A touch of something primitive

[David Bowen]

Ever wanted to see what would happen if someone in colonial times thought of making pocket tools? I have your answer! There is a gentleman in England by the name of Dave Budd and he makes knives and handmade tools. I came upon his site and did some poking around on the internet to find some things he had made. I came upon a thread on another forum where he had made a few pocket tools. I was intrigued.... A guy making pocket tools with old fashioned forging methods? I asked him about them and he said they didn't sell well but he wanted to see if there was a market for such a thing.

Here are some snippets from our email conversations:

"All but #1 are made from EN45 (silicon manganese spring steel), #1 is BS1407 a high carbon tool steel (I happened to have an offcut of it when the first three were made). These are all forge black finished (though the new ones have a purple tint from the tempering), I can also do them with a shiny silver hammer finish, matt gold (brass coat) or tempering oxide colours (ranging from golden, brown, purple and peacock, depending on the tool)."

top: # 1   5 1/8"  long with philips screwdriver, flat screwdriver/pry, wrench and bottle opener.
middle left: # 2   3 1/4" long with small flat screwdriver, wrench and bottle opener
middle right: # 3   2 1/4" long with medium screwdriver/pry, small (eletrical size) screwdriver, tack lifter/ box opener(works on plastic strap, etc).
bottom: # 4   3 1/4" long with flat screwdriver/pry, philips screwdriver, tack lifter/box opener, bottle opener (on tail)


The overall tool doesn't take too long or much stress to make, but certain parts are more time consuming and tricky to do. Such as the wrench and philips screwdriver, which are both time consuming and fiddly. The wrench is split open and adjusted to the correct sort of shape with a hammer and pliers whilst red hot, then the teeth are cut in with a file when cooled. I've not thought to cut them to try and get it to fit particular sizes of nut, but the fairly general shape seems to fit most of the nuts that are about my workshop. all of the tools that I showed you are forged from bars that started out about 5 1/6"x 5/8"(or 1/2"), so the forming was very much like modeling from clay; only at 900C with a hammer!


So what you folks think? Interesting huh? I snagged the big one up top and the small one to see how they work and test them out. I figure folks out there might want something different than your typical pocket tools. I think they are very organic, have personality and very unique. It's so nice to see someone try something modern with old materials. Forging is a dying art I think and its nice to see it not only practiced but producing some incredible results. I will keep you folks updated on how these tools work out. The tools don't have a price set yet but he thinks they will sell somewhere between £30 and £60. Consider that and he can create a tool you come up with out of your head is a darn good reason to consider this guy. Anyways, check out the pic and let me know what you think or ask questions. I am excited and feel like a kid with a new toy! 

[Spoonrobot]

That's pretty cool.

[Zack]

probably make a good flint striker too.

[jzmtl]

probably make a good flint striker too.

Kinda doubt it, flint striker and pry bar need hardness opposite of the scale. Unless he can differentially harden a portion of it.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Mr Budd's work is awesome

I've played with a few of his knives in the past

[Sparky415]

http://www.davebudd.com/   

[Turnstone]

Amazing work! I guess nothing I would put on my keychain, but I would like having them around in certain situations.

[David Bowen]

Yea they are not very keychain friendly but they get the job done.

[jzmtl]

I guess might as well, the high carbon steel won't stand up to close proximity to skin. I just put a countycomm prybar on mine not long ago and it's already showing corrosion from sweat.

[ASH]

Bloody good idea! Well done Sir! 

[Stirling3749]

That's pretty interesting. Now I want to see caveman era multi tools made from flint and mamoth bone.