Krenovian carving knife

Krenov carved many of his cabinet handles and catches freehand using a range of small knives he made as required. I stumbled across some very nice nickel steel blades at a woodwork fair in Harrogate by Nic Westerman of Machynylleth and bought a couple. The handle was made from some very old English walnut salvaged from firewood cut from ancient walnut plantations in South Derbyshire where it was once common. In this case it was from the estate of Elvaston Castle south of Derby.

I carved and rasped the organic shape until it felt comfortable with sufficient shape to allow close control over the blade. Finish was oil and wax.

It's off later today as a secret santa present so I'll have to make the other blade for myself later.

Boring Bars - not an anti drinking comment

Spent today making some boring bars for work on the ML7. I use a piece of 8mm HSS to make a cutter which I mount in a square hole drilled and filed in the bar and retained with a 6mm screw from below. Today I had to run down some 25mm stock and tried the travelling steady to control chatter. In practice it worked very well.

Rebuilding a Brompton Folding Bike

My 2000 vintage Brompton L5 had had a hard life in a boat locker and was already in a sorry state when the 5 speed Sturmey Archer finally gave up on a hill in the Isle of Man . A quick Google revealed that there was an 8 speed conversion available from Kinetic bikes in Glasgow so an order was placed and a general refurbishment undertaken.

Stripping down for stove enamelling proved to be a little challenging as the countersunk screws which secure the pivoting rear frame are Locktited in and had to be drilled out. The pin and bearings were in perfect condition so I tried to order replacement screws and spacer washers from a Brompton agent. This proved impossible as Brompton only supply a complete kit. I complained to Brompton who put me in touch with the head mechanic, however his information later proved to be incorrect, as the design of the spacer washers and possibly the pivot arrangement had changed and they appear to have no records of production amendments. Little did I know that this story was to repeat at every stage in the re-build.

I found an excellent stover in Burton on Trent, T Ward Ltd, who filled the corrosion and produced a superb result in rhubarb and custard colours. The finish was incidentally much better than my wife's recently purchased Brompton Superlight.

I reassembled the swinging frame first and added the current locking catch which prevents the bike folding when lifted plus a harder rear spring.

I needed a new headset and selected the lighter alloy version from the spares list. Again this did not fit as the spigot length was longer than the counterbore in the steering tube. Fortunately I was able to put the cup in the lathe and reduce the length to suit (but should you have to do this)?

I then moved on to the seat pin. This is retained by a plastic inset which I renewed as the old one had broken on removal (it is glued in place). The packet arrived containing two bushes, a common occurrence with Brompton spares, along with instructions for fitting. The resulting bore was significantly too small for the seat pin and required reaming to fit, which was not mentioned. Not everyone has access to a 1 1/4" reamer but fortunately I was able to borrow one and finished the job.

The kit from Kinetic proved excellent with an amended chain tensioner, smaller chain set, and comprehensive fitting instructions. All went well. This pic shows the Kinetic modification in the folded position.

This is the bike in running mode with the new smaller chain set to achieve the required gearing. There is a low 1st and high 8th with 6 closely spaced intermediates, about perfect for commuting and touring.

I moved the the handlebar group and found that the new brake cables not only did not fit the levers but there was an instruction that the levers must be replaced at a cost of £27. This is presumably owing to a design weakness but typically Brompton ask the client has to pay

The job was finished with a new seat, bar grips and lights.

Despite their dreadful failings in client support Brompton are an excellent example of the adage "design is all" as the original concept is still way ahead of the nearest rival.

 Re-united with it's sister Superlight for a shake down run on Derby's cycle lanes.

I am delighted with the end result being a unique customised folder which is ideal for commuting.

I am astonished by the ineptitude of Brompton, who clearly have no concept of legacy support, and may even be lacking the necessary data, if not, it is certainly withheld from clients. I suppose this is par for the course for a darling of the Tory party, who have featured them several times in a pathetic attempt to persuade us we are still in the forefront of manufacturing industry and innovation. Unfortunately my experience is also in line with Tory philosophy of sell it now with little care or concern for the future.

Voyaging from Conwy to the Clyde on Jacana (Malo 38 #212)

We decided to move our base up to the Clyde to access the Scottish West coast so arranged a transfer from Conwy to Rhu marina, which happen to be run by the same company.

We originally intended to move in June, to have the best of the weather on the West coast, but turbo problems on the boat delayed us until the last week in August, which is often notoriously windy from past experience.

These trips always start with a blood letting session from the diesel tank to drain off accumulated water before it leads to diesel bug which is a nightmare to eradicate.

Once underway we spent a final and, as it turned out, rather uncomfortable, night at our favourite anchorage at Puffin Island off Anglesey.

The lighthouse marking the Menai

As is often the case, a rough night ois followed by a flat calm day and the sea was a mirror-smooth, meaning we had to motor all the way to the Isle of Man. We decided to head for Port St Mary on the Southern tip as it is all tide and allows freedom to select the best time to transit Calf Sound to the West side of Man.

Port St Mary is no happenin' place and I dread to think what teenagers find to do but it is a quiet and beautiful place in the right weather. In bad weather it is a place to be avoided as the swell bounces around the harbour and can be dangerous.

We were not exactly fighting for a place

This shows a cloud cap leaving the mountain tops to the West which indicates a wind shift from N to W.

 The run down to Calf Sound has some very attractive cliffs and rock formations, only visible from the sea.

Made it to Peel, our favourite holiday port. Lots of tea drinking and cycling followed and we took a look at practice for the Manx GP which was taking place. As you can see Ro likes her new cycling helmut to go with her retirement present (to herself), a titanium Brompton Superlight.

I managed to strip first gear on my (gas pipe version) 5 speed Brompton which, of course I put down to superior power, rather than loading! Every cloud......... it seems there is now an 8 speed Sturmey Archer hub, which was duly ordered from Kinetic in Glasgow and hopefully should be ready by the time we get back.

The next stage was a bit more challenging from the sailing point of view, up the North Channel, Mull of Galloway, East of the Mull of Kintyre across the bottom of Arran to a safe harbour at Lamlash on the East side of the Island. We decided to break the journey at Port Patrick, near Stranraer, on the side of the North Channel, which owes it's existence to shipping Redcoats, who had previously marched up from London, over to Ireland to suppress the natives. It is only about 20m over to the Emerald Isle.

All started well with a fast sail on a beam reach to the bottom end of the North Channel but then the wind got up and the sea with it and we had a bumpy ride for the last few miles. The entrance above is very narrow and there are strong cross tides and breaking swell as the depth shallows. We found the leading lights and locked onto it grimly as we pitched in.

Once in we tied up to the harbour wall with only a couple of other boats in dock. Regretfully we were tempted by the quayside chip van and I can only conclude there was fresher oil in our sump.

Portpatrick proved to be a pleasant surprise thereafter with some impressive local scenery and coastal walks and a Draculean hotel on top of the cliff.

The beach was littered with Jellyfish and we couldn't decide if they were dead or alive. Either way there were dozens of them.

The weather, which had stayed fine so far, now showed definite signs of deteriorating so we decided to pitch for a gap before a forecast F8 storm to the proven shelter of Lamlash on the Isle of Arran.

We got off to a good start but quickly had to don full gear (including Ro's new buff to match her bike!)  as the wind and rain set in.

Along the way we passed Paddy's Milestone (Ailsa Craig) on which I landed 48 years ago on a school cadet trip. We were in an increasing Westerley wind but it was on the beam so no trouble.

Pictures now stop for two reasons, one, I dropped my camera and broke it and secondly the conditions continued to deteriorate with the wind rising to a 7 gusting 8 and a sea to match, especially just South of Arran. We bashed on under double reefed sails with some large breaking waves knocking us off course from time to time but Jacana is a good sea boat and coped well with the conditions. In fact we were flying with a max of over 9 knots, well above the theoretical max speed of the hull. Basically it is surfing..........sounds fun, but it wasn't.

Worse was to come when we arrived at Lamlash. We had stayed here before in mild conditions and it is supposed to be an all weather harbour. The wind was now gusting 35+ knots and we moored to a buoy in the bay. I used the standard procedure of lasooing a buoy and pulling it alongside to pass a rope through the eye, leaving the lassoo rope as a insurance. This proved to be a mistake as Even though I balanced the load on both ropes it chafed through at 01.00 in the morning. Fortunately, in this case, sleep was impossible and I heard the remaining rope straining and got up to investigate.

The scene which greeted me was not a happy one with ragged rope ends hanging off either side of the bow and the sole remaining line near breaking point. I roused Ro who drove the boat up to the buoy whilst I managed to hang over the side a thread a second line through the eye. I then drank tea for the next two hours in order to check that the new arrangement would not chafe through before finally getting to sleep at 04.30. The wind never dropped  below 30 knots all night and showed a F8 on the dial when the line failed.

Lesson learned don't leave the lassoo line on!!

Typically all was calm by breakfast, in fact it was a beautiful morning, and we set off for the Clyde.

It was still a bit squally so we alternated reefed sails and motoring to sail up the Clyde to our new home at Rhu. This proved to be a tranquil delight with plenty of space and friendly, helpful staff and natives (although I think the name helps a bit :-))

All in all, an interesting and challenging trip. We are looking forward to exploring the West coast of Scotland and Islands.

Rebuilding a 1960 Velocette Viper Clubman

Woodwork is having a summer recess while I engage in an older passion, Velocettes. I had a 1956 Venom for many years and foolishly sold it about 15 years ago, which I have always regretted. This is not a late, mid-life crisis (I had that years ago) but the engineering of Velo has always appealed to me and I think the 350cc Viper in Clubman form is a very nice example of the marque.

As only 5000 were ever built and they went bust in 1970, there are not too many around and ebay has helped hike already inflated prices. Eventually I secured one in bits on ebay which was an abandoned project. Actually that suits me as reliability of old British bikes is often reckoned to be the inverse of the number of re-builds and I need to completely strip it to be sure it is all OK.

LEP 722 was last on the road in 1976 and has since been in a lounge (with cream carpet)  in Coventry. If he ever had a wife she was surely long gone!

This is what she looked like then.

Velo's still hold the record for 100mph for 24 hours from a 500cc bike and the 350 almost emulated that achievement some years later. Unlike many modern bikes they have a very low C of G which makes them handle very nicely and as a "quality" example of British motor engineering (when we were good at such things) it is hard to beat. I remember when I was at school you could buy a Thruxton 500 Velo for £400, now selling for £20k if you can find one!

For some inexplicable reason this perfectly serviceable bike was completely stripped down, lots of new part bought but never fitted.

She is shown here "loosely assembled" for the purposes of the pic in ebay

All chains, exhaust, rebored barrel and piston were new with all the rest present but not assembled.

It has never had a modern logbook so I'll need to speak to the DVLA

Speedo showing 40k from new.

First task was getting it all home so I borrowed the works van and cleared out the garage. I needed to achieve a comfortable working height so I decided to use the stand that came with it (from the cream lounge). In order to get it there I needed a hoist so welded a couple of brackets to a convenient RSJ in the garage roof and hoped my welding had improved. I used an old Haltrac maxi-hoist last used to lift out an MGB engine gearbox and overdrive in one lump back in 1978!

Fingers crossed

Success

At least it is all clean

Beautiful bottom end and gearbox

I am now contemplating where to start to achieve a dry build to make sure everything fits and I have all the parts before stripping to send off for stove enamelling. I'll add to this thread as I go along.

Firstly I stripped off all the cycle parts to check the swinging arm and fork legs for wear. The swinging arm looked recently replaced but I fear the line reaming was poor and it was only touching in a couple of places.

I rigged up a dial gauge and found 0.10mm fore and aft on the drive side swinging arm and 0.25mm at half extension on the brake side fork leg reducing to 0.10mm at full bump position. This requires attention and I'll take a look at the bushes and measure the fork stantions for wear before going on. The swinging arm is OK for now but needs some work on the grease channels which were not correctly lined up.

It seems an odd situation re the swinging arm as it must have been renewed just before the bike was taken off the road and stripped.