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E49: Fun with friends!
270 Plays3 months ago
Since Jerid is on vacation, I have my friends Spencer Sandison and Rick Hall join me on this week's episode. So much fun with these guys! Come listen in!
We'd love to hear from you so send in questions to the show Instagram: @the.tttpodcast
Your hosts:
Denis Tyrell of Tyrell Knifeworks:
IG: @tyrellknifeworks
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TyrellKnifeworks
Website: https://www.tyrellknifeworks.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Tyrell-Knifeworks/61558767232017/
Spencer Sandison of Heavy Forge
IG: @heavy_forge
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HeavyForge
Rick Hall of Rick Hall Knives
IG: @rickhallknives
Maker's Spotlight:
https://www.instagram.com/trailsedgeknives
https://www.instagram.com/turtlecreekforge
https://www.instagram.com/iamstarforge
Our sponsors:
Two Basterds Tx Smithy & Supplies: @twobasterdshammers
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Baker Forge and Tool: https://www.bakerforge.com (Use TTT10 for 10% off!)
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- Hustle and Grind
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- KnifeTalk
- FullBlast
- ForgeSideChat
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Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Hosts
00:00:15
Denis Tyrell
Hey everybody, welcome to another triple T for knife makers podcast. I am excited to have two co hosts this week. My buddy Spencer from heavy Forge up in Alaska, and my buddy Rick Hall from Reno. Hey guys, how's it going?
00:00:32
Rick Hall
What's up, buddy?
00:00:33
spencer
Going good.
00:00:33
Denis Tyrell
Hey, thanks for joining me. And let's not give Jared a big head that we need two co-hosts to fill his slot. All right. He's already but ah with my friends.
00:00:41
Rick Hall
We just got to find two people that talk as much, that's all.
00:00:45
Denis Tyrell
That's not hard. Uh, good. So what's, what's, what's going on? Spencer, what's going on in your end of the world?
Weather & Personal Stories
00:00:52
spencer
Uh, trying to stay dry and and not slip.
00:00:54
Denis Tyrell
Dry dry. Well, but okay.
00:00:56
spencer
Yeah. It's like a heat wave up here right now. Uh, it's raining.
00:01:01
Denis Tyrell
Oh, raining.
00:01:03
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, what's yeah after that's true.
00:01:03
spencer
Yeah, I'm loving it.
00:01:04
spencer
I'm loving it. I'm not upset by any means. It's better than negative temperatures like 34 degrees, 37 degrees, t-shirt shorts. Great.
00:01:12
Rick Hall
Not quite as hot as LA right now.
00:01:16
spencer
Oh man.
00:01:16
Denis Tyrell
for For everyone else, Spencer lives in Anchorage, Alaska, so he has a warped sense of what's warm and what's cold.
00:01:16
spencer
Yeah.
00:01:26
Denis Tyrell
Uh, so little story. So I got my, my wife made me make sure that I told this story. So was it two, two and a half years ago that I actually met Spencer was going up to Alaska, um, for a trip, just Kim and I were going to Alaska, um, to Anchorage for four or five days just for a vacation. And of course I knew Spencer lived up there. And so I said, Hey, what you want to get together for breakfast?
00:01:56
Denis Tyrell
And on the way there, Kim is like, this guy better not be a dork.
00:02:04
Denis Tyrell
yeah
00:02:04
Rick Hall
I know all your other friends.
00:02:05
Rick Hall
He better not be like them.
00:02:05
Denis Tyrell
No, no.
00:02:07
Denis Tyrell
The funny thing is, Lindy is saying to Spencer exactly the same thing that these guys better not be dorks.
00:02:15
spencer
yeah Yeah, that was that was the greatest day of your life.
00:02:17
Denis Tyrell
And it. Yeah, and it wasn't Spencer's beautiful family or super nice and I didn't even totally spaced on the weekend.
00:02:27
Denis Tyrell
It was actually Mother's Day when we met and I dragged them out to breakfast on Mother's Day. So that was cool that.
00:02:33
spencer
Yeah, that was great. Actually it worked out great.
00:02:35
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:36
spencer
I wish I had more time to like hang out and show you around Anchorage area.
00:02:42
Denis Tyrell
Well, we barely met because you ah you almost had to work through the weekend. I think you would have been in more trouble with the wife than with me.
00:02:46
spencer
Yeah.
00:02:49
spencer
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:02:50
Rick Hall
That's easy to do.
00:02:51
spencer
Yep.
00:02:54
Denis Tyrell
um Spencer, so what's going on? You getting any shop time?
00:02:57
spencer
Oh, yeah.
00:02:58
Denis Tyrell
You you starting to recover?
00:03:00
spencer
Yeah, ah I mean, I know a lot of people know I've had an ankle injury over the summer, but that's getting better, man. It's it's slow healing, but it's it's changing and getting better.
00:03:10
spencer
And yeah, it doesn't keep me from you know making, but it slowed me down a little. But no, I mean, I'm in the forge and finishing projects.
00:03:22
spencer
So you know just my ankle.
00:03:25
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, I saw you post something today, another Woots build, another Woots knife build.
00:03:32
spencer
Yeah, yep, yep, just finished that. Well, just have to sharpen it and then it's heading out, so.
00:03:37
Denis Tyrell
And what was it again? I know it was Woots something, but I didn't catch the whole thing.
Knife Making & Materials
00:03:41
spencer
Yeah, just a little boots blade. They're like these little primitive knives I've been making and a lot of people have been interested in them and they just, they're like um my kind of um take on like an OTC, the Iceman knife.
00:03:57
Denis Tyrell
oh okay
00:03:57
spencer
You know, I don't know if you guys are familiar with him, but I've always been like really interested in that, you know, in the story of him, you know, in the tools that he carried and that little like um um stone dagger he had, you know, so like that's always just been really interesting to me.
00:03:59
Denis Tyrell
yeah
00:04:13
spencer
And I've always kind of in the back of my head, it's like, man, I want to make some knives that kind of represent that or look like that, you know, but obviously with modern materials and like just those have just kind of been popular.
00:04:24
Denis Tyrell
Oh, okay. Yeah.
00:04:25
spencer
People have asked me for them so and I don't sell them for very much. So, yeah.
00:04:31
Denis Tyrell
I think Rick's related to that guy.
00:04:31
Rick Hall
Oh, in that case, how much?
00:04:36
spencer
250.
00:04:37
Rick Hall
$250, that's a good price.
00:04:40
spencer
Yeah, there's they're not hard to make, you know, it's obviously Woots is kind of a rarity, you know, even there's not a lot of people that are making it and you can't just
00:04:40
Rick Hall
I don't think I have it.
00:04:49
spencer
you know it's It's rare, and but they're not they're very simple and they're not hard to make at all. So I don't really feel like I could charge very much for them you know because they're not a beautiful guard or some kind of mosaic Damascus.
00:05:04
spencer
you know or i don't just make them This is the first one I've ever made from Woots. you know and It's going to actually somebody that I know, so who's actually a really good customer of mine. so
00:05:12
Rick Hall
I don't think I've actually heard anybody saying, oh, they're not that hard. I just make a bill of woots.
00:05:17
Denis Tyrell
yeah really
00:05:18
spencer
Well, the woods is a whole different thing.
00:05:19
Rick Hall
The process of that is just ridiculous.
00:05:21
spencer
But yeah, it is. It's a process. And that's another reason why I don't sell it. I get people that bombard me that want ingots or bars. And it's just like, dude, it's so easy for somebody to just mess up.
00:05:34
spencer
And I don't want to be you know, I don't want somebody, you know, here's an ingot and they screw it all up.
00:05:40
Denis Tyrell
Yeah,
00:05:41
spencer
And then it's like, Oh, you sold me some, you know, some bullshit or, you know, I sell them a bar and they don't forge it at the right temperature or they just screw it all up.
00:05:43
Denis Tyrell
really.
00:05:49
spencer
I don't want to deal with the, you know, because, because I would say probably, uh, maybe the average Smith doesn't understand this material at all. Like just,
00:06:00
Rick Hall
Well, you'd probably have to give them like a ah list of things not to do, how to forge it.
00:06:00
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:06:05
Rick Hall
Give them a little bit of a cheat sheet, you know.
00:06:07
spencer
Absolutely. Absolutely.
00:06:08
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:06:09
spencer
But there's some things I just don't want to give away.
00:06:12
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:06:13
Rick Hall
Well, and that's that's the thing too.
00:06:13
Denis Tyrell
There's enough guys that there's enough guys that screw up 1080, 1084 and blame it on the, oh, I got a bad lot of steel.
00:06:16
spencer
Yeah. Well.
00:06:23
Denis Tyrell
I'm like, no, you didn't.
00:06:24
spencer
Yeah, exactly, exactly. But you know there's there's a few people I would absolutely sell to, you know what I mean? That I trust, you know that I know wouldn't do that.
00:06:35
spencer
If they screwed it up, they'd be like, oh yeah, I messed this up. So I mean, the proof's in the pudding.
00:06:39
Rick Hall
Right, right.
00:06:40
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:06:41
spencer
I've made enough of this stuff that you can just see. like you know If you're not getting a good pattern or you know you're cracking it and it's crumbling, that that's on you. so
00:06:51
Rick Hall
Well, that's a really valuable thing, too. I think that that stuff costs a lot of money to make. People don't realize how hard it is to actually make one.
00:07:00
spencer
Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:02
Rick Hall
It's ah it's a process.
00:07:02
spencer
Well, I will say that the melt is actually the easiest part of the whole process. That's the, and it's like, it seems like a lot of the new guys who come into the woots world, that's what they struggle with the most is the melt, which is kind of interesting because I, uh, I mean, I, I had success early on that w even with the melt, you know what I mean?
00:07:16
Rick Hall
Hmm.
00:07:23
spencer
It was everything down the line that I struggled with at first. Um, but I just,
00:07:28
Rick Hall
Sure.
00:07:31
spencer
dove into the, you know, I wanted to understand what was going on here, you know, because there's a lot because these guys aren't, you know, there's a lot of great woodsmiths out there, and they're not just giving away this information, you know, so I really wanted to figure out what was going on metallurgically with this stuff, because that's the only way I was gonna get better with it is to understand what is actually happening, you know, it's like,
00:07:52
spencer
When somebody gives you a piece of steel of 1080 and they're like, this is how you heat treat it, heat it up to this temperature and then quench it in this oil. Like you don't really need to know what's happening metallurgically. You don't need to know what, you know, austenizing is.
00:08:04
spencer
You don't need to know none of that. Just heat it up. Okay. There.
00:08:07
Rick Hall
Yeah, yeah.
00:08:08
spencer
Is it hard? Oh yeah, it's hard. Skates a file like that. You don't need to know.
00:08:11
Rick Hall
there There's a lot of ah processes in knife making where you got to go to school. I mean, you got to go to school and do your research and you're studying because there's so many little aspects of just doing one thing like making mosaic Damascus or, you know, heat treating the W2 knife with with a good hormone on it is the right temperature, you know, that's ah that's a thing.
00:08:33
spencer
Yep, absolutely. Absolutely. I think when you're going to take knife making seriously, there's things that you should know on a, you know, scientific level for sure.
00:08:42
Rick Hall
Absolutely.
00:08:44
Denis Tyrell
Definitely. like
00:08:45
Rick Hall
What about you?
00:08:45
Denis Tyrell
ah
00:08:46
Rick Hall
You ready to get into the woods making, Dennis?
00:08:49
Denis Tyrell
No, all right, honestly.
00:08:50
Rick Hall
No. You do everything else. Why not that?
00:08:54
Denis Tyrell
it's not i I'll never say never. Right now it's something that doesn't interest me personally. like I think it's cool. I would love to play with it. I don't want to make it.
00:09:06
spencer
Yeah, that's, that's how I feel about like mosaic Damascus. Like I just have no, I totally respect it. My good friend Gabe makes it. I love what he's doing. And I love what looking at what everybody else is doing.
00:09:18
spencer
It's just not my thing. I'm just, I prefer to use things that keep me in my forge longer than in, you know, the fit and finish process or cutting and grinding and stacking, you know, that's just me.
00:09:30
Rick Hall
Yeah. Mosaic is fun.
00:09:30
spencer
That's.
00:09:31
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:09:32
Denis Tyrell
Cut.
00:09:33
Rick Hall
I love doing it. um There's a lot of learning curve there, too. you know Don't overforge it. Bring your corners up, stuff like that. That'll totally screw up your billet. um you know What temperature to forge it at to get a certain effect.
00:09:47
Rick Hall
A lot of times we'll forge a lot cooler to create like an S pattern inside of a billet that you're going to use as a component billet for like basket weave.
00:09:58
Rick Hall
I learned that actually from Moreco. He showed me how to do some cold forging to make that middle move more.
00:10:05
spencer
Yeah.
00:10:05
Denis Tyrell
you I'm going to pick your brain on that because I'm about to do that part of that pattern, that S.
00:10:12
Rick Hall
The S's.
00:10:14
Denis Tyrell
the it seems to be pretty trendy right now because I know Gabe has done it a few times. I've seen ah Morocco do I think just lately a lot of people are doing that.
00:10:27
Denis Tyrell
I'm going to create a lot of layered layered W's and then I'm going to put a like ah an S pattern in it and I'm going to flip it and and get that snake pattern.
00:10:36
Rick Hall
Sure.
00:10:37
Denis Tyrell
That seems to be pretty trendy right now.
00:10:37
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:10:39
spencer
Oh, yeah, it's I love looking at that stuff.
00:10:39
Denis Tyrell
So
00:10:41
spencer
It's awesome. And that's the that's what's so cool about, you know, making Damascus and mosaic Damascus and stuff is there's so many different variables, you know, there's so many different, ah you know, artistic routes that you can take to make these patterns, man.
00:10:49
Rick Hall
Oh, yeah.
00:10:54
spencer
And then like with woots, it's just kind of, there's kind of one street you take, you know, you're kind of stuck there. And that's really it, you know, but yeah, the mosaic thing is just totally, I mean, some of that is just mind blowing, man.
00:11:09
Rick Hall
Woots is cool too because you can get you can get surprises, you know cool surprises when you forge that out.
00:11:09
Denis Tyrell
yeah
00:11:15
spencer
Absolutely. Yes.
00:11:16
Rick Hall
you know that's That's the cool part about that.
00:11:16
Denis Tyrell
Yep.
00:11:17
spencer
Yes.
00:11:19
Rick Hall
You're not really manipulating any pattern. It just is what it is and your processes.
00:11:24
spencer
It's like, it's like, it it's like, it's like it's alive, man. Seriously.
00:11:27
Rick Hall
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
00:11:28
spencer
It's like, Oh yeah.
00:11:28
Denis Tyrell
and And if Forge welds two other steels, fine, right?
00:11:33
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:11:33
spencer
Oh yeah.
00:11:34
spencer
Yep.
00:11:34
Denis Tyrell
So that would that would to me, that would be interesting to get it as a bar in a mosaic.
00:11:34
spencer
Yep.
00:11:41
Denis Tyrell
So a certain aspect of a mosaic being whoops to get that watery look without like and then layering some more stuff around it, that would be cool to me.
00:11:49
spencer
yeah Yeah, the thing about woots is there are certain temperatures you need to be forging at so to get certain patterns. and um So you're kind of limited in that realm.
00:12:00
spencer
So you know it's like I just did a kumai with some woots cladding.
00:12:00
Denis Tyrell
Hmm.
00:12:03
spencer
and with 52 100 and the forging temperatures of 52 100 you know there're they're pretty high so that's going to change your pattern on your cladding by going to that certain temperature you know so you're kind of stuck that's why you know the pattern of that wasn't like that great still a good pattern you know but it's not like you know that really watery pattern that everybody kind of
00:12:11
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:12:28
spencer
loves or or tries to achieve. And I don't really necessarily want to chase that I'm just happy that I can make some good patterns. I'm happy with that if I can make some good steel with a pattern on it.
00:12:40
spencer
I'm happy man like I don't need to make the watered stuff even though that is beautiful and I love it.
00:12:41
Denis Tyrell
So, so are you getting more of a, I'll call it the watery pattern, but are you getting more of a pattern with a lower forging temp or a higher forge?
00:12:47
spencer
That's not what I want to chase though really.
00:12:58
Denis Tyrell
It sounded like you wanted a lower forging temp.
00:13:01
spencer
ah lower or higher. It depends. Depends on what.
00:13:06
Denis Tyrell
That's a, that's a non-answer.
00:13:06
Rick Hall
That's thing about 52-100, 52-100 is such a hard forging steel.
00:13:12
Rick Hall
If you're planning on it getting smaller, guess what? Everything else around it's going to get smaller.
00:13:12
Denis Tyrell
It is.
00:13:18
spencer
Yep.
00:13:18
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:13:18
Rick Hall
So you got to start with small and then barely forge it, and then you end up with what you want as far as thickness goes.
00:13:25
spencer
Yeah, I forged 50 to 100 is all I use for my mono steel knives. I have
00:13:29
Rick Hall
The great steel, the great steel.
00:13:31
spencer
i have Yeah, I love it. I have like grease drums, like quarter grease drums full of it, full of bearings I've gotten.
00:13:39
Rick Hall
Uh-huh.
00:13:40
spencer
That that that is known 5200 that I've gotten from industry. you know We're able to see the spec sheets on this stuff. And yeah, so I've got so much of it.
00:13:51
Denis Tyrell
I actually don't use that very often, only like once in a while, you know probably two or three times that I've done like something to do with ball bearings, but it's not a steel I use very often.
00:14:01
spencer
I love it. And I screw it up a lot too. So, uh, you know, I make mistakes too. Cause I get, I forget, I forget it's unforgiving, you know, and I don't get too low in temperature and I'm just, I'm like, Oh damn.
00:14:14
spencer
my screw I know that. I know this is crack. I know this is riddled cracks, you know, and then yeah, I'll, you know, clean it all up and then etch it. And it's just riddled with cracks, man. I'm like, damn.
00:14:24
Rick Hall
If you ever want to win a knife forging contest, give somebody a piece of 52100 and you take the other stuff, the 1080 and see what happens.
00:14:32
spencer
yeah Yeah, exactly.
00:14:33
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, don't tell them.
00:14:34
spencer
Like, i it just happens, man. Like, I forget that I'm forging the stuff. I'm so used to just, you know, like 1080 and, you know, i I use a lot of 1080. Well, I use a lot of 1080, you know, and it's just, you just, you got to really pay attention to what you're doing.
00:14:48
spencer
You you can just get drift off into space, you know, when you're, you're like, oh, man, too, too cold, way too cold.
00:14:51
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Oh, I've done that on a kumai before drifting off into space and then realizing you're at about 1950 and things are melting.
00:14:55
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:14:56
spencer
Yeah.
00:15:02
spencer
yeah
00:15:03
Rick Hall
We did that at your house last time I was there or your forge started messing up.
00:15:05
spencer
yeah
00:15:07
Rick Hall
It didn't, it didn't shut off.
00:15:08
Denis Tyrell
Oh, we know we blew the thermocouple and we had kumai in the forge.
00:15:11
Rick Hall
Yeah, that's what happened.
00:15:15
spencer
That, you know, I, that's, I remember when you had, uh, I think you melted some copper in there and then you brought it to everybody's attention about how it can mess up your forge.
00:15:15
Denis Tyrell
It's not good.
00:15:23
spencer
I always thought that was like BS man, like a wives tale, you know, Me too.
00:15:27
Denis Tyrell
i and I admit, I have told people that it's a wives' tale and I keep a piece that um the first time that happened, like it was totally my fault. I wasn't paying attention, was on my phone and then realized, oh crap, I've got, I just blew away the kumai. And the next time I was forging, I was doing just straight Damascus ah and I was trying to forge welds like A restack and I have a piece of that restack and you can see this is a totally different forging session It is riddled with copper That has been vaporized and it's between the layers It's exactly what happened so why and I keep that around for anyone that thinks that that's not a thing I can show them that
00:16:11
Rick Hall
turned into fumes and got into your billet, yeah.
00:16:11
spencer
That's crazy.
00:16:13
spencer
Yep, exactly. Yep.
00:16:19
Rick Hall
ah Copper pollutes everything. It pollutes your etchant. It pollutes your forge.
00:16:20
spencer
That's good.
00:16:26
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, i had to I did have to um to just tear the floor out of it.
00:16:27
spencer
Re-line. Okay.
00:16:31
Denis Tyrell
it it's I don't think it sticks to the walls as much. It's where it puddles on the floor. And the next time your forge heats up, vaporizes again. um So I had to just redo the floor and it was fine.
00:16:44
Denis Tyrell
But yeah, it's it's a bad thing. it's It's expensive to make that mistake, I can tell you.
00:16:49
spencer
yeah
00:16:49
Rick Hall
Yeah. and There's a lot of mistakes in knife making that are expensive.
00:16:51
Denis Tyrell
ah
00:16:54
Rick Hall
I just saw on Instagram a fella, gaskill knives, just cut the end of his finger off, changing his dies on his press.
00:16:54
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:17:03
Denis Tyrell
Oh, see, I know Paxton.
00:17:03
Rick Hall
And he had just, and I was just talking about safety on the, cause I remember, um, Oh, what's the guy that does mountain my, um, Paxton Paxton cut his finger off.
00:17:14
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Paxton to 50 50 Forge had the same thing.
00:17:17
Rick Hall
Right? And I'm thinking, how are you guys not seeing this slow-ass die coming up going to smash your finger? But it is lack of attention because he was talking to somebody and he was putting a kiss block in there and he didn't think he was all the way up and then cut that baby off.
00:17:35
Denis Tyrell
I don't, I don't, I don't change dies.
00:17:36
spencer
Damn.
00:17:38
Denis Tyrell
I don't put kiss blocks in with the press on.
00:17:40
Rick Hall
Nothing. Nothing, right?
00:17:42
spencer
Yeah
00:17:43
Denis Tyrell
It's always off. I don't care. I, cause I know those guys. Well, I know Paxton personally, but I, there's no way I'm, I'm touching anything in that press without it off.
00:17:48
Rick Hall
Me too, yeah.
00:17:54
Denis Tyrell
Same with the power hammer, anything like that.
00:17:56
Rick Hall
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Workshop Safety & Upgrades
00:17:57
Rick Hall
ah Did I tell you I tripped and went flying across my shop and landed with my hand on my power hammer die and my knee on the pedal.
00:18:06
spencer
Oh, Jesus.
00:18:06
Denis Tyrell
Oh, that's like incredibly bad luck.
00:18:08
Rick Hall
But I was, I was quick enough. I was quick enough to move it because I realized what was going on. And I'm like, Oh boy, that could have been really bad.
00:18:17
spencer
I just stop it.
00:18:17
Denis Tyrell
and and yeah But he's um Rick has the, yeah, you would too.
00:18:23
spencer
I just stopped the ram, grab it.
00:18:23
Rick Hall
air press.
00:18:27
Rick Hall
Oh, yeah.
00:18:28
Denis Tyrell
um but ah Rick's got a big blue.
00:18:28
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, thorwood making Thor Thor.
00:18:34
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, Rick's got a big blue and you can't even tell if it's on. but Because the compressor is not even in the room, so you don't know that it's actually turned on.
00:18:38
spencer
Yeah, that's.
00:18:42
Rick Hall
It's very quiet. Yeah.
00:18:44
Denis Tyrell
So it's weird. but
00:18:46
Rick Hall
Unless you're grinding something out in the grinding room where the compressor is that and you're trying to be really careful. and your buddy's blowing something off in the shop and that compressor kicks on and makes you poop your pants. That's that's always fun.
00:18:58
Denis Tyrell
I used to do that when I was engraving. I used to use one of those pancake compressors, the at when it came and it was right beside me, and I'm engraving something really fine, delicate work, and then the the compressor comes on and my engraving has a big jump in it.
00:19:14
Rick Hall
Oh, yeah.
00:19:15
spencer
Yeah, that happens to me.
00:19:15
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:19:16
Denis Tyrell
but
00:19:17
spencer
I use a little pancake with that little dental burr thing, you know, same thing. I'm using my microscope like, you know, doing a garden and my God damn it.
00:19:28
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, I don't use the pancake one anymore. My new one is five times the size and quieter. so it's
00:19:33
Rick Hall
it's It's just the stupid stuff that we do as knife makers. Like when Dennis um had that little burr, that 380,000 RPM burr.
00:19:44
Rick Hall
Well, I decided I needed one of those. So I went and got one and got my little compressor going and I turned it on and it was making noise. But I, I mean, the burr is so small, I couldn't even see it spinning. So i I decided to reach up there and grab that son of a gun and boy, it burnt a hole right through my finger.
00:19:59
Rick Hall
I'm like, well, that was a little stupid.
00:19:59
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:20:02
Denis Tyrell
i I laugh because I did the same thing.
00:20:02
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:20:05
Denis Tyrell
It was, it doesn't look like it's moving, but.
00:20:08
spencer
Yeah, yeah, exactly it doesn't but it is
00:20:13
Denis Tyrell
Oh, so Rick, what's going on in your shop? What, uh, what are you working on?
00:20:17
Rick Hall
Well, um right now, I'm working on spending all the money I got. I bought a mill. I bought a brand new heat treat oven, and a new even heat. um
00:20:26
Denis Tyrell
Okay, first of all, you have both of those tools in your shop already.
00:20:29
Rick Hall
I do. I do. But this is a brand new 22-inch even heat oven that I got for $1,100.
00:20:37
Denis Tyrell
I thought it was a 27.
00:20:39
Rick Hall
22.
00:20:40
Denis Tyrell
Oh, 22, you told me 27 the other day.
00:20:41
Rick Hall
Yeah. I thought it was 27 because it was bigger than the one that I have, but I figured out that the bigger one that I, or the one that I have is 18 and not 22.
00:20:51
Denis Tyrell
Oh.
00:20:51
Rick Hall
So I thought it was the next size up from the one that I had, but I miscalculated the one that I had was smaller.
00:20:57
Denis Tyrell
I always think mine is bigger than it is.
00:20:59
Rick Hall
Yeah, that's what she said.
00:21:01
spencer
i knew that was going
00:21:03
Rick Hall
And then I decided to buy a web mill, which is a Bridgeport clone, really good Bridgeport clone.
00:21:09
Rick Hall
And, uh,
00:21:09
Denis Tyrell
like neme
00:21:10
Denis Tyrell
like big
00:21:10
Rick Hall
an email. Yeah, a big one.
00:21:11
Denis Tyrell
nice
00:21:13
Rick Hall
I'm getting into the folders and doing that. I need a little more precision than my Grizzly has given me. but i mean The Grizzly is fine. it's it's It's fine to do what I want it to do, but i I do build big stuff too, so I want something I can really hog.
00:21:25
spencer
I knew that was coming.
00:21:29
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, well, that'd be good.
00:21:29
Rick Hall
so Got that.
00:21:31
Denis Tyrell
How much does that thing weigh?
00:21:33
Rick Hall
um Close to 3,000 pounds.
00:21:35
Denis Tyrell
Jesus.
00:21:36
Rick Hall
It's big. Yeah.
00:21:38
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, good luck moving that.
00:21:38
Rick Hall
My wife can have a hell of a time unloading it out of the trailer. I'm telling you right now.
00:21:45
Denis Tyrell
what are you How are you gonna unload that thing?
00:21:46
Rick Hall
I'm getting ran a forklift.
00:21:47
Denis Tyrell
You're gonna, for a forklift, or at least one of those pallet jacks.
00:21:54
Rick Hall
Well, the problem is getting it out of the trailer. There's no like real good way to build a ramp out of that trailer. So I'm just going to pick it up, drive out from under it, get it down on the machine skates and away no way, no way.
00:22:04
Denis Tyrell
oh
00:22:07
Denis Tyrell
You'd never be able to put that thing on a ramp. It didn't matter how long the ramp was. 3,000 pounds? No way.
00:22:11
Rick Hall
I can just see my truck sticking up in the air, you know?
00:22:14
Denis Tyrell
No, that's not good. Yeah, you'll have to get it picked somehow.
00:22:19
Rick Hall
Yeah. Well, if i'm I'm going to rent a forklift so that it'll be over.
00:22:22
Denis Tyrell
Nice. All right. Give me a call when it's in.
00:22:24
Rick Hall
It's only 250 bucks for a forklift for a day.
00:22:28
Denis Tyrell
I don't know.
00:22:29
spencer
You need a service truck with a crane.
00:22:30
Denis Tyrell
never yeah Yeah, you have one of those, don't you?
00:22:30
Rick Hall
You know?
00:22:32
Rick Hall
Right.
00:22:35
spencer
I mean, I don't own it. No, it's not mine. It's my company's, but man, that comes in handy.
00:22:41
Rick Hall
Yeah, I wouldn't be able to lift it into my garage though because it's too short.
00:22:44
spencer
Yeah, that's yeah.
00:22:48
Denis Tyrell
i might I might need something like that when my new anvil arrives.
00:22:48
Rick Hall
So.
00:22:51
Denis Tyrell
Spencer, I think we got the same anvil.
00:22:53
spencer
Oh, right on.
00:22:55
Denis Tyrell
I got the 260 double horn from Poland.
00:22:55
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:22:59
spencer
Oh yeah, right on.
00:23:00
Denis Tyrell
That's the one you have, right?
00:23:01
spencer
Excellent. Yeah, excellent, Anvil. Excellent.
00:23:03
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:05
spencer
Very happy with them.
00:23:05
Denis Tyrell
um I almost...
00:23:05
Rick Hall
Right on. What about you, Dennis? You've you've been making knives here, making a keyhole-style guard.
00:23:12
spencer
That was cool.
00:23:13
Denis Tyrell
eat it's it's not actually a keyhole because it's not pressed in because I needed to remove the the handle portion to blue it and so it's actually a hidden tang that goes into a guard that just puzzle pieces into the handle I mean it looks like a keyhole acts like a keel but it's kind of not ah because I didn't actually press it in i actually did all the manual work of sanding and grinding and all that shit to
00:23:28
Rick Hall
Mm-hmm.
00:23:37
Rick Hall
I thought you did a really good job on that piece.
00:23:39
Rick Hall
I really do.
00:23:39
Denis Tyrell
Thank you, thank you.
00:23:41
Denis Tyrell
um Yeah, it's done.
00:23:41
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:23:43
Denis Tyrell
Now I'm i'm probably 60% done the folder we talked about the other day, Rick. the Yeah.
00:23:49
Rick Hall
um Already? Good. That's one thing I admire about Dennis. He goes to do something. He gets it done.
00:23:55
Rick Hall
I talk about something. He's like, so how'd that go? And I go, I haven't started it yet. What are you talking about? How about that piece of kumai that I gave you? Well, yeah, it's still sitting there with a pattern on it.
00:23:55
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:24:06
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:24:07
spencer
it's It's over there, we' got dust on it.
00:24:09
Rick Hall
Yeah, I forge a whole bunch of stuff and then I put it in a basket and I look at them.
00:24:10
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Yeah, he's he's good at jarriting things.
00:24:17
Rick Hall
Yes, very much so.
00:24:20
spencer
Too much time getting haircuts.
00:24:21
Denis Tyrell
um Yeah, right. Nobody gets haircuts more than Jared. Uh, but yeah, the puzzle puzzle piece knife is good. but The video's doing okay.
00:24:31
Denis Tyrell
Uh, and it is a good warmup. I'm doing that. The one I was talking about the, the kind of S mosaic that actually is going to be a keyhole, a real keyhole that I'm going to press.
00:24:39
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:24:43
Denis Tyrell
So, but, uh,
00:24:43
Rick Hall
Right on. The mosaics look really good on keyholes.
00:24:48
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, and I want something that is not that i I'm not going to tile.
00:24:49
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:24:53
Denis Tyrell
It's stacked, right? it's not Because if it's tiled, then it's usually really thin.
00:24:55
Rick Hall
Sure.
00:24:57
Denis Tyrell
And of course I need it to be you know inch thick at least when i do the but I cut the keyhole out of it so I can press it.
00:25:04
Rick Hall
I love the stacking method. It's the best way just make enough to do one knife. Then you can actually put a piece of 1080 on the end that you're going to put the tang on. You can't do that on this one, but if you're going to make a tang, you can just forge-roll the piece of 1080 onto it.
00:25:17
Rick Hall
Now you're not wasting that precious Damascus.
00:25:17
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:25:21
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. So that that mosaic will become the the keyhole. But in the meantime, I'm working on this. And in fact, it's going to be the Thursday Triple T series for a couple of weeks.
00:25:34
Denis Tyrell
I'm doing a compression lock, liner lock. And if you're not familiar with that, Spydercos, they came out with a patent for it.
00:25:45
Denis Tyrell
The patent expired in 2021. It's like a liner lock, except the lock release is on the spine, not on the belly of the knife.
00:25:49
spencer
Thank you.
00:25:55
Rick Hall
tool.
00:25:56
Denis Tyrell
So when you release the lock, like on a liner lock, when you release the lock, the the blade is actually closing on where your thumb was. So you kind of have to be careful not to cut yourself on certain knives. um But on this one, you can close it one handed, you just have to flip the lock and it'll actually just flip closed right away. It's kind of a cool design. And I'm um glad their patent expired. So So far, it's going
Knife Designs & Projects
00:26:21
Denis Tyrell
really well.
00:26:21
Denis Tyrell
I really like it. And Rick, I showed you the other day. um
00:26:24
Rick Hall
Yeah, I think it's cool. I think it's a neat design.
00:26:26
Denis Tyrell
the
00:26:27
Rick Hall
um I'm wanting to do a button lock now.
00:26:32
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's I have it designed for a button and a button auto, not a lock.
00:26:32
Rick Hall
I like those. Well, I just want to do the lock first.
00:26:36
Denis Tyrell
but
00:26:39
Rick Hall
I'm not going to get into the auto stuff yet. um I think that I want to do one. I want to do a bolster lock or bolster release auto.
00:26:51
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, those are cool, I like those.
00:26:51
Rick Hall
I think it was a really cool and You hand the knife to somebody and they have no idea how to open it.
00:26:55
Denis Tyrell
And yeah, i like I like a knife where you hand someone and they have to ask you how to open it. I think that's cool.
00:27:03
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah, you do.
00:27:05
Denis Tyrell
For some reason, I don't know why, but I think that's a fun little, that's right, yeah.
00:27:08
Rick Hall
It's just exerting your dominance like you always do, you know.
00:27:11
spencer
I really envy your guys's folders, man. there are yeah um I would really like to start getting into making some folders.
00:27:19
Denis Tyrell
Well, you got a mill.
00:27:19
spencer
I know I talked to you a little bit about that.
00:27:21
Denis Tyrell
You got a mill, you can.
00:27:23
spencer
Yeah, i've i've you know it's been on my mind, but you know it's kind of like what Rick was saying earlier. It's just like it's one of those things where it's like, I'll get to it one day.
00:27:31
Rick Hall
right Right.
00:27:33
spencer
and just i just I've been making a lot of smaller knives lately, and it's like, man, that's
00:27:35
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:27:40
spencer
ah just like I feel like that's kind of like the new thing, you know, or becoming very popular by by makers, you know, exactly.
00:27:44
Denis Tyrell
yeah
00:27:47
Rick Hall
Well, who wants to carry a 14 inch buoy? You know, ah those things are, you know, those gotta be show knives. I just don't see the use for them unless you're hunting bear or something.
00:27:59
Denis Tyrell
Yep, yep.
00:27:59
spencer
Yeah, no, you don't want that with a bear. You want big gun, big gun.
00:28:01
Rick Hall
No. Yeah.
00:28:05
spencer
That's the thing about Alaska though, you know, it's like guys up here who are into like outdoor stuff, you know, they kind of know their knives. So you they don't want no big booty knife.
00:28:12
Rick Hall
Absolutely.
00:28:13
spencer
They want a little small knife, you know, they got big gun when they go to the woods.
00:28:13
Rick Hall
Right? Right.
00:28:17
spencer
They want something that they can, you know, process game with easily or just, you know, simple little tasks.
00:28:18
Rick Hall
That's right.
00:28:25
Rick Hall
Absolutely. I was amazed when I went to Africa on a hunting trip. Um, the guides when they went to skin out these gigantic animals, had a little two inch blade and boy, they went to work on it.
00:28:25
spencer
So.
00:28:36
Rick Hall
I couldn't believe how fast they got it. and You know, they do it every day, but I mean, they get it skinned and keep that thing out.
00:28:41
spencer
Yeah,
00:28:43
Rick Hall
Probably 30 minutes. Big giant kudu. I'm like, holy cow.
00:28:47
spencer
man, that would be, that's crazy to go hunting in Africa, man.
00:28:48
Rick Hall
A little two inch blade, a folding knife.
00:28:52
Rick Hall
I know you just need something sharp.
00:28:53
spencer
That's awesome.
00:28:54
Denis Tyrell
yeah You should see Rick's living room.
00:28:54
Rick Hall
That's all you need.
00:28:56
Denis Tyrell
It is like the Mutual of Omaha had a...
00:29:02
spencer
I've been to houses like that.
00:29:02
Denis Tyrell
That's where they go to film it.
00:29:04
spencer
I've been to houses like that. I had a friend growing up whose dad was part of a safari club up here. And then you go into their house. I mean, they were kind of wealthy, you know? And it was like zebras and freaking tiger heads, you know?
00:29:15
spencer
Like gazelles and stuff. It was just like, good list. You know, back in the day, you take some substances and you're in there like, what the fuck?
00:29:20
Rick Hall
Nobody asked me. Where'd you get all these?
00:29:24
spencer
Get out of here, man.
00:29:24
Rick Hall
Yeah know That's right Everything girls come in now think what where did all these come from?
00:29:24
Denis Tyrell
ah
00:29:27
spencer
That place used to trip me out.
00:29:31
Denis Tyrell
uh... you
00:29:35
Rick Hall
I go i don't know. They just were run a really fast I guess and got stuck there
00:29:40
spencer
yeah
00:29:42
Denis Tyrell
Oh well with all this talk of folding knives I'm gonna pause here and talk about one of our sponsors Maritime Knife Supply and I know you're saying hey wait they don't they don't they don't stock folding knives Lawrence is about to I don't know if he's released it yet but he's gonna have a whole section on folding parts and parts for folding knives
00:30:02
Rick Hall
Love that guy.
00:30:04
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, so definitely go check out maritime knife supply, quick shipping, awesome guy to deal with.
00:30:04
spencer
Excellent.
00:30:12
Denis Tyrell
If he doesn't have it, Lawrence will get it. So um he and I have been talking about folding folding parts and and getting Stuff for folding knives, so it's gonna go along well with this new series that I'm doing and hopefully he has that up and running in the next week because I'm gonna start my my next folder series and this coming Thursday will be the I'll start the new folder series Yeah, that's a YouTube bump
00:30:39
spencer
That's on YouTube.
00:30:39
Rick Hall
Nice.
00:30:41
spencer
So what is it like that? Like a beginner series? Like how?
00:30:44
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, it'll it'll just it'll it'll kind of be a continuation of my first folder series where I did building a liner lock. um Similar pace, probably three, at least three episodes, maybe four. Since I did the last one, I think it'll probably be three, because I'm just going to refer to the last series on some of the steps.
00:31:06
Rick Hall
It was a good series. I actually had to go back to your series for a couple of things that I'm like, what did I do for tap size on that? Cause there's so many little intricacies of doing folders that you forget.
00:31:06
Denis Tyrell
but
00:31:19
Rick Hall
It's like, okay, I need a 256 screw. If I use a thread forming tap, it's a number 47. If I use a regular tap, it's smaller.
00:31:26
Denis Tyrell
Right. it a and not And that's exactly what I told Lawrence is put up a cheat sheet.
00:31:27
Rick Hall
You know, those kinds of things, a cheat sheet would be really good.
00:31:35
Denis Tyrell
I'll even make it for him.
00:31:35
Rick Hall
Yes.
00:31:37
Denis Tyrell
Put up a cheat sheet that says you need these drills and there you need these sizes and they're for this and you need these sizes and they're for this and you need
00:31:45
Rick Hall
It'll make it so much easier.
00:31:45
spencer
Oh, that's brilliant.
00:31:47
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, but because that that's, I think, you know, Rick, you could probably attest when you take the course, most of what you're learning is the crap that you need to make the knife. Because making the folder honestly is not that hard.
00:32:00
Denis Tyrell
There's not, you know, you're drilling holes.
00:32:00
Rick Hall
Right. Right.
00:32:03
Denis Tyrell
You're drilling a lot of holes.
00:32:03
Rick Hall
It's knowing what you need to make the knife is where it really is where you really need to.
00:32:04
Denis Tyrell
you Right.
00:32:10
Rick Hall
I agree. Making folders I think is pretty easy.
00:32:13
Rick Hall
You know, I mean I'm not I'm not gone down the road all the way yet and I haven't tried different styles, but a liner lock I thought was a pretty easy knife to make I Mean let's be honest.
00:32:13
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:32:21
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. I mean, you learn a lot about how to be precise and precision and yeah.
00:32:24
spencer
It seems complicated to me, you know, I've never dove into it.
00:32:25
Rick Hall
I've only made three. I mean but Dennis and I were talking about that he could because when he said oh, it's easy I
00:32:30
spencer
So just looking at it from outside, I'm like, that seems kind of complicated, but.
00:32:40
Rick Hall
when I went down to take Mike Venino's class, um which Mike is a great guy, great teacher. um When I went down to take his class, I was kind of intimidated. I'm like, oh man, there's going to be so much stuff to this.
00:32:51
Rick Hall
And it's like, yeah, just do this and do that. And pretty soon we had a knife for two days. I'm like, what? This is crazy.
00:32:58
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. And the things that I was, the things that I was intimidated, um, on and Rick, I think you were into tapping a two 56, a number two hole.
00:32:59
Rick Hall
There's no other sizes.
00:33:07
Rick Hall
Right.
00:33:09
Denis Tyrell
Cause you think, Oh my God, that tap has got to be so tiny.
00:33:09
Rick Hall
Right.
00:33:12
Denis Tyrell
You're going to snap that tap. That's one of the easiest parts. Once you learn how to do it, I tapped 12 holes today in about five minutes.
00:33:15
Rick Hall
It's totally easy. Yeah.
00:33:19
spencer
but do you tap but What are you tapping? Is it steel or titanium?
00:33:23
Rick Hall
Titanium.
00:33:24
Denis Tyrell
ah Titanium.
00:33:24
Rick Hall
Titanium, yeah. You use a handheld drill on low speed, and you just line up the scale with your other hand, run it through, and it, you know, it kind of self centers and holding it.
00:33:38
Rick Hall
um If it gets a little sideways, you can feel it before it breaks the tap. So it actually is it to your advantage to hold it.
00:33:46
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, yeah doing it by hand is the way to go and you can you can line it up and Yeah, it's it's a lot easier than what people think as soon as someone shows you you're like, well, I was making such a big deal over You know gonna spend a thousand dollars on one of those little tap masters.
00:33:55
spencer
Yeah.
00:34:02
Denis Tyrell
You don't need that
00:34:03
Rick Hall
Yeah, and I even have one, and I didn't even, after I went to Mike's, I'm like, god I don't need that. I guess there is a few things like if you're going to do a frame lock, you've got a lot more meat there. Um, it might be behoove you to use a tapping jig, um, for that, but cause I haven't tried to do, them yeah, I haven't tried to do a thick one yet.
00:34:21
Denis Tyrell
That's true.
00:34:25
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Cause I've actually thought I was going to be a smart ass one time and put both liners together and tried to tap right through both liners.
00:34:33
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:34:35
Denis Tyrell
I snapped the tap there.
00:34:37
Rick Hall
yeah
00:34:37
spencer
Yeah.
00:34:37
Denis Tyrell
Um, so, and it could have just been the way I was tapping, but I don't do that anymore.
00:34:42
Denis Tyrell
And there's no need cause you're never putting ah the same screw through both liners, but, but
00:34:46
Rick Hall
Right. Once a pass through, the other's tapped.
00:34:50
Denis Tyrell
Yes. Or you're putting two screws on either, like one on either side and they never meet.
00:34:53
Rick Hall
Right.
00:34:54
Denis Tyrell
So yeah.
00:34:55
Rick Hall
Right. Well, you were probably tapping, double tapping the scale hole and the scale holes or the bolster holes.
00:35:03
Denis Tyrell
You're, you're cutting out pretty bad.
00:35:03
Rick Hall
Because those are both tapped.
00:35:04
Denis Tyrell
Uh, Rick, we're losing a lot of what you're saying, but Oh, so I asked Jared this and he didn't, uh, he didn't have much of an answer for me.
00:35:05
Rick Hall
Oh.
00:35:08
Rick Hall
Well, it wasn't that important anyways.
00:35:11
spencer
yeah
00:35:18
Denis Tyrell
So I'm going to ask you guys each. What are your goals for 2025?
00:35:23
spencer
To walk.
00:35:25
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Well, that's a good one. If, uh, for you, Spencer, that's a good one.
00:35:28
spencer
yeah I'm hobbling around on a cane, so that's my main goal, is to walk.
00:35:32
Rick Hall
Walking's a good thing. What'd you do?
00:35:34
spencer
so Uh, I got ran over by a D 10 bulldozer, blew up the machine, broke the tracks, almost killed the operator, blew the cab off the machine.
00:35:41
Rick Hall
Hey.
00:35:43
Rick Hall
You got ran over by a D10 bulldozer.
00:35:45
Denis Tyrell
no He did know.
00:35:46
Rick Hall
Aren't those things kind of fucking slow?
00:35:46
spencer
yeah sounds Sounds cool.
00:35:48
Rick Hall
Aren't they slow?
00:35:48
Denis Tyrell
i know I know what happened and that's.
00:35:51
spencer
yeah It just sounds cool. No, I was, I was getting out of my service truck, man.
00:35:54
Rick Hall
and Okay.
00:35:58
spencer
And, um,
00:35:58
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah, you're lying, Danson. Don't lie.
00:36:02
spencer
uh yeah just a freak accident man like uh i just backed up next to this loader and uh i where i had parked my service truck the ground wasn't level you know it just did happen to just dip down right where my steps were and as i was getting out all my weight right into this hole my left ankle and i rolled it and i knew right away man as soon as that happened man i i just every i could feel everything man i was like oh my god like i you know messed myself up good and uh basically
00:36:20
Rick Hall
ah
00:36:31
Rick Hall
Yeah, a bad sprain, a bad sprain will feel like a break.
00:36:35
spencer
It was like a 10 out of a 10 is what my doctor told me. This is like a 10 out of a 10 sprint.
00:36:37
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:36:39
spencer
I just disintegrated like a couple ligaments, ruptured ah some tendons. And then one of my ligaments got jammed up in my ankle joint.
00:36:50
spencer
So I couldn't move my ankle. And she's telling me like, Oh yeah, you should be able to move your ankle even with this kind of injury, you know, and I'm like, hell no. This I'm like, She's like trying to force my ankle up.
00:37:02
spencer
i' not you know I'm about to kick you. like That shit is brutally painful, man. like No, something ain't right. you know And then she ah was like, yeah, we're probably going to have to operate.
00:37:13
spencer
And you know I speculate that you got you know a ligament probably folded over in your ankle joint and had to go in there with cameras. And yep, that was it.
00:37:21
Rick Hall
How old are you, Spencer?
00:37:23
spencer
I'm 41.
00:37:24
Rick Hall
You're 41? Oh, yeah. Well, wait until you hit 50.
00:37:29
spencer
Yeah.
00:37:29
Rick Hall
See, your recovery rate goes way down after 50.
00:37:32
spencer
Yeah, I know. It's Yeah, i I can tell a lot of things, metabolism and things slowed down, you know, from, you know, 20s and 30s. But this this, the main problem I had wasn't so much the injury, it's the fact that I didn't move my ankle for three months.
00:37:49
spencer
I was stuck in one position. So everything just atrophied, the ankle joint, do you have so many little tiny bones in there, you know, and all of that just didn't move.
00:37:52
Rick Hall
Oh, yeah.
00:37:57
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:38:00
spencer
So it all just kind of locked up. And then you don't build up it, you know, all those muscles in there just weakened.
00:38:02
Rick Hall
No.
00:38:05
spencer
And then you have to reuse all the tendons and ligaments and get them stretched out. And then like, ah the the fluid that's in there has to come back. It's a lot, man. It's just like, I was so confused about why I'm like, whats what's wrong with me?
00:38:18
Rick Hall
Rehab.
00:38:19
spencer
Just cut this damn thing off already. Just give me a pirate leg, dude. I'm sick of this, man. Like, what the...
00:38:25
Rick Hall
Did you have to go through rehab?
00:38:26
spencer
Yeah, I'm going through PT right now every day. I go to PT Monday through Friday, man.
00:38:28
Rick Hall
yeah
00:38:31
spencer
And then I go to the gym every other day. um You know, I still work out normally, but like I'll use the leg press machine and... and dudes like calf raises, but things are getting better.
00:38:42
spencer
they're It's just so slow, man. let's just It's frustrating.
00:38:44
Rick Hall
yeah
00:38:45
spencer
you know But but its it's frustrating because like it it's so I start to get a little better. ah It's hard to explain because it's like so slow the healing that it doesn't seem like you're getting better You know, and then I go through like this process of like nothing changes and all of a sudden they get a little change you know, and then like Nothing, it's like I got to deal with this little section of healing where I'm at, you know And then then then there's another change, you know, so like right now where I'm at is like I'm getting more
00:39:04
Rick Hall
Mmhmm.
00:39:16
spencer
um A lot more movement, you know, being able to bring my, my foot up towards me and then like getting the Achilles, uh, the Achilles tendon just, you know, basically just shortened.
00:39:27
spencer
And that thing is like impossible to stretch out. You have to doing calf raises really helps that, you know, loading up the tendon. So it's, it's just a process, man. And thank God.
00:39:38
spencer
I work for a good company that's taking good care of me, man. Like, thank God.
00:39:42
Rick Hall
Yeah, that's that's that's important.
00:39:45
Rick Hall
So, yeah.
00:39:45
spencer
Thank God I'm a wanted mechanic, so that's a good thing.
00:39:50
Denis Tyrell
That's good.
00:39:50
Rick Hall
So being able to walk is a good thing.
00:39:51
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. yeah
00:39:53
spencer
Yeah, I mean, I'm not even really, I mean, I'm walking, but I'm not walking like a you know normally, obviously, but it's like I'm getting, I'm able to like, you know, I'm close.
00:39:54
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:40:02
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:40:06
spencer
Closer to walking like normal. you know It's getting easier to even walk around without the cane. I'll probably ditch this cane probably within the month. But I'm able to like walk where you know where you step, heel down, and then you're able to like go through.
00:40:19
spencer
I can do that now. I'm getting enough movement in my ankle joint where I can do that, because before it was just like peg-legged.
00:40:26
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:40:26
Denis Tyrell
ah
00:40:26
spencer
But it's it's getting better, man. and you know I was on a knee scooter for like ever, and that thing just completely like locked my hamstring up, you know? So when I was able to like start putting weight on my foot, ah I couldn't straighten out my leg.
00:40:43
spencer
My leg was just bent. I couldn't, it took me forever to get my, ah it's like those little knee screws, if I'd have known that, I'd have never used it. Never used it.
00:40:50
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:40:50
Rick Hall
Yeah, that's a, that's a sucky thing going through injuries. My life was plagued with injuries when I was doing the rodeo.
00:40:58
spencer
Yeah. Oh yeah.
00:40:59
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:41:00
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's gotta be right.
00:41:00
spencer
I bet.
00:41:02
Denis Tyrell
I got, I got to turn every 10 minutes and better. I'm waking up in pain the next day. so I know.
00:41:07
spencer
It's because you're an old geezer.
00:41:09
Denis Tyrell
Hey, I'm not as old as Rick.
00:41:12
Rick Hall
And that's true.
00:41:13
Rick Hall
He's not as old as me.
00:41:13
spencer
Will you look older?
00:41:15
Rick Hall
Ah.
00:41:15
spencer
That's not bragging.
00:41:17
spencer
I'm just kidding, Dennis. I'm just messing with you.
00:41:18
Rick Hall
Spencer, I really do like you.
00:41:19
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna hit the mute button on Spencer here.
00:41:20
Rick Hall
I don't know if I do like you. I like you a lot.
00:41:25
Rick Hall
Even more than Jared.
00:41:27
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:41:27
spencer
Well, that's the truth.
00:41:27
Denis Tyrell
Oh.
00:41:29
spencer
It's all the it's all the white.
00:41:31
Rick Hall
Yeah, we have to say hi to Jared, too. Hi, Jared. How you doing, buddy? Hope you're having fun.
00:41:35
spencer
What's up, little Timmy?
00:41:36
Denis Tyrell
Jared is gallivanting around the East Caribbean islands right now on a ship.
00:41:40
spencer
That looks amazing, man. I think I i saw a picture. I guess he's...
00:41:43
Rick Hall
He's in the Caribbean?
00:41:44
spencer
Oh, I thought he was in like Puerto Rico.
00:41:46
Rick Hall
No, fuck Jared.
00:41:46
Denis Tyrell
Well, he he left out of Puerto Rico and he's, I don't know, he told me all the islands he was going to, but I don't remember, but no, he started.
00:41:52
Rick Hall
I thought he was doing some work thing.
00:41:55
Denis Tyrell
The first couple of days was a work thing, but then Friday they flew to Puerto Rico to get on their cruise, which is just him and him and Lynn, they need a vacation, just the two of them.
00:41:57
Rick Hall
Oh, okay.
00:42:01
Rick Hall
Okay.
00:42:02
spencer
Oh, right on.
00:42:08
Denis Tyrell
So good for them.
00:42:10
spencer
Yeah, me and my wife do too.
00:42:10
Denis Tyrell
Hey, I'm... I'm doing the same thing in another three weeks, so I'll be heading to Jamaica.
00:42:16
Rick Hall
Nice.
00:42:16
spencer
Oh, right on.
00:42:16
Denis Tyrell
so yeah and Jared will be doing the show without me, so we'll see how that goes.
00:42:22
Rick Hall
So what are your 2025 goals?
00:42:25
Denis Tyrell
um I did a whole show on those i was ah a couple weeks ago. My goals, um well, that's a good segue.
00:42:30
Rick Hall
They haven't changed.
00:42:32
Denis Tyrell
um Education is one of my number one goals this year. and I'm actually taking a class with Mr. Dave vol Lish.
00:42:43
Rick Hall
You know, that high school diploma is an important thing, you know.
00:42:47
Denis Tyrell
ah I'm taking a class with Dave Lish and at the same time I'm going to double up and take a class with the Mareko since I think they're like a half hour apart. So I'm going to spend a week up in Washington.
00:42:54
Rick Hall
Sure.
00:42:59
Denis Tyrell
um So that I think will be cool. I don't know what ah other education stuff I want to take at least one more class later in the year. I'm teaching a bunch of classes.
00:43:10
Denis Tyrell
So in fact, I was hoping to get to you.
00:43:11
Rick Hall
Right on.
00:43:14
Denis Tyrell
In fact, I was harassing Jared for thinking it wasn't going, but now I can't even go to blade Texas because I forgot I have a class the Friday of blade Texas. So.
00:43:24
Rick Hall
Well, call me when you have no class.
00:43:26
Denis Tyrell
Right. um So now I have a three-day class right before Blade, Texas. So yeah.
00:43:31
Rick Hall
Right on.
00:43:33
Denis Tyrell
And
00:43:33
Rick Hall
Yeah, one one word of advice when you go to take your class with Mareko, number one, don't take him on a windy road after you've fed him a bunch of tequila.
00:43:44
Denis Tyrell
yes I've heard this story. um and you And you took him up to Virginia City, and he's claiming it was the altitude.
00:43:46
Rick Hall
Yeah, yeah, I hope he's not listening, but yeah, I'm not gonna throw him under the bus. Yeah. yeah He says it was the road, the the windy road. He said he got car sick. I go, you got Patron sick motherfucker. Don't tell me that.
00:44:02
Denis Tyrell
ah Yeah, so we'll see we'll see if we get to any drinking when we're there. um
00:44:09
Rick Hall
Oh yeah. He likes tequila.
00:44:11
Denis Tyrell
And right after, in fact, i'm I'll segue this to another sponsor read, but right after Jamaica, Mr. Koi Baker is coming here for a couple of days to visit and we're going to do something.
00:44:25
Denis Tyrell
I don't know what I'm sure we're going to make stuff. We're going to hang out in the shop for two, three days. But
00:44:30
Rick Hall
What are the dates on that? I might have to show up.
00:44:32
Denis Tyrell
Nope, nope. I already got Jared tagging along, come on.
00:44:37
Rick Hall
Oh, okay.
00:44:39
Denis Tyrell
um i don't honest I don't even know what we're doing but if Yeah, I don't know.
00:44:42
spencer
I was just about to ask, what's the plan?
00:44:46
Denis Tyrell
We'll make something, I'm sure. he's he He has some plan that he hasn't told me yet, but
Innovations in Knife Making
00:44:51
spencer
That's awesome.
00:44:51
Denis Tyrell
um if you're not sure who Coy is, he is one of the masterminds behind Baker, Forge and Tool, who makes some of the best steel on the planet.
00:45:01
Denis Tyrell
ah They just released Tiger My in Raindrop, which is a unique combination of 15 and 20 bronze, 1084 and copper with an ADCRV2 core.
00:45:12
Denis Tyrell
This stuff looks amazing.
00:45:13
Rick Hall
Yeah. Cool stuff.
00:45:15
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah. I've seen a lot of his stuff. I've never got to meet Koi, but I, I think he's a, he's an innovator.
00:45:15
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, so if it's not already You've
00:45:21
Denis Tyrell
never met koi I think I've really he's like I Think I see koi is like one of the first people I see at every show like not on purpose But he's just easy to spot.
00:45:22
Rick Hall
I've never met him now. If he's listening, hi Koi, I'm Rick Hall.
00:45:33
Rick Hall
Right.
00:45:34
Denis Tyrell
I don't know why um Hey, I'm six two you're taller than me
00:45:36
Rick Hall
So are you. Are you going to look for a Q-tip that's six four?
00:45:44
Rick Hall
I know, I know.
00:45:45
Denis Tyrell
ah But if you want you're looking for some good steel go check out Baker fortune tool use the discount code triple t10 and When you're ready to etch that stuff go get yourself some Gator piss premier etch in ready to go just get it going also last week I've we've talked about it. I think before in the show, but um They are officially about to launch their stainless Damascus series So everyone is really excited, including myself, what they're going to do with stainless Damascus.
00:46:17
Rick Hall
Yeah, me too. I saw his little video on YouTube and I'm pretty excited about that. I might get some from him.
00:46:23
Rick Hall
I was going to explore doing stainless Damascus because they do have a 50 ton hydraulic press. And it's really important on that first press to get a really good smash.
00:46:23
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:46:35
Rick Hall
So i I am going to revisit that, but and that's another one of those bunny trail things.
00:46:41
Rick Hall
You know, Oh, I want to make some of that. Whatever's cool. I want to make it, but I only make one and then I forget about it.
00:46:41
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:46:46
Denis Tyrell
okay I don't know actually, and I'm not sure I agree on the the, because I've talked to Josh Prince and folks, I don't know that it's the amount of pressure. I don't think you need a lot of pressure.
00:46:56
Denis Tyrell
It's just um small, like you you need to do small bites of everything when you do that stainless Damascus. Like where I got in trouble is getting too anxious, getting too impatient.
00:47:08
spencer
Hogging it, yeah.
00:47:09
Denis Tyrell
That's the problem actually. You don't wanna go too much. It's just little tap, tap, taps every time. And it's about, Like it's it's an hour and a half to set the weld on stainless Damascus.
00:47:21
Denis Tyrell
but Like it's it's it's an all day thing just to make make it.
00:47:21
Rick Hall
i want to
00:47:26
spencer
Yeah, I hung out with Gabe when he ah did it first, and man, Like he set up a billet that was like this big, like the massive just a massive billet dude.
00:47:38
spencer
And you know I've never seen it done before, so I figured you know maybe that's normal, but I guess the guys go a lot smaller. But yeah, I did. like We got a little too aggressive there on the fullering dies, and we lost a big ah chunk of it.
00:47:52
spencer
you know But a good like, I don't know, maybe an inch and a half came off, but then you still had this big massive billet though.
00:47:53
Denis Tyrell
Yup.
00:48:00
spencer
but Yeah. Uh, that stuff doesn't move easy either.
00:48:04
Denis Tyrell
No, setting the weld is the thing.
00:48:04
spencer
That's what a lot of people.
00:48:06
Denis Tyrell
like It's not like, you know, we've all made regular Damascus where, yeah, three heats and it's stuck together.
00:48:13
spencer
Yeah.
00:48:14
Denis Tyrell
No, no, no, no.
00:48:14
spencer
Yeah.
00:48:15
Denis Tyrell
It's like 10 or 15 heats and maybe it's stuck together.
00:48:17
spencer
Yup. Yup. Nope.
00:48:19
Rick Hall
I had talked to Will Brigham pretty extensively about it, and he's the one that said, yeah, if you if you've got a big billet and you want to get that weld, he goes that higher pressure because you're not using little bites, because the little bites are actually higher pressure.
00:48:35
Rick Hall
So if you have a big press, you can create more pressure on a bigger surface to create that weld.
00:48:41
spencer
ah Yeah, that's why Gabe got that 120 ton press.
00:48:42
Denis Tyrell
Hmm.
00:48:46
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's a monster.
00:48:46
spencer
So i'm like I'm excited to see him start doing some ah Damascus, stainless Damascus.
00:48:48
Rick Hall
He gets after it pretty hard, doesn't he?
00:48:50
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:48:52
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:48:53
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. It's still on my list to get back to. I might, maybe next month when I'm back from Jamaica, I might be attempting it again. I had really good success until like the third 4-12 last time.
00:49:09
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:49:09
Denis Tyrell
i I got a little too, you know, overconfident and that's when I messed it up, unfortunately.
00:49:16
Rick Hall
Have you been watching Alex Steele do his titanium Damascus on on the YouTube?
00:49:17
Denis Tyrell
But I have. Yeah, I have.
00:49:22
Rick Hall
Yeah. That's pretty interesting. That guy spent a lot of money on titanium.
00:49:27
Rick Hall
He pulled out a sheet that was the size of a Volkswagen.
00:49:27
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:49:30
Denis Tyrell
but We're losing you a lot, Rick, but I kind of get the gist of what you were asking, but um yeah, he uses grade two and grade five titanium and it looks exactly like the same process that I would use to do stainless Damascus, like pho feeding argon.
00:49:34
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:49:43
Rick Hall
Exactly. Argon purge.
00:49:46
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:49:46
Rick Hall
yeah
00:49:46
spencer
Yep.
00:49:47
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. And it's interesting because I've, you know, Rick, you and I were talking the other day, like I have an auto that I need
00:49:52
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:49:55
Denis Tyrell
You know, a bigger bolster for, but I don't, you know, anyway, complicated. I don't want to use something like that. I want to use titanium. That's a, that's an interesting concept to use some titanium Damascus.
00:50:06
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:09
Rick Hall
Yeah, I want to make a bill out of it to make my son-in-law a replacement for the Damascus ring I made him for his wedding to my daughter.
00:50:19
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:50:20
Rick Hall
Because the one that I made him, I put a coating on it and I think I didn't read the directions properly and it screwed all up.
00:50:28
Denis Tyrell
Right.
00:50:29
Rick Hall
so Yeah, I'm sorry if my internet's messing up.
00:50:31
Denis Tyrell
Oh, and I.
00:50:33
Rick Hall
It's because ah shorter. I'm going to throw them under the bus. Those guys never ever show up when they say they're going to show up.
00:50:42
Denis Tyrell
the Any anyone regarding service like Internet service or phone or anything like that, they give you a four hour window and they still never show up.
00:50:50
Rick Hall
Yeah, you give me a four hour window, but don't show up in five, dude.
00:50:54
spencer
You have to make an appointment. You have to get like an appointment.
00:50:57
Rick Hall
Yeah, you have to make an appointment and then they come on.
00:50:59
spencer
Yeah.
00:51:00
Rick Hall
It's just stupid.
00:51:02
Rick Hall
You know, any...
00:51:02
spencer
Oh yeah, I'd be pissed if I didn't show up.
00:51:02
Denis Tyrell
Well.
00:51:05
Rick Hall
Well, I was.
00:51:05
Denis Tyrell
that's a good That's a good segue, you talked about rings because I actually wanna move into Maker Spotlight because um one of my Maker Spotlight for this week actually is um Trails and Knives who actually reached out to me and gave me a bunch of you know what he uses to make rings. um I had kind of already looked up, I guess I needed one of these expanding mandrels, but he gave me a whole bunch of tips on Oh yeah, this is what I do. This is the process. And I, you know, when I'm using flat, cause I have to use flat stock cause it's Kuma. He's like, yeah, this is how I do that and drill a hole and put it in your three jaw chug and then put it on the mandrel and did it and actually took me through all the steps.
00:51:49
Denis Tyrell
So thanks for for that. So go check out Trails End. Sorry, I'm gonna bring this up. Trails Edge, not End, Trails Edge Knives. He's got just over a thousand followers, um making some cool stuff. He's got some,
00:52:09
Denis Tyrell
A lot of full tang chef knives, some hunters, um you know, a lot of cool stuff on his IG. So go check him out, give him some love and yeah, give him a follow.
00:52:22
Rick Hall
Yeah, leading into that, I Am Star Forge is my maker spotlight.
00:52:23
spencer
Right on.
00:52:27
Rick Hall
He's one of my students. He's a good young man. Just had a little baby and we've done a lot of stuff um around here. We made him a Forge Press and made him a Forge and got him all started in that and he's been doing really good, but he has very little followers.
00:52:46
Rick Hall
I'd love to see him get a few.
00:52:49
Denis Tyrell
And that's Turtle Creek Forge, right?
00:52:51
Rick Hall
I Am Star Forge.
00:52:52
Denis Tyrell
Oh, sorry, you got the, who? No, Spencer's a Turtle Creek Forge. Sorry, I just threw, sorry, I'm looking at the wrong.
00:52:56
spencer
Yeah.
00:52:59
Rick Hall
Well, now he gets double. Thanks.
00:53:01
spencer
i yeah ah
00:53:01
Denis Tyrell
um Star, Star Forge. So I am a Star Forge, no underscores, no dots.
00:53:05
Rick Hall
I am Star Forge.
00:53:07
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, it'll be in the show notes. So ah yeah, it's got some Damascus. on Yeah, cool.
00:53:14
Rick Hall
I'm not going to say that that's my Damascus or anything.
00:53:15
Denis Tyrell
Nice stuff.
00:53:20
Rick Hall
Actually, he's he's been making his own lately and he's doing a good job.
00:53:20
Denis Tyrell
uh good yeah it's got some cool stuff and uh it's only got 258 followers so go let's go pump that up and you know at least add yeah nice sorry and i jumped the gun on spencer spencers tell tell us about turtle creek forge
00:53:31
Rick Hall
Show him some love, people.
00:53:34
spencer
Yeah, I just gave him a follow right on.
00:53:36
Rick Hall
Right arm.
00:53:42
spencer
Oh yeah, Turtle Creek Forge man. I just started. I just saw this guy on IG and I love this dude. She's man. They are freaking awesome. Like I really like the kind of like, you know, frontier style mountain man kind of the sheets he's doing.
00:53:56
Denis Tyrell
very tassly.
00:53:57
spencer
I did. I love it. Like I'm probably going to contact him whenever I make a blade for myself and have him make me a sheath.
00:54:05
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's got to be a lot of work to cut up all the leather like that.
00:54:07
spencer
I think it's rawhide too. I think he's using rawhide maybe on some of them.
00:54:11
Rick Hall
Right on. I love those old looking sheets that have the laces off of them.
00:54:16
spencer
Oh man, yeah, I love it.
00:54:17
Rick Hall
Don't you love that?
00:54:20
spencer
It reminds me of just like like the frontier style, you know, like the mountain man kind of.
00:54:23
Rick Hall
Exactly.
00:54:25
Rick Hall
Exactly.
00:54:25
spencer
I just, yeah.
00:54:26
Denis Tyrell
So you think that's like part of like, that's just the leather cut in the strips. It's not sewn in, right? That's actually like the the same material just sliced.
00:54:35
spencer
I don't really know, but I think I know you can buy. so I know you can buy it like that, you know, with with in a strip where where it's already cut like that.
00:54:44
Rick Hall
Yeah, usually what they do is they just fold the buckskin around it and then shred it.
00:54:44
spencer
So I don't know if he's Yeah,
00:54:50
Rick Hall
They shred it, they or they you know they do the the little strips off the end after it's around and on the knife.
00:54:56
spencer
yeah I don't want to I don't know how he's doing it.
00:54:58
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:54:58
spencer
I'm not sure but Okay Okay
00:54:58
Rick Hall
but I don't know how he does it either, honestly, and that's usually how they do it. They'll wrap it in buckskin and then, yeah.
00:55:04
Denis Tyrell
yeah That's cool.
00:55:06
spencer
Oh, yeah, they're awesome. I love them.
00:55:10
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's 10 Tanner Graham at Turtle Creek Forge.
00:55:10
Rick Hall
um Who is it that I...
00:55:13
Denis Tyrell
So I'm going to give him a phone and yeah.
00:55:17
Rick Hall
Me too.
00:55:20
Rick Hall
You know who does amazing sheaths? I think probably the best sheath maker in the world is Cast Knives Brother.
00:55:29
Denis Tyrell
Oh, I don't remember.
00:55:29
Rick Hall
um I can't remember the kid's name now.
00:55:34
Rick Hall
What the... Not Claudio, it's a...
00:55:38
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:55:39
Rick Hall
It's a Sabral Brother, but he makes some unbelievable stuff.
00:55:45
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Anyone with the last name sprawl seems to be really good.
00:55:45
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:55:48
Denis Tyrell
It's whatever they do.
00:55:50
Rick Hall
I don't know what they put in the water over there in Brazil, but those guys are killing it like they can't Julian and tunis I don't know if you've ever seen his work.
00:55:52
Denis Tyrell
I know. Right.
00:55:53
spencer
oh Man, crazy.
00:55:53
Denis Tyrell
I know.
00:55:56
Denis Tyrell
Oh yeah, of course.
00:55:57
Rick Hall
Oh my gosh In Sephreto, I think he's Brazilian as well.
00:55:59
Denis Tyrell
Of course, like crazy good. Yeah.
00:56:03
spencer
Yeah, Rodrigo, man, yeah he is.
00:56:04
Rick Hall
Yeah Yeah, those guys are some I Know that's why they call me Ricardo.
00:56:06
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. and Anyone with an O as the last letter of their first name is usually pretty good for some reason.
00:56:18
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's a W at the end.
00:56:18
Rick Hall
I oh i forgot
00:56:23
Denis Tyrell
All right, I'm gonna do one more ad read here for my favorite hammer maker two bastards Texas Smithy and supplies if you need a hammer cross peen straight peen Whatever kind of pain suits you your fancy go get your hammer at two bastards. ah Frank Anita will definitely set you up You can also get the vicaro
00:56:44
Rick Hall
Oh, I forgot.
00:56:44
Denis Tyrell
um Exclusively at Maritime. So I love it when our sponsors co-mingle and you get a hammer at and Maritime or order directly from Frank at two bastards.
00:56:56
Denis Tyrell
It is one of my go-to hammers for sure Yeah Go talk to Frank he'll hook you up Or he'll ignore you one of the two
00:57:00
Rick Hall
I heard we get a discount for a host on the show. 10%, right?
00:57:07
spencer
Yeah.
00:57:13
Rick Hall
Well, after that comment, I'm sure you will.
00:57:16
Denis Tyrell
ah And as Jared always says, isn't it grand to have a fat peen in your hand? So go get yourself a fat peen from two bastards.
00:57:22
Rick Hall
no Yeah.
00:57:26
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:57:27
Rick Hall
Yeah.
00:57:27
Denis Tyrell
Alrighty, I got a question for you guys.
00:57:32
Denis Tyrell
Is there anything because I know my the answer for me is there anything in your shop you have a weird Cost obsession with and I'm gonna give you my example So yeah abrasive, but we have all this expensive stuff in the shop for some reason Okay, I have this obsession on latex, like those nitrile gloves. I don't know why, but when I use one of those damn things, I'm like, I gotta save it. i don't want like It's 20 bucks for the box. I will take a belt, an abrasive belt that costs $16, and I will throw it on the floor five times in the same day, but not those gloves. Those gloves are probably 10 cents a piece, and I must save them and reuse them.
00:58:14
Rick Hall
It puts the lotion on its skin.
00:58:17
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Do you guys have any, do
00:58:17
Rick Hall
It does this whenever it's told or it gets the hose.
00:58:21
Denis Tyrell
you guys have any weird obsession like costume sessions in your shop like that?
00:58:26
spencer
Yeah, rags.
00:58:28
Denis Tyrell
ah what what what what's What's your go-to kind of rag?
00:58:29
spencer
Rags.
00:58:31
Denis Tyrell
Is it the blue one? Is it the, what do you use?
00:58:35
spencer
I buy like, ah you know, shop rags that are just like cut up old t-shirts, you know, you can usually buy them like in a big box at a hardware store.
00:58:39
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. That's what I use.
00:58:42
spencer
Like, man, dude I use those things like crazy.
00:58:43
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
00:58:45
spencer
you i i I mean, I did, I got an old t-shirt here from t-shirt I don't wear it anymore. I'm cutting it up like I use those things like crazy and I try to save them and and they get so nasty like this. I mean, it's covered in ferric and just it's like but I go through them like crazy man. and I'm like I'm already out. I have none.
00:59:08
Denis Tyrell
So I'll follow up on that is I love using those, you know, the shop rags, but the ones I use are white.
00:59:14
spencer
Yeah.
00:59:15
Denis Tyrell
And I just literally went through my drawer and threw out about 10 to 12 t-shirts. Didn't save one of them, but I'm going to go and buy a bag of these shop rags.
00:59:27
Denis Tyrell
But i I like them because they're white and I don't know why.
00:59:27
spencer
Yeah.
00:59:31
Rick Hall
I guess my obsession would be acetone.
00:59:32
Denis Tyrell
Rick any.
00:59:36
Denis Tyrell
Oh.
00:59:36
Rick Hall
I finally got these little squirt bottles, but what I had before was one of these plunger things, okay?
00:59:38
spencer
Sniffing in a rag.
00:59:42
Rick Hall
Well, I had this little plunger thing that you push down on and you get some of it on your rag and you wipe your knife off. Guess how many times I got to use that sucker? Once, because it all evaporated out of that stupid plunger thing.
00:59:54
Denis Tyrell
Oh.
00:59:56
Rick Hall
I filled that thing up to the brim, probably held half a can of freaking acetone.
00:59:57
spencer
about
01:00:00
Rick Hall
And I could use it the next time. I'm going to pump it on that thing and pump it on it. It wouldn't go. And I'm like, what the hell? Open it up.
01:00:00
spencer
I feel like this is a brilliant idea.
01:00:07
spencer
Oh.
01:00:07
Rick Hall
Empty.
01:00:08
Denis Tyrell
not airtight. Yeah, I actually, ah since I took the class with Mike, I, uh, Vagnino, I grabbed that little squeezy thing that he's got.
01:00:09
Rick Hall
No.
01:00:18
Denis Tyrell
I bought like three of those and that's what I use for acetone.
01:00:20
Rick Hall
They're great.
01:00:21
Denis Tyrell
Amazing. And it's a squeeze bottle. I love having that thing around and i actually go through less acetone now because I'm not, you know, dumping it out of the big jug, but yeah, it's funny that dumb things we go through.
01:00:26
Rick Hall
Right. Right.
01:00:33
Denis Tyrell
Well, we'll spend a ton of money on propane and abrasives, but 10 cents for latex gloves is, you know, um,
01:00:38
Rick Hall
Right. So how many times have you guys caught your garbage can on fire with acetone?
01:00:45
spencer
Break clean. Yeah.
01:00:46
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:00:47
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah.
01:00:47
Denis Tyrell
at least once I've, I've caught a buffing wheel on fire.
01:00:53
Denis Tyrell
Jared and I were standing around and we're like, what, what, cause I keep the buffer sitting on a sh like a shelf.
01:01:00
spencer
Now we know who started the California fires.
01:01:00
Denis Tyrell
Cause that right.
01:01:02
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:01:03
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. We're going to get to that.
01:01:04
spencer
yeah
01:01:04
Denis Tyrell
But. Yeah, he and I are sitting around, we're like, I smell fire. Do you smell fire? And we look down and the buffing wheel is like yeah flaming on like, because where we grind is right, like right above that buffing wheel.
01:01:13
Rick Hall
Wow.
01:01:18
Denis Tyrell
And I guess someone was spraying sparks all over the buffing wheel. It was probably me. And yeah, but ive I've done the acetone thing on a rag in the garbage and hit it with sparks a couple of times and lit it up.
01:01:23
spencer
That's hilarious.
01:01:29
spencer
Oh yeah.
01:01:30
Rick Hall
i I had a student over and he was wiping off Damascus ah pieces with acetone and throwing these rags in this can that's right in front of him. Well, right in front of him is also the vice that you tighten up the pieces of Damascus in and weld them. So he you know we had this huge garbage can full of acetone rags and then he brings the welder stick over there and goes bam the minute a spark went in there it just it caught his crotch on fire is what it did he didn't know it for a while either I had to grab him and said hey your wazoo's on fire man you need to back on up you might need that yeah the acetone can be very flammable
01:02:01
Denis Tyrell
Well, he won't do that again Yeah Yeah, but I do want to talk a little bit about these crazy
01:02:08
spencer
well
01:02:21
Denis Tyrell
California fires.
Impact of California Fires
01:02:23
Denis Tyrell
It's just so Southern California is like the half of LA I think is on fire right now. It's crazy.
01:02:31
spencer
Dude, it's... yeah.
01:02:32
Denis Tyrell
and and they you know And I know there's a lot of people out there thinking, Oh yeah, it's like all these rich people's homes. Like, guys, it is not just celebrity homes. There's a lot of homes, like regular people homes that are burning down.
01:02:43
spencer
Yeah.
01:02:48
Denis Tyrell
And just the, you know, the brutality of the comments that I'm seeing on Instagram and stuff about, oh, yeah, you know, God's
01:02:58
Rick Hall
It's Trollscape.
01:02:59
Rick Hall
It's Trollscape.
01:02:59
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, it's, it is brutal.
01:03:01
Denis Tyrell
Like you guys don't like, these are people's homes. I don't care who they are. Um, their memories, everything it's awful.
01:03:07
Rick Hall
Absolutely.
01:03:10
Denis Tyrell
And just to, you know, if, if you're not familiar, you're not from California, especially Southern California, they, the, the Santa Ana winds are our thing. It's these winds that blow from inland out to sea.
01:03:22
Rick Hall
Right.
01:03:23
Denis Tyrell
They, um, They're carrying basically they're really really dry winds that just suck the moisture out of it Everything and then they'll pick up speed as they you know as they continue and if you've seen pictures of like these palm trees on fire and it looks like just hurricane winds that's what it is and that's why these fires are spreading so much because and like You you can't
01:03:42
Rick Hall
Yeah, it's horrible.
01:03:47
Rick Hall
I don't care how much water you had, okay? I don't care how much water you had. In a 100 mile an hour wind, when you've got houses that close, you are not going to stop it, obviously.
01:03:57
Denis Tyrell
It's like a blowtorch.
01:03:59
Rick Hall
It's exactly like that.
01:04:01
Denis Tyrell
It's like a blowtorch and it's really crazy. And that my my heart goes out to all these people. on me but The company I used to work for is based in Woodland Hills. It's not all that far from Burbank.
01:04:12
Denis Tyrell
And I don't think the fire is getting out quite that far, but it's pretty scary.
01:04:17
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:04:17
spencer
Yeah, it's good.
01:04:18
spencer
Yeah, it was a there's a guy I watch on YouTube sometimes where he just rides around LA on a bike. And he just films like a bunch of kind of just ratchet stuff, you know, going around downtown LA like ah skid row and stuff.
01:04:30
spencer
But he just did a video two days ago where he was riding around just showing all the houses, you know, and It's just like, dude, man, there's so and it's yeah, like you said, it's not just all these big celebrity mansions, like, you know, really wealthy people.
01:04:44
spencer
It's just normal people's homes, dude, like a little two bedroom house is just gone. You know, something that interested me too.
01:04:49
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:04:50
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:04:51
spencer
I was like, there's all the a lot of these homes had like brick fireplaces. And that was the only thing standing was a brick fireplace.
01:04:56
Denis Tyrell
A lot of them. Yeah.
01:04:59
spencer
The hell you need a fireplace for there.
01:05:01
Denis Tyrell
Well, you say that, but the nights are actually pretty cool.
01:05:01
spencer
so
01:05:01
Rick Hall
Right.
01:05:04
Denis Tyrell
It's not like everyone thinks, yeah, it's like 90 degrees all the time, but it's not, it's actually kind of cool at night.
01:05:04
spencer
Like,
01:05:08
Rick Hall
right
01:05:09
spencer
Yeah, it's just it's it was kind of sad to see though, man. it Just like somebody's home and the only thing standing was their brick fireplace.
01:05:16
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. And it's,
01:05:17
Rick Hall
it It really makes you think about what is important to you. okay What happens when you got an arm full of crap? What are you going to grab? you know Because that's really where where you find out what's super important to you because all that stuff you're leaving with and you're gone, there's got to be the stuff. you know but I mean, what would it be for you guys?
01:05:17
spencer
It's just like, dude.
01:05:42
spencer
Oh, my grinder, man. My my heat train.
01:05:45
Denis Tyrell
Knives on my table, of course.
01:05:47
Rick Hall
ah That milling machine's coming with me.
01:05:50
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, you're not bringing that.
01:05:52
Rick Hall
Right?
01:05:52
Denis Tyrell
I don't know, actually. I'm.
01:05:54
spencer
Nothing, dude. Nothing's more important than my wife and kids, man.
01:05:57
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, it's like.
01:05:57
spencer
Like, that's number one. I don't care about anything else.
01:06:00
Denis Tyrell
There's no thing.
01:06:00
Rick Hall
I see number one would be passports, money, any cash that you have, you know?
01:06:01
spencer
um I am...
01:06:01
spencer
great Yeah, I don't keep none of that here.
01:06:07
Denis Tyrell
yeah That's all electronic now, I don't care about that.
01:06:07
spencer
I don't even have a passport.
01:06:08
Rick Hall
yeah You don't care about money?
01:06:11
Denis Tyrell
The.
01:06:12
spencer
yeah
01:06:13
Denis Tyrell
Cash. All my, all my money is electronic now. Like who carries, you know, no one cares that much cash.
01:06:16
Rick Hall
Oh, well, you know. Well, I mean, i have i I have like some gold and silver and stuff that i that I've been accumulating, that kind of stuff, you know.
01:06:22
Denis Tyrell
Okay.
01:06:25
Denis Tyrell
but
01:06:25
Rick Hall
But, you know, it would be a big poodle at the bottom of my safe, but...
01:06:27
Denis Tyrell
Money, I mean.
01:06:31
spencer
Put it in a crucible. Just carry it in a crucible. That way and it just melts into it.
01:06:33
Denis Tyrell
Right. Yeah.
01:06:34
Rick Hall
There you go.
01:06:35
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:06:35
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:06:37
Denis Tyrell
I mean, as far as like, I, you know, it's different back when people actually had albums of pictures and like, that's something you would want to take, but now everything's kind of online. So it's not like I'm going to lose pictures and stuff like that, but.
01:06:49
Rick Hall
I just am blown away. It's like, what are the scenarios where you lose your life and something like that? How close do you think it's going to get, Bill? Well, it's at the front door. You think we ought to leave? I don't know. What do you think? you know I'm like, how can you not? I don't know. Maybe they were trying to put their house out or something, got smoke inhalation and died. I mean, that's probably what what happened. but i just
01:07:15
Denis Tyrell
I think that's most of people wanting to save their home. and then But some of these things, like I saw pictures of the like clips of some of the fires. like It took blocks of homes in minutes.
01:07:30
Denis Tyrell
like Just minutes.
01:07:30
Rick Hall
Oh, I saw it. Yeah, it was horrible.
01:07:33
Denis Tyrell
And you know what do you do? And like you see it's an...
01:07:37
Rick Hall
I hate how they're politicizing it too.
01:07:39
Rick Hall
You don't need a politicizing.
01:07:39
Denis Tyrell
Oh.
01:07:40
Denis Tyrell
the the The worst is the the the conspiracy theorists.
01:07:41
Rick Hall
It's just nuts.
01:07:44
spencer
Oh, I know nothing. It's like nothing could just be taken. Yeah, nothing can be taken with like face value today.
01:07:48
Denis Tyrell
Oh, yeah.
01:07:50
Rick Hall
No.
01:07:50
spencer
You know, it's, it's always.
01:07:51
Denis Tyrell
Oh, it's the government. It's the you know it's religion.
01:07:53
spencer
Yeah. Yeah.
01:07:56
Denis Tyrell
It's this.
01:07:56
spencer
Yeah.
01:07:56
Denis Tyrell
It's that. It's like, come on.
01:07:58
spencer
It's, it's so polluted.
01:07:58
Denis Tyrell
it's Yeah.
01:08:00
Rick Hall
Yeah, I think the transgender started it. That's what I think.
01:08:03
spencer
Yeah. yeah
01:08:06
Denis Tyrell
Don't get us on the hate list here. Come on.
01:08:08
Rick Hall
I know, right? I mean, it's just that's what it's like. You know, it's let's blame this person because we don't like them.
01:08:15
Denis Tyrell
Right. Yeah,
Sponsor Introductions
01:08:16
Denis Tyrell
it's brutal. But you know what is really good? Pelican paste, no, Pelican paste.
01:08:20
Rick Hall
Fat peen. Oh, okay. Okay. You already did the peen.
01:08:26
Denis Tyrell
Pelican paste, hard wax, soft wax. That's what I put on the handle of that puzzle knife was that I love the hard wax. I love to like heat up the handle a little bit, melt it on there, soaks in.
01:08:37
Denis Tyrell
It's great for steel. They got hard wax, soft wax, Pelican oil, hand salve, soap, clean up your hands so that your wife actually, you know, wants you to touch her. um So go check out Pelican Paste, use the discount code TTT10, it's good stuff.
01:08:54
Rick Hall
Oh man, I use that stuff for setting setting in the black after coffee.
01:08:55
Denis Tyrell
ah I didn't hear that, use what?
01:09:02
Rick Hall
I use the wax for setting my blacks in my Damascus after I coffee etch it.
01:09:08
Denis Tyrell
Of course, yeah, i that's my main, one of my main uses for it, yeah.
01:09:10
Rick Hall
Yeah, don't ever wipe it off, just put that wax on there, let it sit. About an hour later, come wipe it off, it'll be set.
01:09:17
Denis Tyrell
Yep. And I'll get all of the bills out of the way here.
01:09:19
spencer
Right on.
01:09:21
Denis Tyrell
Our last sponsor and newest sponsor is Rock Solid Scales. I don't know if you guys have used this material yet. They're the makers of Grip Tech, which is this, yes, this revolutionary, it's kind of a rubber and resin composite.
01:09:30
Rick Hall
Oh, I've heard of that.
01:09:37
Denis Tyrell
Um, so it's really grippy. In fact, you, um, the, the recommended way to finish this out is to, you know, like sand it to like with a 120 or sorry, 220, 400, maybe, but then to sand blast it.
01:09:51
Denis Tyrell
because that'll hit all the resin and it leaves all the little beads of rubber and it's it's really grippy in your hand so it's great for any kind of knife you're going to use like you know on a boat or you know you you need something that you know like a fillet knife or something you're going to use in the kitchen that's going to get a lot of use while it's wet so and not just that but that's it's great for that for um Skinning skinning game something where you're gonna you know, you're gonna get full of blood and get really slippery You don't want that knife to slip out of your hands get yourself some grip tech And it comes in all kinds of cool colors even glow in the dark and all kinds of stuff like that
01:10:30
Rick Hall
Does it kind of look like it kind of looks like g10, right?
01:10:33
Denis Tyrell
It kind of looks like G10, but it's got all these little kind of dots in it, depending on the color that you get.
01:10:38
Rick Hall
Okay
01:10:40
Denis Tyrell
So I have some that's like a almost like a dark ah aqua um blue, green kind of thing. And it's got some black flecks in it. And I also have another set that's kind of like a limey green with um white dots.
01:10:55
Denis Tyrell
I forget. it know I haven't had a chance to use it yet on the knives that I'm making, but I definitely ah going to be using it. Jared's got a knife right now he's working on that's using grip tech.
01:11:05
spencer
I definitely want to try some. I've been really kind of thinking about leaning towards the direction of like synthetic handle material.
01:11:14
Rick Hall
I've
Life in Alaska & Citizenship
01:11:15
Rick Hall
used synthetic a lot. um um I'd be interested to see how it'd work like when you're skinning a deer or something because that fat gets on you and I wondered if it would be, and ah your knives get really slippery when you're skinning stuff.
01:11:28
Rick Hall
um I've skinned probably 200 animals in my lifetime and I'm telling you, that that's where you lose control of your knife, skinning stuff.
01:11:29
spencer
oh yeah
01:11:36
Denis Tyrell
especially blood because it's not, it's very viscous.
01:11:36
spencer
Oh, yeah.
01:11:38
Rick Hall
Blood and in the in the fat, the fat is really what makes it slippery.
01:11:40
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Oh yeah. I never thought of that.
01:11:44
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:11:46
Denis Tyrell
But, uh,
01:11:46
Rick Hall
But the blood actually gets sticky after a while.
01:11:49
spencer
Yeah, it dries.
01:11:50
Rick Hall
It gets sticky and in in helps, but when you're skinning something and you got all that fat layer, it it makes everything super duper slippery.
01:11:59
Denis Tyrell
Nice. Well, give grip tech a ah shot, see what it's like. Um, and, uh, yeah, go get some, and you can use the, uh, discount code triple T 10, uh, at, uh, rock solid scales to get yourself some, uh, some of their product as well.
01:12:15
Rick Hall
Right on. good Good for you guys getting another sponsor. That's great.
01:12:19
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Pretty soon we're going to have too many sponsors. I'm not going to have any time for guests.
01:12:23
Rick Hall
You're going to have more sponsors and listeners here pretty quick.
01:12:27
Denis Tyrell
I don't think that's hard. um I got one other piece of news you guys will find interesting. Next month, I have my US citizenship interview.
01:12:41
Denis Tyrell
So you guys won't be able to get rid of me. I soon hopefully will be a US citizen. So I don't know what the time is between the interview and like the big test you got to take and all that but yeah.
01:12:52
spencer
how how long have you How long have you lived here?
01:12:52
Rick Hall
I had something really shitty to say, but I'd forgot what it was about that.
01:12:59
Denis Tyrell
Uh, since 20, since 2001, I could have applied for citizenship a long time ago, but I have a green card.
01:13:03
spencer
Oh, OK. Wow. How do you stay over here, though, when you're not a citizen? Oh, OK.
01:13:10
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:13:13
spencer
You're just like, OK, I got a green card. I can be in the US s as long as I want.
01:13:16
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:13:17
spencer
Oh, OK.
01:13:17
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, once you're a non-resident, sorry, you're a resident alien.
01:13:18
spencer
Interesting.
01:13:21
Denis Tyrell
A green card is a resident alien card. You go from a visa to apply for a green card. As soon as you have your green card, basically after you've had a green card for five years, you can apply for citizenship. So I renewed my green card twice already.
01:13:36
Denis Tyrell
So I could have applied for citizenship like 10 years ago.
01:13:39
Rick Hall
Speaking of Canada, speaking of Canada, what are your thoughts on Trudeau stepping down?
01:13:39
spencer
They're like, who's the 13th president?
01:13:46
Denis Tyrell
i'm on Honestly, he became Prime Minister after I left Canada, so I only know anything about him from here, say from others, so I wouldn't...
01:13:52
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:13:56
Rick Hall
Don't want to get into politics. I just was wondering what you thought of it was.
01:13:59
Rick Hall
Did you like him as a Prime Minister for Canada?
01:13:59
Denis Tyrell
um But I never lived in Canada when he was Prime Minister.
01:14:04
Rick Hall
and Okay.
01:14:05
Denis Tyrell
but when When his dad was Prime Minister, I lived in Canada, but...
01:14:08
spencer
Well, it seems a lot of Canadians don't like him.
01:14:11
Denis Tyrell
Exactly. A lot of my friends can't stand him.
01:14:11
spencer
So, I mean, yeah.
01:14:11
Rick Hall
That's what I, yeah.
01:14:14
Denis Tyrell
So there'll be, ah you know, a lot of them.
01:14:16
spencer
It just seems like a big weenie.
01:14:19
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. And just some of his policies have been, you know, not so well received.
01:14:19
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:14:20
spencer
Like, nope.
01:14:23
spencer
Like he's got no, no huevos.
01:14:26
Rick Hall
How do you like living in Alaska, Spencer?
01:14:28
spencer
I love it. I was born and raised here.
01:14:29
Rick Hall
Everybody that I talk to that I've ever asked that question to that lives in Alaska, hands down, I've never had anybody go, oh, I hate that cold ass subject. I want to get out of there.
01:14:38
spencer
I love it.
01:14:39
Rick Hall
Never heard anybody say that.
01:14:42
spencer
I mean, i ah what ah you broke up there for a second.
01:14:45
Rick Hall
I'm just saying everybody that I've ever asked has had good things to say about Alaska. Everybody.
01:14:50
spencer
Oh, yeah, I love it. I love it here. you know I was born and raised here. Of course, you know I do you know enjoy getting out every once in a while and going to someplace warm. you know And it can Alaska can you know just beat you down, but you get used to it. Like I said, I was born here. so kind of used to it, but, you know, I live, I don't think people kind of really under, I mean, like Dennis has been to Anchorage, you know, and it's a city just like any other city, but it's an isolated city.
01:15:19
spencer
You're not, you can't just drive three hours and be in another state, you know, and you're, but it's not like, like we live in igloos here and, you know, take, you know, dogs led to the store.
01:15:32
Rick Hall
You're not living off seal blubber.
01:15:32
spencer
It's it's a city. Yeah, no. you know It's a city like any other city. It's kind of like a mini Seattle yeah in a way. you know
01:15:42
Rick Hall
Yeah?
01:15:43
spencer
the
01:15:44
Denis Tyrell
yeah I liked Anchorage. I i thought it was a really cool town. and and you you The isolation is correct because you can travel half an hour out of Anchorage and you are in the middle of nowhere.
01:15:55
Denis Tyrell
like You're seeing wildlife, you're seeing moose and deer and like flocks of bal of bald eagles, which you don't see anywhere else.
01:15:56
spencer
there's and Yeah. The wildlife are, yeah. people people don't really, it's like, you know, people people, I don't think people really understand how, you know, Alaska's like, this is the real north. This is the real wilderness, you know, moose, literally walk, they walk into my garage, I'll be sitting here grinding a knife, dude. And then I turn around, I'm like, holy, there's a bull moose standing right there, or like a mama moose, you know, just I've had one literally walk right up into my garage, man. I had my back, I was grinding, and I and i just had like my spider sense go off. And I turned around, I was like, oh, shit. I gotta go to the bathroom now, clean myself up. You know, like.
01:16:36
Rick Hall
I totally can relate because I don't know if you saw my Instagram, I got about a 550 pound black bear that was at my back door. and i was goingnna go to I had staged some trash there to go take to the can because I'm lazy.
01:16:49
spencer
Yeah, yeah. yeah
01:16:50
Rick Hall
so I went out to get the trash and I mean, here is monster bear and I'm like, oh shit, you know literally.
01:16:59
spencer
Yeah, the, but I don't get too many bears in this area. They're usually up on hillside. They don't really come down into town much, but the moose are everywhere. Just, they just, they, they, Oh yeah.
01:17:06
Rick Hall
Yeah, I heard there's a lot of problems with getting hit by cars and stuff.
01:17:11
spencer
They own this town. They just, you know, do their own thing and people just kind of, you know, you just respect them. And, um, Brigham Condale just came up here and, uh, as I was leaving to go pick them up.
01:17:18
Rick Hall
yeah
01:17:23
spencer
Uh, big bull moose right there in my, in my neighborhood. And I'm like, Oh man, I'm gonna go pick them up and then bring them back over here. So you can see this moose at the post office. You know, like, this is just a normal, this is normal.
01:17:34
spencer
This is every day. You see this every day, you know, I haven't been hunting and absolutely, but I haven't gone hunting for almost, uh, 12 years now.
01:17:37
Denis Tyrell
The.
01:17:37
Rick Hall
So do you, do you go hunt and move? Do you hunt?
01:17:48
Rick Hall
Well, shit, sound like you get a tag.
01:17:49
spencer
Just, just because.
01:17:50
Rick Hall
You just, a well-timed garage door opener would get you one.
01:17:53
spencer
Yeah, I get right. yeah Yeah, unfortunately, that's like highly illegal. But but ah just, you know, row constructions always kept me from doing that because most season is right in September. And it's like, you know, just it's hard to get time off.
01:18:12
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:18:12
Denis Tyrell
That.
01:18:13
spencer
It's, it's pretty cut throat, but yeah, like I said, you know, Anchorage is just a, it's a, it's a city like any other city, you know, it's not, there's everything that, you know, any other city has there's crime here. I mean, it's, it's kind of wild here. You know, it used to be really wild. Like back in the eighties, early nineties, you know, when the pipeline was going on, um,
01:18:35
spencer
It was like the Wild West. You ever seen that movie Frozen Ground about the Butcher Baker?
01:18:37
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah.
01:18:39
Rick Hall
Yeah. yeah
01:18:42
spencer
Yeah, that was real.
01:18:42
Denis Tyrell
No.
01:18:47
spencer
Lascaux was like that. A lot of prostitution on the area I grew up ah on the west side of Anchorage.
01:18:51
Rick Hall
So it ain't all bad.
01:18:53
spencer
No. but i mean I mean, it's just like I said, it's a city with city problems. It's not like we live in igloos here, you know, there are places here where people are very secluded, you know, there are those like, you know, very, uh, uh, I can't think of the word, but very like, um, uh, you know, people live in a cabin, you know, and they're very secluded, you know, a lot of people live like that.
01:19:00
Rick Hall
yeah yeah
01:19:15
Rick Hall
hu
01:19:16
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:19:19
spencer
There's a lot of little towns like that. And there's a lot of like, uh, um,
01:19:22
Rick Hall
Living off the grid, people, yeah.
01:19:24
spencer
yeah Like, well, there's a lot of another thing that the states don't have that we do. That's, you know, I'm sure Canada, Canada does too. But they're native villages. That's just, ah there's no road there. There's a lot of towns like that. There's no road. You have to fly in there. You know, they don't have stores. I mean, these people live like ah subsistence living. They live off the land, you know, they they they fish, they hunt. That's how they eat. There's no grocery store that they can go to.
01:19:49
spencer
You know, they they they get their food from the land and it's just like they're living like their ancestors did, but they live more modern, you know, and like these still kind of homes and.
01:20:00
spencer
you know, they're all over, you know, in in the interior, you have like Indians, you know, the like Athabascan Indians, and then Western Alaska is more like Eskimo, Yupik Eskimo, um then there's Inupak, kind of around Nome area, Kotzebue, but these are like Kotzebue is like, yeah, Kotzebue is a ah pretty big village, you know, it's considered a, like, I would consider it like a small town, Bethel too, but these places are very secluded.
01:20:16
Rick Hall
carubbu Yeah.
01:20:26
spencer
You can only get there by plane. And when you're there, it's hard to leave because weather's pretty bad because i've i've I've worked out in the bush a lot making building runways.
01:20:28
Rick Hall
yeah
01:20:36
spencer
And, you know, so it's I hate working out in the bush. I hate ah yeah I hate it. But, you know.
01:20:42
Rick Hall
and Totally reminds me of when Dennis went camping. This little while back, I was thinking about that. I'm like, he was so excited to go on this camping trip and he comes back and he's like, I'm not going camping anymore. I'm done with that.
01:20:55
Denis Tyrell
No, I love camping. I like driving up the RV and putting out the things and pressing the button.
01:21:03
spencer
That's called glamping.
01:21:04
Denis Tyrell
Yes.
01:21:04
Rick Hall
Freezing your butt off.
01:21:06
spencer
But I mean, there's, there's some colored, uh, I mean, Alaska is beautiful. There's beautiful places here to, you know, he and I go salmon fishing Homer, go get halibut.
01:21:17
spencer
It's a lot of stuff to do here.
01:21:18
Rick Hall
I love that.
01:21:19
spencer
If you're like, yeah, if you like wilderness, you're like hunting, you're like fishing, you know, uh,
01:21:19
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:21:25
spencer
Yeah, it's great. But you know, wintertime comes and it's kind of like shut down. It's dark. It's cold.
01:21:30
Rick Hall
Absolutely. Yeah.
01:21:32
spencer
it You know, like it when it like last year, we got record breaking snow like it doesn't snow here and then just melt away the next day. No, it snows and it stays and then it snows some more and then some more and and it's just we have a very long winter.
01:21:47
Rick Hall
Cumulative.
01:21:48
spencer
Winter is like six, seven months here. You know, you just usually starts about the end of October and it's about the end of April, you know, we call breakup season and then about the end.
01:21:58
Rick Hall
When the rivers break up and yeah.
01:22:01
spencer
Yeah, like all the snow melts is just a slushy mess everywhere, dude. Like you can't buy windshield wiper fluid. It's sold out and it's just a mushy mess everywhere and But then about May time, you know, it's kind of transitioning from here, you know, it's winter and then preparing for winter, but about May, it's like, you know, it's pavement again on the roads and like, you know, it's greens coming out and and and then our summer, which is really short though, our summer's really short, but it's beautiful because the sun is up all the time.
01:22:27
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:22:34
Rick Hall
Yeah, I am.
01:22:35
Rick Hall
I am going to go up to Alaska and check it out because I love the wilderness. I love Vietnam. I love hunting and stuff like that.
01:22:35
spencer
like
01:22:40
spencer
Oh, yeah, you'll love it.
01:22:41
Rick Hall
But um and I was born in Montana, so I'm used to the cold anyways.
01:22:43
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:22:47
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, we were there, what, in the May, I think, something like that.
01:22:47
spencer
Yeah, you'd love it here.
01:22:53
Denis Tyrell
um
01:22:53
spencer
Yeah, you were right. You were about right at the beginning of our summer.
01:22:57
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:22:57
spencer
Yeah, that was for it was a holiday. It was Memorial Day, I think.
01:23:00
Denis Tyrell
No, it was, well, it was when's Mother's Day. It was, it's in May, right?
01:23:04
spencer
Oh, it was?
01:23:05
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, it was Mother's Day.
01:23:05
spencer
No, are you sure? Was it?
01:23:06
Denis Tyrell
Yeah. Because it was Mother's Day when we had breakfast that day, so.
01:23:10
spencer
Huh, is that around Memorial Day? I just, I can, I don't know, because we get three holidays a year, construction season, you know, so Memorial Day.
01:23:14
Denis Tyrell
No, I Just I remember that Lindy on the way home you guys got flowers and then we were we were getting on our plane and then during our Stopover you sent us pictures or video of a moose eating the flowers off of the front door That she had put there
01:23:36
spencer
Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's a tradition. Every Mother's Day, we go up to Bell's Nursery, and my wife gets her summer flowers. But yeah, and then the moose came over and started eating them all.
01:23:46
Denis Tyrell
And yeah, and you can hear her going shoe shoe.
01:23:47
spencer
I'm like, I just bought those.
01:23:50
Denis Tyrell
You're showing away a moose.
01:23:52
spencer
Yeah, or they walk between my house and my neighbors, and it'll just shit right there in my ah front walkway.
01:23:53
Rick Hall
Get out of here, Moz.
01:24:00
spencer
God damn it.
01:24:00
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, that's that's, that's not like bird shit or something like that. You know, the worst, the worst I get at once in a while, we get a possum on the fence. That's about the most animals we get around here.
01:24:09
spencer
or a crazy neighbor, you know, the swap team's got to come and take care of them.
01:24:12
Denis Tyrell
Well, yeah, that's true. Yeah. The occasional tweaker.
01:24:15
Rick Hall
and they're Like I said, we have bears around here. And who do you think is the only person in the whole family that ever finds every pile of bear shit around our house? That'd be me. I stepped in at least four piles of bear shit.
01:24:31
Rick Hall
And they're full of apples and you know the trash that I leave out for them.
01:24:34
Denis Tyrell
Nice and, nice and chunky.
01:24:37
spencer
ah That's why they're coming there Yeah, and I wanted But you did you see that movie frozen ground
01:24:39
Rick Hall
that's That's why i I since started locking it up because I don't want to i don't want to Get my wife in trouble, you know, out there.
01:24:48
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, ah your mom and yeah, that's 500 pound ah bear is nothing to trifle with.
01:24:50
Rick Hall
For my mom, yeah. Yeah.
01:24:55
Rick Hall
Except I'd be afraid if my mom got after him. My mom's a pretty good shot.
01:24:59
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:24:59
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:25:03
Rick Hall
Mm-hmm.
01:25:04
Denis Tyrell
I've never seen it.
01:25:04
spencer
That was a good, they they filmed it here in Anchorage. Yeah, it's actually a, yeah it's a pretty good movie. um But yeah, they filmed that right here in Anchorage. And um my, ah
01:25:14
Rick Hall
That was about those murders, right?
01:25:17
spencer
yeah, the Butcher Baker, he was actually like a, what's the term?
01:25:17
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:25:20
Rick Hall
That was a good movie.
01:25:22
Rick Hall
It was a good movie. Bakery guy.
01:25:22
spencer
Yeah, he was like a ah you know community guy.
01:25:25
spencer
like everybody Everybody knew him.
01:25:26
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:25:27
spencer
Like, yeah, the cops would go to his bakery. he made My dad used to actually work with him down at Anchorage Cold Storage. And he used to brag to my dad how he would like change the numbers on his plane to to confuse like fishing game, you know because he'd go out and poach wolves and stuff.
01:25:42
spencer
And he actually made my ah he made my best friend's parents wedding cake.
01:25:48
Denis Tyrell
He was what, like a serial killer or something?
01:25:49
Rick Hall
Big time serial killer. Yeah.
01:25:50
spencer
oh Yeah, he used to he would take you would take girls out, you know prostitutes He would take them out in his plane like hey, babe, we're gonna go fly in my plane We're gonna go out to connect, you know and back then like connect was like in the 80s.
01:26:01
spencer
It wasn't as Populated as it is today. That was a very secluded area and you would take him out there landing his plane like alright Get out and run, you know, and they're like and he would chase him down like hunt him down and then kill him Yeah
01:26:13
Rick Hall
a haumm ah There was like 30, right?
01:26:15
Denis Tyrell
Wow.
01:26:17
Rick Hall
Like 30 victims.
01:26:17
spencer
Oh, yeah, they they say that there's, yeah, they say there's more to that.
01:26:22
spencer
You know, they, they, they suspect he did that he didn't admit to, or ah he probably killed a lot of those girls, man. Just sad.
01:26:29
Denis Tyrell
Well, then that's depressing.
01:26:30
Rick Hall
Oh yeah.
01:26:30
spencer
Just sad.
01:26:31
Denis Tyrell
That's, that's not something my
Final Thoughts & Guest Sign-off
01:26:32
Denis Tyrell
wife's ever going to watch. So unlikely I'm going to get to see.
01:26:37
spencer
Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really go into depth and all that, but it is a good movie and um you know it's just kind of it's a good insight into what... like the the you know how Anchorage is being a ah regular old city.
01:26:52
Denis Tyrell
Sure.
01:26:53
spencer
It was pretty wild back in the 80s and like where I grew up in Spenard was kind of like a separate town from like Anchorage.
01:26:54
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:27:02
spencer
It was like where a lot of people, like Vegas back in the day, you know it was kind of like that. you know That's where you would go to like do things and whatever. But yeah, it's just a city like any other city.
01:27:16
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, I was surprised how big Anchorage was. I didn't i was not expecting it to be that big.
01:27:18
spencer
Yeah, it's i've you know I used to work maintenance in downtown Anchorage, and during tourist season in the summertime, i would ask you know I've had a few tourists would come up to me and ask me, they're like, man, this is such a clean city. like You guys do a really good job of keeping it clean here. you know We've been all over, and it's just really clean here. And I and always ask them, what what surprised you most about Anchorage? And they're like, the size.
01:27:44
spencer
We didn't really understand.
01:27:45
Denis Tyrell
Yeah.
01:27:46
spencer
We didn't really, we thought it was going to be like a tiny little small town, you know, which it is a small town, you know, but they're just like, yeah, the size of it. It's much bigger than we thought, you know, and kind of like, oh, well, yeah.
01:27:57
Denis Tyrell
Those two things is exactly what Kim said about Toronto, that it's really clean and it was really big.
01:28:04
spencer
Like my whole life, you know, growing up in Alaska, you know, and not getting out until I was in my like 20s, you know, 1920, and then being like, dang, I grew up in a small town. like this is a big city, you know, like LA or Chicago, you know, it's like, these are big cities, man.
01:28:16
Rick Hall
Yeah.
01:28:19
spencer
Like there's interstates and all, and I'm like, man, I grew up in a really small town. Like Anchorage, it's a small town, but I think we're just under 300.
01:28:28
Rick Hall
Yeah. Yeah. That Robert Bose was that guy's name. Robert Bose. He killed 17, were killed and raped 17 women, at least 17.
01:28:37
Denis Tyrell
Wow. Well, that's depressing. Don't want to end on a depressing note.
01:28:40
Rick Hall
Yeah. I'm glad I could be there the guy that, you know, put the poo poo on it, you know?
01:28:41
spencer
yeah no the butcher baker.
01:28:47
Denis Tyrell
All right, guys, we're already at an hour and a half. We need to wrap this thing up. Rick, anything you want to tell how how do people find you, Rick?
01:28:56
Rick Hall
Um, mostly on Instagram, it's Rick Hall knives at Rick Hall knives. And, uh, I don't have a website. I just make stuff and then I sell it.
01:29:06
Denis Tyrell
And you also teach classes.
01:29:08
Rick Hall
I do teach classes. I teach Damascus making. I teach the journeyman style knives. um Mastersmith style knives, which I am going to be working on in 2025, which I did not get to.
01:29:23
Denis Tyrell
One of the goals, one of your goals.
01:29:23
Rick Hall
But what's up? That's one of the goals. Yeah, get at least two of them done this year.
01:29:26
Denis Tyrell
yeah All right.
01:29:30
Rick Hall
Yeah, it might take seven to get there, but I'm going to get two of them.
01:29:34
Denis Tyrell
All right, Spencer, how to how do people find you?
01:29:37
spencer
You can find me on IG, heavy underscore Forge or YouTube, heavy underscore Forge, even Facebook, my um personal name, Spencer Sanderson. And no, I don't have a website either. I'm ah strictly a hobbyist and like Rick said, I make what I want and I sell it as is.
01:29:54
Denis Tyrell
Right, and you will be part of the next YouTube KnifeMaker challenge, which we don't have a date yet, but I'm pretty sure we're going to switch to one a year and those are going to be after Blade Show. So look for that in the summer when I know you'll be busy, but you can probably start early. We'll talk ah talk about that. um But yeah, thanks for joining me guys on the on the podcast this week.
01:30:23
Denis Tyrell
It's been a great time catching up and see what you guys are up to.
01:30:26
Rick Hall
Thanks for having us.
01:30:28
Denis Tyrell
All right.
01:30:28
spencer
Yeah, thanks for having me on.
01:30:29
Rick Hall
Putting up with me.
01:30:29
Denis Tyrell
All right, thanks.
01:30:32
Denis Tyrell
Yeah, I always have to put up with you. All right, guys, thanks.
01:30:34
Rick Hall
Yeah, well, see yeah.
01:30:36
spencer
Yep.