Last Indian

Well! As the close of winter comes and the tweet tweet of the birds starts and hope springs eternal?! Oh I’m so screwed! The Last Indians Work Shoppe will now become The Last Indians Sweat Shop! 🥵
More work than one Old man can shake a tree at, forget the stick! 😩

To quote my buddy JustA, and so it begins!😔

48 minutes ago, Frosty said:

The first vehicles named Pontiac were horse drawn carriages and sleighs starting in 1893 by the Pontiac Buggy Company. Founder Edward Murphy would later create Oakland Motor Car Company in 1908. GM would purchase Oakland in 1909.

The first automobile named "The Pontiac" HIgh Wheel Runabout was created by the Pontiac Buggy and Wagon Works in 1908, not Oakland Motor Car Company.

The first Pontiac made by General Motors and Oakland Motor Car Company was made in 1926.

Oh sure! If you want to get real detailed about it!  Good job buddy!

On 3/29/2021 at 2:49 PM, 64 kiwi boni said:

Not sure what the spray can paint is like or if it’s even the same product, but the Hammerite I have used since the early “70”s is goooood sh%#! Tough as a rock and pretty much impervious to most all chemicals after it’s cured! The Hammerite I use is a brush on that you can spray, but it takes a pretty high psi to do that.

Inner fender in Hammerite 

undercarriage in Hammerite 

rocker cover bracket in Hammerite 

you can hardly mare this paint with a hammer!

11 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

last indian, that is soo cool mate, a Real Black n decker!!!

and wow! what a neat way to display the level and ruler 👍

In their day Black & Decker was on top of the heap! Now the whole thing of all the competing greats, like Stanley, Bostitch, DeWalt, Irwin, etc. are just all rolled into one huge conglomerate! With the only directive being, make it cheap and charge what ever you can! Long live the men of ingenuity, ingenuity is dead!

Yup! Handed down tools are as meaningful as JustA bout anything! In my case my dad didn’t have anything to hand down as he really wasn’t a handy guy! It is what it is! Fact is you really wanted to keep him away from things! Once he tried to replace the master cylinder on our 57 chevy! He ended up driving through our garage! Really! Another time he built a stool to stand on,,,, yes it collapsed when he stood on it! 
But the good news is my grandfather, my moms dad, was that guy and while nobody ever showed me how to do anything when I was young, I do have some of his old tools!
The man who was the most influential in my life with respect being able to do things was my father-in-law! He taught me that I could do what ever I wanted to accomplish! He made me realize I had a gift and anything I wanted to do and didn’t know how to do I could learn quickly if I was willing to read about how to do it!

My grandfather’s 1920’s square

my grandfather’s 1900 foldable ruler

grandfather’s 1930’s level

my father-in-law’s 1940’s circular saw.

This saw I still use to this day! This saw weights more than most bench top table saws you can buy today! You can’t stall this saw! It will literally rip your arm of if you don’t have a hold of it! I have cut stone, brick and block with this saw using a carbide blade!

THIS is VERY TEDIOUS! My fingers hurt 😓

Ok! So #3 is a little more 3D, a little bolder? Maybe?! But all have quite away to go!

So there was a quick change to an open assembly with a solid, one piece head! Both of these units I will finish, but again it JustA didn’t grab me so I have gone to a third idea! This one is a little more 3D I think! Of which I will post some pictures of soon!

8 hours ago, Fitzy said:

That is seriously excellent craftsmanship, well done. I've got one year & 4 months before I can apparently retire - those are self imposed dates so as to reach certain fiscal targets before I let go of my income stream. But, I gotta say with each passing week an expense pops up and a little bolt of fear shoots down my spine that reminds me how lucky I am to still be working.

Anyway, your handiwork reeks of perfection. 👍

Well Fitzy that pretty much sums up how most folks feel going into retirement! It’s the great unknown! No matter how much you plan that nagging question, will it be enough is always there! And at least in the US a lot of that is due to the government! Every time we turn around they more often then not change the tax  laws, among other things that hurts the little guy in the wallet. So in my case I over planed the best I could! Saved more than I thought I would ever need! Guess what? I’m going into my 6th year of retirement and I’ve yet to touch a dime of my investments! So you should be fine my friend!

11 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Same !!!!!, Last Indian, are you doing that free hand or is the vise justA for presentation ???

Some is mill work, but there is a lot of hand work as well! The pictures in the vise were because I was doing hand work at that time!

Thought I would post some of what’s be going on as of late in the old shoppe! I don’t get a lot of time these days, sounds crazy I know, but when you’re retired time just flys away!

Right now I just been playin around with some ideas! A 3D Chief Pontiac piece! Long way to go, but I thought some might be interested!

This was just a first what if, but soon I changed this concept and plan on removing the center aluminum section of the head!

On 3/16/2021 at 4:23 AM, 64 kiwi boni said:

Your going to have to explain what this cryogenic treatment is ???

Cryogenic hardening is a form of surface hardening! Basically by taking a particular alloy of steel down to -185c causes a change in the crystal structure of the steel increasing the martensite at the surface which increases the toughness and hardness of the material! This is just a tiny bite like cyanide hardening! But this process doesn’t require surface finishing after the fact!