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Project: Mithril
In the days following the War of the Ring, as the Fellowship rested in Gondor, word traveled fast to all the peoples of Middle-Earth. In Lothlorién, Galadriel commissioned a memorial of the journey of Frodo the Nine-Fingered and Samwise Gamgee to Orodruin, the Cracks of Doom and the destruction of the One Ring. She commissioned her most cunning of artisans to design something fitting of the ones who had saved all of Middle-Earth. To them she gave much of the store of wealth of the Elves, to make a gift to the kindreds of Middle-Earth to endure throughout the centuries. Many and varied were her gifts, but among the most precious was mithril...
As in the days of Vingilot, Eärendil's ship that bore he and the Silmaril into the West and was set forever as a star shining to light a way in darkness, they chose of the finest woods. In the last of the war, battle raged ever closer to Lorién, and mallorn trees had fallen. Of this, the artisans selected those that bore a peculiar figuring, noting the last touches of darkness in the light, hard wood. Fitting then that these trees that were felled by darkness would live on in a tribute to the power of hope.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Alvein/001.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Alvein/002.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Alvein/003.jpg
The wood for the side panels has already been pieced together from strips of spalted ash, glued and planed to approximately a half-inch thickness. Even so, each side weighs over 7 pounds, but there is cutting and profiling to be done yet.
I have the case skeleton assembled from 1x12 white pine, but it's with a more experienced woodworker, having a bow taken out of one of the boards (my apartment is apparently incredibly damp, and it's pretty detrimental to wood) and some router work done. I have more to see, but right now, my help says it's not quite time to work...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...Alvein/004.jpg
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"The artisans remembered the gift of Arwen to her beloved Aragorn-the White Standard of Gondor, a banner wrought of all the skill she had, to celebrate the return of the True King to Middle-Earth. They then took the mallorn, and engraved it with the standard, for the Third Age had ended, and the Fourth Age was the Age of Men."
And, my help looks kind of bored. He wants to chase the Dremel, but my wife wants to sleep.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/004-1.jpg
And the real work, which took hours, even though I've been an artist all my life...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/002-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/003-1.jpg
It's just pencil now, but I'm gonna carve it into the wood in bas-relief and then silver/gold leaf it. I haven't decided if I will give it the ithilden treatment yet... But, that's many hours of Dremel ahead of me. For now, I need to wake my wife with loud power tools.
For the record, this is the picture you're trying to see...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/11618.jpg
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"The dwarves gave freely of their skills as well, lending their experiences in the forge to containing the power of the magic held within the gift-a fire almost as powerful as the spirit of Fëanor..."
Someone on XS mentioned making an adjustable-bow TDX, and as I had one in the closet and some free time, this is what I made.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/001-4.jpg
This is a plate to give LGA775 mounting, adjustable bow, necking down for venturi effect (later pics will give more insight) and the mounts for the barbs. You can see the 4 knurled nuts that control bowing.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/003-4.jpg
Was just a cool pic. Least it's clean in there...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/004-4.jpg
A different view, the edges still need cleaning up, but there will be more to this block...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/005-2.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/006-2.jpg
The old AM2 top, relieved for the knurled nuts rather badly and sporting my G1/4 threading, as I have no taps for it... Here you can also see the size mismatch, how I have more shaping to do on both sides of that plate... And here the venturi/scavenger idea comes in-flares for each side, to cover entry velocity and aid in block exit.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/007-1.jpg
Captive O-ring compressions (these are by Koolance, ignore the green on them, they're fine)
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/008-1.jpg
And installed.
Now for the fun.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/009-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/010-1.jpg
Meet test board. I hate test board. May test board serve under me in fear for the rest of its natural days...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/011-1.jpg
Blind tapped for hard mounting...
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/012-1.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/013-1.jpg
And mounted. It works like a charm thus far...
I don't claim to be an expert machinist. I have a Dremel and some files. That's it, but I still get stuff done. Still left to do is port matching, a new injector nozzle, and finding proper length screws. Test board was harmed repeatedly last night. It was harmed in the filming of this work. Test board is just generally here for me to hurt. If it wanted to "act" stable till it caught fire, it deserves it.
More is forthcoming, including more custom block, but this isn't finished by a long shot, so stay tuned...
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http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/002-5.jpg
What is that, Dad? I'm too fat and lazy to get out of your bed and see. Show it to the interweb, I'll see it there.
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/011-2.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/012-2.jpg
http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...vein/009-2.jpg
This goes over a piece of acrylic, and they both get envirotex'ed before I attach them to the block. There's another one on the clipboard being designed as we type...
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Looks pretty cool, loving the war hammer. I sincerely hope your a 14 year old boy though haha
+watch
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Actually, I'm 26 and this is my side job. Been doing it for a LONG time. 7+ years for modding, nearly 5 for pay.
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Wow, this is gorgeous. I saw this on OCN or Bit-tech before, dun remember which. Great work :up:
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Moving forward, I picked up the interior wood and some hardware for the case...
This is all poplar, and this large piece has a really interesting green that shows up...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/001-5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/002-8.jpg
But this is a great find, four pieces with beautiful figuring and all from the same tree...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/003-6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/005-5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/008-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...torm/006-3.jpg
Currently looking for my tools to install the new brass corners on the case...
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Very nicely done.
If I remember correctly the spalted ash is actually a fungus that starts to "rot" but is then stopped.
Produces a nice effect.:up:
Very nice carving.. a talent I do not have but truly appreciate.
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wow, you have some serious skills :)
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Great Scott! that's gonna be hella nice when it's done!
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wow. looks amazing so far. looking forward to seeing the end result :)
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wow, looking good so far and im interested to see more!
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you have some nice set of skills,
looking forward to what else is up your sleeves
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wow... keep the updates rolling :D i liike the first few peices best but when you said mithril i thought you ment the armour in oblivion :D
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Bonus points for anyone that can name where mithril armor first appeared and was in fact named mithril?
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I bet somewhere in silmarillion.... (if that wasnt vague, i dont know :p)
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Like it alot, good job! Will be watching for updates.
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Wow great job so far. You can probably fit two computers in that case its so big.
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