Hi all, thought I'd introduce myself as it seems to be the way of things around here.
I'm John, and I've had an Old Woodworking Machines Habit for a few years now.
I've been finding and dragging home old machines to restore to build up my shop. What I didn't count on was how much I'd enjoy rebuilding the machines themselves. Now that my (wood) shop is nearly complete I've come to the realization that I while I love restoring old machines, I can't continue to find and rebuild tools for the simple reason of lack of space. However, I think the hobby of finding and fixing up old machines is a worthwhile endavour I just dont have the room for it anymore. Stay with me on this, It'll come full circle in a few paragraphs.
You can see most of my work at http://vintagewoodshop.wordpress.com. I'm also an active member of owwm.org.
This is probably one of my favorite restores:
From this:
To this:
Anyway, I've been on a bit of a health kick lately and wanted to start doing some regular excercise and remembering how much I used to like riding, a bike seemd to fit. So, a couple weeks back I bought a new Electra Coaster 3i. It's the first bike I've purchased myself, for myself, in my adult life (33 now) and I love it. Up till now I've just had a hand-me-down.
Long story short, I got my bike, and somehow stumbled across this site looking for parts to "customize" my new bike. Between this and watching some episodes of "American Pickers" (and my aforementioned machine-restoration-habit) two and four started to come together. I figured, why not find some old bikes, fix them up (in doing so satisfy my metal/mechanical/resto habit) then, maybe keep a few, and sell the rest to the horde of college kids around here. I've always wanted to learn to weld/work metal so, eventually, I'd like to get into scratch building but that'll be awhile I think (especially with a 2-1/2 year-old and 9 month-old roaming around the house).
But I did manage to find a pretty intact '63 Schwinn Traveler I'm going to start with. I'll post the pics in the appropriate forum/thread. But here's a tease:
Anyway that's why/how I'm here. The site reminds me very much of my otehr internet haunt so I think I'll enjoy this a lot!
Thanks!
JK
I'm John, and I've had an Old Woodworking Machines Habit for a few years now.
I've been finding and dragging home old machines to restore to build up my shop. What I didn't count on was how much I'd enjoy rebuilding the machines themselves. Now that my (wood) shop is nearly complete I've come to the realization that I while I love restoring old machines, I can't continue to find and rebuild tools for the simple reason of lack of space. However, I think the hobby of finding and fixing up old machines is a worthwhile endavour I just dont have the room for it anymore. Stay with me on this, It'll come full circle in a few paragraphs.
You can see most of my work at http://vintagewoodshop.wordpress.com. I'm also an active member of owwm.org.
This is probably one of my favorite restores:
From this:
To this:
Anyway, I've been on a bit of a health kick lately and wanted to start doing some regular excercise and remembering how much I used to like riding, a bike seemd to fit. So, a couple weeks back I bought a new Electra Coaster 3i. It's the first bike I've purchased myself, for myself, in my adult life (33 now) and I love it. Up till now I've just had a hand-me-down.
Long story short, I got my bike, and somehow stumbled across this site looking for parts to "customize" my new bike. Between this and watching some episodes of "American Pickers" (and my aforementioned machine-restoration-habit) two and four started to come together. I figured, why not find some old bikes, fix them up (in doing so satisfy my metal/mechanical/resto habit) then, maybe keep a few, and sell the rest to the horde of college kids around here. I've always wanted to learn to weld/work metal so, eventually, I'd like to get into scratch building but that'll be awhile I think (especially with a 2-1/2 year-old and 9 month-old roaming around the house).
But I did manage to find a pretty intact '63 Schwinn Traveler I'm going to start with. I'll post the pics in the appropriate forum/thread. But here's a tease:
Anyway that's why/how I'm here. The site reminds me very much of my otehr internet haunt so I think I'll enjoy this a lot!
Thanks!
JK
