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Dad stole my rigging knife w/ marlinespike. After turning over my house looking for it, I asked him about it when we met in the FL Keys. He said it was back at his house in Neptune Beach, so I decided to try and make one.

We went to Marathon Marina & Boatyard and found one piece of recycled "teak" -- basically a 2x4 about 8' long, weathered on one face and with holds drilled at regular intervals. We had it cut down to a few smaller pieces and I brought some home with me.

{gallery}photos/2011-marlinespikes{/gallery}

The first one (unmarked) was a tester, to see how easy (or hard) it would be to work with the wood. Melissa immediately stole it for her use as a "poker" to randomly poke or tweak things as needed. The subsequent attempts have serial numbers (starting @ 2) carved into the handle.

#s 6&7 are letter openers. #8 is a custom spike for Melissa. 9-11 were shaped by Jeff on his lathe. #12 is oak with a wrapped handle, and 13-14 are 1/4" aluminum stock.

Shaping is done with a scroll saw and bench sander. Detail work is done with a folding buck knife, small file, and sand paper (60#, 320#, and 600#). #s 1-5 are finished with Helmsman Spar Urethane (semi-gloss); I'm experimenting with teak oil for #s 6-7 (which are to be used as letter openers). Consulting with a friend, the wood appears to be Spanish Cedar. It's still very nice and pretty hard, but not quite teak.