I had a discussion with some friends about “Slap a Jap Day” last night. Some of them seemed to think that such a name for a day is racist or something. I don’t put too much thought into choosing words to keep from offending people because I went to kindergarten back in 1985 and learned the rhyme: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” I use the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Navy in 1941 as a reminder to call my great uncle who served in the Pacific during WWII, and my good friend in Missouri who originally told me the way Navy and Airforce refer to December 7th.
There has been a lot of war, propaganda, ignorance, racism, and stubbornness undertaken and proliferated by governments and mobs of assholes throughout history. I hope that it becomes easier to identify and deliver justice to those assholes as this year of 2015 comes to an end, and that our true human purpose of liberty and capitalism can thrive all around the world instead of just in the very few parts of the world where there is no governmental presence.
In the Knife and Sword making world, the Japanese have yet to be superseded by any other race. Of all the technology that has come from our USA, we still haven’t been able to compete in the field of true mastery of craft. I am happy to be a Jack-of-all Trades, but I very much respect incredible devotion of Japanese in all that they do. I hope that some day I can consider myself a master of something, but I reckon that won’t happen until I become He-Man like I wanted to back in Kindergarten.
In other news:
A big batch of tomahawks is finally going out for heat treat this week. After all sorts of stupid delays, physical challenges and more stupid delays, we’ll have finished the most critical part of the tomahawk making process. Next comes handle making, pre-coating prep work, coating, logo stencils, sheath making, sharpening and shipping.
The likelyhood of more delays is better than average considering my track record at estimating times of completion. Before I insult myself any more, I want to thank everyone who has money paid on unshipped items for their patience.
This coming year, because I only have a handful of deposits in on all the many items that people have made verbal orders on, I’m going to start taking deposits on all orders so I will be both more inspired to get work done faster, and so that we can possibly get some more tools to make the work better and faster or even pay a helper to do some of the tasks that I don’t necessarily require my amazing craft skills. (there, I un-insulted myself)
As the holiday season draws near, I will be spending more time awake and on task, trying to get things done in the shop, on the website, and in my apartment so I can enjoy a week off for Christmas. This coming week’s agenda includes: Getting the CNC router back up and running with dust collection system; ordering handle material; Making sheaths for items that need to be shipped in time for Christmas; Lots of other stuff.
Look forward to website updates, a couple of non-shop status report videos, and maybe some blogging from my dad.