purchased your tickets, hurry! The raffle will be ending soon, and if we sell all of our tickets, you can be certain that this is only the first Wasteland Crow Collaboration of many to come!

A Note From Google

2010-05-10T09:21:00.002-07:00

NOTICE

I received an e-mail from Google this morning informing me that they believe this raffle constitutes gambling, and therefore they will deactivate my account in five days if I do not remove the Google Checkout feature we are currently using. Never fear, however, for I have a backup plan! It isn't as easy and convenient, but I also have an account with a reliable, safe, and secure company called GPal that functions exactly like PayPal, except the fine folks at GunPal like guns, knives, and raffles. I will leave the Google Checkout option up for another day or so, and of course everyone who has purchased tickets through Google Checkout already has nothing to fear. For those who have not yet purchased tickets, or wish to purchase more, simply go to GPal and register, then verify your bank account just like you did with PayPal and send your payment to noah.webmaster@gmail.com

Tickets are, of course, still $2 a piece, so you'll have to add it up for how many tickets you want. Sorry for the inconvenience, everyone! Google apparently doesn't support the apocalypse!

The Google Checkout option has now been removed, and GPal will be the official financial transfer provider for the Wasteland Crow Raffle from this point forward. Thank you!

The Chosen One Must Be Found

2010-05-08T14:14:00.017-07:00

The time has come to find the chosen one--to determine who will take home this apocalyptic heirloom of zombie destruction! The Wasteland Crow Golok Set will be raffled off for $2 per ticket, and there are 300 electronic tickets currently available for sale through the Google Checkout tool on the home page of this blog. Once you have purchased your tickets, you will be assigned a number for each ticket--the numbers are sequential starting from 1 to 300, and are assigned on a first-come-first-serve basis. A list of what numbers are taken will be posted here and updated as tickets are purchased. Once all 300 tickets are taken, or two weeks' time has passed, the raffle will be closed and the winning number will be selected by the Random Number Generator at www.random.org

Good luck to everyone who participates in the raffle!

Raffle Tickets:

* NOTE: You are welcome to buy tickets at several intervals if you wish to space out the numbers you are assigned.

1 - Raul Gonzalez
2 - Raul Gonzalez
3 - Rodney Hart Jr
4 - Rodney Hart Jr
5 - Christopher Greenfield
6 - Christopher Greenfield
7 - Christopher Greenfield
8 - Christopher Greenfield
9 - Christopher Greenfield
10 - Christopher Greenfield
11 - Christopher Greenfield
12 - Christopher Greenfield
13 - Christopher Greenfield
14 - Christopher Greenfield
15 - Andy Moon
16 - Andy Moon
17 - Andy Moon
18 - Andy Moon
19 - Andy Moon
20 - Andy Moon
21 - Andy Moon
22 - Andy Moon
23 - Andy Moon
24 - Andy Moon
25 - Rodney Hart Jr
26 - Rodney Hart Jr
27 - Rodney Hart Jr
28 - Rodney Hart Jr
29 - Rodney Hart Jr
30 - Rodney Hart Jr
31 - Rodney Hart Jr
32 - Rodney Hart Jr
33 - Michael Legel
34 - Michael Legel
35 - Michael Legel
36 - Michael Legel
37 - Michael Legel
38 - Jason Cox
39 - Jason Cox
40 - Jason Cox
41 - Jason Cox
42 - Jason Cox
43 - Jason Cox
44 - Jason Cox
45 - Jason Cox
46 - Jason Cox
47 - Jason Cox
48 - Jason Cavender
49 - Jason Cavender
50 - Jason Cavender
51 - Jason Cavender
52 - Jason Cavender
53 - Jason Cavender
54 - Jason Cavender
55 - Jason Cavender
56 - Jason Cavender
57 - Jason Cavender
58 - Allen Rountree
59 - Allen Rountree
60 - Allen Rountree
61 - Allen Rountree
62 - Allen Rountree
63 - Allen Rountree
64 - Allen Rountree
65 - Allen Rountree
66 - Allen Rountree
67 - Allen Rountree
68 - Raul Gonzalez
69 - Raul Gonzalez
70 - Raul Gonzalez
71 - Raul Gonzalez
72 - Raul Gonzalez
73 - Raul Gonzalez
74 - Raul Gonzalez
75 - Raul Gonzalez
76 - Raul Gonzalez
77 - Raul Gonzalez
78 - Falkon Finlinson
79 - Falkon Finlinson
80 - Falkon Finlinson
81 - Falkon Finlinson
82 - Falkon Finlinson
83 - Falkon Finlinson
84 - Falkon Finlinson
85 - Falkon Finlinson
86 - Falkon Finlinson
87 - Falkon Finlinson
88 - Falkon Finlinson
89 - Falkon Finlinson
90 - Falkon Finlinson
91 - Falkon Finlinson
92 - Falkon Finlinson
93 - Ville Moilanen
94 - Ville Moilanen
95 - Ville Moilanen
96 - Ville Moilanen
97 - Ville Moilanen
98 - William Todd
99 - William Todd
100 - William Todd
101 - William Todd
102 - William Todd
103 - Joshua Rich
104 - Joshua Rich
105 - Joshua Rich
106 - Joshua Rich
107 - Joshua Rich
108 - Joshua Rich
109 - Joshua Rich
110 - Joshua Rich
111 - Joshua Rich
112 - Joshua Rich
113 - Joshua Rich
114 - Joshua Rich
115 - Joshua Rich
116 - Joshua Rich
117 - Joshua Rich
118 - Joshua Rich
119 - Joshua Rich
120 - Joshua Rich
121 - Joshua Rich
122 - Joshua Rich
123 - Joshua Rich
124 - Joshua Rich
125 - Joshua Rich
126 - Joshua Rich
127 - Joshua Rich
128 - Joshua Rich
129 - Joshua Rich
130 - Joshua Rich
131 - Joshua Rich
132 - Joshua Rich
133 - Falkon Finlinson
134 - Falkon Finlinson
135 - Falkon Finlinson
136 - Falkon Finlinson
137 - Falkon Finlinson
138 - Falkon Finlinson
139 - Falkon Finlinson
140 - Falkon Finlinson
141 - Falkon Finlinson
142 - Falkon Finlinson
143 - Falkon Finlinson
144 - Falkon Finlinson
145 - Falkon Finlinson
146 - Falkon Finlinson
147 - Falkon Finlinson
148 - Rodney Hart Jr
149 - Rodney Hart Jr
150 - Rodney Hart Jr
151 - Rodney Hart Jr
152 - Rodney Hart Jr
153 - Jason Cavender
154 - Jason Cavender
155 - Jason Cavender
156 - Jason Cavender
157 - Jason Cavender
158 - Dylan Couper
159 - Dylan Couper
160 - Dylan Couper
161 - Dylan Couper
162 - Dylan Couper
163 - Dylan Couper
164 - Dylan Couper
165 - Dylan Couper
166 - Dylan Couper
167 - Dylan Couper
168 - Anthony Cresto
169 - Anthony Cresto
170 - Anthony Cresto
171 - Anthony Cresto
172 - Anthony Cresto
173 - Anthony Cresto
174 - Anthony Cresto
175 - Anthony Cresto
176 - Anthony Cresto
177 - Anthony Cresto
178 - Dan Scott
179 - Dan Scott
180 - Dan Scott
181 - Dan Scott
182 - Dan Scott
183 - Stan Hurst
184 - Stan Hurst
185 - Stan Hurst
186 - Stan Hurst
187 - Stan Hurst
188 - Stan Hurst
189 - Stan Hurst
190 - Stan Hurst
191 - Stan Hurst
192 - Stan Hurst
193 - Patrick Day
194 - Patrick Day
195 - Patrick Day
196 - Patrick Day
197 - Patrick Day
198 - Patrick Day
199 - Patrick Day
200 - Patrick Day
201 - Falkon Finlinson
202 - Falkon Finlinson
203 - Falkon Finlinson
204 - Falkon Finlinson
205 - Falkon Finlinson
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300

Completion

2010-05-06T23:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I would like to thank everyone who has followed this project, and I sincerely hope that you have all enjoyed the ride through the creation of this apocalyptic survivor kit. The Wasteland Crow Golok Set is officially complete, and I will be taking the final glamor-shots over the weekend. Once those pictures are taken and uploaded, the moment you have all been waiting for will arrive--the raffle information! Stay tuned!

Strapped and Ready

2010-05-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

And Then--Tragedy!

2010-05-02T17:42:00.002-07:00

Someone Picked Up a Little Color

2010-05-02T08:17:00.001-07:00

The Texture is Key

2010-05-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

The Golok is Dressed, the Companion is Next

2010-04-29T22:56:00.000-07:00

Like a Glove

2010-04-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

Reinforced and Ready for Stitches

2010-04-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

Keeping Trim

2010-04-25T06:26:00.000-07:00

The Weight On Your Shoulders

2010-04-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

Coming Together

2010-04-24T16:59:00.000-07:00

Put on a Facade

2010-04-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

What Could This Be For?

2010-04-22T21:56:00.000-07:00

A Change of Plans on the Back-End

2010-04-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, so what will I do with those dee-rings, you ask? Oh, you'll see.

A Bit of Local Color...

2010-04-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

The Texture, Applied

2010-04-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

The Background, Established

2010-04-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Raw and Rough-Cut

2010-04-20T19:28:00.001-07:00

The Template

2010-04-20T11:17:00.001-07:00

The Rundown

2010-04-19T23:41:00.000-07:00

Now that the blades have safely arrived at my wasteland sanctuary, they have been revealed. Now that you've seen the blades, you have a chance to learn a little bit about them from Storm Crow himself. This is what he said:

"The blades were forged from the same piece of truck leaf spring. They were filed to a cutting edge and given multiple heat treatments cycles utilizing hardening in vegetable oil and differential heat treatments, using slightly different methods for the two differently sized blades. The blades have both been thoroughly tested as the teaser pictures attest. Remember the really nice camp ax my student made a little while back? The golok does everything it can do and much more. Notice how you can trace an elongated sine wave down the length, from the butt of the handle through the cutting edge? That helps it chop as well as the ax, but it also splits, slices, delicately chops, drawknifes, and can even be used as a skew chisel with the fully sharpened forward edge. It also is light enough to work well against whippy brush and briars. The companion blade is the opposite of the golok in that it is a very slim, pointed blade. Its edge is about as sharp as I've gotten a blade, cleanly dry-shaving my arm hair and leaving a very smooth patch.

The blades are easy to maintain. A few strokes on a fine whet stone and no more than six strokes on a leather strop should return them to their original sharpness. The blades are forge finished, which, in addition to just plain looking primal, is incredibly durable as a finish. If it starts to rust or if you need to clean it after use, you can use 150 grit sandpaper and get it back to like-new condition in a few minutes.

The golok's handle is an integral socket. It is not intended for storage, but for incredible strength. The socket also does not transmit the shock of chopping into your hand the way it might if it was just a standard flat tang. It is very comfortable in use and does not slip or make your hand tired or numb. The end of the socket is plugged permanently with a piece of mesquite wood (which was what I was making in the teaser pics. That's right, I used the blade to make its own handle plug!), with a copper lanyard ring and a short horse hair tassel with copper beads and wire.

Both knives' handles are wrapped in hemp cord and sealed with orange shellac. The golok features double Turk's head knots of black leather lace at the ends of the handle, and the companion knife has hemp Turk's head knots. It has an integral lanyard hole and sports a matching horse hair tassel with beads and wire."

Look What the Cat Dragged In

2010-04-19T16:49:00.001-07:00

These two blades mysteriously showed up at my door this afternoon. Hmmm...I guess I'll have to get out the leather

Preparing the Hardware

2010-04-17T00:21:00.000-07:00

Hmm, these look nice, but they're a bit shiny and new-looking...

Ahhh, that's better!

This Requires A Certain...Finesse

2010-04-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

Take a Bite

2010-04-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

We Have To Amputate

2010-04-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

Strong Under Stress

2010-04-12T12:07:00.001-07:00

A Flair for the Dramatic

2010-04-12T08:03:00.001-07:00

Partner in Crime

2010-04-11T23:03:00.001-07:00

Put a Cap on It

2010-04-09T17:03:00.001-07:00

Getting a Handle on Things

2010-04-04T00:22:00.002-07:00

Situation in Transition

2010-04-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

Get the Point?

2010-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

Enter the Apocalypse

2010-04-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

Noah (Wastelander) of Wasteland Leatherwork and James (Storm Crow) of Helm Forge have teamed up and ventured out onto the post-apocalyptic landscape together to create a one-of-a-kind kit that no zombie hunter, vault dweller, or road warrior should be without. James will be putting his forging talents to work as he hammers out a vicious chopping blade of high carbon spring steel, and Noah will be testing his skills as he constructs a carry system for the blade that only an apocalyptic survivor could envision. Stay up-to-date with the project as it progresses to see sneak peeks of the blade and carry system, and upon completion, the set will be raffled off!