Those were the good old days of smelting bog iron up in Long Island. It wasn't as good as the steels we have now.

You guys thought I was joking when calling myself a neanderthal knifemaker.

Hope you enjoyed that pic as much as I did.

You should send a copy to Chris.

TR

Very nice photo shop work TR!

I’ll bet Bill was sweating bullets!

still am.

I had someone else do it, I mean, some help with it.

He still doesn't actually know what he put on my knife.

TR

I don't think I could have pulled off the photoshop, I'd been laughing so hard while completing the evil deed I'd never got it right.

Whew... thank God. I truly started feeling so bad about wild Bill screwing up TWO $300.00 knives that I had decided to stop pickin' and had actually started mourning and feeling bad for him. LOL

NOw that he only messed up one... Game on again. :D

Never expected any of you to let up for even a second. I've got a sandblaster running 120 PSI air loaded with 80 mesh australian garnet , I can erase anything.

Wait, erase US or the date??


If a knife had a wrong date on it and everyone who saw it is dead, did it ever have the wrong date on it??

I'll leave you all to think about that one while I barricade the doors and windows...
;)

Solid

Note the first signer on the left (Gwinnett), has to be related do me.

Terry

Terry:

Why, were you killed in a duel?

Button Gwinnett
Baptized: Gloucester, England - April 10, 1735
Died: Savannah, Georgia - May 19, 1777

Button Gwinnett came to Georgia in 1765. He had little success as either a merchant or a planter, but became intricately involved and quite adept at Revolutionary politics. His political battles were as much with the Whig factions within Georgia as they were with the British. Gwinnett represented the group trying to wrest power away from the "city" party, dominated by the Christ Church parish centered in Savannah. His success was evidenced by his selection as leader of Georgia's Continental battalion in early 1776. But many of his political rivals opposed his selection. To avoid excessive controversy, Gwinnett gave up this post, instead accepting election to the Continental Congress.

He arrived in Philadelphia on May 20, 1776. He was heavily involved in committee work, but took no recorded part in the debate over independence. His support for the cause was clear though, as he voted to separate from England on July 2, voted for the Declaration itself on July 4, and signed the actual document on August 2. Soon thereafter he left Philadelphia to return to Georgia.

Gwinnett hoped to again be named leader of the Georgia forces, but that appointment went to Lachlan McIntosh, a longtime political rival. Gwinnett turned his attention to the legislature, where his faction won control. He and his followers set out to purge the military of all those ostensibly not devoted to the Revolutionary cause. But most of those purged were supporters of McIntosh. The legislature adjourned in February, 1777 - leaving the government in the hands of the Council of Safety. The Council's President - Archibald Bulloch - died within a month and the Council selected Button Gwinnett to take his place. The only negative vote was cast by George McIntosh - Lachlan's brother.

Gwinnett proposed invading Florida and taking St. Augustine - to guarantee protection of Georgia's southern boundary. But McIntosh and his followers believed the plan was politically, not militarily, motivated and refused to aid the effort. Gwinnett had George McIntosh arrested for treason, while Lachlan immediately came to his brother's defense. Meanwhile the expedition to Florida was begun, but soon halted. Gwinnett requested aid from McIntosh, but by now cooperation between the two was impossible. The Council called Gwinnett back to Savannah, where the tensions between the two factions and the two men continued to mount.

In May, 1777 a new assembly convened. Gwinnett was defeated in a bid for the governorship, but was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Florida expedition. An angry Lachlan McIntosh publicly declared that Gwinnett was "a scoundrell and lying rascal." The very next day Gwinnett challenged McIntosh to a duel. The two met outside Savannah on May 16, 1777. Both were wounded in the ensuing duel; McIntosh recovered, Gwinnett did not. He died three days later. His death so soon after the fact has made Button Gwinnett's signature a rare and valuable item. He subsequently became the most famous of Georgia's three signers of the Declaration of Independence.

(Text compiled by Charles Pou, Carl Vinson Institute of Government)

TR:

Sounds like he should have practiced getting his waepon into play, and making the first shot count.

I had never done any research on him, just presumed we had to be related at some point.

Terry

Good advice, particularly the first shot business, since they used single shot flintlocks, and by the rules of the day, after each party fired, determined whether they wanted to continue or not.

TR

OMG, ROTFLMMFAO!