Wrecking some padlocks

There was a request in a forum to get pictures of breaking padlocks.  It was a test I'd been planning on for a while, shooting some video of it, but hadn't gotten to that point yet.  I decided to go ahead and test it out with shooting photos and get the video at a future date.

I tried padlock breaking for the first time with one of my Wreckers that I was hanging onto for myself to shoot some demonstration videos later.  I wasn't as quick or graceful about it as Ryan Johnson, but I was successful.  My spike doesn't fit as well in the shackle of the padlock as the RMJ does.  Don't know if that will lead to changing the design down the road or not as busting padlocks is not the only design consideration with them.

Prior to starting on the lock, a standard Master Lock:

After the shackle broke:

 

Hard to tell from that pic.  Let's take a closer look:

You can see that I struck at the body of the lock with the point of the spike.  I honestly don't know if it was prying or striking that broke the shackle.  It wasn't a dramatic event and I didn't see it was broken at first.

I decided to try it with a lock with a shorter shackle.  It was even more difficult to fit the spike in with the heavy chain links.  I ended up striking with the spike until the lock popped open.  You could not re-lock it afterwards due to the damage.

 

Here's a close look at the longer-shackled lock:

And the various places on the shorter one that got hit:

 

 

It was hard to get my camera to focus on the end of the spike's point, but you can see that while the steel wasn't untouched, it almost was exactly like it started out.

 

I still plan on shooting video of lock breaking sometime down the road.

SEAL's Wrecker 'hawk rig

This is the one that actually started me on the path to making full tang tomahawks.  I'd been working on forged prototypes with nylon handles for a while, but still had questions in my mind, particularly about the handles.  Then the SEAL who has become my best customer asked about me making him a full-tang 'hawk, and it solved the issues I was having but meant that I'd need to do a major shift in my approach and work out the logistics for building it.

He asked about it late last winter, and I finally got his 'hawk to him in December.  Part of that wait was making sure I had it right, part of it was having one that would match his order being bought off my table at the Blade Show in June, part of it was waiting until I could have a sheath with it, and part of it was his work keeping him busy and away from e-mail.

But, I just heard back from him and he is happy with his tomahawk.  So, here it is.  :)

12" Wrecker (pry spike) model in olive drab with sharpened inner beard.  His was the first sheath I made for them, before I got the tooling together for the other two models.  He got it with the shoulder sling and IWB bands.

This shows the 'hawk better, but is taken before I moved the IWB bands to their final position.

Here's me using it to demonstrate the shoulder carry.  Note that there's a lot of adjustment to pull it up tighter, and that I moved the IWB bands from being on the corners to the inside of the shoulder sling later on.

 

Not one to sit still on his time off, he told me he's been wearing it by the shoulder sling on a few hikes and barely notices it's there.

He also sent me a picture of a display case that his future brother-in-law made for him for some (not all) of the blades he's gotten from me.  I joke with him about charging into battle wearing a kilt made of my blades.  :D

Camp knife with mesquite and Benghazi Warfighter with Micarta

This is a pair I made some time back, before starting work on tomahawks, and I just haven't put pictures up yet.

They're both 5160 with leather sheaths.  The first's blade is about 7" - 8" (I forgot to measure before mailing it), with mesquite handle slabs and brass pins and flared tube lanyard hole.

The second is a Benghazi Warfighter model with a short false edge and natural canvas Micarta.

The customer wanted to dye the leather himself, so requested it undyed.

Wrecker tactical tomahawk with Kydex sheath

If y'all aren't paying attention to what's happening over on the Grinding Division side of things, y'all should.  :D  www.helmgrind.com

Benghazi Warfighter hacking on hackberry

Got some feedback with pictures recently from a customer freshly out of the Marines.  He had gotten this as a graduation present earlier in the year for his younger brother who is planning on attending West Point next year:

Well, he also wanted one for himself, about a half inch longer with a double edge.  This is what I built for him:

And these are some of the pics from his camera that he sent me afterwards:

 

 

 

 

His comments:   "Only took me a couple of minutes to get through all three of the limbs in the two pictures, and still shaved hair off of my arm with both edges. After going through some branches about thigh size along with a lot of other smaller branches, I did a quick touch up with a wet stone. Took no more that 45 seconds before it was shaving sharp again. You did an amazing job thank you."

That's what I like to hear.  :)

Custom knife trade: cleaver for belt knife

It's not often that I get a chance to own the work of another custom knife maker, but I got the opportunity recently.  When I posted my last cleaver, Ben Tendick said he'd like to get one at some point.  I had actually forged another cleaver at the same time as the one I posted that I had forgotten to stamp my touchmark on, something that almost never happens.  I offered a trade for one of his knives, and he agreed.

The cleaver is 5160 and paracord, and the belt knife is L6 and curly maple.

I think we're both happy with the trade.  :)

Benghazi Warfighters put to work: Feral hog #578

I got these pictures today in my e-mail from the customer who had gotten a matched pair of Benghazi Warfighters for himself and his wife.  This is the 578th feral hog that the wife has killed since the spread of the porcine plague reached their ranch in early 2008.  It's around 220 pounds.

 

If you haven't seen the damage a herd of hogs can do in a single night, it is amazing and devastating.  They have reached my family's farm in the last couple of years and when they hit it looks like someone got drunk and went plowing, tearing up acres of ground as they search for grubs and other edibles.  They are a terrible infestation here in Texas, and I rejoice at every one killed.

 

Since these are killed for population control (and due to their huge numbers), the wife typically cuts out the backstrap and disposes of the rest of the carcass.  She commented on how the blade cut effortlessly through the tough hide "like butter" and how the handle fit her comfortably.  Both are things I like to hear from a customer.  :)