.
.
Frank, are you referring to the thumb, or???



Still at it today, went to the flea market to look for a suitable blade.

While there I realized I did not want to use some two dollar
tieoneknees crapola riding around all the time with me
here in the Great State of Texas.

So, I picked up a couple of one dollar files - old American steel.

I've reworked one -

Rough layout -
.

.
Annealing is a must,
if you want to file a file -
.

.
File the file -
.

.
Completed -
.


.
I'll do a more detailed step by step later.
I like these fishhook blades.
This one is an el dooblay,
with scales....
.

.
.

 

Of course the thumb, J/K.
But seriously, the file idea is a really good one. The material they are made of is WAY better quality than any of the cheap Stainless Steel junk floating around. But I'll bet there aren't more than five guys who would know how to anneal a file with an Oxy-acetylenecutting torch.
BTWpower hacksaw blades can also make dandy knife blades. Use a grinder to shape the edge while dunking it in water frequently tokeep it from overheating. Then when you have it shaped properly anneal the back 2/3's of the blade to reduce its hardness. It will give it a bit more flexability. Otherwise they are far to easy to break.

 

Mud, what size does the ball need to be? John Deere has a part number (L115469)listed that is .520 in diameter with a .240 hole. If anyone is ever looking for odd clips, hardware, or even electrical terminals Deere has a lot of that stuff available. I bought the connectors from the dealership I work at to make extensions for my wiring when I put internal wired fat bars on my Road King.

If you are ever in need go to www.JDParts.Deere.com and in the lower left hand corner click the " By Part Specification" link. Some of their terminology is way off, but its not bad once you fool with it. Once you have selected the catagory you want you can chose by description or by graphics. There is a lot of odd ball sheet in here that can be a cnt to find around town. I actually found the correct style clips to retain the wiring harness in the trunk of my GTO were used on a combine of all places. Hope it helps.

 

Very nice. You have really turned that bike into something unique. We still need a thread of "after" photos.

 

I guess i'm one of the five ... I have a couple of hunting knives made from car leaf springs during my apprenticeship 20+ yr ago which is excellent carbon steel for blades. For this application it would be ideal as its going to be kept oiled ... its easy to shape once heat treated and softened.

Then the skill is keeping the metal slightly flexible while maintaining an good edge for the blade through the annealing process

Good guide here ... http://www.knifenetwork.com/workshop..._burnett.shtml

 

My simple mod of foam reshaping (page 1) is great and a cheap mod, I'm going to recover in leather at some point soon when the duct tape gives up !

My seat pan out of fibreglass was very pretty but almost crippled me when I rode it ... was thrown in the trash in a temper ... you are using a lot more modeling skills from your day job which will create a much better solution, I am keen to try again for myself so am watching yours with interest ... don't like failing but that's the best way to learn ... try and try again ...

Mat

 

there's some photos inmy 'i'm joining the 'my winter mods' club' thread. but here's an after picwifey took onour ride yesterday.
no i didn't make her sit on the fenderwe removed the seat and bags for the photo

 

Mat,

Thanks for the link. I never knewas much of the technical detailsofwhat I was doingas that article explaines. My exposure to knife making was a long time ago and fairly basic. It wasn't much more than a byproduct of learing to makecold chisels during my Tool& Die training over 30 years ago in HS. But I did have a couple of good teachers,myTool & Die instructor and my father (a metallergical engineer).Between the two of them I managed to learn enough to turntool materials (mostly files and saw blades) into servicable if unattractive cutting tools.
Never did it enough to get really good at it and haven't even tried since then. But mud's pics reminded me that I have a large pair ofOxy-Acetylene tanksin the garage to feed"Smoky the Blue Tipped Wrench". Now I'm going to have to think about using "Ol Smokey"formore "creative" things than just removingold rustynuts, bolts and mufflers out of my vehicles.

Frank

 

When you get practiced you can start making your own pegs and sissy bars too ... a bit of practice and you'll be making some unique parts.
Clutch66 is the best I've seen for metal skills ... no way would I make bars from a piece of chain unless I had enormous confidence in my welding skills ...

I want a set again to play with again ... arc welding is much less fun and you can't play with the results as much. I did try gas welding sheet metal once ... never again ! it looked corrugated when i'd finished.

Spent a fair bit of my apprenticeship (ships electrician) making acetylene bombs and scaring the cr4p out of the local wildlife !

 

Now THAT is a unique idea. The artwork was great all over that album.