Some things from the shop....

   I've got a couple of projects going right now: a mountain touring bike for dbo, and a bag.

   The bike is starting with a fork of the unicrown variety, which is a pain to make with files, mainly because the miters need to be so accurate with no real frame of reference on the blade, so it ends up just being a long file-and-check session.  At least, I think that's what makes them so hard to make.  In any case, I got some stuff done on it, and it's looking good.   The blades are OX Platinum and should make a really nice fork. 

   The bag is an evolution of the blue one I've been using for some time now.  The new one is made out of a waxed cotton duck, and I'm sewing it in a different order than I did the other one, which seems to be working out well.  I've gotten a new sewing machine recently, and am happy to report that this one can handle what I want it to handle–something I've not been able to say about any of my past machines.  Sewing through thick leather on the new machine is no problem at all!  The fabric is 10oz, which is the only waxed canvas I have been able to find in this country.  I'm considering using heavy cordura for future projects (though I've never been crazy about cordura's durability), or maybe heavy chair duck, which would then need to be waterproofed, which is something I didn't want to do.  Why can't there be anywhere to get dry waxed cotton duck in this country?!  Oh well.