WINTER BUILD OFF: ~irRATional~ Fe2O3

[pick]

Hoped to make some progress tonight but after 9" of snow today, my wife thought it was more important for me to shovel the drive than work on the bike! Maybe tomorrow. High is 10 degrees so not looking so good! I do have a place to work that is heated, but I have to make the journey to make it happen. Since I work outside all day, that's not looking real appealing. Still have some time left to finish. I think I now have all the parts needed.

 

[rubsterob]

No one ever has ALL the parts...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skipton]

9" of snow 10 degrees!
Good luck!

 

[GuitarlCarl]

Hey Skip, you looked out the window lately? 9" of snow and 10 degrees is about where we're at too, and I'm only 50 miles south of you! (may try to meet up with the TailDraggers this summer...)

Carl.

 

[pick]

Headbadge is on the way. Thanks axsepul! For those of you not familiar with him, this guy makes awesome headbadges! Check out his work.

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Oh, nice! I loved the shiny one he did for your other bike, but that one is perfect for this build!


Luke.

 

[pick]

Oh, nice! I loved the shiny one he did for your other bike, but that one is perfect for this build!


Luke.

This is the other one. You are right, way too shiny for this build! Thanks for looking!

 

[Skipton]

The patina one is going to look great your bike.

 

[pick]

Still not digging those spiked nuts, I think some ratty looking acorn nuts would look better.

Picked up some brass acorn nuts & am currently in the process of trying to age them. So far not having much luck. Soaked them in lacquer thinner to remove the clear coat & am treating them with vinegar with salt added. If this doesn't work, I will try a more agressive (dangerous) method!

 

[pick]

Method #2, playing with fire!



Worked pretty well. I just wanted to take the shine off of them without a lot of elbow grease!



While I was playing with the torch, I decided to de-shine a pike bolt I had.

Here is what they look like new:



After cooking the crap out of it:



Much better!

 

[ODDER]

Oh yeah! That's wicked cool

 

[dracothered]

looks good... way cool...

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Very nice! Much better than too shiny!

Luke.

 

[late for dinner]

I think that's another fine little oxidation lesson in the Science of Rat building.
Pike (and Acorn) nuts roasting in an open fire!
Thanks Professor Pick.

 

[pick]

I think that's another fine little oxidation lesson in the Science of Rat building.
Pike (and Acorn) nuts roasting in an open fire!
Thanks Professor Pick.

Thanks! My wife thinks I'm crazy for taking a perfectly good piece of metal & making it look old. That's just the way I am, I like my stuff old & rusty, just like me!

I also love playing with fire!

 

[late for dinner]

I like playing with fire too Pick and a propane torch is my favorite tool for helping to loosen seized parts and remove old decals and reflector strips.

 

[kingfish254]

I really like how the tag turned out.

 

[dracothered]

You can even heat it up and then dip it in motor oil to darken it more. But make sure you do that outside and use safety precautions when doing it.

 

[Missing Link]

If you want brass to get that old, greenish patina, you can set it in a shallow bowl with sawdust soaked in ammonia with a loose fitting lid (oxygen being necessary for oxidation). It only takes a few days depending on how old you want it to look.

 

[bleedingfingers]

Bike is looking awesome
I have that same stem on one of my bikes were can you find those pike nuts and are they originally made for bikes?