Top 5 Saturday

Well after a few weeks of no posts I will pick it back up off the ground with a Top 5  Tools ever invented in my eyes. Should be fun and the list should a mile long but I will just do the absolute top 5.

Number 1 . Welding machines in all forms- I still get this warm fuzzy feeling knowing that I just stuck two pieces of metal together FOREVER. It is like being God or even better, a wizard of metals. Unlike other magical methods a bad weld can be fixed and fixed and fixed. Amazing. I will never forget the very first time I used my Grandpas stick welder and repaired my go cart with a piece of bed rail and then went and ripped on it right after. Kind of started that day now that I look back on it. It was fucking broken and I fixed it. Life changer.

Number 2. The Almighty Sawzall- The start of every good chopper. I have had the same Milwaukee Sawzall for 20 years almost and I have used it hundreds of hours and it is still chopping up bikes, cars, bicycles, and anything else you can cut in half. I have got to the point I am like a surgeon with a scalpel and have got real good at cutting damn near perfect straight lines through shit. Could probably build a house out of all the blades I have gone through over the years. The trick is to let the Sawzall do all the work and you just guide it. Let me just say this you can get fucked by one of these guys. Had a blade bind up once and the entire Sawzall damn near took all my teeth out. Yeah I remember that, it sucked.

Number 3. Hammer- Seriously I know this one goes all the way back to caveman years but this is the ultimate tool. Round hole and a square peg? No problem I have a really big hammer. Bolt is rusted to shit just grab a chisel and a big hammer and your problem is gone. It really isn't just the hammer but all the tools you use in conjunction with said hammer. Chisels, drifts, impacts, soft blows, rubber,  man they are all amazing and when used right they are your best friend but cross them and the will mess you, your fingers and whatever you were trying to clobber up for real. True Story, I was at Travis's house trying to get his Kawa chopper thing together and trying to line up the shocks I was beating on a bolt and slipped with a good 2 pound hammer right on the side of my hand. I swore to the devil himself I had broken the shit out of my hand. It swelled up like a egg under my skin and for weeks and weeks if air touch my hand I would cringe and swear at that fucking motorcycle. OUCH

Number 4- Mill/ Lathe- I will combine these because without one you would never need the other. Pretty much everything in my life has to do with someone much smarter then me using one of these machines. I am terrible at math and to use these machines properly you need to know math. I take the trial and error approach and have actually turned some cool stuff. Spacers, bushings and little odds and ends. In the near future I am gonna invest in some serious tooling. One of my goals is to really learn how to make some killer shit using these two tools.

Number 5. Drill Press- Holes in everything, everything has holes. Straight up if you think you are gonna build anything and not have a drill press you are crazy. Just a drill press will change your life in a positive and very forward motion. I have an old 60's Chicago press that was handed down to me and it works killer and has never left me hanging. Do buy a good drill press vise and never ever try and hold anything by hand and drill a hole through it. After almost losing a number of fingers I learned my lesson. It did take multiple tries but by god I learned it. Scares the shit out of you the first time something bites and goes flying. I bought a little mill vise and just clamp it in place and it works like a champ. 

Number 6 bonus- Torch set- I know now a days everyone has a plasma cutter but all I have is a set of torches. I was given the set from a friend that is dead now and they are one of my prize possessions. Just like welding these can undo about anything and with the right tips and skill you can cut apart a tractor and then weld a gas tank together with a change of the heads. So much fun bending up sissy bars or making footpegs it just would be almost impossible to do without heat and lots of it. RIP BILL HENRY

Swiss Miss

Hot cocoa is the color I think the 51 ended up for this season. Can't say I love it but I can say it is the only truck in the world this color. After 3 rounds of body work and two complete primer jobs I had to say enough is enough. So I have been driving the piss out of it the last two days and I have to admit I do love this old girl. Went to the vintage cycle show at the Airport and took am few pics. Very light turn out indeed and the weather was being a asshole so most people stayed home I guess. Anyways I have all my toys at home and I got to go explore some country roads today. 5 miles out of town and you are in straight up BFE and I love it. Found a sweet gravel road and decided the shovel is still to pretty to take on the dirt. I'll take the Sportster out there this weekend and do some sliding around. Yeah and some wise guy already left a Hot Cocoa instant pack by my shop. Funny

Holding On To A Dream.....

Does anyone else get super attached to there gloves? They become like my children to me. After three years these fuckers have seen a lot of miles and I think this is about the end for them. Finally blew out the finger and they are starting to smell like death in the middle of summer. I was staring at them today and just could not throw them in the trash. I will start looking for a new pair so they can get broken in by the Sturgis trip. May get a pair of summer type gloves that aren't so hot but I like my damn gloves and they even look cool. They are worn in perfect and in the morning they keep my crusty hands warm and after work they are like slipping a pair of slippers on. Just on your hands of course. Noot next time we ship some heads and barrels we will be doing it in two boxes OK boss. Broken fins are a bummer for sure. Random things I have spied from the last week. This swingarm Sporty is top notch and the Robt Williams poster pics are from Erics Garage. The man is a genius when it comes to subject matter and style.

Done And Done..........

Well I am officially moved into the new digs. The weather in Mo has been terrible and on moving day we got over 2 inches of rain. So that always makes for good times. Got the rest of our stuff moved on Friday and now I am just emptying boxes. I had to go get a lawnmower and up till yesterday I thought it was going to be fine. I was wrong and after 2 hours and I was still mowing I realized the bad decision I made. I will be righting that wrong once I buy a riding mower. All boring stuff on my end I will get back to normal this next week. Norton is all blown apart and truck is about to get the paint laid on. These are the best days?

The Soviettes "#1 is Number Two"

Summertime Blues/ Top 5 Saturday

Well have to admit that this whole moving thing is shit. I don't want to move ever again ever. Being that I am in the home stretch of it and next week I will be sleeping at the new place I am feeling a lot better about it. That being said I am missing a ton of fun stuff to do. There has been a car/bike show every weekend and I am having to pass. Next weekend is the Rust Revival up in Wayland Ia and it is a great show. So I got the truck in paint and hated it so I get to do it all over again. I have done way to much work to just settle on so shit paint job. It's just money and time , Right? So Top 5  a little late.
Top 5 Bands I've listened to this week

Number 1. Graveyard S/T-. This bands first record is seriously so good they outdid themselves. All there records are good but this is the one. I posted some songs and you should have listened to them. So rare that there is all the combination of a killer band. Music is simple but played well, singing is spot on and the feeling is there. Perfect music to sand your truck to. Ha

Number 2. The Soviettes- Once again I have found another band about 10 years to late. Hailing from Minnesota and having three records out I have no idea about the band. Just happened to watch a video on Youtube and was instantly hooked. Three females upfront and a fellow drumming. With a little bit of digging I found a ton of live footage and I do really like them. Sound like Jawbreaker and early Face To Face with girls singing. I actually really love the main girls voice and you should watch the Number1 is number 2 video. Maybe I will post it to make it easy om all of you.

Number 3. Bruce Springsteen Nebraska- I don't even know how many pf thousands of times I have listened  to this record. It is one of the most haunting and beautiful records ever recorded. When I get to work real early I will play this record as a warm for my day. It will either make me energized or bum me the fuck out out. So put your makeup on and your hair up pretty tonight we're going to Atlantic City.

Number 4. CCR- You want to talk about American music well then CCR is the one. I can't think of anybody that does not like CCR. If they don't then they you are no friend of mine. I have this memory of driving with my dad in his old Econoline van. It was always hot as hell and we were driving to his house for the weekend. I could smell hot oil coming up from the doghouse. I knew that my weekend was going to full of riding dirbikes, skateboarding, fishing and just being a kid. On these drives from our moms place to dads we listened to CCR. With out a doubt we always put in Greenriver and would sing along and play air guitar. Probably one of the first bands I really loved. As I grew up I of course found my way into Punk Rock but there will always be a place for CCR in my heart.

Number 5. Outbreak- With song titles like Your Scum and Brain dead this band rules. Crazy fast short blast to the empty space between your ears. When I want to listen to Hardcore I want this. Angry snotty almost to the point of being ridiculous. There 10" record is by far one of the great Punk records of the last 10 years and with that being said I will go listen to it right now.

Dream Machine......

This bike is one of my Holy Grail machines. I don't know if it is the Buck Rogers styling or the red, white, and blue paint. The lines of the boat tail are amazing and either you love it or hate it I suppose. Most guys hate it but if you look at the hole package this is one perfect motorcycle. someday someway I will make one mine. Mark my words.