acid

Soaking in the new digs.

| Mik Efford

After a lovely few months in the Hope St workshop it was finally sold to be demolished for more Brunswick apartments (sigh), so out I went and into a new space just down the road. I’m tucked away behind a laundromat, sharing space with broken down washers and dryers. There’s old bikes hanging from the roof, a pot belly fire to keep me warm in winter and a small courtyard out the back that I’ll be able to do sanding in. Perfect.

With the new space set up I got stuck into preparing production of the next two frames (both to be super-sexy road bikes). Below you can see bamboo soaking in borax and boric acid, which is done as an anti-fungal and anti-insect treatment. It’ll soak in there for a week or so, then it’s dried out and ready to use in frames.

Selecting the culms

| Mik Efford

I’ve selected the 7 culms (fancy word for a bamboo pole) for the first frame. Here’s a pic of them laid out into the respective parts of the frame:

And here’s a view of the thickness of the downtube:

I also ventured to my local hardware store and picked up some epoxy resin, glass coat,  borax, beeswax and some other glues and finishes to test the curing and joint making processes with:

I haven’t managed to find Boric Acid anywhere yet thou. I suspect I’ll be able order it online somewhere, or it might be available at a chemist.