Benefit knife

One of our local cowboys was injured severely in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago, and there is a benefit team roping and auction planned for him on March 16. The damascus knife and anything else I can get built will go into the auction. If your in the Cross Plains, Texas area stop by, I'll loan you a horse if you need one. Mutton busting and shetland pony bronc riding is also part of the show.

Amboyna burl and mokume' handle, 1095/15n20/nickel damascus blade.

The next was made for inventory. W2 tool steel and a micarta handle. 3" cutting edge, 7.5" overall length. These are popular knives for those that carry and use every day. 100.00$ w/o a sheath.

Farmer I am not. There is a big difference in a farmer and a rancher. I am a rancher.

 A farmer makes his living tilling the soil, making things grow, then selling what he has grown, hopefully for a profit. He usually keeps a few cows to borrow money against and to make his neighbor mad when they get out onto his farm.

A rancher is in the livestock business. His livestock produce baby livestocks which he attempts to keep alive long enough to sell, never for a profit. He makes a half-assed attempt to farm a few acres, usually something to feed the livestocks he has scattered all over the country, and it is usually a disaster.

2 hours to start the tractor. As you can see, it is both heated and cooled, depending on the season.

Finally up and plowing.

Yep, it's still there.

Specialty blades

These are on the way to my old friend Jr. Jr. cowboys around the West, Texas area and, yes, there really is a town named West. It's just east of Tokio.

He wanted a castrating knife with a blade shaped something like the second blade on a trapper pocket knife, but needed some extra handle to hold onto. Arthritis in his old age I'm sure.

I used 52100 steel on this knife. It holds an edge well, but can be sharpened without a lot of work or equipment. A 2.5" cutting edge ground to zero,  and 4" handle. These things are more like scalpels than knives, which I guess is good, they will be doing surgery.

Heat treating 52100:
 Normalize 3 times, 1750 degrees, then 1550 degrees twice.
 Heat to 1500 degrees and hold for 20 minutes, then quench in oil.
 Temper at 350 degrees, twice, for 2 hours.

Random pictures from the week

The rest of the crew was sure they called each other and coordinated their wardrobe.

Christmas bits being put to good use.

Jacob

I built these stirrups years ago. I need to build some more.

Working cattle

We have a lot of pastures that have no, or very poor facilities. Most are lease places, but some aren't. The cattle on these places have to be worked just like the ones close to the good pens. We have a choice, drive the cattle a long ways to some good pens, or work them the old fashion way. The choice is usually made by which is less stressful on the cattle.
 Had we chosen the drive, we would have started out at daylight, arrived at the pens midday, worked them, then driven a bunch of sore cattle back, arriving  around dark-30. The cattle would have laid around for the next several days not eating and not making money.
 The old fashion way, we showed up at 2:00 o'clock, penned them in a dry lot, worked them, and had them back grazing by 5:00 o'clock.
 I might add, this only works with a good crew, and these guys are some of the best.

These calves are weighing around 600 pounds. Thank god for young guys who don't mind working on the ground.

Knives with sheaths

I got these back in the mail friday. Dwayne at http://www.armoralleather.com/ did his usual terrific job.

Anaconda skin inlay.

1095/nickel damascus. 

This knife sold for 225.00$

Neck sheath. Run a ball chain or leather thong through the attachment and you've got a handy little knife that stays out of the way or concealed. This one is for sale for 150.00$ plus shipping.

EDIT: This one sold, thanks Clay

Good article

One of the better things I've read lately.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/01/28/gun-laws-and-the-fools-of-chelm-by-david-mamet.html

I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself if Barry isn't in the way.

An easy afternoon

We moved some heifers around tuesday and things went too good. The weather was great, and the cattle were feeling good and almost moved themselves. We were finished by noon and didn't want to unsaddle on such a nice day, so we went and rode over some new ground.

There's nothing like seeing new country on a good horse.

Looking east.

A picture of the picture taker.

Probably hogs.

Looking south. West Caddo peak on the horizon.

There has probably been more ranch pictures taken of wind mills than any thing I can think of, and for good reason. They are very photogenic for some reason.


EDIT: Jessica's take on the day.
http://photojkc.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/working-hard-or-hardly-working/