Today is National Knife Day!

In honor of this grand day, I am going to show another

knife that I bought years ago at, you guessed it: some

gun show. This is called the Al Mar Pocket Knife Keychain.

Look at this little thing. And it is SHARP. Al Mar is a brand

that I never hear much about. This is the only Al Mar knife

that I own. The blade is apparently made of 440 steel (eh).

The handle material is Zytel. Made in Japan. I never use it.

I just like having it. This little guy has been discontinued.

Here is a picture showing the Al Mar

logo and a quarter for size reference.
Anyway, have a great National Knife Day!

!!!!! BONUS PHOTO !!!!!

Today's BP is just another one showing how great the

patina is becoming on my modified Becker BK14 knife.

It changes every time I use it for food preparation.

I am really enjoying using this knife.

I spotted this guy while out today.

He is ravaged... but he is still smiling.

I was just messing around with my phone again

and created this not so great very short video

showing a few small pieces of cactus that dropped

off of the larger cactus and are now growing well.

That is one of my famous sentences.

Take a breath. Anyway...

You know how I feel about cactus.

Beautiful.

So I'm driving down the road and a golf ball

hits the front of our car breaking the car's

logo in half. Nice net.

"For a Few Dollars More" playing at Borden Cinema.

12 out of 10 Gold Watches.

Assolutamente fantastico!

Hoo-rah!

I am down to my last tablespoons and I was

going to try and do without topping for a while, but

my son and his grandma had this delivered today!

Life is buttery good.

Here are some items representing the Single Action

Shooting Society, or SASS for short. On the left is a pin

that is given when you join SASS. In the middle is a

challenge coin that I bought some years ago and on the right

is another pin, or actually a tie tack that I used as a pin.

I have not been a member of the organization for some time

as it got to be more than I could afford, but I still promote

SASS. I promote just about anything that keeps the Spirit of

the Old West alive. The Single Action Shooting Society

for the most part does that.

If you are interested in learning about

SASS, I have them linked on the "Favorite

Places to Visit" part of my site here.

From my visit to the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage

in 2012. This is a mail stage coach built in 1855 and used in the

gold country of Northern California.

My post today celebrates the 

Annual National Day of the Cowboy!

Visit

==>     nationaldayofthecowboy.com     <==

William Frederick Cody

"Buffalo Bill"

February 26, 1846 - January 19, 1917

This Buffalo Bill toy figure (the likeness is uncanny) was made

by Diversified Specialists out of Houston Texas in 1994. I do not

believe that Diversified is around anymore. I found a price

online: 8 to 10 dollars. Hoo-ray!

This was a Christmas gift from a LONG time ago.

I hung it up for fun.

Just kind of discovered this today.

I don't know what kind of succulent this is,

but I like it's bloom. It looks like a little tree.

~ Random Around the Ranch Photo of the Day ~

Yeah, I have a small VHS movie collection from back

in the day. This is probably about a third of them. I have

a VHS player that is not hooked up because it only plays

back in black and white for some reason. Oh well.

We payed $500 for our first Mitsubishi VHS player.

The remote control was not cordless and programming

the thing to record something was a chore. There was

no onscreen programming. It was all done with

little buttons and switches.

But I loved that player.

This is another national Rifle Association pin from

long ago. I never really used this one as it is a little

larger than other ones that I have. Just a little big.

But I like it.

The back of the pin. Like many others.

Made in America which is good.

It is Knife Day again here at El Rancho De La Tex.

This is a knife that is very special to me. My beloved

brother-in-law gave it to me a long long time ago.

I don't know much about it.

From what I have read, it was issued as a survival/dive

knife to members of the United States Navy. Some even

say the SEALS have used it. But "they" claim a lot of items

are used by SEAL teams.

I have read that these knives are being "reproduced" and

the quality of those reproduction knives is not good. I am

pretty sure that this is not one of those, but

I cannot know for sure.

I really don't know anything else about this knife

other then it is special to me because of 

where it came from. 

It has been pretty dang hot around here.

This guy likes it.

This is the last step of making the Becker BK14 mine.

In July of 2016 I bought these 2 little dice beads at the Indian

Store that my son and I love to visit. I thought they might look

good on the lanyard I was planning to put on

my Becker BK7 knife.

Well, I put them on the lanyard but at the time my heart was just

not into it (things get like that sometimes) so the results were

lackluster (understatement) at best and the lanyard was useless.

But there the beads have remained until...

...now. These are those beads on the new lanyard I put on my BK14.

It is a lousy picture but I wanted to show a closeup of the diamond

knot that I tied. The diamond knot is the easiest knot to tie on a

lanyard they say. Not for me it wasn't. But I got it done and

I think it turned out pretty decent

Memories.

Here is my BK14 before starting this process...

...and here is the finished product. I really love the results and I am sorry

I waited so long to modify it. It slices much easier without the powder

coating. And the patina... Patinas sometimes remind me of color case

hardening. Color case hardening can make me weak in the knees.

The only thing I would have done different is to use black paracord.

I thought I HAD black paracord, but when I looked for it... none.

None until right after I finished that knot that is. THEN I found it.

Green is good.

On to the next adventure!

Continuing on...

The next step in making the Becker BK14 truly mine was

to force a patina on it. The patina will help protect the carbon

steel from rusting..... a little. A patina can be done pattern wise

fancy or simple. I like simple. It was really messy so I didn't

get pictures of it being done.

All I did was wrap the knife in a paper towel soaked with

vinegar for about 15 minutes. And here it is. I really like

the way it turned out. I mean, I REALLY like the way it turned out.

I put the grip panels back on and it is almost mine. Of course

the more this knife is used, the darker that patina will

become. I can't wait to see how purdy it gets.

The next and final step? I am going to add a lanyard of some kind.

Stay tuned!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Rest in Peace ~

Ennio Morricone, 11/10/28 - 07/06/20

Charlie Daniels, 10/28/36 - 07/06/20

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     

As I wrote a few days ago, this is the Ka-Bar Becker BK14 knife

that I decided to modify in an effort to really make it mine.

Here it is as it looked in 2015. Today I am going to remove that

black powder coating. That coating is there to protect the 1095

Cro-Van carbon steel from rusting. But is also makes the knife

more difficult to use for things like food prep. So, today it's gone.

To strip the coating I am using this Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy

remover. I searched the internet to see what others used to do this

and this product seems to work really well. Gotta be careful though,

this stuff seems REALLY toxic. I am using heavy duty gloves.

This is the knife soaking in the Jasco. I am using a tin foil pan.

The knife looks like it is FRYING. Must be working. I am letting

it sit for fifteen minutes.

Well, after some scraping with a putty knife, a box opener blade and

a little elbow grease, this is all that is left of the coating.

And here is the result. I think it turned out great so far. It was actually dang

easy to do. I am beginning to be sorry that I waited for so long to do this.

The next step will be forcing a patina on the knife. A patina will help

a little to prevent this carbon steel blade from rusting. Stay tuned!

~ Happy Birthday America 2020! ~

This is the Ka-Bar Becker BK14 that I bought back

on January 12th, 2015. I have been contemplating for

the last five years whether or not I want to REALLY

make this knife mine... or leave it be.

I have decided to make it mine.

Stay tuned knife friends.

I was doing some dusting today and ran across my

Bad Taste Bears so I thought that I would share them.

Here is my Jason Voorhees bear and my Kill Bill bear.

I had shown Jason bear before, but not Kill Bill. My son

gave Jason Bear to me for Christmas, Kill Bill bear I bought

because I like the movie and he was cheap.

I have had both of them a looooong time.

This is what has been in my pockets while at home lately.

When I am not at home they are in my purse as I

have no pockets on my work clothes.

The Zippo lighter I bought last September. The Buck

Stockman that I have been carrying for over three years.

A Streamlight Microstream flashlight and a

Hav-A-Hank bandanna.

All are used. If I don't use an item after a while,

I ditch it.

!!! Avocado Seed Update: Number Five !!!

This thing is growing. The bottom photo looks a

little...... creepy. But hey! It's just an avocado plant!

On Saturday February 15th I put this avocado seed

in water and posted a photo. I will update again

in about a month. It's fun!

Happy Flag Day 2020!

There you are!

Finally found the GPS that

somebody took out of our truck.

~ Random Around the Ranch Photo of the Day ~

This is a helmet that my son used to wear when he

was little and rode with us on ATVs. Somebody found

a few feathers and stuck them on/in it... I guess.

Holy cow!

I had no idea that Urban Cowboy was coming to Blu-ray! Finally!

I was at Walmart just looking through the movies when I looked up

and BAM! There it was. I just reached out and GRABBED it. Price was

not an issue. Didn't even THINK about it. I wouldn't have cared if it was

forty dollars. Fortunately it was only fourteen ninety nine.

When it goes down in price (and it will), I will buy a backup copy because

when it comes to Urban Cowboy, that is how I roll.

I love Bud and Sissy.

I am still really curious. Why did they

remove the Lone Star beer from Bud's hand

on the cover of this Blu-ray?

The Further Adventures of Tire.

~ Chapter Twenty ~

"So, DO you want to go to my place?"

"What makes you think that I'm that kind of tire, mister?"

How Nature says, "Do not touch."

How Nature says, "Do not touch."

(The Far Side by Gary Larson)

Starting the day with freshly squeezed juice
made with oranges from our trees.

~ Onscreen at Borden Cinema ~

1985's horror/comedy "House" starring

William Katt.

Mreow.

Time to do a little spring cleaning

so the boys are having a bath.

And just to make a little more room en la casa, they

 will have a new place of honor in the garage. They

are quite comfortable here.