Digression of the day
I was in the throes of sewing pockets onto a handlebar bag when the thread started jamming and breaking. I spent a while (growing more frustrated all the time) trying to figure it out before I realized that the needle was actually getting dull and needed to be replaced, but by the time I’d reached that point I was irritated enough so I had to go and do something else to take my mind off it.
Fortunately, I’ve been in the throes of cleaning up my bike/workshop mess, and I’d excavated deeply enough into the pile of junk that I’d unearthed the unbrazed platform for a porteur rack I’d started to work on the year before last. What better way to burn off my frustrations than to take my toy torch and use it to glue these pieces together?
45 minutes (+10 minutes to run to the hardware store for a can of oxygen because the previous one had run out) and a whole bunch of filing later, I’d worked out my frustrations.
And I only bobbled one joint to the point where I have to go in and float more brass onto the HUGE GAPING HOLE where the slat drifted off-center during clamping.
Now I need to make up some struts so I can attach it to a bicycle, braze them on, paint (or powder coat if I manage to win the lottery) the thing, then sew up an even larger porteur bag to make it look like I actually know what I’m doing.
But first I’ll go back to the original handlebar bag, because I feel much more relaxed about the horrible™ thing now.