Getting woody
 

This morning I took some pics of two recent projects that allowed me to dust off my table saw. The first is a wooden platform for an old Blackburn rack that's on my commuter 1971 Raleigh Competition. I show pics with and without the saddle bag. The platform is from a scrap of birch plywood, dadoed and fastened underneath to create grooves for the rack tubes, dyed to have it look a bit more like the Brooks saddle, and finished with a bunch of coats of urethane.

The second are some pics of wooden fenders on my 1974 Raleigh International. I cut three ~1mm x 2" slices from scrap cedar, glue them together and tied them to a wheel with a tire mounted in order to retain a curve, trimmed, sanded and finished with urethane. The hardware is from scrap aluminum brackets and a set of Bluemels stays. The overall look of the bike is Porteur-ish with SR riser stem, ITM bars, DiaCompe bar-end brakes and thumb shifters. The odd mix includes Campy NR mechs, crankset and bits, MKS touring pedals, Weinmann cp brakes, Brooks Pro saddle, Velo Orange seat bag, Nashbar faux leather grips, brass bell. You'll also see the reason I got this frameset relatively cheap on eBay: there's a soldered dent on the downtube. I figure if I like this bike enough, I'll get it painted at some point.

Neal

Very nice work Neal!

Neat bikes Neal, makes me want to get on my Ross Porteur project. I already have wald baskets and a steel wire "shelf" to make a front platform rack out of, someday when I get an appropriate Raleigh I may try the wooden fenders and some teak racks or something, very cool IMO.

That's great work!

Very nice setup, as with all of your bikes. I was wondering, with flat fenders, do you get adequate coverage compared to conventional curved fenders? I realize they are wider, but I'm curious.

Nice! Keep us updated on longevity! :D

You mean I should ride it in the rain?!! Well, it is supposed to rain on Friday, so I can test them then. The total width (about 2") is the same as most of the curved fenders I have on my bikes, but I don't know if the spray pattern will be different or not. Maybe I should ride in an all-white outfit and take pre- and post-ride pics!

I should say that my idea for the construction largely came from this site: http://www.sonic.net/~maryking/wooden_fenders.html.

Thanks for those comments.

Neal

I don't know if you've seen this one, but Mike at ANT makes some very cool woody racks: http://www.antbikemike.com/images/Ba...flatbedbig.jpg

That's the kind of thing I'd like to construct. What's your wire shelf from?

Neal

I really like what you have done with your bikes. I am glad that I am not the only one who enjoys TT levers used in that manner. Did the laminated fender hold the desired curve well? I was vaguely considering this as a project, but was nit sure if it would require steaming the wood to hold a smooth curve.

I have the same saddle bag, BTW. It is pretty nice.

Looks great Neal!
I had never thought about wooden fenders until I saw a set for sale on Ebay. I have made many things out of wood over the years, but fenders hasn't been one of them....yet;)

We are waiting for the after the ride in the rain pictures:p :D

Aaron:)

Nope, no steaming required. Three thin strips of wood glued to each other, strapped around a 27" wheel (with tires) and left to dry for 24 hours. They sprung back very little once I removed them. I could have done a better job of taping the layers together initially as I had some gaps in the glue that I had to fill/sand/fill, and it's a bit tricky to cut such thin layers (essentially the width of a saw blade), but not impossible.

Neal

Ah, so you're the guy that got that International. I was paying fairly close attention to it myself. I've gotta say I'm totally in love with those fenders - beautiful! What'd you use for stain/varnish/etc.? It would seem that you've given me an excuse to buy more tools and get wood myself, and what guy doesn't love that :D ? Then I'll just have to find a suitable frame to put 'em on, and what BIKE guy doesn't love that ;) .

Thanks! In terms of finish, I wandered into Home Depot, looking for marine varnish, but the guy in the paint aisle told me that they don't sell varnish anymore (!) and steered me toward the urethane/plastic finishes. I've used those plenty with furniture, but this wasn't polyurethane, some other formulation that seemed rated for outdoor use. The cedar wood came from a big old cedar cabinet that a neighbor gave me years ago, and cedar has a good reputation for standing up to the elements (part of that cabinet has gone to a sandbox for my kids and is still intact after 7 years).

Tools, wood, bikes: good stuff.

Neal

The way I did this when I built a longboard was to cut the pieces wider than they needed to be, then I applied glue, bent the board how I wanted it, and screwed the layers together with wood screws along the peremiter of the board. Once it was dry, I cut the board out. You can use clamps too, if you happen to have 10 or more of them laying around.

Here's the process if anyone is interested in trying it:
http://users.pandora.be/Toothless/To...ge5/page5.html

Oh yeah, I love the rack too! It would look sooooo sexy with the fenders, you should make another set of fenders for the Competition or a rack for the International (or both)!

You've out Rivendell'd Rivendell. Cool.

That is nice, I haven't ever brazed but my little shelf has 4 nicely located holes so I think I can just bend up some triangles and use a modified cable hanger to attach to the stem. Sorry, I have no idea where my shelf came from, other than out of the box of misc. metal junk in my basement. Here is a pic.... I may make a wooden platform to bolt to the front and perhaps a wooden rear platform with hinged lids for the baskets. http://users.aol.com/amnomad/porteur.jpg

That shelf does have possibilities. Looks like it came out of fridge! I'm wishing I paid more attention in 8th grade shop class when they brought out the brazing torches.

Neal

Great job! I really like your Raleigh-