01.12.2008

Originally uploaded by Johnsen Frameworks.

It’s 07.24 AM the 19th of December when I’m writing this. Elisabeth and Sofie are still sleeping. I have fresh coffee and radio. It’s dark outside. Up here in the north we’re basically at the darkest time of year right now (it turns in a few days), and we have proper daylight for only a few hours a day (9am to 3pm perhaps?).

This autumn has been one of the busiest ones I’ve experienced, and thus the progress in the workshop has not been what I planned. Two fieldworks in faraway locations, and a few additional trips meant that weeks and weekends got reduced to what feels like just a few days inbetween packing for a new destination. And when I finally was through with that in late November it turned out that my dad is sick with cancer. So that took away quite a lot of energy as well. For the last couple of days my sister and I have been running my parents hardware store while he’s been in for a thorough medical examination. The results from that was really positive. The cancer is located in one specific area. Threatable, but he’s going to go through a rough period with radiation and chemo.

On the positive side, I’m more or less finished moving into the workshop. Things are finding it’s place, tools are on the walls, and frames are hanging ready for paint. The next plan now is to put up a wall by the door to give me a wee bit more wall-space so the bikes can hang just by the door, and the drillpress and grinder (that will make it in here soon) can have their own space.

There’s quite a few pictures from the workshop over at my flickr-site: http://flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/ - as well as pictures from my travels this fall.

That’s it for now. I’m going to grab another cup of coffee. And I hear the girls are waking up, so there goes my quiet morning!

Merry Christmas!

Sweathy!

Originally uploaded by Johnsen Frameworks.

I’ve been to busy to build to get time to post here lately. Things are chugging along at a speed I wish was a tad higher. Should have finished my own frame by this week, but that seems out of the question at the moment. But I will have three frames ready for paint next week. That’s something at least. Hopefully I’ll be ready with my own main triangle before we head of to Hungary and Austria as well. There’s quite a few new pictures over at flickr. Check them out here: http://flickr.com/photos/planetjohnsen/

IMG_6635

Originally uploaded by Johnsen Frameworks.

Just came back from a 5-day trip to Montenegro tonight. It’s the second time I’m there in three weeks, and the country is really starting to grow on me. A fantastic coast, great food, good beer and wine and spectacular mountains. And everything (the coast and the mountains, that is) is situated just 1,5 hours from Podgorica, the capital. Did the usual stuff that a ethnographer do when he’s on work. Interviewed, observed, questioned, theoretizised and drank beer. I’m allready in contact with the Montenegrin Cycling Federation, so hopefully I’ll be able to do some mountain biking in the Durmitor mountain range around Zabljak village when I’m going back in late september.

Came home to fantastic weather. Oslo have had the highest temperatures in Europe these last few days. Should be up to about 25 here in Hølen today. Fantastic. I just got to get a couple of hours sleep to be able to fully enjoy it (the plane was delayed out of Vienna last night, and I assure you that Vienna Airport is not a place you would like to spend too much time. Unless you really like Mozart and walz-music, of course…)

I managed to find a new gear from a Swedish supplier (Torshälla is a swedish brand that is now long gone), which of course is amazing since the lathe is from 1952! When I was at it, I picked apart the slides as well, just to make sure everything is ok.

Aboult halfway through the repair I was sent to Podgorica (the capital of Montenegro) for work, and I managed to find a really nice bar:

The disassembly of the apron went trouble-free, and the new gear was put into place after cleaning out some of the accumulated mess:

With some help of a friend I got everything back in place (needed help to carry those heavy pieces) and now it looks like this:

That fix gave it another 60 years of use, I recon.

With all the machinery parts away it was time to do the final layout of the shop. Shelfs where put into place and tools found their space on the walls. I’ll continue doing this for the next few days. There will be a Arboga pillar-drill, my Anvil frame fixture, welding table, a big grinder and a lot of other stuff in here as well, so I have a feeling that it will be rather crammed once I’m done moving in. That’s about it. Tonight I’ll move in my Quad II/22 amp-compo from ca. 1957 with a pair Acoustic Research speakers (the stereo must match the machinere age-wise!), and move a lot of bicycle books and magazines that is currently taking up space in the house.

This was how it looked around 1 AM last night:

Cheers!

Truls

19.05.2008

Originally uploaded by Johnsen Frameworks.

Yes. I am alive. Had to work a tad more than planned in my ordinary day-job the last few weeks, and most of last week was spent on fieldwork in Podgorica, Montenegro. Nice place, btw. Here’s the best pub I’ve found so far:

On thursday I’ll pick up the work-benches. That’s the last thing before I can move all the stuff into place and start working in there. Hmm… Come to think of it: Has’nt I said that before? I’ve continued the servicing of the lathe, and that’s more or less done as well. Here’s a snapshot:

Time to go to bed!

27.04.2008

Originally uploaded by Johnsen Frameworks.

Been out with the flu for the last week or so, so things have not exactly been kept up to speed around here. Got the machines down from the pallets yesterday with good help from my dad. Had to rest (and cough) for the rest of the evening whilst watching a couple of episodes of Michael Palins “New Europe”. Fantastic series! More later. Need to sleep off the sorest throath ever now. I sound like Tom Waits on a bad day.

tweener_130_3

Originally uploaded by Truls.

Got the last layer of floor prep. on just now. The next couple of evenings will be spent painting walls. Everything to be ready to move the machines in on friday. My mindset is slowly changing now, and I’ve started to plan new projects and get in contact with potential customers that have inquired about frames during the last year or so. That’s really fun! I’ve also started drawing on my own new mountainbike. It’s going to be based on the new 650b format (27,5″ or “Tweener”) that I feel have a lot of potential. It’s a bit larger than the standard 26″ mountain bike wheelsize, but not as large as the 29″ size that have gained massive momentum during the last few years. I feel that wheel-size, just like frame-size, should be adjusted to the rider. I’m about average height (here in Norway) at about 176 centimeters (5′10″) and I feel that I’m borderline on a 29″ bike. It’s fun, but it’s still a lot of bike. Well, hello “Tweener”! I have a fair feeling that it’ll fit like a glove for the kind of riding I like. The fork will most likely be the White Brothers 100mm in the 650b format. Oh, joy! And spring is on it’s way! 11 degrees Celcius tomorrow and 12 on thursday. Finally!

13.04.2008

Originally uploaded by Truls.

I’m a sucker for both tools and books, so it was fun when “Machine Tool Operation” by H.D.Burghardt showed up in my mailbox a few days ago. The two-volume set is considered a reference guide to manual machines, and it seems to be the book that my norwegian “Verkstedhåndboken” from the fifties is built upon. No reference though, but I seem to remember some of the illustrations from the norwegian editions and the written intention of the book in the preface seems to be a word-by-word translation. Oh, and I found a nice precision machinists water-pass in a local thrift-store the other day. Whoo!