Originally Posted by velonomad

If KOF meant Krazy Old F--- I would qualify... Keeper of the Flame? naw... I just love bikes. but thanks for the kind words.

There are a lot of people who build or have built thier own frames and many of them do it better than I.
The act of framebuilding IMO is not art or craft it is just basic metal joinery. Expensive jigs and machinery only make you efficent they don't make you good .
To me the art or craft in frame building is the 1000's of amateur and professional builders around the world that take a similar structure, beat it,grind it,weld it and paint it to fit thier vision or purpose and make it stand out from all the others.
I am impressed by someone who from a few measurements and a 20 minute conversation with a client can produce a bicycle that is the client's dream ride. But I am also impressed by some guy from out in BFE that makes a snowplow from 3 junk bicycles or the bikes I see and read about in Alt Bike Culture here on Bike Forums.
My using a Benzomatic is a bit of a gimmick When I built my first frame around the mid 80's the benzo was the only torch I could afford. I can afford a better torch now but the benzo has not only been my way of building bicycle frames but it is also my way of pointing out that technically framebuilding is pretty low tech and a rideable machine is achieveable by most anyone with the desire,motivation and opposeable thumbs,
I also use the Benzo to piss off tool weenies.