Another AOL Immigrant

J

jensenfarm

New member
Howdy Group!
I'm one of the "walking wounded" who will be leaving AOL as soon as the kid finishes out the quarter at school, and switching to another ISP.

Darrell Mulroy (AKA PlusP) was gracious enough to invite me over. I've been lurking a bit, and must admit that this place is 1,000% better than the Guntalk boards on AOL, & their demented moderator(s).

A little about me:
I'm a middle aged grape farmer/knifemaker...reside in central CA (I know, I know...but we's outnumbered by the acutely stupid!), former FFL holder, current CCW holder, and practicing curmudgeon. Will contribute when I can.
Regards,
Harry Jensen
PS: this is my old website..should have new pics & address up shortly! Comments appreciated!!! http://www.mrcalifornia.com/~hjensen
 
Welcome aboard Harry! If you have a quarter as much good info as Darrell has to offer, I look forward to your posts. He certainly has given us lots of food for thought.

So that many more folks can give you a "howdy" other than just those here in Handguns, I'm moving this to the General forum ...
 
Howdy Harry! I too am a resident of the central valley! Welcome to TFL, I think you will enjoy our family! :D

A grape farmer, huh?! Would those be wine grapes by any chance?! And if so, which winery do you sell to? ;)

And yes, we are outnumbered by the acutely stupid.... :(
 
Harry,

Welcome to The Firing Line. Glad you decided to join in.
Don't feel too bad about living in California, at least you've got a CCL. Besides, it's always good to have "agents" behind enemy lines. ;)


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RKBA!

"The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security"
Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 4
Concealed Carry is illegal in Ohio.
Ohioans for Concealed Carry Website
 
Heya Harry, longtime. Welcome.

I still have that chunk of coast ironwood (Lyonothalmnus sp) for you.

Please e-mail me with your snailmail addy...reformatted a few months ago and lost it.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Welcome Harry,

Good for you for giving up AOL. I swore to never use them again about 5 years ago.

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"Ray guns don't vaporize Zorbonians, Zorbonians vaporize Zorbonians" The Far Side
 
Harry - Welcome aboard!

It's nice to see another Californian, here. :) And a knife maker as well! In addition to firearms, I like well crafted blades.

The best of both worlds. :)

Cliff
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome!!!
As for the grapes, yes I am a li'l ol' winegrape grower (Gibson, Gallo, & the highest bidder at the time gets the fruit!)

The knives on my site have been gone for a bit, but new blades & pics will be up shortly. I also work with individuals who have a specific blade idea in mind, ya just have to bear with a short waiting list!

As for handguns, I'm partial to anything that fires the .45 acp, but I'm willing to listen to a good argument (curmudgeon-speak :rolleyes :)!
 
Welcome jensenfarm, I'm glad that you could make it.
If DC vouches for you, you're in. LOL


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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
"If there be treachery, let there be jehad!"
 
Checked out your website. Do people actually pay that make for a fricken knife? That's nuts!!

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Gun control is People Control
 
His prices are quite good!

Handground knives have advantages over factory machine-produced stuff, especially in the high-tech steels like ATS34, D2 and others. If he's following normal practice, he's grinding them with no gloves on, so he can feel when it's getting too hot at the grinding wheel. Why? Because with these steels, you only get "one chance" to properly heat-treat 'em - if you cook 'em at the grinding wheel, you use up your "one shot" at getting the heat-treat exactly right and you get small but significant "brittle spots" at various places on the blade.

D2 is a tool steel that's so hard to work with, no factory-produced knife that I'm aware of uses it for a blade steel.

Some of us are into fine knives...my weekend carry blade is a custom I designed and paid $400 to have done in ATS34 and another $40 to have Edgeworks Tactical do a kydex sheath for. Blade is 9", grinds are insanely complex:
outscan3.jpg

"The Outsider"

Jim
 
As for prices-
I don't do gun shows because I get tired of hearing that stuff...."My Schrade Uncle Henry will do anything that knife of yours will do. and it only cost me $____"(fill in the blank).
I usually smile and ignore this, but one cuss would not let it drop. I finally asked to see his "factory wonder knife," and proceeded to try to peel the edge off one of mine (didn't make it), then peeled the edge off his blade with mine. Only problem was I had to put an edge back on his blade!
You see, Pumpblast, some people are satisfied driving a Kia or Yugo, and some want the finer things in life and drive Porshches and Caddies. Both might get you where you're going, but the ride is definitely better in some than others. You get what you pay for.
Most of my new new blades are being ground out of Crucible's Powdered Metallurgical magic steels...CPM 3-V, 10-V, & 420-V. This stuff is tough, so it eats up belts at an alarming rate, & also needs high critical temps, so it causes rapid deterioration of heat treating ovens...it also costs up to $5 per inch in bar stock. Throw in some of the exotic handle material (I just got in a bunch of mammoth ivory[$45 per lb., wholesale] and oosic[$65 per lb., wholesale], and am stabilizing my own handle material now also), and the price goes up even higher!
Throw in the guarantee that I give my knives (lifetime...mine...for any defect in the blade, handle, or sheath....deliberate abuse is a different story ;-) ), and you can see where the costs add up.
Hope this helped explain why custom knives cost more than factory.
Harry Jensen
 
Harry's prices are quite reasonable..actually a bit on the lower side of the mean. A well made custom blade can easily outlast the original owner.
As Jim mentioned, few if any production knives use D-2, and as well the newer Crucible steels.
Custom makers pull the production guys into the current technology. 5 yrs ago, no production knives were made of ATS34...now its common as sand. You'll also find that these days some production companies may have a line of blades using one of the more newer steels and those will cost as much as a custom.

Like Jim, my daily carry is a custom; as are 90% of the knives I use. The crown of my collection is a damascus I designed.
With a custom blade, you get exactly what you want.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
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