Woodworking: prepping some new chisels

I have a couple of small woodworking projects that I would like to work on. Indirectly, I have some stuff on the drafting board that will require a small amount of woodworking as well.
As we all know, I sold off most of my wood tools. Included in those sales were my Lie-Nielsen chisels. I have a few antiques and a few new Stanley's, but nothing compares to a Lie-Nielsen chisel.
I set off into the land of internet shopping and ordered a 1/2" & 1/4" chisel. As I expected, my new chisels are super nice and I'm all in love with them and stuff.
This morning, I wanted to take care of the prep work to get them ready for use.

Here goes:

Some time ago, I made a sharpening set up based on the Lie-Nielsen design available on their web site. I'm not going to get into the construction, as it is pretty basic. You'll get the idea as we go along. I made it so that I could clamp it onto my work bench using my surface vice and a dog.

Someone mount that oil tank already!

I have a lot of bad habits. I smoke, I drink, I'm lazy, and the list goes on and on. One of my worst habits is that I will hem and haw over a decision for days, weeks, months.

They say that perfection is the enemy of good enough. I'm not a perfectionist, I can't be. But good enough isn't always good enough. What happens, is that I have an idea, then a little voice in my head will shut down my motivation and stop me from doing anything. What's really happening is that I know my initial idea isn't up to par with my vision. So, basically I will keep screwing around and circling the project until the better idea shows up.

Sometimes, this habit just makes me stressed out, and ultimately late. Other times, that little voice has stopped me from doing something that wasn't as good as it could be. In this case, something better came along, and I'm digging it. Let's take a look now, at the first stage of mounting my new oil tank into the Organ Donor.

The oil tank has three mount points. It will tie into the back bone here, and on the cross member under the seat. Drill guides help in these matters. If you ever need to center a hole through tubing, you should make one.

A Taste of the Flavor to Come

While I've been relatively absent here (again), it doesn't mean that I haven't been busy. I've been helping a friend bring back to life a really cool mid-century surf board table, and that has occupied most of my home shop time. I've been baking a lot. I bake more than most people, but lately the oven has been cranking.

Baking and working in my home shop has meant that I've taken a break from bikes for just a little while. I lost my muse there for a bit. The muse is coming back, and the ideas are flowing again. Hopefully that translates into making some really cool stuff for my new Triumph.

For some time now, I've been throwing around the idea in my head of making baking/kitchen tools here at home. The only way to do it practically and not waste precious resources is to make more than I need and find a venue to sell them. My investment into making say, a single tart ring is roughly the same as if I wanted to make a dozen. To that end, I am starting to plan out a few products and test them out. First off will be a couple of simple tools. The simplest of all? The bench scraper or pastry scraper. I've heard chefs use the terms interchangeably. I have two test pieces in the works, and I'm using them as my start point.

A pair of pastry scrapers. A very useful tool in the kitchen. I have never been satisfied with the one that I have, which is why I want to make a new one. These will have wooden handles, and one will be a test for a curved edge. I already know I'll want to drop a gauge thickness.

On the bike side of things, I'm figuring out how to make some pull back fender struts. I'm not worried about carrying a load on the fender. I'm not into carrying a passenger, if you want to ride...get your own! The final piece will be stainless steel, it's just cheaper to test with mild steel first.

I need to get off my arse and stay off it! We'll see how this goes. Usually I only get lazy when I don't have a plan or materials. I have a plan now, and most of the resources required to carry it out. Off to the races.

Hand Plane rant (sort of)

Not the blade in question...just there for a picture.

So, someone brings me a hand plane. They say they lent it out and it got dinged. Included in the story is "I've been using hand planes since I was a kid." This brings up a few things:

Ok...if you know how to use a hand plane, why can't you sharpen it yourself?
If you had used the plane before...why are the factory grind marks on the blade?
The plane is 15-20 years old, hasn't been all that well cared for...and you're blaming it on the guy you lent it to? I know what patina is. I can tell a paint stain from last month from one that's 10 years old.





Anywho, I take the plane apart, give it a once over. Checked for flat...not flat...flattened it. Then I took the blade and sharpened it. I could tell that this was the first time the blade had ever been sharpened. The patina is a dead giveaway that this is the original blade.
I only took the blade up to a 4000 grit edge. I could have gone to 8000, but I knew that the user would never appreciate the difference. Reassemble the plane, test shaving, cuts nice.

Here's the best part. I give the plane back to the owner. I removed the blade and showed him the edge. He looks at it disapprovingly, runs it up his arm and shaves a few hairs...frowns...and says, "I guess that'll do."

YOU GUESS??? WTF? Someone who wouldn't know a sharpening stone from a rock on the beach wants to criticize the edge I just handed him?

Needless to say, the blade nearly became a piece of evidence at the police station, but I held my temper.

The moral of the story? Admit when you don't know about something. It's ok. People won't look down on you. I have a hell of a lot more respect for someone who admits ignorance on a topic than someone who tries to fake knowing everything.

(also, if I've seen the butcher job on a knife you've sharpened, telling me you know about sharp plane irons won't work)

I just had to let that rant out.

Engine Mounting Hardware

The new frame for the Organ Donor uses later style front engine mounts. Older style mounts were integral to the frame, and motor dropped into them. Basically, just a pair of tabs welded to the frame.

The later frames had stud bosses in the frame and separate plates for the mounts. This is a better design in my mind, because it allows for easier installation of the engine. Instead of buying a set of studs and plates, I elected to make them.

Across the top is the lower engine mounting stud. This goes below the engine and spans the frame. It is about 7" long. The two plates and three shorter studs make up the front mount.

Headlamps: LED vs Halogen

One of the most important pieces of equipment on a bike is the headlamp. Even more critical than being able to see at night, is being seen by others at all times.

The trouble with most headlamps is that they are power hogs. The new headlamp that I installed on my chopper this year is a 55/65 Watt Halogen. The alternator only puts out 180 Watts at full tilt. That means, that I am using a third of my alternator just to run the headlamp. In the past I have run LED's in the tail lamp. In that case, I can take a 15 Watt drain, and bring it down to a fraction of a Watt (about .12W). I had an LED headlamp for some time, but after many surgeries, it was no longer practical to continue messing with. Hence my new Halogen.

After a little searching, I found an LED replacement bulb for the H4 type that was in my new lamp. The only downside is that I no longer have a hi-lo. When I thought about it, it occurred to me how little I use the hi-beam. The new LED bulb consumes about 5 Watts. About 10 percent of the original.

Time for some testing, what have I got to lose besides $15 and a half hour of my time...

Triumph Axles, pt.3

While making my rear axle, I decided that I didn't like the look of the stock nuts. With the addition of the spacer and adjuster, they looked a little odd.

Spacers. I milled them to have keys that lock to the frame. This way the adjusting flat always faces forward...and they look trick too.