[JTW Jr.]

Decided since I missed Blade , that I would go and spend the weekend up in Portland with my bro Dan , he used to be my shop bud when he lived here in Vegas. Had a great time , we hit the show , saw a bit of Portland , took lots of picts around town and Dan took me over to visit Bill Tuch.

I was pleasantly surprised when Bill not only offered to open his shop and invite us in , but to also give me tips , pointers , discussions on knife making , design input and some tutorials on his shop equipment and methods.

I feel in love with his horizontal JL , as well as his dust system , mill , and his sandpaper cabinet. Who knew there was 8000 grit sandpaper ? The finest in my shop is 400 grit... but not for long ! I got about 65% of the knife that I am making for Bill done while at his place , now to taper the tang , fit the scales and etch to bring out the raindrops !

Bill was also kind enuff to surface grind some steel for me , that machine amazed me , I stood there in awe of the precision of it , and how Bill made it look so dam easy

Blade West will be a yearly trip for me , and I need to work in another trip back up there to spend more time chillin with Dan and hanging out with Bill , he mentioned something about me making a folder next time I visit.

It was great to see the Bybee's , Steven Kelley , Shane Sibert , Shane Atwood , Chad Nichols , and many other names I already forget , which is why I took pictures :D

Dan & Bill , thanks for making the trip one hell of a good time. Also thanks to Matt Cook for the trade while we were at Bills place.

Just walking into Bill's place it shows the cleanliness of his knives.
This is lobby before you get to his door...
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/lobbyatbills.jpg

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/doorbills.jpg

Dan on break , while Bill hides the pricey precision files before turning me loose. ;)
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/anotherbreak.jpg

Bills running the surface grinder:
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/gobillgo.jpg

Dan bestowed on me a new shop mascot..." Stitches " , he is a psycho schitzo serial killer clown who comes from the darkside of planet banned.
we took him all over Portland taking picts..
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/Stitches.jpg

Steven Kelley brought out some nice stuff:
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0712.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0713.jpg

[JTW Jr.]

Striders at Alvarez's table:
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0715.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0716.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0719.jpg

Michael Rader
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0699.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0702.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0706.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0707.jpg

Kazaa Knives
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0682.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0683.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0684.jpg

[JTW Jr.]

Sick ? or pure torture in fitting it all togther ? :cool:
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0687.jpg

Shane Sibert -He won two awards !
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/ii89/VegasHenchman/BladeWest/BW_20090912_0832.jpg

Bill Siegle
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0693.jpg

Ray Richards - I feel in love with this one , if I just had the cash , I would have purchased my first forged blade.
http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0743.jpg

http://i1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/BW_20090911_0744.jpg

and lastly a few more picts from Bills shop

Was I surprised to find 8000 grit sandpaper ???? :eek::eek: Bill puts a really fine hand finish on his knives , from the blades to the fluting , inside and out !

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/45/l_c50719f7bf6b4ca09b37205847bab5b6.jpg

Bill and Dan , amidst one of our discussion sessions
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/75/l_11a612d629de42bca9401a4e3a487179.jpg

Me lookin a bit tired...sleep...blah ! Sleep when I get home....
http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/1/l_38d0b22459fa4fc3a303e6bd9adcffdb.jpg

Still have more images to sort thru... they will be added to my album here when I finish converting all the raw files.
http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af236/VegasBlades/Blade%20West%202009/

[messerist]

Thanks for sharing. I love Knife Porn!!:what:

[bikerdoc]

8k grit!!!!!, best I got is 2k.

Wow, just wow, that shop makes my little work area seem so inadequite.
And the knives, what beautiful work.

Keep the pics coming. Meanwhile I will be grinding away trying to make something half as good.

[hso]

Outstanding!

Thanks for sharing the pictures and report with those of us that couldn't make it.

[JTW Jr.]

Can you imagine having a shop that nicely equipped and still having the talent to do 85-90% of the work making knives with hand files ! My hat goes off to Bill Tuch...his ability to move steel with his files and hand engravers is astounding.