My other blog!

I'm building a motorcycle. I think I'll syndicate a bit here because I won't have many new projects until the bike is done. You can read it here:

http://retrojoescafe.blogspot.com

The Fountain of Use

Fountain pens aren't readily accepted in this country any longer. Overseas they're still very common; in Ireland I could buy them anywhere starting at €1 for a brightly colored plastic one in a blistercard. I use them for 90% of my writing, generally falling back on anything that takes a Parker Jotter Gel refill. And this isn't for the sake of vintage, even though I prefer pens made before 1950. I give you now, several reasons why I've opted for them and why you should consider the switch as well.

1. It's the green option; Use a ballpoint until it quits and toss it. Repeat 25 times a year and it adds up...in the landfill. I use bottled ink, which means I go through one glass bottle a year which can be recycled easily. If you want simple and opt for cartridge filled pens, it's still a lot less junk to be tossed in the garbage.
2. It's the cheap option; This only work when comparing fountain pen use to a decent disposable pen. However, who uses cheap pens and reads this blog? The initial cost of a good fountain pen is, on the low end, about $25. This pen could last 10-15 years. Spend $100 and you get a pen that will last a lifetime. A bottle of really good ink will set you back $10 and last most people a year. A good disposable pen is $4 and lasts me from 2 weeks to 1 month. Which works out to $48 a year on pens.
   
3. If you want great ink, it's the only option; The most durable, fraud proof ink is made only for fountain pens. I can also get it in a rainbow of colors also unavailable in ballpoints. This is the only foil to the cost benefit. You run the risk of becoming an ink accumulator.
4. It's the better writing option; Use a pen for 5 years and you'll get to know it. Fountain pens can also be inherently better by sake of how they're made. They write at a wider range of angles and their tip can be had in many more varieties than Fine/Medium/Broad. Want really fancy writing? Pick up an italic tip pen and soon your writing stands out amongst the crowd.

Fan Tinkering #2

The fan sat in pieces long enough. The parts were scrubbed and cleaned and the paint was polished with Flitz metal polish. Flitz is a miracle product and will spiff up a lot more than metal. I cleaned out all the old grease from the motor bearing and the oscillation mechanism. I used lithium and synthetic oil in its place to keep it working for another few decades. My intent with the fan was not to restore it but, only to refurbish it. Nothing was repainted or refinished, just a few bent bits straightened and the rust cleaned off. I don't have the facilities to do a proper restoration now, better to to just get it working and looking like the 80 year old fan it is.

There were only two parts that couldn't be reused; the felt covering the bottom and the power cord. Proper felt is actually pretty difficult to find. The stuff you find as craft stores is acrylic and not at all authentic. I tried ordering 100% wool felt online and got a sheet of fluff about 1/2" thick. I finally tracked down a Wool/Rayon blend that had the right look and feel. It's actually a little more dense and thick than the original which made mounting it to the base plate difficult. A split ring is supposed to hold the felt in places but, I ended up using a light glue. To aid in forming it around the base, the felt gets triangular cuts all around the edge, as the original did. I don't have pinking shears, so each one had to be cut out by hand.














The cord was more fun. Old cords were cloth covered with the two wires twisted around each other. It and a new old stock, hard rubber plug was ordered from the Sundial Wire Co. You shouldn't be surprised to learn that these aren't UL Listed. After the wiring it was a simple matter to reconstruct the fan.

As you can see by the photos and the video, the results are wonderful. I've got three speeds and full ocillation. The sound on high is something to behold, reminding me of when I was a kid and lived near the airport. I'm happy with this one for now but, hopefully I'll be able to pick up a brass bladed one in the future. Westinghouse made these fans in an overt deco style as well, with angular bases and cages. They're gorgeous but exceedingly rare and expensive.

New Year..New Chan-blah, blah, blah

This may seem a bit late but, I have a few resolutions. I always wait to do resolve anything well after the New Year, which is why nothing ever gets done. Frankly, I abhor having to do things according to schedule which I should be doing anyway. Also, if I fail them I'm not reminded of my failures come next year. To be honest, my resolutions can come without warning. These are about as timely as you'll get.

1. Strengthen My Damn Knees: Thanks to several accidents as a kid, a sledding accident (age 18) and a nice motorcycle accident (age 23) I have awful knees. They've only gotten worse since I became a desk jockey and I'm not on my feet more. To that end I bought some power bands (think gigantic, colorful surgical tubing with handles) to do some low impact exercise. I could probably stand to loose the weight I've gained in the mean time, as well.
   
2. Finish My Damn Desk: I have a solid walnut desk made by Remington-Rand in 1929. It's gigantic and lovely. It had been coated in shellac on top of the old finish and the top showed 80 years of use. I'm halfway there but, I need to done for more tinkering.
3. Finish Some Damn Projects: Once the desk is done, it will be easier to complete repairs on the numerous watches, pens, etc. that I've been accumulating over the last year.
4. Finish My Damn Website: Did you know I own a website? I do, but you can't see it because I haven't worked on it in 1 1/2 years. There are also 2-3 more I want to start.
5. Start My Business (no "damn" here): I'd like to do free lance history work part time. It's a sector only saturated by genealogists. Still developing my game plan for this one.

There you have it. Five resolutions for 2009. I also resolve to finish that antique fan in the next week...promise, I just ordered the wire for it.

Fan Tinkering, #1

I've wanted a vintage fan for a long time. Preferably one made of cast iron, solid brass blades and cage and an external oscillation mechanism The aesthetic of such a thing goes far beyond that abysmal fad known as "steampunk." These were marvels of their time; Prior to the electrification of homes, fans had been powered by things such water (you hook up your garden hose to it and power the fan) or Stirling engines (powered by alcohol lamps, the heat generated may have canceled out the effects). These were expensive, well made items, weighing in at 10+ pounds. And those lovely wire cages, meant more for protecting the fan than yourself because, back then people weren't dumb enough to stick their fingers into a spinning metal prop.

So when I finally decided I was going to buy a fan I scoured eBay. I'd settled on a 3 speed Westighouse as they had the right combination of quality, looks and availability (read: affordability). The brass ones were far more than I'm wiling to spend at the moment so I settled on a 1920s model with steel blades and cage painted gloss black. Bodies were being stamped by now, as well but, the graceful taper of the base still gave this fan a lot of class. I scoped a few out and finally bought one. The packaged arrived at work, though it took an hour to find it as it had been delivered to the wrong floor. When I got it back to my desk I unpacked a hefty and dirty fan that had obviously been dropped at some point in it's long life. The cord was an age hardened and cracked replacement most likely from the 50s or 60s. I plugged it in (fingers crossed I wasn't going to blow the power to the entire floor) and...nothing. The ad said it worked, so back in the box until I got home.

Getting it home I managed to make the blades spin when it was turned on. The heartbeat was slow and irregular so I began the laborious process of stripping it down to its individual components. As further testament to the era from which it came, the fan was designed to come apart and be fixed. A simple flat blade screwdriver took care of 90% of the disassembly, while a 1/4" socket finished up the rest. You can see from the photos below what I was presented with. This project will continue.

Moving forward;

I've decided to change this over a bit as I try to get back into it. I'm fairly settled in here and all so let's not concentrate so much on the whole "I'm from Milwaukee and life is different on the West coast" aspect. Though, I'm certain to infuse many posts with it as I go along. If I don't concentrate on that, I'm hoping I'll have more to write.

I'm also thinking of moving this blog over to either wordpress or to a devoted web page. Blogger is nice enough but, I'd like something that I can adapt a bit more. My biggest gripe is the photo posting, I hate how it's done here. Maybe it's my deal, maybe I should be doing my own coding instead of letting Google handle it.

Work, v2.0

Jeezus, fine... I'll blog again. I know how you all want to hear about my new job. So here I go;

Yes, I began my new job last week Monday. As it turned out, my first order of business was to order my business cards. They should be arriving within the next few days, so they say. I ordered 250 of them which, I expect, will last as longer than my tenure at Ask.com. There wasn't much "substantive" work that first day however, it was the very first day that I got to play 'Market Research Analyst'. Thanks to the fact that I didn't have access to my work email until that day (while it had been set up a week prior) I spent many hours just going through and reading them.

The previous occupant of my cubicle had only recently been moved. Thus, I was surrounded by enough boxes to build a nice fort, had I chosen to. So I paid no attention to the small one sitting at the very edge of my desk until about 3pm. At this point I noticed that it (1) said 'Office Depot Welcome Package' and; (2) it was still sealed. Puzzled by my new discovery, I let a few friends know about it. It almost immediately elicited a response from my supervisor/friend, Carla letting me know that it was mine. Not having anything sharp handy I was forced to use a pen to puncture the obnoxiously tough tape. Of course, when I opened the box I found a pair of scissors. They need to put those on the outside from now on. I also got three kinds of paper clips, a bunch of highlighters, one pen, one pencil, some other crap but, oddly, no pencil cup. I dismantled my paper clip holder and began using that, instead.

Anyway, the first day was no indication of what this new career would present. I now find myself in charge of reports, charts and graphs. I'm even doing work for people in the UK. There's quite a learning curve and they don't do much weening. And, for various reasons, I've missed the memos on couple of meetings, which results in some embarrassment as I show up late. I find myself really enjoying it, though. A lot of new things to learn and the days go by pretty fast.

How many kinds of paper clips does a tech company need, really?