Given all of our recent talk about hands on skills and the positive reception it has among readers here, think about another real benefit the hands off crowd might not consider, the freedom to buy used. Take a minute to check out the motorcycles for sale. Look through those listings for a few minutes, how many are really out of consideration if you don't do your own work? If … [Read more...]
Build Your Own Foundry
Those gorgeous wooden casting patterns Aniket made for the upcoming 1000cc Musket really bring back memories from the past. Way back in time, 1970 to be exact, I spent a few weeks in the summer, working in a brass foundry, that was about all of the time I was willing to devote to getting covered in black sand every day, but it was a fascinating place. You could see the entire … [Read more...]
Learn About Life and Modify Your Brain by Working with Your Hands
Your toolbox filled with wrenches and screwdrivers, if regularly used, can make you a better thinker. Manipulating mechanical objects, turning them around, fitting pieces together and watching the parts move, will exercise and expand your brain in ways your non-mechanical friends can't imagine because it anchors you to the real world, where things either work or they don't, … [Read more...]
English Builders and Their Amazing Little Sheds
Remember those English sheds referenced in this recent article? For many of us in the USA, even that single car garage we say is too confining for serious work would be pretty spacious compared to what our friends in the UK often have to work with. A couple days ago I was going through the thread on the Performance Bikes forum detailing the Kwikasfaki build up. Cabbie, as the … [Read more...]
Exquisite Little V12 Engine
Machine tools make much of what we see and use in the world around us, enabling a skilled machinist to create almost anything out of basic blocks of metal. With today's relatively low prices and high precision, you can find small home shops turning out incredible work from lathes and milling machines hidden away in basements and garages. This tiny V12 engine is a perfect … [Read more...]
The Golden Age of Project Parts
After a long weekend, someone may tell you, in an offhand manner, about his 600 mile ride, maintenance to him is filling the tank and cleaning the bugs off, but some of you may find even more pleasure in bringing a bike back to life. You ride to check your work, does the engine run without hesitation, does the transmission shift as it should, does the throttle stick, do the … [Read more...]
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