.
Gigs are always better when your drummer’s dad brings out his ’48 Chevrolet hot rod.
Late night hot rod
2
Author Archives: Tom Harold
Score again!
.
Put another nice joint on this one. This is going scarily well. When is something going to explode or catch fire or get sucked up into a tornado?
Bringing it together
.
And the next night we are awarded with this! Not only did the filing pay off, but a friend of mine who studied to be a jeweler had come over some weeks previous, saw my work, and gave me some advice on getting a good solder joint. They’re supposed to look smooth and shiny and flow right along the joint just as this one does right here. Holy crap, man, after nearly two years of this I’ve suddenly gotten much better! Awesome! (And just when I was forsaking the propane torch of copper for the electric torch of TIG welding…)
Just a little off the top
.
Okay, it wasn’t off the top, but I spent a ton of time filing the side of this bit of wire down so it will fit properly onto the edge of the spiral where it will be soldered. This is the kind of work that eats up evenings and leaves you going, “THAT? I’ve been sitting here for ninety minutes, and I did THAT?” Looks nice when it’s done, though. Rolls good too!
Pieces, pieces, pieces
.
And yet another rolling ball sculpture gets underway. How do you suppose this mess is going to turn out?
Yeah, I guess I CAN do that!
.
You know how we doubt ourselves sometimes? Wait – you don’t? Okay, well here’s how it goes:
1. Tom reads ad online for a reporter/photog wanted to cover car events at O’Reilly Raceway Park
2. Tom thinks, “Hmmm…that sounds pretty cool. I’ve done that before. I know how to do that!”
3. Tom thinks, “Oh, well, they probably need, like, you know, professionals to do the job. I – I’m probably not good enough for that. I don’t know. I haven’t done that in a really long time, not for money, anyway. Not, like, officially. I mean, I have, but, well, it’s been a while. I probably don’t, you know, really know if I can do it.”
That. Like that.
The photo above? That’s what I got when I ignored all the doubting stuff, got my resume together, and then went looking for decent clips to send. There are about a dozen magazines sitting there of stuff I did that is directly related to what the ad asked for! Yeah, right – can’t do the job??? As if!
I sent it off to them. We’ll see. It’s part time, but it would be fun, and it would be nice to be in print again. I’ll keep you informed as to the outcome.
Two outta three
.
I spent a while setting these pieces up and getting everything to fit just right. I did a fair job at pulling it off, really. Quite pleased with that. The middle and left welds look great. The right hand one came seconds away from being a terrible failure, but it’ll hold. I almost cut the wire in half! Hey, better than when every single weld was like that. If I can turn out some more stuff like this I might stand a chance of actually getting some real sculpture built!
Homemade
.
My brother was pulling the clutch on the Chevelle. That little piece of metal with the teeth and the read paint on it is a tool he made so he could remove the flywheel. It took maybe ten minutes to make the tool, but that was SO much easier than when we tried to do it previously without one. Sometimes the littlest things make a big difference.
Windowshot
.
Lighting fail
.
Okay, we won’t try that one again.