Musings from the workshop of Ox Works

Well alright, it was the year 2016 to be more precise, when Ox Works was established. It’s probably not an epic story, but a story anyway, and now I’m going to tell you it! I had a rather solid career in completely different occupation for over 20 years. Last 13 of those working in a small, family-run company. But business in that company slowed down, and the job I had considered fairly safe turned unstable. I was partially laid off and all of the sudden had three days per week at my disposal. I had to start thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up. To be honest, some of the traits in my previous occupation had already started to annoy me a few years earlier, so the idea of running my own business, being my own boss had been slowly cooking in the background. But what should I start doing then? My first business idea was, actually, a microbrewery. I had no idea how to brew beer, or cider, but I was interested in it, and eager to learn. Plus my mother brews kvass always for Chri...

If we’re talking about serious sabersmithing, one of the most important tools in the ‘shop will be a lathe. Lightsaber hilts are usually cylindrical, so if you’re working with metals, perfect cylindrical shapes would be extremely difficult to produce with other tools than a lathe. A good lathe is also an extremely versatile gadget, with the right accessories it can do some drilling and milling too. Not to mention, working with a lathe is fun, and extremely rewarding! Although, taking the first step into turning can be steep, because many of the more serious machinists online aren’t very helpful, when you’re trying to search information about lathes. Tool elitism is common, as is hostility against newbies. You may get a feeling that machining is some kind of dark sorcery, and the masters are not willing to share their knowledge. But fortunately, the so-called 7x12” ‘mini lathe’ concept has paved the way for a lot of aspiring hobbyists. This designation refers to a specific machine, made...

 Hey everybody and Happy 2023! As many of you know, I've been away from the workshop for this entire month. And that's because I started this new year by breaking my arm. I slipped on icy street and broke my right arm from two different locations. It required a surgery, there's a fair sized chunk of metal holding the bones together, and no, as far as I know, it's not Adamantium. I am hopefully getting the cast off Monday the Feb 6th, but quite frankly I also can't imagine doing actual workshop duties with hand for couple more weeks after that. So, no lathe or mill projects advancing for a while. And this latest hand calamity leads me into more serious announcement: Ox Works is not going to accept custom orders anymore. It sounds crazy, and the decision wasn't easy for me either. Because I like making custom machined metal hilts, and they're hands down the best selling items from my 'shop too. But the reasons for halting that business started to weight in...