I have a 2010 Prius with a bit over 200k miles on it, and it just started making this buzzing sound.
I can’t hear it inside the cabin, but it’s quite loud.
Any idea what it might be? And hopefully any DIY fix?
Finally got around to setting up my (non-standard) Gohonzon. Ignore the Lekis and the paintings (I just don’t have the wall space.
I’m using an actual Tibetan singing bowl as my bell, and I have a Tibetan Pherba Dagger that was a gift from my mother.
The incense burner is hade and Tibetan silver. The giant beads to the right aren’t really part of the shrine but I got them from some Shaolin Monks who visited my college a little over 20 years ago.
I’m fixing up my office in the (vain) hope that I will get more done inside.
Figured between uses I’d display the stage combat bastard sword and dagger I got from Starfire Blades at the NYS Renfaire.
Not much to look at, but strike the big one with the small one and it “sings”.
Which has me thinking that’s what people meant when they called a magical blade a “singing sword”.
So, I got ahold of a “higher end” Sting replica, for a decent price.
As I plan to get the real one at some point, I’m thinking I might want to modify this one.
I’d like to use blue glow powder to make the engravings glow, but as they’re so small and shallow I’m worried about it looking messy.
Anyone know how I might go about adding the glow without getting anything on the blade itself? IE: the letters and the engraved swirl have glow powder in them, but the rest of the blade doesn't.
I was thinking "stencil" but this is so specific I'm not sure that will work.
Sword claims to be 440 stainless.
I bought this at the NYS renfaire half a decade ago. I’m restoring it.
The blade is sharp, it seems to be full tang (probably with a screw on pommel. It says it’s Stainless Steel and compared to other blades, it looks like possibly 440.
I got it to dull and use for stage combat, but I’ve shifted from theatre to comics.
Anyone know who made it and what it might be worth?
The maker’s mark looks a bit generic, and the Bkt1203 serial number doesn’t come up on Google.
I discovered Roger Zelazny’s writing recently and I’m kinda obsessed. For context Zelazny was George RR Martin’s literary mentor.
The book is often billed as fantasy, but it’s actually Scifi.
The gimmick is making Buddha the main character of a fantasy about his conflict with the Hindu Gods.
The twist is, it’s not really Buddha, and they aren’t really the Hindu Gods.
Instead it takes place in the far future on a distant non-earth planet where death is almost impossible. The Gods are essentially a literally technocratic elite who figured out how to transmigrate a person’s consciousness from one body to another.
So they went about setting up a society with them at the top as the “Lords of Karma”. They adopted the model of the Hindus where when a guy dies they look at his karma (obtained via technological Omni surveillance along with brain scans) and depending upon that, they decide how he will be reborn.
The Buddha character is one of the first of these ancient “souls” that would become the gods…but he refuses Godhood, and later appropriates and introduces Buddhism to undermine them.
The world ruled by the Lords of Karma is a dystopia, in which humans are intentionally restricted to a quasi-medieval society. Buddha (or rather “Sam”) wants to topple them on behalf of humanity, rather than allow the to restrict “Godhood” and therefore technology to only the “deserving” few whom they have decided are “ready”.
Zelazny is an edgy writer, so his version of not-Buddha leans heavily on the somewhat amoral “trickster” archetype, and he’s basically an anarchist—but what’s really interesting is that by the end, whether he actually is Maitreya, or just a pretender is a matter of interpretation.
Anyway, very cool book with a lot to say. Gave me quite a bit to think about.
I cleaned the rust off an old stage combat blade, but now I have some minor damage and discoloration.
Is there a way to fix this? Polish doesn’t work. Do I need to actually sand it down on a grinder? Or is there an easier option?
I got ahold of a knockoff “Northmen” Damascus Steel sword for $60. I replaced the wooden grip with a genuine leather-wrap, filled in the random grooves in it and added some actual ridges to help with the grip.
Then I painted the basic cross-guard and pommel with some old automotive paint.
It is now occupying space on my wall until I can get a better Damascus blade in a similar style.
I’m restoring an old “Celtic Wardagger” I bought at a renfaire almost 30 years ago.
I noticed that the grip was bent forward. Curiously if I wear it in its sheath on my hip, it’s actually easier to draw because of the bend.
So is this something in actual sword/dagger design? Or do I just have a bent grip that I need to bend flush with the blade?
Got my hands on a cheap Damascus Steel “Northmen” knockoff I plan to modify.
For the life of me I can’t figure out why anyone would go through the trouble of making a decent fuller, only to stop like, five inches early.
I don’t think it’s about “saving steel” as the blade doesn’t taper much. So why would they stop where they did?
As some of you may know, I recently was suckered into buying a cheap copy of the (Warder’s) Heron-Marked sword made by Fable Blades.
It arrived with huge scratches and scuffs on the crossguard, a ridiculously bad soldering job on the ring, and improperly sealed green-painted leather.
I was charged $230 for it because the (Pakistani) smith assured me it was “9260 Spring Steel” and was supposed to be “combat ready”.
Thanks to you guys, Etsy gave me my money back, so I decided to fix it up. Here’s the result of my work. I used gold chrome automotive paint, as well as black, red and White auto touch-up paint, painted and (properly) sealed the leather grip.
Honestly, the blade’s not that bad. It is a wall hanger (obviously) but I’m happy I was able to make something positive out of the experience.
Not sure if I’ll keep it, or sell it at a con.
So, a while ago I bought an alternative take on the "Heron-Marked Sword" from Wheel of Time (I *hate* the official one they made for the show) that looked very much like what I imagined when I first read the book.
I found a Pakistani sword maker on Etsy that was offering this one, which he advertised as:
"Hand-forged 9260 high carbon steel blade – oil-quenched & double-tempered for ~52Rc hardness" and later the guy I dealt with said it was "battle-ready".
Any tests I can do to verify this? At first glance the blade looks and feels of...reasonable quality, and I'm pretty sure it's full tang. I don't plan to battle with it, but as I have seen similar swords sold for less from other sword makers, I want to make sure I got what I paid for.
I also (unfortunately) found some serious scuffing on the hilt, and the soldering of the ring guard seems more than a little crude.
And I found that the blade was glued into the hilt, which is something I do with low-quality swords because I don't want them to rattle.
So, how best can I go about verifying that this sword is, in fact, as good as advertised?