Ahh, the great month of December.  When people start being just a little better to one another and Christmas is just around the corner. I happen to be a huge fan of Christmas. I love the lights, the wonder, the general feeling of goodwill, and of course getting together with my friends and family to exchange gifts and eat some of Michelle’s wonderful food.  It is truly the best time of the year…well, except for the fact that it is cold and rainy which (for a biker) is not the greatest when it results in ice on the roads.  Our bees are snug in their hives and anxiously awaiting the springtime when they can once again start gathering up nectar.  It is at this time of year when I usually transition from beekeeping (with the exception of feeding) into blacksmithing and building.  This year, I have two projects which I will be embarking on.

First, Michelle saw a knife online that she really wants so I will be spending several weeks out in the blacksmith shop hammering it out.  I was just going to buy it for her, but where is the unique and special nature of the gift?  Furthermore, the one I found was about $70.  A good price for a good chef’s knife, but how am I supposed to judge the quality on a knife that cheap?  I will grant you that a person with a power hammer could probably kick out several quality knives a day (not finished, but mostly done), but when you are taking the time to hand forge a Damascus billet with enough material to make a knife like that, then hand hammering every curve and bevel into it, then sanding out and carving the handle and attaching it to the tang, AND THEN sanding and polishing out the blade, we are talking about probably two months of work for me.  I don’t have a schedule that really lends itself to spending more than a few evenings a week on blacksmithing and building.  Luckily, the shape of the knife is fairly simple, there is no fullering to add to it (aka the “blood groove”), and really the hardest  part will be a long drawn out bevel that is roughly three inches from top to bottom.  Think of a meat cleaver that has a downward arcing round nose and is about half the thickness on the spine.  I am pretty excited about this project and I might even be able to get my brother Paul (“Waterboard” for those who follow the blog) to come out and give me a hand.  I’m trying to decide what kind of handle I want to put on the knife, but I don’t have to solidify that decision until the end. I would like to do some decorative stuff on it with epoxy and wood.  The other project I am doing is for some friends of mine.

They have an old table sitting in a back room and, as part of an old organization; there is a history scratched into the surface of that table. They are simple reminders of times past and faces long gone from this Earth. Each is special simply because it is part of an ever evolving storyboard of people, places, and memories.  It is because of this reason that I really want to help them to preserve that history while still updating it to a beautiful piece of art that can be used and admired by those passing through the building.  I happen to have a large chunk of bowling alley left over from a project from a few years ago.  It really is only big enough to make a small table, which is what I had originally intended to do.  It is about six feet across and mostly square on the ends, so it would lend itself perfectly to a coffee table or other similar piece of furniture. Last night, after speaking with one of my friends about it, we came up with an even more grand idea.  It will take a little longer, but I think the result will be a piece of furniture that will last for another 50 years  and remind those who follow of the faces and memories that are here now.  The old table has a lot of marks from use, so I think the first thing I will have to do is find a way to strip off all of the oils and other contamination from the surface of the wood without removing any of those historical marks.  If you happen to know of a technique, feel free to leave a comment.  The second part would be to cut two lengths of that bowling alley that are the same width and thickness of the original table.  This will allow us to attach the two lengths to the opposite ends of the table and extend the usable area. I want to then wrap the whole thing, table and extenders, in wood.  I am going to use a router to carve out some designs in each bowling alley extender and fill it with colored epoxy, then let it dry and coat the whole top with a clear coat epoxy so the history is preserved forever.  In my head, this table looks like a really bad ass piece of art that I would be proud to display for all to see.  We will see what it ends up looking like in the end.  I have a lot of planning to do in order to have it done by August, but I feel like I can do it.  My friend Glen has already offered to come help me with it, which means we will have the time to really put the detail work in to make it amazing.  I am really looking forward to getting started on this project.

This should fill up the extra time I have now that gardening, beekeeping, and weddings have died down for the year.  We here at Priddy Acres really appreciate everything that our customers and followers of this blog have done for us.  It is for that reason that I will be posting a Facebook honey giveaway where the winner will receive two 1 pint jars of Priddy Acres Raw Wildflower Honey straight from our house to yours. Anyone in the continental United States is eligible to enter and one entry per person.  When the contest ends, I will go live to select the winner and announce their name on our Facebook page, so keep that in mind if you are privacy minded and don’t want us to post your name.  Until then, we hope your holiday season is filled with joy, happiness, family, and friends.