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.
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!
The (International) Noise Consipracy with vocalist Dennis Lyxzén (of Refused fame) is one of the better swedish post-hardcore bands, and what could be better on a monday morning whilst working in a corporate environment than listening to their “Capitalism stole my virginity”?
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 “VerkstedhÃ¥ndboken” 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!
Got all the mess cleaned up that covered the floor moved out yesterday, and rolled out the first layer of floor finisher. Got to put on a layer or two more. With some luck (and hard work) I’ll be able to move in the machines and tools in a few days. It’s gonna be interesting to get the mill and the lathe out of it’s present locations. Hopefully they’ll be here on friday.
