What Do You Guys Do When Not Detecting?

[MD4V.org]

On 10/6/2024 at 3:30 AM, davsgold said:

We spend a reasonable amount of time each year detecting, but when that is over what do we do.

I spent a bit of time in Kalgoorlie Western Australia this year learning how to make Chefs Knives, it was a paid course and well worth it.

The Chefs Knife I made in the course, and three other guys also learning we all made the same knife and they all turned out awesome.

This is the Chefs Knife I made in the course, it's a Go Mai construction Gyuto style, the center core is 1084 high carbon steel then a thin Nickel sheet each side then clad with wrought Iron, the blade is sanded to 600 grit finish, and the handle is Octagon shape Red Morell Burl with a brass spacer and black G10

I have since made quite a few more some the same Go Mai type and then I tried a Copper layer instead of the Nickel, it is called Cu Mai when the Copper is used

Anyhow this it the Cu Mai construction Gyuto style Chefs Knife

 

and then I tried a Damascus construction Gyuto style Chefs knife which looks nice

then a collection of various Chef knives I have been making

 

cheers dave

Freaking BEAUTIFUL work!

[bigtim1973]

Those knives are killer!!

How long does it take to make one?

Do you have your own forge?

My friend growing up used to make knives

I like detecting very much and although I do not get to go out as much as I used to I still mess with them in my test bed a lot. 

 

I play guitar....it is a life long endeavor to get better as I am always trying to better myself in it as well. I record too....so I kind of write instrumental music and record with a friend some too. 

 

I also enjoy reading and enjoy reading especially about true strange experiences people have had cryptozoology, UFOs, etc

Now everyone is gonna think I am weird!!!

Lol

[davsgold]

I can't resist, and to answer "bigtim1973" how long does it take to make one, with the gear I've got it takes a few days, and yes I have a forge home made,   

I've been working on another Chefs knife the last couple of days, similar style to what I've been doing.  Cu Mai Gyuto style Chefs Knife, blade length 240mm

This one however has only a very thin layer of copper each side of the center core, the copper sheet is 0.1mm thick, and when the bevels are ground in it looks much thicker than 0.1mm

Anyhow the center core is 1095 high carbon steel, then a thin layer each side of that of copper sheet, the a mild steel cladding on the outsides.

All edges welded same as before and then heated to orange colour in the forge and hammered to set the weld/fusion process and then heated some more to draw it out

Anyhow this is where I'm up to with it

sanded to 600 grit and a 20 second dip in Ferric Chloride, rinse off with water, and then into the Coffee etch for about 14 hours, see what it's like in the morning

started like this

then put the pieces together and weld all the edges and into the forge then mark out the shape you want

then cut to shape and proceed to grind and sand 

cheers dave

[phrunt]

No wonder you make such good prospecting picks with all this experience on the tools.

I spend winter skiing and summer is my detecting time with the odd exception detecting in winter although coin hunting can be good in winter in some spots with the softer soil and no damage to the grass, you'll see the brown ground below in this spring video which is why I avoid coin hunting when the grass is dry as I don't want to cause a mess and problems being able to detect spots in the future by damaging the ground.  I spend my winters skiing down mountains and my summers walking up them with a detector in hand.   Late spring to early summer the grass is greener and safer for coin hunting.

While skiing I'm often looking down on prospecting locations and thinking about the finds I'd made down below.  Ski fields are also outstanding detecting locations in summer after the snow melts, especially under lifts and around the base building/cafe area.  Rings come off with glove removal, and mighty big stacks help with stuff in pockets being lost, if it sinks into the snow it's gone until summer, so beginner areas are great for finding stuff as they stack the most.  People are constantly removing gloves on lifts to use their phone, and the touch screens don't work with gloves on.  I've seen stuff dropped under lifts that I say to myself I''ll go back and get in summer, some stuff is dropped but the person who dropped it has no hope of skiing to where it was lost, so they have to accept the loss, the next time it snows a few days later it is gone until the melt, that's if it doesn't sink straight away.

A last-minute decision on the last day of skiing for the season was to make a video of the day, I was so ill prepared I had to try charge the action camera on the drive to and up the mountain in the car, it hadn't been used in a year, it didn't get enough charge to last so I turned off the microphone which gives it a fair bit longer runtime.  Stats are a little out of whack as we all often forget our phones that record them, particularly my 13yr old daughter who only has a phone to record her stats and never uses it otherwise.

For anyone bored here's the video, shows some of the skiing in NZ and the land below where gold can be found.  The video was done with the action camera on my daughter's helmet.

[jrbeatty]

In coming days (if our long planning comes to fruition) Dave will have a very special au mai laminate knife to show in all construction stages!  :) 

[davsgold]

8 minutes ago, jrbeatty said:

In coming days (if our long planning comes to fruition) Dave will have a very special au mai laminate knife to show in all construction stages!  🙂

that is the plan, and I've been practicing with copper in these Chefs Knives, and because copper and gold have very similar melting temps a thin sheet of gold each side of the center 1095 high carbon steel core, and a twisted pattern Damascus steel cladding for the outside.

Fingers x and don't rush or skip any of the steps and all should be good

cheers dave

[Hunterjunk]

When not detecting I have too many things to do !  Plenty of reading , fishing in fresh and salt , a bit of archery , much to much golf , and shooting , in the field as well as clay target disciplines .

Phrunt , you are lucky to allowed to detect your ski fields . Here the two we have are national parks , no detecting allowed , you may disturb a worm !

[Mike Furness]

My first love is tournament bass fishing out of my kayak, Old Town Big Water 132 ePDL. I just did my last tourney this past Sunday ... had a bad day on the water! I will be cleaning and storing the fishing equipment today and then on to the deer season in NH and ME. It all starts with Black powder muzzleloader season in NH Nov 2nd. Rifle season starts on the 13th and runs to Dec 8. I only do the rifle season in Maine. That starts November 4 the runs to November 28. I will be in Maine probably the last 10 days or so to the end of the season and then back to NH to the end of that season. After that I have a short wait until safe ice and ice fishing usually starting after January 1st. Hoping to get back to AZ in February for a little nugget shooting. Then April starts the kayak bass tourney season all over again. Not too bad for a 75 year old currently ... hope I stay healthy enough to do this routine for at least another 10 years or more. Stay active my friends and age doesn't have so much of a chance to catch up with you! 

[bigtim1973]

14 hours ago, davsgold said:

I can't resist, and to answer "bigtim1973" how long does it take to make one, with the gear I've got it takes a few days, and yes I have a forge home made,   

I've been working on another Chefs knife the last couple of days, similar style to what I've been doing.  Cu Mai Gyuto style Chefs Knife, blade length 240mm

This one however has only a very thin layer of copper each side of the center core, the copper sheet is 0.1mm thick, and when the bevels are ground in it looks much thicker than 0.1mm

Anyhow the center core is 1095 high carbon steel, then a thin layer each side of that of copper sheet, the a mild steel cladding on the outsides.

All edges welded same as before and then heated to orange colour in the forge and hammered to set the weld/fusion process and then heated some more to draw it out

Anyhow this is where I'm up to with it

sanded to 600 grit and a 20 second dip in Ferric Chloride, rinse off with water, and then into the Coffee etch for about 14 hours, see what it's like in the morning

started like this

then put the pieces together and weld all the edges and into the forge then mark out the shape you want

then cut to shape and proceed to grind and sand 

cheers dav

I watched your video and I must say that for sure looks very interesting. I would love to own one of those myself as I really like a great kitchen knife. I used to use a fillet knife for all of my kitchen cutting etc. 

Another thing I noticed while looking at the background of your shop in the video is, it looks just like the shops we have over here in the US!!!

I enjoyed seeing that. 

So far away but yet so similar....I find it very interesting for sure.

If you get to where you start making those for sale I may be interested. It would be very neat I think. 

I am not even familiar with that style of knife....do you make other knifes too??

Like dagger style or fighting style by chance?

I would love to see those as well if you have any examples to show.