Making two knives, the grips

When we left this the knives were being tempered in the oven.  Once they'd cooled completely, they went back to the belt sander to clean off the fire scale and oxidation.  Came out pretty well.

Those lines are to lay out the holes to drill.  I'm going to use brass pins and epoxy to hold the scales on.  I used the centerpunch to mark the hole locations, then drilled them on the press.

See that clamp on the left?  It's there as a safety: if the bit grabs- when it happens, usually just as it's breaking through the far side- it can start the piece spinning.  This is Bad; unsharpened, that point can rip you, and even with the back of the blade in the lead, it hits you it's going to hurt.  Some things I clamp in a drill press vise; can't do that here, so you put something in position so it's out of the way but will block the blade if it starts to spin.

Put a bit of cutting oil in each punch mark, use light pressure, and drill through.  When they're all done, you can take a larger bit and turn it in the face of each hole by hand to deburr the edges.

For the larger one I'm going to mark and drill some smaller holes(1/16") for more pins, so it'll match the big chef's knife already made.

By the way, on a knife like this I try to make sure the tang does not harden; makes drilling the holes a bitch.  Which is why I prefer to drill them before heat-treating.  If you plan to harden the entire thing, you WILL drill the holes before, or you won't drill at all.

Now we need the grip materials.  I've got a piece of walnut I'm going to use

Make sure the piece is thick enough, then on the side lay out the size you need to fit the tang, and cut it.  Remember, it has to be thick enough that, when you split it, the wood removed by the saw won't leave the scales too thin.

At this point you need to split the piece lengthwise.  Remember that the side you marked is not where you want to split; turn it 90 degrees and use that edge. 

Draw a line down the length and across one end(a square helps here), then clamp it in the vise.  If you start the saw at a diagonal on the corner, and keep it centered on both lines it'll make sure you're cutting straight down the center; once well started it's easy to keep it straight with just the one lengthwise line.  That gets you two scales.

To the belt sander, or to a flat surface where you can put down a sheet of sandpaper and sand the inside of each scale smooth.  Don't try to get it too fine; you want it flat to fit the tang, but that's it.  Say 100 or 120 grit will do fine.  That leaves a surface that's flat but still a touch rough, which means more area for the epoxy to get into and grab hold of.

Back to the drill press.  Line the tang up on one scale, and drill an end hole. 
Then stick a pin in that hole(I'm using 1/8" brass rod) to keep it from shifting, make sure the tang is lined up on the wood, and move down and drill another, preferably at the end, at least in the middle.  Then stick a pin in that one and drill the rest.  That'll give you holes nicely lined up.  In the case of the larger blade, I changed to a 1/16" bit and drilled those holes.

Take that scale off, and do the other.  That gives you the set.

Next step is to, one at a time and using a couple of pins to keep it aligned, mark around the tang with a fine-point pen or pencil. 

That will allow you to cut the excess off each scale right down to the line with a saw, or knife, or the sander.  You'll notice the front of each scale is a bit further forward than you'd want it to be, and that's deliberate; I'd rather sand it back a bit to fit than be looking at it a bit short and engaging in language practice.

Shape the profile of each, then use a couple of pins

to hold them together and shape the front as you wish it.  Go slow, check it frequently  so you don't overdo it.

At this point you can either glue the scales on as-is, or do a bit of sanding and shaping on the sides first.  I generally leave them pretty flat, as that gives a better surface for the clamps.  Also, if the clamps make any dings it doesn't matter, as they'll be sanded off.  I'm using a 'sets in an hour' epoxy, as I like to have enough time to get everything together before it sets, and if I can't do it in that time...

That's if all is ready.  Get all your pins cut, and use the sander or a file to bevel the ends a touch so they'll go in smoothly.  Make sure they're long enough to go through both scales and the tang and either be flush or stick out just a touch on both sides.  Count twice, be sure you've got enough(of each size in one case).  Get a place ready, have your clamps ready, and something to mix the epoxy on and with.  Note: if you're worried about time, get the 1 or 2-hour-setting epoxy; works just as well as the faster setting, and takes some of the time pressure off.  If you're confident, you can find 30-minute-set epoxy.  Be very confident before you do that...

Try the pins in the holes and make sure the damn things fit, no matter what the label says.  If they're a fraction large, now's the time to find out and either get some other material or sand these down to fit.

One more thing while setting up: either have some waxed paper to put between the clamp surfaces and the wood, or give them a coat of paste wax and let it dry first.  You do NOT want to find that one of your clamps has formed a bond with the wood.

Make sure the tang is clean, no traces of cutting oil, sweat or anything else on it.  I flushed these off with brake cleaner, and it wouldn't hurt at all to take some sandpaper and rough the surface just a bit.  Same as for the scales, more area for the glue to get into and grab onto.  I'd also suggest wearing some gloves, as you'll get the stuff on your hands if you don't.

Mix the epoxy. 

Take two pins and dip one end in the stuff and stick them in one of the scales.  Coat one side of the tang, the one matching the scale with the pins, put that scale in place and push the pins through the tang.

Coat the other side of the tang.  When I say 'coat', I mean it, don't be stingy.  You can mix some more if you need it.  Fit that scale on the two pins and push into place against the tang.

Dip each pin in the epoxy and push into place.  You can also use a toothpick or piece of wire to pick up a little and put it into the holes, then the pins.  Ideally a little epoxy will push out the far side as the pin goes through, you want the pin and hole to both get a dose.  Look everything over, make sure all's as it should be, then clamp.

Make sure the clamps are holding the scales snugly to the tang, but don't try to crush-fit it; you want there to be a fine film of epoxy in there, so don't squeeze all of it out.  Wipe off all the excess you can, especially on the blade, and then set it aside.  Whatever the label says, unless you're in a desperate hurry for some reason, let it cure until the next day.

Next day, take the clamps off and look it over.  Check for any cracks or splits in the scales, any actual problems with the fit.  If all's well, time to start sanding.

Yes, this is the smaller knife; I didn't trim the scales as well as the larger, and for some reason forgot to shoot a pic of the larger as it came out of the clamps.

If you cut the length of the pins so there's quite a bit sticking out one or both sides, no worry, just use a hacksaw and trim them flush.  Remember, when you start sanding those pin ends they'll get hot, push it and it'll be 'hot enough to make the epoxy soften' hot.  So use a light touch, and give it time to cool between cuts on the belt or disc.

Or, you can use a coarse file to do a lot of the shaping.  Wrap something around the blade to protect it from scratches, clamp it in the vise, and file away.  Completely removes the heat problem.

On the sander, I use a fairly coarse belt first so it does the gross sanding fast with less heat, but be careful not to take too much off.  Round the corners off, and remember you can use the belt at the rollers as well as on the flats or disk.  Keep trying it in your hand, and when it's close shut off the sander, and go to the vise and start using sandpaper.  'Close' being very subjective: when you get the hang of this you can get it very close on the power tools, until then I'd suggest leaving enough that you're certain of not removing too much.  Remember, power tools not only make a job easier, they make it possible to screw things up REALLY fast.

At this point I'll clamp the blade in a vise(use some padding, but not anything that'll give and let it move on you; it'll shift a bit just from the springiness of the steel, you don't want to add to that.

You can start off with a file(half-round here) or fine rasp where you have a lot to remove.  Then to to the sandpaper.  Or  abrasive strip.  It's 1" wide cloth with the abrasive on one side.  You can get it in just about every grit and different widths, just tear a length off and use it shoeshine fashion, or where you want to keep a surface flat wrap it or a piece of sandpaper around a fine file or a flat stick and use it that way.  Smooth the shape, and keep going until it suits you.  I'll throw in, it doesn't HAVE to be rounded; you can make sure the scales are even in thickness and just sand the corners off so you have a octagonal shape for the grip.  Works nicely for kitchen knives.

I'd suggest taking it to 220 grit for the finish, though you can go as fine as you'd like.  Remember, the finer you sand, the smoother the surface will be.  In the ase of a kitchen knife like this, I don't want it slippery, so I stop at 220.  For that matter, you could just go to 120-150 or so and stop there, though it'll take more finish to fill in the grain.  When all's done, the shape and finish are as you like it, time to finish it.

That can be as simple as linseed oil, getting some of the 'knife handle oil' from one of the kitchen supply companies, or a gunstock finish.  If the wood's pretty dry, might try a combination. 
For linseed, get some boiled linseed oil and wipe it heavily onto the wood.  Let it sit a few minutes; if a spot starts looking dry, put another dab on.  You want the stuff to soak in, so no rush.  When you think there's enough(I'd say ten minutes tops for thin pieces like this), wipe off the excess and set it aside for the oil to dry, I'd suggest either clamping the blade in the vise or otherwise security it so the wood is not in contact with anything.  Depending on weather, it can take a week or more to dry completely.  One thing I have known people to do is put the linseed on, give it plenty of time to completely dry, then do the other finish over that.  I'd not suggest it if you won't/can't give it the time to be absolutely dry, as if the linseed isn't when you put the other stuff on it can cause problems with the finish over time**. 

For the other stuff, follow the directions.  What I like best is Minwax Antique Oil Finish.  Doing it right will take a week or so(multiple coats, each needing time to dry), but it soaks into the wood, dries hard and is a good protectant.**

What happens if you check the work over and find a real problem?  A big crack, or split, something that can't be fixed in place, something that means you have to replace the wood?  Remember I mentioned heat making epoxy soften?  Turn the oven to 350F, when it's at heat put the knife in on a piece of foil or something and leave it a few minutes while you put on some gloves.  When the stuff gets hot enough it starts to soften, and you should be able to pull or pry the scales off.  Clean the epoxy residue off the tang and pins, and do it over.

And that's it.  Start off with good steel, take care while you work it, and you can produce a knife better than that available to most of humanity(including royalty) through most of history.


Note:
For sanding a truly flat surface, you can use either a surface plate, or, if there's a glass place around, get a piece of thick plate glass about a foot square.  Use a piece of plywood to make a base for it, maybe a piece of rubber tool-drawer or cabinet liner under it.  Stick a piece of suitable sandpaper on and start sanding.

*Same with gunstocks.  Linseed is often used as the first treatment on the stock, but if you're going to use something else to seal the surface, make damn sure the stuff has had time to dry.  I'd suggest a full two weeks, more if the weather is cool/cold and/or humid.
**First heard of this stuff on a thread at The High Road
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=240961
which had the procedure for gunstocks.  You basically do the same with knife hilts.

Rule #1: do not travel to the Dark and Fascist State of New Jersey

Yes, Allen broke the law. But she didn’t use her gun to harass, intimidate or threaten anyone. She didn’t shoot anyone. Her crime was driving across a state border. And even for that crime, she turned herself in. Now, barring an act of jury nullification, her life is about to be ruined. Her young children are about to be without parents for a critical part of their lives. If Jim McClain can use his prosecutorial discretion in a case like this, you have to wonder why prosecutors have discretion at all.
He IS using his discretion: to screw over someone in the name of pumping his reputation up among the gun bigots for the next election.

Rule #2: If you do go there, don't expect corrupt dirtbags like District Attorney Jim McClain and Judge Michael Donio to be anything but the vile bastards they are.
The same judge and prosecutor who let professional football star Ray Rice avoid a trial after beating his wife unconscious are pushing forward with the prosecution of Shaneen Allen, a single mother who carried a gun into New Jersey without realizing her Pennsylvania permit didn't apply there.

Rule #3: Bryan Miller, executive director of Heeding God’s Call, you're an asshole.  A vile, disgusting little bastard.
“Fortunately, the notoriety of this case will make it less likely Pennsylvanians will carry concealed and loaded handguns in New Jersey, thereby making them and the Garden State safer from gun violence,
Yeah, because someone driving across the border into your fascist state, just getting from one place to another, is a real threat.  You suck.

Insty notes It's more like a religiously-motivated persecution, really; yes, it is.  And their deity is Only The State Can Be Allowed Arms

Another crime that didn't have to happen

Courtesy of leaving our damned border open so Obama & Co. can play Santa Claus.  And try to buy votes.
A mother who watched her cop son gunned down in front of her, his wife and his children allegedly at the hands of two illegal immigrants has vowed not to rest until his 'worthless piece of s**t' killers are dead.'

Heartbroken Marie Vega was on a family fishing trip with her husband Javier, son Javier Jr., his wife Paola and their three children when they were ambushed by two armed Mexican illegal immigrants who have been deported SIX times before in total.
And what kind of 'We're just looking for jobs!' people are these?
Fox News has reported Tijernia - who is the alleged gunman - could also face charges in connection with a string of similar attacks in Cameron County over the last six weeks, believed to be linked to the infamous Gulf Cartel.

Well, this is a pain in the ass

I need to pull the flywheel on the Honda engine so I can change the cam chain and tensioner/guide.  Problem: everything I can find shows a puller for a flywheel threaded on the inside of the shaft hole, and this

is threaded on the outside.  Which no tool catalog at any bike shop shows as correct for this year/model.

Don't you love it when you find out what you have isn't what the books show?

My contribution to the 'Is there any difference between (updated)

7.62x51 and .308?' is this from the folks at Bulk Ammo

The only specifics I can ever remember is that military brass tends to be thicker-walled than commercial, thus the same propellant charge tends to give higher pressures.


Update: received this from this gentleman:
A few years back a government document was revised from "CUP psi" to just read "psi" and this wrong information has been repeated over and over again by folks who should know better.

When you measure 7.62x51 or 308 Win by the same method, you get the same pressure standards.

The REAL difference is in "port pressure" where milspec ammo has a requirement to meet, but commercial 308 Win does not. This is really only an issue with oprods for M1As and converted Garands.

Yeah, this is going to work out well

For the gang members, that is.
Teenage criminals and gang members from Central America have been using “a loophole” to stay in the country, border agent Chris Cabrera revealed. Under current policy, unaccompanied minors are allowed to stay in the country if they have family in the United States and say they have none in their home country, regardless of their background.

“Even if he is a confirmed gang member, a confirmed criminal, even by self-admission, we for some reason don’t send them back to their home country — we release them into our country,” Cabrera said.
So, is Obama so desperate to suck-up to hispanics that he doesn't care?  Does he consider the gangs coming in a plus?  Do the dirtbags in the Chamber of Commerce who want cheap illegal labor want it so bad they don't want even the gang members filtered out?  Some of all the above?


Why isn't he getting the Christie treatment?  Because Gov. Howler is a socialist anti-2nd Amendment Democrat, why else?




I missed something yesterday: the date the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  Ace has a bunch of stuff on it, including a link(pdf) to Thank God for the Atomic Bomb, a piece that retains ability to piss off all the right people.  Including this paragraph:
Arthur T. Hadley said recently that those for whom the use of the A-bomb was "wrong" seem to be implying "that it would have been better to allow thousands on thousands of American and Japanese infantrymen to die in honest hand-to-hand combat on the beaches than to drop those two bombs." People holding such views, he notes, "do not come from the ranks of society that produce infantrymen or pilots."

Crap. Clayton Cramer had a heart attack,

followed by a stroke.  He's doing well, but recovery is going to take a while.

And while President Lightbringer is playing golf

and trying to save Hamas, there's a bunch of children and adults being killed.  And he won't bother to do anything other than 'make a statement'.
The Yazidi city of Sinjar and the towns of Tal Afar and Zummar, captured on Sunday by the Islamic State, remain under jihadi control. Some 200,000 of their citizens fled, mostly to Kurdistan. But about 40,000 are now in a truly desperate situation, trapped on Mount Sinjar, where they had fled on foot without provisions and are now dying. Quoting a UNICEF spokesperson, the Washington Post reports today: “There are children dying on the mountain, on the roads. There is no water, there is no vegetation, they are completely cut off and surrounded by Islamic State. It’s a disaster, a total disaster.”
...
Yesterday 45 children died of thirst. Some families throw their children from the top of Sinjar mountain in order not to see them die from hunger or thirst, or not to be taken by the terrorists. 1500 men were killed in front of their wives and families, 50 old men died also from thirst and illness. More than 70 girl and women including Christians were taken, raped and being captured and sold. More than 100 families are captured in Tel afar airport.
The statement?
We urge all parties to the conflict to allow safe access to the United Nations and its partners so they can deliver lifesaving humanitarian assistance, including to those Iraqi families reportedly encircled by ISIL on Mount Sinjar. The United States is committed to helping the people of Iraq as they confront the security and humanitarian challenges in their fight against ISIL. Iraq’s leaders must move swiftly to form a new, fully inclusive government that takes into account the rights, aspirations and legitimate concerns of all of Iraq’s communities. All Iraqis must come together to ensure that Iraq gets back on the path to a peaceful future and to prevent ISIL from obliterating Iraq’s vibrant diversity.
These clowns are going to sit around while Rwanda II occurs.  And then blame the dead for not being accommodating enough or something to the demands of ISIL.

Why you're not Officer Friendly anymore, Reason #437

“I’ve made you objections (sic) about what’s going on at the shelter over there," Wronko told the cop.  "My 1st and 4th Amendment rights were violated - my civil rights were violated...” 
 
The Helmetta police officer replied, “Obama just decimated the freakin’ Constitution, so I don’t give a damn. If he doesn’t follow the Constitution, we don’t have to.”

Attention Mark Steyn: I think Michael Mann would fit in here

very nicely:
However, I think it’s time that we develop a metric that will clearly indicate if a scientist has an overblown public profile so that we can adjust our expectations of them accordingly. In order to quantify the problem and to devise a solution, I have compared the numbers of followers that research scientists have on twitter with the number of citations they have for their peer-reviewed work. This analysis has identified clear outliers, or Kardashians, within the scientific community. I propose a new metric, which I call the ‘Kardashian Index’, which allows a simple quantification of the over, or under, performance of a scientist on social media.


This 'Security is an excuse for anything' crap has to stop,
At the end, the Judge ordered both sides to request a transcript since he ordered us to do additional briefing. But when it was over, the government secretly, and surprisingly sought permission to “remove” classified information from the transcript, and even indicated that it wanted to do so secretly, so the public could never even know that they had done so.
In the end the .gov decided 'Oh, there was nothing classified revealed after all.'  Which makes you wonder whether they ever thought there was, or if they were just trying to hide something from the public.


Not to idiots like Rivera.

Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera says that there is no way Israel is winning the battle for world opinion. But Israel is trying to win the battle for survival, while surrounded by enemies. Might that not be more important?

...Looking back in history, you see serfs, servants, and slaves are rarely armed because of the possibility of rebellion and uprising; owning a gun is a statement that “I will never be subjugated.” … Obviously, this doesn’t fit well in a progressive worldview that aims, whether they realize it or not, to restore an aristocracy.


Speaking of,
James Brady is dead, and they're using his still-cooling corpse as a collection plate.

Politicking does tend to plumb the Marianas Trench of class.


This seems to fit in: the whining and bitching about 'locally-sourced foods ONLY!':
As for missing out on berries when it’s not berry-hunting season:

When your fruit needs a passport to get to you, it can’t really be considered “fresh fruit.” Nature knows just what you need and when you need it.

You could say the same about typhus and e. coli.
And in the comments, something wonderful: Why do we send our boys overseas to fight wars against people we can't even see from our houses when there are "localvores" right in our neighborhoods who need to be punched in the junk?

Well, it is CNN...

Earlier today I wrote about how the clip posted below proves that CNN is more civil to terrorists than to conservative Republicans. Today, though, CNN is making a huge deal out of the fact that Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan won't retract his comment about Jews putting Christian blood in matzoh -- as though Hamdan isn't a savage terrorist representing a savage terrorist organization but is instead a legitimate political organization that said something inappropriate, untoward, and insensitive.


Ah, Mr. Miller, you do have a way with words:
So for the sake of honesty, let’s not use the word ‘Palestinian’ any more to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths until someone Points out they’re being taped. Instead, let’s call them what they are: ‘Other Arabs Who Can’t Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death.’ I know that’s a bit unwieldy to expect to see on CNN. How about this, then: ‘Adjacent Jew-Haters.’ Okay, so the Adjacent Jew-Haters want their own country. Oops, just one more thing: No, they don’t. They could’ve had their own country. Anytime in the last thirty years, especially several years ago at Camp David. But If you have your own country, you have to have traffic lights and garbage trucks. And Chambers of Commerce, and, worse, you actually have to figure out some way to make a living.

That’s no fun. No, they want what all the other Jew-Haters in the region want: Israel. They also want a big pile of dead Jews, of course that’s where the Real fun is — but mostly they want Israel.
If you're not familiar with the man, here's his take on the Five Levels of Drinking



Dammit, I'm going to lose some time on this.

Ten years maneuvering this thing around,

and they're about to drop a lander on a freakin' comet.  Wow.

The engine is out,

which was fun.  And I've found some things from past 'maintenance' that I'm going to have to take care of.  Some of it is missing nuts and incorrect bolts, and I also found the big carb problem: the choke lever had been installed incorrectly, so the choke was always partly on.  That, at least, was easy to fix.

And now I'm off to Ace Hardware.  If they ever get rid of those bins of nuts and screws and bolts and such, I'm in trouble.

Sounds like the fusion center bullshit from a couple of years ago,

doesn't it?
Law enforcement is much more concerned about sovereign citizens, Islamic extremists, and militia/patriot group members compared to the fringe groups of the far right, including Christian Identity believers, reconstructed traditionalists (i.e., Odinists), idiosyncratic sectarians (i.e., survivalists), and members of doomsday cults. In fact, sovereign citizens were the top concern of law enforcement, but the concern about whether most groups were a serious terrorist threat actually declined for most groups (e.g., the KKK; Christian Identity; Neo-Nazis; Racist Skinheads; Extremist Environmentalists; Extreme Animal Rights Extremists). 
See any mention of Occupy there?  Notice the downgrading of the eco-terrorists?

And just who's behind this?
 The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is supported in part by the Science and Technology Directorate of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through a Center of Excellence program based at the University of Maryland…

The authors of this report are David Carter, Ph.D. , Michigan State University ; Steve Chermak, Ph.D. , Michigan State University; Jeremy Carter, Ph.D., Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis; Jack Drew, Michigan State University.

Hmmm... bunch of academics announce that them evil right-wingers are the REAL threats... couldn't be any bias there.


A doc has some thoughts about some of the scare-stuff going around about Ebola.  Short version: "This ain't Africa, and some of this isn't as bad as people think."


Awww, Pelosi got her feelings hurt.  And then lied about getting an apology.

They really seem to dislike that 'due process' stuff, don't they?

Apparently 'domestic violence' is the magic phrase that makes those troublesome civil rights go away.
George Mason University law professor Joyce Malcolm said the bills under consideration “ride roughshod over” some of the “key rights” in the U.S. Constitution.

Blumenthal’s bill, she said, would allow the seizure of firearms from anyone subject to a temporary restraining order upon the filing of such a complaint.

“The police would be sent to search for, and forcibly seize, any firearms found in his possession. This is a serious infringement of due process, an Alice in Wonderland world in which, like the Red Queen, the new rule is ‘Sentence first! Verdict afterwards,’” Malcolm said.
I've been told by cops that 'Anybody can get a restraining order on anyone.  You could get one on me, just by filling out the paperwork.'  And according to Blumenthal, that should mean the cops get to raid my house and take my property. 

Which sounds like that bill being pushed in Californicated in which someone could claim you're not safe to own guns, upon which the cops could raid you, doesn't it?  These clowns REALLY want those SWAT teams kicking in doors, don't they?

If I were Israel, it'd take a while to word a proper response

to this idiocy.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay made the charge this week, declaring that Israel should share its defense capabilities, known as the Iron Shield, with the same Hamas-sponsored terrorists whose missiles it deflects on a regular basis. 
...
Not satisfied with pillorying the Israeli offensive against surrounding enemies, Pillay also severely criticized the U.S. for providing assistance to the besieged nation.

“They have not only provided the heavy weaponry which is now being used by Israel in Gaza,” she concluded, “but they’ve also provided almost $1 billion in providing the ‘Iron Domes’ to protect the Israelis from rocket attacks.”

She lamented the fact that no similar “protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling.”
I cannot understand the thought processes of these idiots.  Is it simply hatred of Jews, or some twisted "If you keep them from killing your children, you're a criminal" stupidity?

I think Lawdog had it right in his "If I were elected President" piece:
Since I like to copper my bets, I'd draw an advance on my first months paycheck, buy a truckload of dynamite and order the Commandant of the Marine Corp to de-infestate the UN building.

While the Marines are chucking UN politicos off the pier, I'd be personally setting charges in the UN basement.

At lunchtime, I'd have a cheeseburger and fries and watch the UN building go up like a Roman candle.
I would add one thing: ...are chumming the waters and then chucking UN politicos off the pier...  Yeah, might upset the sharks digestion; they'd get over it.


Speaking of stupid, there's Queers for Palestine.  Which is a level of dumb that's hard to describe.

And the project bike is begun

Or a little further along.  Whatever.

With the following removed:
Seat
Gas tank
Rear fender
Airbox
Exhaust
Carburetor

Among the things that need doing is some muffler repair

It's still amazingly quiet(Honda does mufflers quite well), but this has to be fixed.  After browsing around to see if a replacement is available(no), I'll find a piece of suitable sheet steel, cut and bend it to fit, and have it welded on, then the whole system will get a coat of header paint.  If it can't be welded, then I'll have to find some aftermarket slip-on that'll work.

Next step is to drain the oil, and remove the engine so I can replace the cam chain and tensioner/guide.  And somewhere in all this take down the carb for a serious cleaning.  It's been a long time since I messed with one, this may be touchy.  I think the first thing after pulling the engine will be spraying it with a degreaser and washing off all the crap that accumulated from that slight fuel-line leak, though.

Is your dog listless?

Down in the dumps?  Maybe Bonerall can help!


Thanks to Mr. Henick for the link.  Or blame to, or something

Aw, why not? A little more research

can't hurt

It's about damned time

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit pursued against the Department of Justice by government watchdog Judicial Watch, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled a list of documents being withheld from Congress under President Obama's claim of executive privilege must be turned over. Obama made the claim on the same day Attorney General Eric Holder was voted in criminal and civil contempt of Congress in June 2012.

"This order forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress and the American people for years about the deadly Fast and Furious gun running scandal," Judicial Watch released in a statement.
Yes, I know; the bastards will still lie and stonewall.  This is still a step.

My first thought is "You were warned, you morons."

My second is "How well did the union bosses make out in this?
Roberts and other UMWA members were arrested Thursday marching through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, towards the federal building the Environmental Protection Agency was holding field hearings for a new rule that could very well force more coal mines and plants to shut down.

Roberts was leading about 5,000 coal miners, their families and supporters to show the EPA that coal miners, boilermakers, electric workers and other unions did not support the Obama administration’s new regulations limiting carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants.

“This was an expression by the leadership of the union and the solidarity for our members when our jobs are on the line … it’s what it’s all about,” Roberts said while being arrested.

UMWA District 31 vice president Mike Caputo said the Pittsburgh rally was only “the first shot of the battle” against the Obama’s administration’s regulatory agenda.
Yeah, the 'leadership of the union' that sold the membership out.  Again, wonder what they got for it?


Probably better than the Border Patrol's getting.
According to Shawn Moran, the vice president and spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council, scabies and lice are the two main infestations that his agents come across. He adds that chicken pox, measles, H1N1 and tuberculosis are also pretty common. Really, he says they see a whole gamete of diseases and that’s what his men are most concerned with.

Moran tells KDKA Radio’s Mike Pintek that there have been agents who have been hospitalized with respiratory illnesses that they believe came from their job. He says the agents understand going into the job that this is one of their responsibilities.

There's a fun show this weekend,

and spent the morning & early afternoon there.  Not a bad show.

I am now going to go out and do more work on the knives, and yes, I'm remembering the camera.

I did remember this week

Which, considering I spent a large chunk of the day helping clean out a garage, is a fine note on my devotion to my research.

The gift that keeps on giving

If by 'giving' you mean 'lies her face off, then her staffers threaten and belittle people who call her on it'.  Which fits right in with Sheila Jackson Lee's usual methods.

Hell of a Rep. you have there, Houston.


Bit more of the history of how being armed helped bring big changes in the civil rights picture.


Speaking of civil rights, the NYEffingTimes wants to screw with them.  In the name of 'safety'.  Including the "We did it with cars!" line, wanting fingerprint readers on your firearms, etc. ad Bullshit.  I like Lawdogs' response: "You want to handle firearms like cars?  You're a liar."


More on the gifts the illegal aliens are spreading around.  The kind nobody wants.
The Department of Homeland Security’s report on the facilities housing the recent flood of “unaccompanied alien children” (UAC) from Central America describes conditions where diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and scabies are spreading, and staff are being exposed to human waste.

The report lists off the types of diseases that are becoming prevalent in the facilities and that are requiring treatment. They include “respiratory illnesses, chicken pox, tuberculosis, and scabies.” These diseases have also spread to several DHS employees working at the locations, the report states.
I find myself wondering: with all the illegals DHS has been shuttling around the country on public planes and buses, how many people out there have been exposed to all this crap(and who knows what else)?

A problem solved

When I last spoke of  fitting the Lee measure to the Dillon 450, I was using a wrap of electrical tape to hold it in place.  Few days ago was talking to son about this, and he suggested maybe a wide muffler clamp?  Hmmm... put some rubber inside, maybe.  So down to a nearby auto parts place, where nothing suitable was found.

On the way back I pass a Lowe's, and the thought "Plumbing fitting?  Or garden hose?"  So in a browse around, which found a dishwasher drain connector: soft rubber, large on one end, small on the other, worth a try.

A little long on the ends, easy to trim.  The small end was a little small, used a sharp knife to shave out the inside until it was a tight fit over the knurled piece on the bottom of the measure

Use one of the hose clamps to snug the large end around the die body, and that's it.  The measure can't turn or wobble around, and all you have to do to remove it is loosen the clamp.

Some odd information on rifle bullets

inside fifty yards.
What resulted from their investigation was a landmark discovery in terminal effectiveness science: Bullets – all bullets, not just .22 caliber ones – experience a period of very violent yaw and turbulence when they exit the muzzle, causing their angle of attack relative to their flight path – that is how “straight” the bullet is in flight – to vary wildly. Within 50m, they found, two bullets fired from the same gun, at essentially the same time, might impact a target at two completely different angles. A bullet impacting head on into gelatin would stay stable for much longer than one impacting at a high angle, and would deposit its energy much later. This explained the problems some users – but not others – were having with their weapons. In some instances, the FMJ projectiles would hit the target at a desirable high angle of attack, tumble and fragment within a short distance, and reliably stop the target, while in others, the same type of projectile would hit at a flat angle, and might not yaw for many inches.


Does the press ignore LE who support the 2nd Amendment?  Yes.


You may have read of the human ancestors with leopard fang holes in their skulls; seems the birds got into the act as well.  Ma Nature played no favorites for humans.


Looks like we not only need to fire and prosecute a bunch of IRS clowns, we need to take the noisy toys away from the others.
According to a government audit, IRS Agents ‘Accidentally’ Discharged Guns 11 Times between 2009 and 2011. Some of those weapons discharges resulted in property damage or personal injury, claimed the report. In fact, agents accidentally fired their guns more times than they did intentionally, said the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.


Only surprise here is that some media is actually talking about it.
Any one of these revelations would be uncomfortable for the Democrats. But the steady stream of these incidents is proof that Democratic candidates on the ballot in 2014 are trying to hide their positions from the voters. Think about it. Democrats have resorted to concocted images and positions, because if they told the truth about what they thought, they would lose the support of many of the middle-of-the-road voters who tend to turn out in midterm elections. It is naïve to think otherwise. Democratic candidates can’t reveal themselves as the liberals they are, and they can’t admit they will conform to the dogmatic liberal establishment’s policies as soon as they arrive in Washington.


Ok, I get it especially sucks to have your luggage- including your shooting jacket- lost in circumstances like this, but  ...We tried to make a new one but she said that she would need two months to get used to it."
Really?  I don't have familiarity with these jackets, but couldn't even try with a new one? 

Yes, I'm working on the next knife post

It's going to be another long one, may break it into two.  But it will get there.

Tab clearing

Once more: Hey, Commissioner Evans, just get a STASI patch for your sleeve and stop hiding it, you miserable little tyrant wannabe.  And your little friends, too.


"We'd have had our gun bans and such if it weren't for you meddling teabaggers!"
And Walsh?  We're very familiar with "I'm a gun owner BUT-" clowns like you; piss off.


Is ATF playing games again?  Yes.


"How dare you have that hetero-normative stuff in cartoons!"


You know, if the feds hadn't screwed Trentadue around from day one on this mess, this would've been closed a long damn time ago.  Instead they keep gaming, and causing questions.


Obama’s own attorney general, Eric Holder, recently told ABC News that the rise of the Islamic State is “more frightening than anything I think I’ve seen as attorney general,” adding that “9/11 was something that kind of came out of the blue. This is a situation that we can see developing.”

Remember those words. Obama saw the threat from the Islamic State developing for a year. He had a chance to stop it. He failed to do so.
This is where we hit the question of 'failed to do so, or didn't want to?'


"Just because you're in fear for your life doesn't mean you should be able to hurt that possible choirboy/girl who broke into your home!"  Bullshit.


Gotta disagree: people were taking it seriously before this guy died, just that having an international traveler break with ebola ratcheted things up a notch.


What is it with anti-rights clowns wanting to be like the friggin' Soviet Union, informers and all?


Wouldn't you love to browse through their armory?

Yesterday was Range Day,

and a good one it was.  When the wind finally started to blow it was light, nothing to mess with things.  Got a bit warm, but for July it was downright nice.

Tried the Model 92 out at 50 and 100 yards with some loads using the Hornady 140-grain FTX bullet.  They shoot well in the Sharps, and have some of a box left, so put them together.  The one problem with these: for them to work in a revolver or repeater, you have to shorten the cartridge case, that polymer tip makes them a bit too long otherwise.  They shot well; the problem with accuracy testing is that rear buckhorn sight and my eyes.  Otherwise some general practice, including trying a version of the dry-fire drill with a .22 and ammo.  I've been working that drill a few days per week, and it does make a difference.

This abuser's spouse has suffered repeated violent attacks,

yet there has been no condemnation of this Senator's violence. Ironically, this Senator, who is one of the most controversial people in American public life today, has somehow escaped reproach for the one thing that both detractors and admirers should agree is genuinely inexcusable--domestic violence. 

Who is this perpetrator of domestic violence? New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
Wouldn't surprise me.  Dad once spoke with a federal LE guy who'd spent some time in the White House back then; said the Secret Service was sick of listening to the screaming and the crash of thrown objects.

The Clintons must REALLY want to slide that knife

into Obama:
George W. Bush is very popular in Sub-Saharan Africa. Why? Because of the president emergency program for AIDS relief whether you agree or disagree with a lot of what else he did -- and I disagree with a lot of it -- I am proud to be an American when I go to Sub-Saharan Africa and people say, 'I want to thank President Bush and the United States for helping us fight HIV/AIDS.'


Sucks when you shove a law through and find out it doesn't say what you wanted it to, doesn't it?  And then people want to actually hold you to the letter of it.


Sums up the 'elites' nicely: "You peasants, YOU'RE the problem with this country!"
Yeah, it would be so much easier in their minds if their hand-picked commissars could just make laws without worrying about the commoners' opinions...

Late 70's there was a song called "Freeze a Yankee":

now looks like they're going to do it to themselves.
In a hell-bent campaign to rid itself of any form of dirty, messy “non-renewable” energy, New England has been closing down coal and oil plants for the last decade. In 2000, 18 percent of New England’s electricity came from coal and 22 percent from oil. Today it’s 3 percent coal and 1 percent oil. Meanwhile, natural gas — the fuel that everybody loves until you have to drill for it — has risen from 15 percent to a starkly vulnerable 52 percent, just behind California.

There’s only one problem. New England doesn’t have the pipelines to bring in the gas. Nor is anyone going to allowed to build it, either. Connecticut and Massachusetts are only a short distance from eastern Pennsylvania, where fracking for natural gas has leapfrogged the Keystone State into third place for overall energy production. Yet a proposal by Sempra Energy of Houston to expand its existing pipeline from Stony Point, New York, has already met fierce resistance from people who want nothing more to do with fossil fuels and construction is highly unlikely.
You might remember hearing that, during the nasty part of last winter, the grid in that region was right on the edge; turns out it was worse than 'on the edge', and with this idiocy...
And that’s just the beginning. New England is now limping along with 33,000 megawatts of electrical capacity, which barely meets its needs. At one auction last winter, the New England Independent Systems Operator, which manages the grid, came up 145 megawatts short — an almost unheard of occurrence. Yet in the next two years the region will be closing down 1/10^th of its capacity in a bid to rid itself of anything that does not win favor with environmentalists. First to go will be the last of four coal plants at Salem Harbor, which can no longer meet the EPA’s new regulatory requirements. Next Brayton Point, the largest remaining coal plant, will be retired for the same reason. Finally, a continual barrage of protests and legislative attacks has persuaded Mississippi-based Entergy to close the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Station and “let the Yankees freeze in the dark,” as they used to say in Texas and Louisiana. The reactor provided 75 percent of Vermont’s electricity and 4 percent of the power for the region, carbon-free.
Friggin' amazing, isn't it?  They're actively trying to destroy industry and get people killed in the name of 'green energy'.  Apparently they weren't paying attention to what happened in Germany when they got rid of their nuke plants, and Scotland as well.

Or don't care; they may actually be that stupid.

I'd say this moves the EUnuchs to the 'Enemy'

category:
"The Europeans," explained MP Schroeder, "supported the Palestinian Authority with the aim of becoming its main sponsor, and through this, challenge the U.S. and present themselves as the future global power. Therefore, the Al-Aksa Intifada should be understood as a proxy war between Europe and the United States."

"It is an open secret within the European Parliament that EU aid to the Palestinian Authority has not been spent correctly," MP Schroeder said during a recent address in New York. "The European Parliament does not intend to verify whether European taxpayers' money could have been used to finance anti-Semitic murderous attacks. Unfortunately, this fits well with European policy in this area."
And in that area,
In her Ben Gurion University address, MP Schroeder argued, "The primary goal of the EU is the internationalization of the conflict in order to underline the need for its own mediating role," warning that renewed European calls for a multinational force in the region - heard most recently by the head of the largest political bloc in the parliament - combined with heightened levels of anti-Semitism in Europe and the Arab world, could spell disaster for Jews everywhere. "The Palestinians are playing the ugly role of being the cannon fodder for Europe's hidden war against the U.S.," she adds.
Ever read any of the  Carerra novels by Tom Kratman?  This sounds like what the UN High Commission was doing in them: using muslims as cannon fodder to damage a perceived threat without getting their own hands dirty.

Think about this a minute: the EUnuchs specifically aiding a terrorist movement to get people killed and screw up a whole region to underline the need for its own mediating role.  And to give it a reason to push for a multinational force- mostly made up of and controlled by guess who?- in the region...

And just who is this right-wing nut Schroeder?
MP Schroeder, a twenty-five-year-old former member of the German Green Party, began her political career protesting the war in Kosovo and denouncing globalization. A year ago, MP Schroeder set her sights on an issue long avoided by members of the radical Left - the diverting of some of the 250 million in annual aid for the Arabs of Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza) to corrupt officials and terrorist groups bent on Israel's destruction.
So trying to paint her as a conservative/libertarian rightist won't exactly work.  Though I'm sure some will try.

Clearing some tabs

Yeah, you spend enough time telling women who don't feel victimized they're victims, and telling them their fathers/brothers/husbands/sons are rapists just awaiting the chance, they're going to tell you you're full of shit.  And they'll be right.


'Pick a Spot' vs. 'Center of Mass'


The People's Republic of MA: where the cops ought to just start wearing STASI patches and get it over with.


Is ATF corrupt and biased?  Yes.  Next question.


They keep screwing with how they'll define 'terrorist' so they can add more people to the list.


I'm now going back outside, and if I don't start melting I'm going to do some stuff and take some more pictures for the next 'making' post.