Tersely Pertinent

Just got done putting the

Heat Shrink top on the handle 

of my purple flogger.

So going to let it set a couple of hours 

before putting it a stress test 

So, I took some time off

from making things to go to

a local toy fair

Picked up this bad boy

for a total sum of

$10

Nice heft 

Solid impact 

Well, my Leather order finally showed:

So I spent this morning cutting out some falls:

That shit was tiring 

Going to wait awhile til I start the gluing 

Then I get to do it all over again with the scarlet 

Oh joy

I hit Lowe's yesterday and found this:

Four feet of 2 inch Hardwood 

Coolest thing is, it only cost me 10 bucks!

But, as I was afraid of, it was a bit too big for me to take

At least, in my grip 

The good news is: I do have a lathe!

So this morning I set off to see what I can do

I cut off a hunk :

And turned it for a bit 

(Sorry!  I was so interested in working on it, I forgot to take pics)

After cutting the cap off and sanding it

This is the result: 

My problem is now how to stain it. 

The original idea was to use a solid black stain with a built-in polyurethane but now I am thinking of using a medium brown stain I use for my cutting boards 

Then, what color falls?

With the black stain, I was going to use the new red Buckskin I have coming in

But with the brown stain, I wonder if the Black Elk would not be a better choice 

What do you all think?

For the width of a flogger handle, that is.

The ones I got going now are 1.25 (or one and a quarter) inches.    I think the next one(s) I want to try will be either 1.5 (inch and a half) or a full blown 2 inches.   

Problem is I am not sure people can get their hands around 2 inches and feel comfortable.   Guess a trip to Lowe's is in order tomorrow.

So here is the finished Product:

When conceiving the idea for these flogger, I wanted to try using a heat shrinking wire covering for

the area at the top handle where the falls attach.

I figured it would be easier to use than trying to get one of the hollowed caps to slide down

Here is what it looks like before heat was applied:

And After:

Now the problem was I don't know if I didn't used enough heat or if my hairdryer 

wasn't up to the task.   It was tight, but not real tight.   

So I ended up putting some superglue on it and let it set awhile.

After after giving it a stress test, here is the final product:

The only real issue I have with it all is it is a very light flogger with only 17 falls

When I finally find a Testor, I guess I will see how well it works

So the handles are finished.   Though the purple and mahogany ones took longer than I expected. 

I think I put the second coat of stain on too soon, since they are oil based as opposed

to the scarlet one, which is water based.

I ordered my new buckskin hides. Though I don't know when they will arrive, since they haven't shipped yet.

But I have left over Moose, so I cut some falls for the mahogany handle:

Got buzy attaching them to the handle.

Cut 26 falls, but only really got 17 of them glued on when I ran out of room.

But it looks fairly nice I think:

Takes 72 hours for the glue to fully cure. 

So it won't be til Monday when I can do a final bit of covering 

where the falls attach to the handle.   

Will be interesting to see if it works

As you may remember, I recently bought and semi restored a small wood lathe.  

This week new chisels arrived, so I spent this morning working on some new handles for floggers.

As you can see, it makes a good deal of sawdust.   Lathe dust?   Whatever.

What you are looking at is 1.25 inch Oak dowel where I reduced about an inch of it to .5 inch or so.

So I did three of them to see how they would turn out, this being my first time

(Wood Lathe Virgin, wouldn't you know)

Yes, I realize they are not uniform but, you know, first time.

So I cut the caps off and sanded them down to make them useable and ready for stain

Used the new Purple stain, as well as my favorite Red, and a Dark Brown 

I didn't stain the "necks" due to the fact that is where I am going to glue the falls.

My plan is order some Dark Purple and Dark Red Buckskin for the correlating handels.  The Brown one will get more Moose I used on the Copper handled flogger awhile back.

Tomorrow will be polycoating with a full gloss and the fall attachment.

Stay Tuned for Final Product!

Happy Halloween!

(Almost)

The people here at The Cage have provided all us users with a fantastic place to express our thoughts, loves, hates, and what all.   Within reason, we can post what we want and how we want.

But some of you all are not making the best of it.

Yes, it is your blog and, really, it should be a reflection of you.   You should be able to say what it is you want to say (again, within reason) but you need to think on how you want to say it.

Now I am not talking about sentences structure or word choice, as not everyone here uses the same language.  What I am talking about is appearance.

Cage developers have provided us with a number of fonts and colors to choose from.  You don't have to use the 12 point Alef font in black.   In my not so humble opinion, that shit is hard on the eyes.   Specially when you have a 15 to 20 line paragraph.   When I start someone's blog and see that, I give up and move along without comment or thought.

Now if you are like me, you were taught that a proper paragraph is at least 4 lines.    But I learned that years ago, before the invention of the internet.   Way before the invention of the cell phone.   

In today's writing place, you need to think about how your words show up on different devices.    I often save my blog posts to a draft or inactive to see how it shows on either my cell or my laptop (I don't have a tablet).   Long ass paragraphs show really badly on cells.

Having a blog means you want people to see it.    Part of getting people to read your thoughts is to present them in a way they enjoy reading them.    Make it a chore and people won't bother.

You're Welcome.

Now go write Something