Good morning, GoGo. It's 36 in Louisville and supposed to drop to around freezing during the day. We have rain south of us and snow just northwest of us. The highway guys have already put a little brine down, so I'm not concerned. Heck, I have enough MREs (aka Damcowfarmer Chow) to get me through to early summer if it should ever get that bad.
Went to a small gun show here in Louisville yesterday. Found a used Sig "arm brace" for an AR at a decent price, and a couple other small items. The highlight of the show was a knifesmith from Lily, which is in Eastern Kentucky. He made his own blades, scabbards and scales. His handles included some of the prettiest resin-stabilized wood that I've ever seen. Really beautiful work.
Right across from this Rembrandt of a knifemaker were about 8-10 tables filled with knives that must have come from Pakistan or some place with even cheaper labor. You could look at the mass-produced steel and tell what it was, but what threw me was the variety and quality of the wood scales. The appearance was pretty darned good, actually excellent since most of these knives had price tags in the $40 range. The only way they could conceivably be selling them for that is if their labor cost is almost nothing. The folks working the booth had an accent, but I couldn't tell what it was. I decided not to insult them by asking where the knives were made. I've started monkeying around with learning how to put nice scales on small fixed-blade skinners, so what this told me is that I need to plan on just giving my knives away as gifts.
Sorry for the rambling. Y'all have a great day and be safe out there.
