Bryce Masuk

Larry do you have a picture of the bike?


sounds like it is pretty cool

here is the begining of my tank project

not sure if it will be useable for a bike project I will concider this one to be purely practice

if i cant use it on a bike it will probley be my piggy bank or something

the measurements are
22 1/2 inch's long 8.5 inches tall off the base plate
and 13 inches wide

I looked at the scale approx most bikes vs the size of people and took a guess
I still need to finish the buck today

I probley wont be using a wheel on this one its going to be all slap or nothing

I think I have a piece of aluminum the right size but the patterns need to be cut first thats the goal today

as for what the tank will go on?
I will probley look for a old honda or yamaha 750/1000 bike to modify

I had a honda cb750 at one point I paid 700 bucks for it and it was great
never gave me problems at it was cheap I used it for a year and sold it for 50 bucks more than i paid for it

this project will probley take awhile since I will be trying to find everything at flea market prices my plan is to build the frame or modify it beyond recognition as well as build a harman styled fork

Wow larry you guys really got it done

I havent had to jack up anything that heavy yet I think a semi tractor is the biggest thing i have ever lifted and that was with a airjack

if you dont know how to tig weld already its probley not a good first project

its all relative, everyone does there own thing

many people do things because its what they want to do, it has nothing to do with others

trades were never truely recognized as art until mass production had taken off

I guess no one recognized the human aspect of making things

when you make anything by hand there are always imperfections those imperfections are different person to person

Yea I really cant see you picking up a water color brush. I guess I shouldn't call it art but you obviously take a lot of pride in your craftsmanship and I was just wondering if you ever build "work" that doesn't have a motor on it?
YouTube - up and Away

I am pretty sure anything is art when its handmade

I think art is when you imagine something and then you make it reality,

the best part about visualizing things is when you can do it without closing your eyes its almost like its created instantly

but then of course you have to do the actual work

I like your work its clear you have your own style and have spent alot of time pounding metal,

if there is something you think you lack its probley because your soon to evolve your idea's again which is awesome

like they say there are 4 phases to learning in life

1. when you know you are incompetent
2.when you dont know you are incompetent
3.when you know you are competent at something
4.when you are so good at something it you dont even think about it

as soon as you hit phase 4 hopefully your thinking of something else to learn

The table pictured is for my grandmother for christmas for all the love and support over the years and such,

it has some flaws I wish I had done a few things better,
but it is what it is and I have learned from making it

I love that bike it must make flying seem like your on bus haha

I know what you mean about doing everything because of having no money,
I like building tools though and its always a good experiance

I am thinking about building a english wheel because the place I am working in has a nice massive lathe a nice 9 x 4 top wheel would be nice or something like that depending on what I can find

only problem is I have no idea about the measurements for the different radius's to machine for the anvil wheels

on metalcaft tools it says a #1 anvil is 12 inch radius with 1 inch track

I am thinking the track is the part that contacts the upper wheel but a 12 inch radius really doesnt explain much for machining

I used to like working on mechanical stuff I dont mind it, but when I do it becomes frusterating I keep thinking if this was only making something out of metal I would have something done by now when the engine still isnt running

I think I am getting the sheet metal sickness again I have a bunch of books on it and have attempted to make a gas tank with a poorly made buck from whatever wood I could find at the time

maybe I will build a chopper from the ground up and buy a cheap bike and chop the tag off and weld it to my frame hahaha

I bought a bunch of sheetmetal tools and have played around with them some but I havent even used all of them yet they came as part of a package deal I wont let these babys go until my death day

edited because it wont upload my pictures so i guess I will try again later

Jesse your shop looks so nice its nicer than my home,


When you started building bikes back in the day were you turning alot of wrenches or was doing custom sheetmetal always your passion?

a friend of mine has one like that he found it inside of a wall at a shop they were shutting down

his is even bigger though its about 3 feet long the only name i could think of for it is bridge building torch :)

Everyone is turning out some cool stuff,

I love old machines as well a friend of mine is a elevator mechanic and he pulled out a sweet OTIS elevator brake

its basicly a watts governor for a steam engine converted with a Spring loaded trap for the cable

if the elevator goes too fast the top pops up from centrifugal motion and it snaps shut

since the cable runs though the otis governor unit the elevator must go all the way to the top and be locked in position the cable released and pulled back though the unit,

most guys are cutting though the otis governor instead of pulling the cable back though it
which is a shame these things look pretty amazing parts of it are made of bronze maybe even all of it the thing was 100 years old and the paint looked like brand new, haha it must have been lead paint.

this thing is essentialy what made the otis company because it was not only the first but such a superior mechanism for elevator safety invented in the 1850's and still is use everyday all over the world

if you get on a real slow elevator chances are it has the otis unit on it,



Anyways after the first couple posts, I was thinking this MUST Be Jesse james and it was,

You have made some amazing stuff in your time with metal, I loved that airplane engine bike you made (7 cylinder?) that must be a terror to ride

I am a sheet metal worker as well I started learning how to weld on tig and tig only on stainless eventually I learned how to mig without a mess

I love the look of raw metal finish on sheetmetal, I have tryed to form stainless but find it to be a @itch to work with, aluminum is nice and easy it seems like the only way to go if you are working only by hand without machines

one day I will have a english wheel and a planishing hammer but probley not soon lol

I really like that sculpture

you definately are a skilled smith

Seems like washington is chalked full of great metalworkers,

typically once you meet one you find another finding the first guy is the trick

I havent been able to get that ball rolling up where i live

If you could get your hands on some elevator rails they would be amazing for this purpose

they are forged and are about 1.5 wide on the edge and 18-20 inches long

the bottom is about 5 inch's wide and 3/4 inch thick on its thinnest edge

it looks like a T but the t goes on the bottom i will take a picture of one of mine for these purposes

the collar material looks good

rebar is pretty cool material it looks pretty neat when you twist it

or when you forge in the lines on two sides and leave the other bit of texture

I think I figured it out

I went from r4 spaced the compass out to D fired once with the compass and went to h and did the same the only problem is it gives you only the one arc and this case you will need 4 of these same arcs so you must find the true lengths and such I am guessing, my drawing is somewhat of a mess I am going to completely restart the drawing


the book claims this will work for any oval there is only one way to be sure i am assuming

a couple of months ago I build a giant compass in the shop with my extender i was drawing 18ft circles flawlessly on the road,

only problem i had was consuming an entire kids sidewalk chalk per circle LOL


I am still going to try and make this work 100% correctly
drafting on a computer is all fine and dandy when you program it into a machine but when your doing it by hand you need a guide of some sort

I have also been playing with this Drawing An Ionic Volute

I used a few other methods but it did not entirely work I figured this kind of scroll would be paticularly useful when the scroll is to essentially to be the entire area between the cap and the bottom of a handrail.



I have realized one of the main shortcomings in my smithing at this point is the lack of a good drawing before I was free handing all scrolls and building everything by eye and guesswork.

then i progressed into drawing everything out to a small scale and dinking around with until it looks fairly correct, but I know it will make a huge difference if i know exactly what i want draw it all out to scale.

to do this there is no evading drafting, and i cant see anyway of doing it not by hand

besides i am really poor right now i start a new job pretty soon but i spent all the money i had in my hands to get my new powerhammer to my house and pay the taxes and fees and such, I still need to save up for all the steel for the base (which i should have bought with it but i had to have a few sets of dies instead because I figured the base would be easier for me to make rather than dies)

None the less since I have no propane I might as well increase my drafting skills and get a few projects on paper and make them 100% to the drawing no matter what it takes

It doesnt really matter if your using a blow torch you would probley want the burner in the side because you should run the torch upside down

the top is where most burners go

the honest answer try it as is I doubt that if you are planning to forge its going to work the box itself will likely get equally as hot as the metal inside it

I have some what of a problem I have attempted to draw a long and narrow oval which uses a compass rather than just the basic triangle method

the method comes from a book I have called the geometry of sheetmetal


When the major axis is considerably longer than the minor axis, say 4 to 1, all the foregoing methods are not so satisfactory, but for general purposes this method, though not as simple, is workable for all proportions long or broad.

Draw the major and minor axis AB and CD, intersecting at O. Join CB. With centre O and radius OC, draw arc CE, cutting line CB at F. With centre F and radius FE draw arc EG. Draw GH parallel to OB. With compass point on B, make BR4 equal to CH. Join HR4. Bisect HR4 and extend the perpendicular bisector down to meet CD extended at R2. Then R2 is the centre for the side arc and R4 is the centre for the end arc. Make OR3 equal to OR4 to give the centre for the opposite end arc.


I have no problem doing this except when it comes to the part Bisect HR4 it does not describe what length to use, nor where from I have attempted many different combinations and have not correctly drawn the elongated oval.

maybe someone on here has done this before I know how to use the other basic method of drawing ovals but it does not work for long and narrow ones

I am mostly concidering it because right now i am basicly screwed for employment I just took a job at a warehouse, it sucks but it pays the same as welding for rip off artists plus the job is about 10 mins from my house usually i have had to travel over an hour each day which adds up,

probley pretty xxxx good i would imagine as long as their aint no fur on it lol

I am not 100% sure george once i built a direct drive scooter with a solid rubber tire and i used a knurled steel piece and i did not harden it and the knurling wore off within a month of so.

I would imagine steel would be the best option possibly case hardened if possible I dont think aluminum would be the best choice but hopefully someone who has built a tire hammer can tell you.

are you going to machine the shaft to fit the shaft on the motor?

if machining it isnt possible you may find that you can buy hub that fits your motor and weld it on to the hub obviously your going to have to be pretty careful as to keep it running true,

how many rpm is your motor? you will need to have an idea from someone who has built one on what you will need

the pipe must be square as well how are you cutting it?


with an angle grinder you will need to have one square end to measure off or a pipe gauge

what i would do is measure it a few times to the same lenght around the pipe and put a few dots and connect the dots around the pipe

score the pipe with the wheel 360 degrees cut only though the thickness of the pipe not through the pipe otherwise you will likely throw it off square

I would take a straight edge draw an "X" corner to corner

take your compass draw a circle the size of the pipe and tack it up depending on the thickness of the plate a piece of aluminum clamped on or another piece of steel tacked on may reduce the warpage.


if the pipe isnt straight though this wont make them line up,

take a machined piece of flat bar and put it on edge and double check the straightness of the pipe

I am not entirely sure what the question is are you asking how to use the brass as a weld to hold something together? or just to apply a coating of brass to a forged object?

because if you are looking for a brass coloring you can use a brush on black hot iron it will give a light brass polish, this I have found is really dependant on the brush you buy because I have had some that leave a really solid brass coloring and some that are super weak and others that transfered no brass color at all.

or you can heat it up to yellow or white and put some brass shavings/powder on and it will melt and coat whatever it is

Everdear might also work if you clipped up some wire into little pieces

if fumes come off try not to breathe them in because brass contains zinc which is not good for you

I guess so to a certain extent,

You get your 4th class first and work your way up people who are 1st class run powerplants and dams and such many others work in mills, chemical plants, and food factorys

I figured I could work and still have lots of energy to forge afterwork untill i manage to make enough money that blacksmithing puts food on the table