For the manner in which men live is so different from the way in which they ought to live, that he who leaves the common course for that which he ought to follow will find that it leads him to ruin rather than safety.
-Machiavelli

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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Ahhhhhh....

That's an "ahhhhhh" of relief. I finished my friend's '69 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide. My chopper is on the road. The Aprilia is running...hmmmm, running isn't a fast enough word. That thing is like riding on a laser beam. I'll probably never use more than 10% of that bike's capability. But, hey, I look good!

I'm finally slowing down! I can take things at my usual leisurely pace. With all of those other projects out of the way, I'm back to working on my Southbend lathe. More photos of the progress have been added to that page.
The lathe has a long to-do list. Most of the parts have been stripped and solvent cleaned and are ready for paint. I've identified the parts that require replacement, and just have to pull myself together enough to feel OK with dropping a few hundred bucks for parts. I can start machining the new cross slide while I'm working through the paint work. The bed is the only part that still needs to be stripped. So, we should start to see the lathe come together soon.