Holiday Craft...

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Its almost the time of year when I get busy making stuff for christmas. I am into a lot of things, Blacksmithing, knife making, Trad Archery, I make bread, beer, wine, soap, booz.
Haven't had a lot of time for the hard arts lately, but folks are usually pretty happy with my stocking stuffers.
Most folks will be getting a bag with a couple beers, bottle of wine, lil taste of distilled magic, loaf of bread and a selection of hand made soaps.

Your post is so fascinating! you certainly are into a lot of things, do you have a coke furnace? you should tell us more, what kind of knives do you make fishing, hunting? What is Trad Archery? What kind of bread do you make? do you use your own beer in it for yeast? Nothing better than the smell of baking bread and a big pot of soup on the stove to go with it.

I use a gas fired Forge and a coal fired forge. Made both myself along with the heat treating oven. Make all kinds of blades, mostly from repurposed steel like car springs, some small bird and trout knives up to large choppers. Trad is Traditional archery, Long Bows, wooded arrows, feather fletchings instead of plastic, all hand made. I use my spent grains and beer for making bread and have several recepies that folks seem to like and brow most of my own herbs.

You are so talented!! I love it! I like to go to sales and watch for old tools. Awhile back on PBS Roy Underhill had a Blacksmith on his show I have put a link up, not sure if you ever saw the programme, it was fun to watch. It sounds to me like the arrows you make are possibly similar to what Native Americans would use, am I correct?

I like to grow herbs also I'm very keen on using them as much as possible. Do you make Lavender Soap? how about Peppermint Soap?
You have put me in the mood to make some home made bread with beer.
Have you put some rosemary in any of your breads?

Roy Underhill & Blacksmith
http://video.pbs.org/video/2178676894/

I don't know about Talented, I am blessed with an abundance of skills and a healthy lack of humility.
I have several Rosemary plants and use it extensively in Bread and Soap. The Rosemary soap will cure itchy scalp and dry skin. I make several mint related soaps including one that looks and smells like those Andes Dinner Mints (purported to induce spontaneous orgasms in women folk). Lavendar has always been one of my favs but the last batch of botanicals I bought I was not happy with the way the blooms looked, they were so dark they looked like bugs in the soap. The Goats Milk soap is really nice, but took me some time to figure out how to get the milk/lye processed without burning the milk.
Check around town and see if there is a Home Brew shop in the area. Check in with them and see about getting a bag of spent grains from someones latest brew. The content doesn't matter. Add say 2 cups of spent grain to your regular bread recipe and be prepared to enjoy.
The Trad arrows I make are Port Orford Cedar, nice straight grain, smell wonderful and make a superior arrow. I use modern material for the nocks (plastic) and steel tips, some for target and some for hunting. My hunting arrows are all cut on contact, which means basically a flying razor blade, nice quick kill and very little suffering for the critter. Most just drop without even knowing they got hit. So, close to the same but with the benefits of modern technological manufacturing. I have made completely from scratch arrows, but they are mostly for skills demo, not target and hunting use.