Blogger's perils

One of the perils of blogging is that most of this week I have been making presents; Christmas (never too early to start) or birthdays (idem). Well, you say, what's wrong with that? Show us what you did! But alas, all of the recipients of these things are reading this blog, which would ruin the surprise. See?

But fortunately, I had a visit from Averkiy today. And what did he want? A knife of his own, of course. I think he's old enough to have a small one (Bowie knives are out of my means, and beyond indoor forging!) Fortunately, he wanted a carving knife, so the Chalupy knife-forge operation swung into action. We used an old hacksaw blade (I collect them) and annealed, shaped, hardened, ground, and tempered his knife. Here is Averkiy grinding the teeth off his ex-hacksaw blade:

The Dremel-type tool is ideal for children; not as intimidating (nor as powerful!) as the powered grinders I have, but fast enough so they don't get bored. We got it handled, and partly sharpened (it cuts quite well even in its current state) and Averkiy went home happy. Here he is, a year before now, with his very own stick horse.
It must have been Sunday, because he's in traditional dress. I don't suppose jeans are traditional (I am given to understand that in modern Russian, we call them Dzhinzy) but you can't ask for the moon! So Averkiy has learned something. With a knife, you can make a stick horse (need something to bore holes with). Don't have a knife? We can make one! But JRC says he has to learn to sharpen knives. Lesson number three coming up. I must thank Nicola Wood, on Bodger's Forum, for the idea of stick figures. Great for kids.