scarf

I've been realizing lately that I'm in the wrong business,
if that business is making money anyway.

chinagirl

It's been a learning experience watching a gearhead newbie at work.
There's an alchemical process -
slap a chinagirl kit on an expensive beach cruiser,
throw on a couple stickers and bolt-on upgrades,
and holey chit find people who eat it up for the big bucks.
I have admitted to him time and time again,
that driving around slinging at shows to me is more work than cutting and pasting.

long

I'm happy to be that little sparrow that picks up the scraps.
Here's a fun project that he thought was easy.

double scarf joint

Fortunately he didn't cut it before he brought it over.
A double scarf joint (?) seemed better than a straight cut.
This was easier than trimming to the clamp tube and rewelding it,
even though the outcome shows an obvious scar.

short

The end result was straight and hopefully strong.

alchemy

This one will be up on the website for an exorbitant amount of money...
Dutchman Motorbikes

brown

TP

anvilita

Another treasure had joined us over the weekend.
This beat up mini anvil.
What the heck did the previous owners make to get it like this?

anvilita

Some of you are looking at it,
and thinking maybe you should have kept your $8.
This was like that abused pound puppy with 3 legs, one eye and eczema.
We actually left and returned later to get it.

brushed

Back on the bench,
a couple minutes with the wire-wheel,
I was surprised to see the old blue paint underneath.
A couple minutes with the sanding disc,
and for any realistic purposes this was ready to rock.

measurement

There you can see my old standby railroad track anvil,
cut by an old friend Kevin Perry up in Ventura.
It looks primitive and it is only roughly shaped,
but man that thing has helped make a ton of metal pieces.
I thought about forming the point part a bit better,
but the sharp edges work well for hammering corner pieces.

soft rulers

On a tangent,
this was the last straw for that tape measure.
For over a week it had been stuck out at the 3 foot mark.
I can't just let stuff like this go,
and four years of service is not enough.
Now it lives on like an organ donor.

stash ruler

These cut down rulers are super handy.
They fit anywhere and are basically disposable.
I'll blow through the first 8 or 9,
and then keep the last one for months.

ken's old box

Now there's something to stash in Ken's old tool box door.

Hey Ken if you're reading this,

hope your hanging in there out in Afghanistan!

Okay where were we...

railroad track anvils

This little anvil will only see light duty use,
sheetmetal and aluminum,
and the idea was to lock it in the vice like this.

old iron

It wasn't the most sturdy of locations.
The best thing would be to bolt it down.
Since there was still some daylight,
a little tab was whittled out of some scrap.

tabular

I dragged the torch out to preheat it,

than stick welded it with some 7018.

clamp party

I've got this hammer-weld-forge method.

While it's still red hot I'll hammer the weld one or two times.

Maybe not the correct way to do this,

but nothing chipped off after some test hammering,

so it'll be good for what I need it for.

anvilita!

In the next couple weeks,
I'll be putting this baby to work.
Stay tuned!

TP

posted

Have you had one of those days when things just don't go right?
Yesterday was a bit of a whopper.
To make it worse I misplaced my sunglasses and my ATM card.
It was time to hit the bottle!
I held off though,
as that is really the time to stay away!

To top it off,
I also had a solo visit with the TJ Dentista.
Holey Chit.
Probably not the best thing in my scattered state!
And it looked like it was going to rain.

dental tools

There was no time to push it off.
I'd been waiting months to finish this one molar crown.
An accident at the end of summer had screwed up her knee,
so standing for long periods of time wasn't happening.
I have been going with the wife on her monthly trips to the adjoining orthodontist,
but lots happened in that time.

For instance...
Before the accident she had taken an impression of the post needed.
The molar had a monster side cavity,
so there was a big hole.
Well the time that had gone by (august/september)
the remaining original tooth had cracked,
so instead of 4 walls like a cup,
she had to grind one side so there was now 3 walls!

nasty molar post-root canal hole 

Isn't that nasty!
Holey Mother of Chit.
This was before she ground out that weak spot.
I didn't even want to see it after the grinding.
Taking a deep breath just seeing this picture.

(There was a temporary filler in there,
so it wasn't like this between visits!)

big ole gold dental post!

It was a stretch saving that cracked part before we started,
so it wasn't totally surprising when she had to enlarge the hole.
The bummer was she had already made the smaller post,
and now it needed to be redone.
Since I'm going gold,
the post was gold too and could be remelted.

Now you know why it was important to get down there.
Check out how big that new post is!

gold molar post

It was too late to wait for the cement to fully set,
so I'll go down there next week,
and she'll form the tooth to fit a crown,
make an impression,
and I'll wait for the gold crown to be forged out.
No CNC work this is old school modeling.

****************************************************

Jerry Garcia Band - Lonesome and a Long Way From Home
26 October 1978 - Portland Oregon
Lost Live Dead: October 26, 1978 Paramount Theater, Portland, OR: Jerry Garcia Band/Bob Weir Band
78 is one of my favorite Dead years,
but not as much for the Jerry Garcia Band.
However there are some good tunes played,
and this one has a cool mix,
like your sitting right up front.
This song gets wacky by the 6th minute that's for sure!

*****************************************************
I was too chicken to ride the bike down there,
as it's sketchy enough in the day time,
and a Tijuana dusk ride back wasn't worth the hassle.
The cool thing is we've taken so many taxi's down there,
I know a handful of drivers.
Some are really fun to talk with,
and this one (Carlos)  remembered going by the Calimax store for the rum bottle.

Bacardi Añejo Rum

The border walk went quick,
and I was back and forth in less than 2.5 hours including driving time.
Not bad at all.
On the drive back,
I even found out I left the ATM card in the old machine at the nearby bank.
Doh!
The shot picture is fake.
I didn't even want a drink by the time I got home!

TP

grille work #2

Last week capped off my front teeth adventures down in TJ.

stubs

Remember they don't use temporary crowns down there,
so I had some big gaps for almost a month.
It was weird at first but than it became kinda normal.
I'm sure I could have requested temporaries but I was going low budget.

dental impressions

Cause all my money was going into these babies.

gold crowns

I was surprised how little gold is actually used in them,
they area really light.

gold crowns

There is a grey base material that somehow acts as a better adhesive to the cement.

test fit

The technician did a really good job making the crowns,
thanks to the mold made by my dentista.

Okay this is gross,
but if you look at that top tooth above the gold ones,
there is a brown burnt part next to the gum.
That is from stuffing my mouth full of salty sunflower seeds.
Bad habit so don't do it.

TJ dental visit

This is what they look like installed.
Okay my kids are wondering if I was drinking during this picture.
Actually I had just finished a root canal in the back of my mouth,
so I was a little worn out.

gold teeth

I don't think I could rock a top gold tooth,
but the bottom ones I can handle.
The kids say I can be a pirate for Halloween,
so what better excuse for some rum on the way home.

TJ score

This was our TJ score for the day.
The booze was under $20,
and the meds were under $20.
Such a deal.

I wish I could say this was it,
but now the molar is on it's way too.

TP