I received the new Collossus Skull from County Comm a few weeks back, and it's a nice hefty chunk of stainless steel compared to the smaller lanyard sized beads I've been using over the years. It's been serving as a cool paperweight while I've pondered on possible knot work projects with it. I've been looking for a gentleman's type cane/walking stick, where I might be able to drill/tap the skull where there's a spot for it on the underside, and add a long lag screw/bolt to secure it to the cane, but haven't found what I'm looking for yet. If you have the right kind of vehicle, the skull would make a neat manual shifter knob too.
One of the photos shows the Collossus with some of the other skulls from County Comm, the Goliath, Titan, and Yorick, a couple with glow-in-th-dark powder and epoxy mix that I added to the eye sockets.
Knot tying friend Shane Marks sent me a couple of his Rhino Ropework marlinspikes, one of each in brass and steel to try out. I've been giving both a workout tying a couple dozen Sailor's Cross Knots over the last couple of weeks.
I added knot work to both marlinspikes with 1.4mm cord, tying a few Turk's head knot variations of Gauchos and pineapple knots.
I like that they have lanyard holes at the top end, so adding a loop of cord lets me run a finger through for retention, so that I don't have to set the spike down while working with it. They also have grooves that allow adding rubber o-rings, which also offers a little extra grip.I put the crosses on key rings, some with small LED lights and others with some P-38 and P-51 can openers on them, and gave them to my dad to distribute to some of the volunteers at the church food pantry and homeless ministry.
Happy Thanksgiving!
7 comments:
Good evening Stormdrane,That is one huge skull,like the idea of mounting it to the top of a staff.What kind wood is your staff and where did you get it?Really like the fids that you got and always enjoy your knot work amazing.Hey I go to your flickr slide show for ideas is it just me or are there issues with it?Thanks Scot
@Scot, The staff belongs to my dad and I have borrowed it for the occasional knot project. I'm not sure where he got it, maybe from the local flea market, or one of his friends.
Not sure what type of wood it is, just that it has a laquer/polyurethane coating, some of which has worn off over time, and I added a rubber cane tip to protect the bottom.
Lots of folks will go on a hike just to look for a good cane/walking/hiking stick/staff, or you can find them on ebay/etsy as well, some plain, different lengths, and others twisted, or with intricate carvings, etc..
At one time there were a half dozen or more different knots that I'd tied along the length of the staff, but I removed most to leave just the original wrapping of olive drab paracord hitching with turk's head knot ends, a black turk's head below that, and the wrist loop with sliding bead.
The Flickr slideshow seems to be working ok right now, but it could be down at times if Flickr is upgrading the software. I'd recently tried the new 'beta' display version, but didn't like it, so switched back to their current workings, and like Facebook, I'm sure they'll eventually make everyone switch to whatever they decide they want to use.
I had hundreds of photos stored on xanga, and without warning, they switched to a pay subscription service, so I no longer have access to my own photos that were hosted there, some still display in forum posts, and others do not. Most annoying... :/
Hello Stormdrane, What type of the knot you tied at the end of the big needle (on the first and fifth picture) ? Thanks Marcin from Poland
Marry Christmas Stormdrane!! I have a couple questions that are off the topic. On Mr. Brewer's Hansen knot I have tied,untied,tried again and again. I can tell by how my cords are threw out the knot that I have followed the pattern correct,but on the last section it calls for o1 u3 o3 u3. Threw out the knot for each up or down there re 6 steps until the last one and it makes no sense to me? Can you please tell me if that is correct? One last question can you give me the layout for a Ginfer knot? If this is to much I understand. You have been a great inspiration for me and I look forward to this coming year.Hope you have a great new year and thanks Scot
@Anonymous, That's one of the two strand lanyard knots from, 'The Ashley Book of Knots', maybe #782 if I recall.
@Scot, I've not tied either of those in a long while, so I'd have to revisit them again.
In the meantime, maybe this link from Nautile aka Charles Hamel will offer some insight to both of those and other variations.
I like the batch of crosses with the LED lights. Very nice. (As is the rest of your work!)
-Don B.
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