Archive for October, 2008

Polishing a drop out

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Here is a step by step pictorial of me polishing a drop out face. Polishing stainless steel is very time consuming and hurts the hands. Polished lugs can easily take 8 hours or more (not including recovery time for my hands). I prefer polished stainless to chromed steel for a number of reasons. Stainless is way better for the environment, doesn’t change the steel composition like chroming does, and is able to be refinished. 

First I sand with 220 grit and work my way down to 1200 grit. Each time a new sand paper is used you must make sure all blemishes are polished out down to the sand papers capability. If any pits or scratches exist they will show up more and more as the steel becomes more polished. The only option is starting over.

double plane fork crown

Monday, October 20th, 2008

 

Finally finished this fork. These are very time consuming and difficult to build but end up looking unique and industrial. Unlike a normal fork crown that the fork blades slip into, double plane crowns are completely loose before brazing so extreme care must be taken to ensure every part stays square.

  The blades on this fork are even unique. They are bigger than the normal 24mm track blades. I guess this is what custom means.