Stingray Skin Shift Knob

[shiro666]

Greetings Ladies and Gentlemen,

A while back I posted my stock Momo shifter with the leather covering replaced with Anaconda skin. I have decided to step up my game and do some black, tanned Stingray skin.

I am pretty pleased with the results. The skin is basically leather studded with bone nodes called osteoderms. This makes it one of the most wear resistant and durable natural materials avaliable. It was commonly used as armor and as a structural part of a Japanese sword handle. It is stupid expensive, but I am confident it will outlast me.

Love to hear everybody's thoughts.

This is what I usually use this stuff for:

Sheath for a Damascus knife. I manufactured the lamanated steel, knife and sheath.

Underwrap for Stylized Japanese Tanto. This blade was forged and heat treated using traditional methods.

 

[Pedro]

looks pretty cool man

love the blades!

 

[Nate]

NICE!!!!! been a while man. did i spot you driving a 08 impreza/OBS a while back?

 

[shiro666]

Hi Nate,

You sure did. My company car is an '08 2.5i 5 door. Great car.

Thanks for the compliments on my knob.

 

[brighton]

Thanks for the compliments on my knob.

Great work BTW.

 

[shiro666]

Thanks,

Nice FXT. If it were a lady I would get it drunk and try to kiss it.

 

[Pedro]

so you make knives and leather goods?

sweet. you wanna wrap my steering wheel in suede?

 

[shiro666]

Pedro,

I would love to, but due to my new job, I am now about 6 mo. backordered on knives. I just don't have the time.

 

[Pedro]

damn.

who do you work for? and what do those knives sell for?

 

[Tyler]

what do those knives sell for?

+1

 

[shiro666]

I am just an individual craftsman. I worked at the Freeport Knife Co. for 10 years selling factory knives as well as custom knives. If you stop by, there is somtimes one or two of my knives on display. Nearly all of my orders are word-of-mouth at this point. The feature in Downeast Magazine did not hurt either. This led to a teaching gig at The New England School of Metalwork. I teach a basic bladesmithing class twice a year. I took an engineering job about 7 mo. ago and that has me traveling around quite a bit, so I don't get into my shop as much as I would like.

The Damascus knife is for sale at $350. This is rather expensive because I made the steel.

The Tanto needs a sheath, but will sell for $300.

Here is one of my fav's.

Forged W1 Tool Steel Blade

Double dyed box elder burl handle

 

[stiXXX]

Amazing work man, simply amazing!!

You made the Damascus steel-hammered every layer??

Wow!!

 

[Apollyon12]

If I had any forge experience, I would have defintly taken the NESM Blade class. When I took the english wheel class, I remember the owner saying that he had been blown away by the knife maker that they had recently had in. I am assuming that was you.

BTW, did you remove the leather that was already on the shift knob before applying the ray skin, or did you glue it to the leather?

I had not heard of sting ray leather before and I am now really temped to get some to see what uses I can come up with. It looks really cool.

-----Added 4/30/2009 at 08:11:59-----

Hmm......I do need to get my motorcycle seat coverd. Hard-tail + bare metal, sprung seat = sore butt.

 

[shiro666]

If I had any forge experience, I would have defintly taken the NESM Blade class. When I took the english wheel class, I remember the owner saying that he had been blown away by the knife maker that they had recently had in. I am assuming that was you.
BTW, did you remove the leather that was already on the shift knob before applying the ray skin, or did you glue it to the leather?

I had not heard of sting ray leather before and I am now really temped to get some to see what uses I can come up with. It looks really cool.

-----Added 4/30/2009 at 08:11:59-----

Hmm......I do need to get my motorcycle seat coverd. Hard-tail + bare metal, sprung seat = sore butt.

Ha! Don't know if that was me. NESM has several very good knifemakers on staff. One of whom I took a class with. I really want to take that English Wheel Class as well.

Yup, I did remove the old leather before application. It was a matter of making a pattern out of thick paper in a "C" shape. The skin has to be trimmed with a dremel or belt sander. Stretch and superglue every .5 inch or so and epoxy the folded over sections on the top and bottom.

The skin can be purchaced through www.adamunlimited.com

Wear a respirator when sanding this stuff! It put me in the e-room. No Lie!

 

[Jimbo]

Freeport Knife, eh? Doug and I take our dogs to the park at about the same time every Saturday morning. I've been meaning to go in and poke around - now I have the excuse I need!

 

[shiro666]

Hey, Cool!

Tell Doug I say hello when you see him. I do not have any of my own knives at the store right now, but it is a great place.

I miss Daisy and Syrus now that I don't work there anymore. Please pet them for me.

 

[STInate]

I wonder how much it would cost to get my seats covered in this stuff hahaha So why do you have to go to the emergency room?

 

[shiro666]

Pretty stupid of me.

I was sanding some Rayskin, in a bathroom (to minimize the mess), with no Respirator. Somthing about the osteoderm dust inflamed my lungs. I went to bed, and woke up in the middle of the night not really breathing. Been a week and I still don't feel quite right.

Lesson learned. NO EXCUSE FOR NOT WEARING A RESPIRATOR!

 

[Impreza05]

Very nice