Well, no rest for the wicked… sergeknives.com wants a tactical bead. Serge lathe-turned the copper bead blank, but it’s pretty small and difficult to hold while engraving. So, thinking about this all during his Koi and Waves Bean knife handle, I came up with this clamping fixture. Started as a piece of repurposed Boeing surplus aluminum doodad, socket head screw, added a brass sleeve and Delrin washers. Clamps into my engraver’s block, and works great!
Starting cutting Serge’s bead with a Japanese-style Koi and Waves. The fixture is working well
, I can easily cut about 45 degrees of the top, and easily adjusts to the next position. I’m kind of liking bead cutting, so this probably won’t be the last…
Sculpting the waves and the koi. Some sculpting is cutting metal away, and some is moving metal around with tiny punches. Have I mentioned the bead is 7/8 of an inch tall and half an inch in diameter?
Everything sculpted and textured, and pics of all sides. Even got the gold eye installed. Tomorrow, adding in wave lines and finishing up!
Here’s the finished bead, seen from all sides. A lot of fun! I’ll have to cut some more. Off to Serge tomorrow.
Thanks for looking!
Tom Sterling
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