Hey LeChat, What Are You Working On?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:22 am

If it is broken or just wont work.. Throw it away and head for Wally World..

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 9:33 am

unjonharley wrote:If it is broken or just wont work.. Throw it away and head for Wally World..

Hahahah Oh I hate Wally World (and my sis is a manager for them) mostly when I have no choices left. I like the mom pop hardware store down the street.
Bailing wire makes great welding wire also.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:01 am

MozyBonz wrote:
unjonharley wrote:If it is broken or just wont work.. Throw it away and head for Wally World..

Hahahah Oh I hate Wally World (and my sis is a manager for them) mostly when I have no choices left. I like the mom pop hardware store down the street.
Bailing wire makes great welding wire also.

\/
Use "older" hangers to fill bullet holes

in your pickup.. Blaze a web of wires across the hole.. Heat the web and surounding metal red hot.. Back the hole with a dolly and smack the web to flatten the hanger wire.. Makes a nice job with little or no grinding..

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:07 am

unjonharley wrote:
MozyBonz wrote:
unjonharley wrote:If it is broken or just wont work.. Throw it away and head for Wally World..

Hahahah Oh I hate Wally World (and my sis is a manager for them) mostly when I have no choices left. I like the mom pop hardware store down the street.
Bailing wire makes great welding wire also.

\/
Use "older" hangers to fill bullet holes in your pickup.. Blaze a web of wires across the hole.. Heat the web and surounding metal red hot.. Back the hole with a dolly and smack the web to flatten the hanger wire.. Makes a nice job with little or no grinding..

Hahahah Hey LeChatNoir thats whats its missing bullet holes it needs bullet holes.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:07 am

Like the car with the ax gash in the roof, I just know there is a great story behind that tip, Unjon.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 11:33 am

Come on Unjonâ€¦ you gotta share the details, assuming the statute of limitations has run out.

No bullet holesâ€¦ yet. But there are plenty of termite holes. Interesting story about the wood Iâ€™m using on the deck. I donâ€™t think Iâ€™ve told this one yetâ€¦ I tell so many I forget who Iâ€™ve told them to and who I havenâ€™t.

Anywaysâ€¦

So years ago, I crossed paths with this fellow who had a bunch of wood in his barn and decided he wanted to get rid of it so I bought it form him. He was in his 70â€™s and said he remembered this wood being sawn and stored when he was a little boy (his dad was the local sawmill man). It was all beautiful, very old, very dense Maple and Cherry. It was then stored in my barn here.

One day a storm blew through and that barn is just lightly off the ridge, so that water can sort of trickle through if it blows enough. This water pushed up just enough dirt against the blocks the wood was on to allow termites to get into it and I didnâ€˜t know it until it was too late. From that one corner they ate up almost all of that stuff. I picked through it and saved the pieces that were worth savingâ€¦ probably 25% of it can still be used, but it shows the holes in most cases. I used one of the worst looking (and yet sound) pieces for the little ladder to get up to the deck. Heh Heh... "Watch that first step!!". Even with all the damage, its still stronger than a piece of maple I can get now. Iâ€™ll post some pics later tonight.

Back to Contraptioneering!!

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:04 pm

LeChatNoir wrote:Come on Unjonâ€¦ you gotta share the details, assuming the statute of limitations has run out.

No bullet holesâ€¦ yet. But there are plenty of termite holes. Interesting story about the wood Iâ€™m using on the deck. I donâ€™t think Iâ€™ve told this one yetâ€¦ I tell so many I forget who Iâ€™ve told them to and who I havenâ€™t.

Anywaysâ€¦

So years ago, I crossed paths with this fellow who had a bunch of wood in his barn and decided he wanted to get rid of it so I bought it form him. He was in his 70â€™s and said he remembered this wood being sawn and stored when he was a little boy (his dad was the local sawmill man). It was all beautiful, very old, very dense Maple and Cherry. It was then stored in my barn here.

One day a storm blew through and that barn is just lightly off the ridge, so that water can sort of trickle through if it blows enough. This water pushed up just enough dirt against the blocks the wood was on to allow termites to get into it and I didnâ€˜t know it until it was too late. From that one corner they ate up almost all of that stuff. I picked through it and saved the pieces that were worth savingâ€¦ probably 25% of it can still be used, but it shows the holes in most cases. I used one of the worst looking (and yet sound) pieces for the little ladder to get up to the deck. Heh Heh... "Watch that first step!!". Even with all the damage, its still stronger than a piece of maple I can get now. Iâ€™ll post some pics later tonight.

Back to Contraptioneering!!

**pulls up chair** I love stories

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 1:34 pm

This is the best thing on eplaya.
I think you need to up your percentage of blather now, O Kitty.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:05 pm

[quote="LeChatNoir"]Come on Unjonâ€¦ you gotta share the details, assuming the statute of limitations has run out.

\
The was a life time ago and far away.. Before the man coraled and broke me.. Some say they can see the wild days in my eyes yet.. It was a hell of a ride..

The hole filler worked good while helping my son restore a 49 Ford pickup.. Frist you have to spank the hole flat.. Then ream it round..

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 8:17 pm

Frist you have to spank the hole flat.. Then ream it round..

Sounds like good advice to me.

Hereâ€™s some pics of the last weeksâ€™ work:

In this you can see the new foot rests for the driver, a tool box at the front (another addition from my Grandfatherâ€™s stuff), and the UnHorn. I noticed that the solder had broken loose where the reed tube (fat part that the bulb attaches to) meets the horn. I thought this may be an opportunity, actually, since I was having trouble finding a place for it to mount. So a little copper tubing and soldering later and I had the perfect spot for it. And since I effectively increased the length of the horn, it now has a lower pitch. Now you can just reach over and push down on the bulb with your left foot to get a good **FRRAPH-FRRAAAPH**.

Next up is the small ladder for boarding and a detail pic of the termite munched steps. Itâ€™s hard to see well with the flash, but I think youâ€™ll get the idea.

The next shot shows another part from the tobacco setter that has been assigned a new duty. It used to regulate the depth of the planting mechanism. But now, along with a car door push-button switch (the one that turns the lights on when you open the door), twisting it out will turn on the LED and Cold Cathode lights for nighttime cruisinâ€™.

Last up is a shot of the start of bending/gluing the wood for the rumble seat frame. Two sheets of 1/8â€

karine · Post by **karine** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 10:24 pm

Beautiful !

(and the super- smiles are in all the details! Loving every part of it!)

Tiahaar · Post by **Tiahaar** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:10 am

I'm cracking up over the honker!! That's the greatest!! Excellent progress, and hey that munched wood? 'Le Designer' types would be very interested in that for distressed interior woodwork (fumigated to get rid of the munchers of course), save it me thinks!

P.S. I put an update on the tracked thread on what's kept me busy...now back to playa projects! http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 576#322576

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:13 am

I want to suggest small bells for any vehicle on the playa.
I rode someone's bicycle for a bit with a lot on it and besides letting people know you were behind them, they seemed to enjoy the bells.
It was much better than startling anyone.
A big advantage if you are on the streets of the city.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 7:31 am

gyre wrote:I want to suggest small bells for any vehicle on the playa.
I rode someone's bicycle for a bit with a lot on it and besides letting people know you were behind them, they seemed to enjoy the bells.
It was much better than startling anyone.
A big advantage if you are on the streets of the city.

\/
We would put the bells on the harness when we took the horses to town.. We had one rubber tired wagon just for that trip every six week to the feed mill.. I think the horses liked the bells.. There was no holding them back.. They wanted to trot the ten miles in and late afternoon home.. I would fix a lunch for them and water and a lunch for me.. We would lay over in a grassy park with other teams waiting on the mill.. We were all kids.. The olders stayed back to do the had work.. I was 10-11 then.. The girl horse weighed 16 and the boy 18.. THEY were always read to go swimming too..

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 11:27 am

Wow just fucking wow!!

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 12:35 pm

Now-a-days, it's hard to find honest jingle bells. You can get the pressed steel ones, sure, but the good ones are cast bronze. Bronze has a warmer tone than steel or cast iron.

I saw a full set once in a leather shop. Absolutely gorgeous with bells in graduated sizes from +/- 3" diameter to less than 1".

'Round this time of year, folks here get ready for the Wagon Train that runs in later in the summer (almost 100 mile trip I think). Its like their week in the desert. Yesterday I looked up and about 7 or 8 wagons went by my shop. I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to be standing at an anvil in an dirty leather apron and look up to see that. Most had road tires, but one had tiny rubber tires on large wooden wheels... looked like an old "doctor's wagon"

I was either born 150 years too late or just born again after a good rest.

karine · Post by **karine** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:51 am

I rode in a immaculate train car - original upholstery & all, from 1912 last week.
and I have been thinking on this for ~quite some time~ really,
it's not just the train ride. But the excitement... the interest...

I think it might be the total "Faith in Technology" that people use to have...
there is just something about SOMETHING that is well-built.
You can "rely on it".
It's harder and harder to find (for the average guy or gal ou their shopping).

and MAN... the waste of the 1950s to the 1970s and 1980s !!! My kids have been riding me about it.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 2:29 am

You're right, Karine.
It's no longer about finding a product.
It's about finding things that actually function.
I call it the crappification of america.
I realized some time ago that much of my conversation with friends who are interested in things that function well, whether it's wood tools, electronics, or very high performance car parts, now consists of trying to find things that work.
The entire lower section of some product lines are complete trash.
I have found that most steel hand tools from the last century are still in production although you have to order them.
Interestingly, they are often the same price as the chinese replacement.
Many have no substitute, like my slide hammer nail puller.

When I was in sarasota, I saw the old stainless circus cars, long with huge windows.
Beautiful.
I hear they are restoring them and putting them back in service.

If you have the chance to see a real circus in a tent, go.
There aren't many left.
Watch them put up the tent too.
That's the best part.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:14 am

LeChatNoir wrote:I can't tell you how much it warms my heart to be standing at an anvil in an dirty leather apron and look up to see that.

I was either born 150 years too late or just born again after a good rest.

I hear ya, brother. (I'm a genuine Connecticut Yankee, technically...) I had a very weird sensation of homecoming a few years back, while visiting Hancock Shaker Village. Perhaps after The Big One I'll set up a whitesmith's shop down the road from your smithy.
Speaking of which...I've been thinking about that I.D. plate thing. After following The Contraption's progress, I wonder if a black-on-aluminum "motor plate" fills the bill...Perhaps hammered tin or steel instead? Or punched wood? Something that addresses the dignity of the materials a little more, methinks. It deserves that in spades.

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:34 am

robot,

I like the idea of a "motor" plate that would mount near the flywheel. Out of the way, but still in an important place. Tin or sheet would be easier to mount I think, since I could just drill and rivet it in place. And wood may eventually crack and fall off. I could rust a sheet metal tag up real well and then hit the high spots with some steel wool to make the letter nice and dark.

But I can darken an aluminum one, too.

Hmmmm....

That's just my thoughts... I'm open to your artistic take on it. Whatever you think, is fine with me. I'll look tonight and find the dimensions of some good spots to mount it on the "engine frame".

And I agree Karine...

Though much more raw materials were invested in objects "way back when", as a general rule (either by design or available manufacturing technology) they were built to last. I have to wonder, if we didn't live in a society that valued "new and better" so greatly, would those things still be in use and thus, offset their initial raw material investment? Just a thought. I sometimes think its my job to resurrect things like that and keep them going on into the next generationsâ€¦ both for posterityâ€™s sake, and practicalityâ€™s.

And here we are lamenting these things via computers that don't last but a few years?

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 8:47 am

You knowâ€¦

When I make a railing, I genuinely feel that I impart a bit of myself into it and I strive to make the client smile when they see it for the first time. And my hope is that when they walk down the stairs, day in-day out, some small part of them continues to smile because of it, even after many years of use.

And maybe, just maybe this translates out into the world they inhabit and the people around them, even if only slightly. So I wonder how much the loss of such things effects people in their daily lives, (i.e. elegant store fronts or beautifully detailed trim work)?

Iâ€™m thinking of a ride on a modern subway car vs. a ride in the car Karine took a trip in.

We gotta do what we can to counter this crime of sinking into a psychic mediocrity of soulless widgets.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 11:21 am

La Chat, Tell that damn cat to watch the mail in about four days.. Found some thing laying around the shop.. I would suggest you palce on the spring steel seat post..<:)

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:42 pm

Le Chat, Prince Charles made a film a few years back about the effect of architecture and environment on people.
He got a lot of criticism for it, but I think it is true.

Many long life products are still made, but it often takes a hunt.
I have a microwave made in sweden and sold in the us by sears.
It is a thing of beauty inside.
SK-Facom will special order europe only tools, that are normally unavailable here.
A friend is using japanese carving tools from the japanese woodworker.
There are still some us made appliances and heavy tools.

I think well designed railings and tools and everything else do have an effect on everyone.

I had a railing made and had some very thick decorative castings (1850?) incorporated into the design.
Anything you do in metal may be enjoyed for hundreds or thousands of years.

Teo del Fuego · Post by **Teo del Fuego** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 3:20 pm

yep! Agree with comments on craftsmanship and architecture having a subtle impact on society. Particularly architecture. Notice how many highschools built since 1965 look like prisons? What has been the long range affect of cold, impersonal, machine-like Bauhaus-Modern Style city buildings on city inhabitants?

How refreshing it is to see something crafted with care in an age of slipshod workmanship.

[Of course none of this craftsmanship talk actually applies to the crap I sling together and bring to the Playa]

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:20 pm

Teo del Fuego wrote:[Of course none of this craftsmanship talk actually applies to the crap I sling together and bring to the Playa]

Don't sell yourself short... even the most hurried project, if it's got heart it shows. And that's at the core of what I'm thinking of. Craftsmanship is important, but if it ain't got some heart, even finely honed skills can still fall short.

And I donâ€™t' think I've ever seen a project on the playa that didn't have at least some of it. One of the ones I had the most fun with looked like it took just a few hours to make and was a giant LiteBrite made out of blacklights, dayglo plastic rods, and a sheet of peg board.

I've got to check that film out, gyre. happen to have the name handy?

(looks out window through his binoculars at the mailbox... tail swishing)

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 4:33 pm

I love the idea of the manufacturer's tag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,_P ... chitecture

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.h ... nted=print

A Vision of Britain

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 5:17 pm

...the majority of architecture and design follow the desires of the majority of the people. Most people today are happier to "save" 50% buying junk, than spend 200% and get something that will last more than a few years.

Don't even get me started on the computer industries planned obsolescence....(called software)

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 5:59 pm

Found the perrrfect top pully for the genny/junk contraption.. A Pommade jar.. Like in hair grease..
Soma pic's of The Musical Moop Machine

http://community.webtv.net/unjonharley/doc8

LeChatNoir · Post by **LeChatNoir** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:30 pm

The link won't work for me, Unjon...

Found the perrrfect top pully for the genny/junk contraption

A pommade jar, huh?

"I don't want no Fop... I'm a Dapper Dan man"

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:49 pm

ONe of these should work now
Should work

http://community.webtv.net/unjonharley/ITLIVES

Hey LeChat, What Are You Working On?

HONKHONKHONK

Bells On

Re: Bells On