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11-12-04 This is a Box Elder Boot Dagger. The blade is mirrored S30V, 8" hollow ground top and bottom. The top isn't sharpened but will be after I make the sheath. The scales are box eldor burl stabilized by WSSI. They have a liner and are dovetailed. The scales are carved a bit. Thanks for looking and any comments or suggestions always welcomed..
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Some prototype liner locks I’ve been working on. I’m getting close to a ‘model’ I’m comfortable with.
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10/24/04 I’ll be starting a newsletter soon. If you are interested in getting on the mailing list, send an email to: mickleyknives-request@mickleyknives.com with the word ‘subscribe’ in the subject line.
Content will be mostly knife related (I’m sure I will stray now and then) with some pictures of recently completed knives or in progress pictures. I won’t sell, rent, loan, give out the email addresses for any reason. I hate spam as much as the next guy.
To subscribe to the newsletter, simply send a message with the word 'subscribe' in the Subject: field to the -request address of that list
- To: mickleyknives-request@mickleyknives.com
Subject: subscribe
To send email to the newsletter (me), write to the following address:
- To: mickleyknives@mickleyknives.com
To unsubscribe from the newsletter, simply send a message with the word 'unsubscribe' in the Subject: field to the -request address of that list
- To: mickleyknives-request@mickleyknives.com
Subject: unsubscribe
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1-8-05 I moved quite a few things around on the web site today. I deleted the old News archives and many of the news items on the front page here. It was just getting to be too much. I’ll start filling it up again. Added the Tsunami sale. Updated the In Progress area and added a 3rd Gallery page. In testing I found that nearly every picture in the In Progress area had disappeared due to recent hard drive crash on my PC. I spent a couple hours reconstructing it so if you found large black boxes where pictures should have been, you should be able to see what is going on now. I’ve probably messed it up some where so if you see a picture that doesn’t load a or link that doesn’t work, let me know. I’ll be starting on an actual newsletter that I’ve threatened here soon. Sign up if you are interested.
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1-22-05 This is a folder I finished a few months ago and have been carrying every day to test the edge holding on the S30V blade. It is giraffe bone dyed with 4 different dyes, sealed with tung oil, waxed and buffed with Briwax. This is a pretty crummy picture but just thought I would throw it up any way.
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2-14-05 We start a new knife commission today. You can watch this one get built starting here.
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2-19-22 Added some pictures to the in progress area on the latest project. I’ve hit some bumps that may cost me the job here. Also added a grinding tip for new knife makers.
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2-26-05 added a couple pics to in progress, page 24 of a couple new accessories for the KMG grinder I use. Also the client is still on board for the Singapore dagger. I’ll be drilling 4 holes in it and sending it off to Paul Bos for heat treat as soon as I hear he has opened up in his new location. In the mean time, I’ll cut out a bunch of folder blade blankes, drill them and send them along also. I’ll grind those out after they are hardened.
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3-21-05 Tracy gets excited about golf again! The snow is about to melt and I am ready. Golf fever starts to kick in. This means nothing for all of except those brave souls that want me to make them a custom knife. I’ll look at it, we can talk about it, I may even get around to starting it and possibly even completing it this summer but I sure won’t promise that. I started golfing last year and I hate it, the damn game has consumed me. It doesn’t help that I can look out my window as I type this and see the 13th fairway 30 feet from my where I sit. I’ll still be working on knives all summer but not as much as I do in the winter. Earliest delivery at this point is 11/15/05 unless you pay me gobs and gobs of money, then we’ll talk.
I’ve got one special project knife that takes priority over all other projects after my current commission is done. That knife is going to be published in a book called something like “100 custom knives”. I’ll have a two page spread showing pictures of this special knife documenting the process from start to finish, much like I do here already and that project is due by September if my knife is going to be included. I’ll post more on this later. It should be a fun.
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10/28/05 We’re back! Golf has been great. I finally broke a hundred and now it’s too cold to golf so we are back in the shop.
First, I’ve moved the Netobjects Fusion database from the desktop to my laptop. This is the software we use to create this web site and it contains hundreds of pictures. Not all of the files made it in one easy move since it went across my wireless network. This meant several hours of manually locating files and then putting them where Netobjects can find them...So how does this affect me????you ask??? If you stumble onto a picture that is missing, please let me know so I can fix the damn thing...again...Thanks.
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11/29/05 BUG KNIFE!
This theme knife is of course a fairly nontraditional piece. An impression of a Hornet should creep in some where or at least some kind of bug anyway. The blade is BG-42 with a convex grind and edge. Box Elder burl stabilized by WSSI forms the body capped off by a 416ss ‘bolster’. Stainless wires are heat colored for the legs and held in small copper tubes in the ‘thorax’ so the wood doesn’t split from the torque of the legs. The legs are not attached and simply push in and pull out. The blade is nearly 4 3/4” and it’s about 9” OAL (and it’s 5” wide!).
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12/9/05 Updated the Contact page with some clarifying comments about commission orders. I am working on a new bug knife right now and hope to have something posted on that in a week or so. Maybe sooner.
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12/11/05 Just finished this one up tonight. This is the second in my ‘bug’ series. An Ironwood Scarab. RWL-34 is the steel, desert ironwood on the top and ebony for a spacer and base. The length of the dagger blade is 3 1/2”, the over all length is 8”. The dagger is a chisel (ground on one side only to the edge) hollow grind to a mirror finish.
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12/16/05 I uploaded the Scarab Knife picture above after I found it hadn’t uploaded on the 11th like it is dated. I also added a 4th gallery page. I’ve got a couple more bugs to go and then I can get back to more traditional knives.
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12/17/05 I have listed both Bug knives as available to sell. I will work on getting some additional pictures of each taken and posted in the next couple days. Click on the pictures or go the Available page.
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12/25/05 Just out of the liquid Nitrogen I see the tip of this knife is gone. I don’t know if I dropped it too hard into the Ln dewar or if thermal shock cracked the tip off. In any case, I’ll have to reprofile this one a little.
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Tracy gets Ink...Makes Knives Illustrated in a 3 page feature spread....
I’m not sure which is more entertaining, getting some nice press in the August 2006 issue of Knives Illustrated or talking about myself in the third person.... A few months back I sent in some pictures of some of my knives to Bruce Voyles, editor of KI, along with some comments on each. I never heard a word back and thought Bruce chunked them in the trash along with the thousands of other photos he gets. I got a my KI magazine a few days ago and it sat there unread on my end table. I finally took a look and saw a teaser line on the cover that said, “How to Double the Strength of your Knives!” so I turned to the index to find the article. I scanned down the features listed and there...there was an article by me?? It said, “Mickley in his Own Words”...”A knife makers describes his knives”....I yell at my wife..Look at this!.. ...Thanks Bruce Voyles.. I owe ya one...
Here are some scans of the magazine article....(buy all the copies of Knives Illustrated you can afford. It is the best magazine on the planet....
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3/5/06 Hope all is going well for you. I’ve been busy with my day job so I haven’t updated in a month or so. Anyway, I have been working on some knives, Bug Knives that is. I have a couple of commissions to work on and then I’m going to switch for folders for at least the next year. Have a look at some bugs - Siafu...
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4-16-06 I just removed the stag clip point and carved fighter from the available page. I just have a couple knives left on the available page, the two bug knives. I will have the two mammoth handled chute knives pictured above available when Joe Mason gets done engraving them. I have not finalized the price yet as that depends on the engraving Joe comes up with. He gets carte blanche and then I pay him, then I set a knife price. I’d expect those two to run around $850 and $900 respectively. If you want to reserve one with the understanding it will be any where between 1 to 3 months for delivery, send me an email to: tracy@mickleyknives.com
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8/30/06 It’s been 2 months since my last entry here. I’ve not stepped foot in the shop all summer other than to mess it up. My bench is totally clustered with junk and tools and who knows what....I have spent my disposable time golfing this summer and I have to tell you it is a hateful, horrid bitch of a game. It sucks you in with 2 or 3 great shots and then punishes you with 90 more bad ones during a round. Summer is drawing to an end and my loathing for golf has grown to the point where I am near putting the clubs away for the season to get back to knives. I am going to start cleaning the shop and doing some knife stuff.... in the mean time, I made the Knifemakers highlight area of BLADE magazine. I’ll have to scan it and post it here. I should have some new knives posted in a few weeks or so....
Hope all is well with you...Glad to have you back!
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...9-2-06 Some knives of whimsey... These aren’t for every one but they are fun to make. These are one sided and all are mounted on a small pedestal of ebony slightly angled so the knife leans to just a bit towards the viewer.
These are SOLD...
9-3-06 These lasted only a couple hours after they were posted. They went along with The Twins to a collector out east. Thanks Ed!
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9-2-06 Fish Knives...
First knives out of the shop this fall. Seafood anyone?
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9-2-06 Nemo. The top and bottom fins are box eldor burl, the body is giraffe bone. This is a one sided knife of 154CM that has brass inlays for eyes and pins. Click the pic for more on this one..
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9-2-06 The Snail knife has shell of Black Ash Burl. click the pic for more....
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9-2-06 The Whale has a body of Desert Ironwood, one of my favorites. Click the pic for more...
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9-4-06 Today is Mom’s Birthday. Happy Birthday Mom!
I have started updating the In Progress pages again. I fell away from it for awhile but I’m going to start up dating this again.
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9-23-06 Four more Fish knives...I just finished these four and they are available. Click here.
I’ve gotten these out of my system and now I’ll get back to more traditional looking knives...at least for a little bit....
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9-24-06
World stops spinning.
I get published in Blade magazine.
I got some more ink in October issue of Blade magazine in the Knife Makers Showcase area. I will now start charging a dollar per autograph if I can get it.
I’ve had a few requests for the knife (Coupe Back Clip Point) that was pictured in Blade and I started working on a few of those today. If you are interested in one of these, you should let me know...If you buy a knife, I’ll throw in an autograph...
Look at that toothy grin. I really am that good looking...
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10/11/07 I am working on some knives. I have 6 fixed blades ground and heat treated. They are on the bench and I’ll be finishing those in the next couple weeks. In the mean time, here is some pizza pic’s. A before and after Sausage and Mushroom pizza. 5 kinds of cheeze and dough that was aged 30 hours and raised 3 times. I may open a pizza and knife shop....PIZZA PAGE LINK HERE
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11/26/06 We’ve been busy....
If you are looking for knife making supplies, stop by www.midwestknifemakers.com
There isn’t much there right now, but keep your eye on it....We intend to grow...a lot...
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12/3/06 Just off the bench.
Another Coupe Back Clip Point with Giraffe bone. This was a commission and I offered the client 50 bucks not to buy it so I could keep it. He didn’t take the 50 bucks....The blade is 4 1/2”, OAL is 9 1/4”, the scales are giraffe bone that have been dyed, the steel is CPM-154CM and is highly mirrored all the way. I had a bugger of time taking a picture with out picking up every thing else in the room.
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