[Scott Roush]

I thought folks here might like to see some changes I've been making in my work space. Over this past summer I've been working on moving my finishing area to a new location away from all the grinding dust and moving my hot shop. I've also been working on a light studio for my photography.. that I'm trying to take more seriously.

Here is my new finishing area. It's located in a spare room above my garage and has a beautiful south facing view of the oak barrens. The south light creates beautiful and natural lighting conditions that will be enhanced by strobes and light diffusers. I built a 'jeweler's bench' for hand finishing, a leather working table and a small area for practicing my katakiri engraving. I'm hoping the new space will aid me into getting into a new mind-set for my finishing work.







Here is me playing around with my light studio.. using some of my favorite 'shop things' as props. I'm still learning this set-up and still have a lot to learn with post processing...







Here is a fun picture I took of my new hot shop. I'm still working on details here.. so I haven't took a lot of pictures. But you can see my new power hammer and the nice setting.







Still a work in progress.

Anyway.. just thought I'd share!

[Robin Smith]

Wow, great looking shop!

Not to side track, but I do notice that most of your photos seem to have a unique look to them. Is this done with lighting and filters and editing, or do you just live in a dimension slightly askew from mine

[Scott Roush]

Thanks Robin.

The photos of the shop were done with photoshop filters that create an antique color look.. I just did that for fun.

As to my typical blade photos.. I vignette the borders and bump contrast a bit.. which creates a little more grain and color saturation in the photo. Other than that.. mostly it is shooting with the right lighting conditions... i.e. well diffused light. I'm still learning though... and I feel like I need to improve my post-processing...

[Victor R.]

Nice! And, is that a kukri in the vice?

[Scott Roush]

Yeah Victor.. that was a project I did a month or so ago. It was a contemporary design. And an experiment with laminated steel using 15n20 as the core for the edge.. and high carbon 1075 as the jacket. 15n20 is such an amazingly tough steel that is rarely used due to how thin it is. But if you laminate it.... well.. you have a bombproof edge.

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

Alrighty ! Now you're ready to finish that dha-like sword !!!! B-)

[Scott Roush]

Yes... I'm working on it right now in fact. I have a solid plan for the hilt and I'm working on the final polish. So I should have something to show in a couple of days. I'm very excited about this blade...

[Mark Moore]

Damn....Even your hand tools look cool. God bless you, Scott. True artists are few and far between. I can't wait for the day when you build something that I MUST have. Hop to it now....I feel a nice broken-back seax in my future. .............McM

[Quinn W.]

I actually like your post processing style a lot. When doing product photography you have to find that balance between the dramatic contrast and colors that often come with high-quality photos, but doing so in such a way that it doesn't start to make the item look so different from the real thing that you don't still have an accurate grasp of it. Surreal is no good when you are trying to realistically portray a subject. I think you've found a nice balance between artsy and accurate.

[Bjorn Hagstrom]

Love your shop, Scott! And such nice things are born there