Member postings for larry Phelan

Reminds me of the time I went to ALDI,S to buy an angle grinder for a friend.While I was checking to see that the box was sealed,another old guy came drifting along,picking up everything,buying nothing [you,ve met them !]

Picked up one of the boxes,opened it,pulled out all the bits and said"That looks a handy thing to have" I said,"it is,if you have the work for it" Next he said "I think I,ll buy one myself,what,s it for?"

I could not believe my ears ! I said "if you dont know what it is,leave it alone,it,s not a toy".

Maybe that,s why we need the H/SE !

I thought Howth was to the East of Dublin.Used to be when I lived there. Has it moved?

Was very interested in the replies to my comments on English motor bikes. What prompted my remarks was that I live not too far from a ferry port,and in the car park of the swimming pool which I use,I often see English motorcyclists,over here to tour our quaint little country. The odd thing is,I have never seen any of them with English bikes,all Jap or German. When I asked some of them about this,why none of them had English bike,they said "Where are they?" They said that for serious runs the Honda or Yamaha or BMW was the way to go,so I assumed that English bikes were no longer being made. Seems I was wrong,although they seem to be few and far between,only two makes out of how many?

In my youth [many moons ago] I had a Frances Barnett known as a Fanny Bee,if any of you remember them. I seem to remember something about a new model BSA being brought out some years ago,but with a Jap engine !

Would this qualify ?

Edited By JasonB on 01/08/2017 16:24:48

Regarding the decimal point issue,I remember our foreman ordering some 11.5 mm drills but due to a slip of the pen,we ended up with a huge number of 1.5 drills ! Never really found any use for them,I think I still have some of them kicking around,after 30 years !

Hi Watford I remember that too and sometimes even an electric fire !! Happy days,eat your heart out H/SE !

Why would you need to run the lathe backwards when cutting metric threads as opposed to whitworth ones? Just wondering !

Hi Duncan, You think that,s bad? over here they spent well over 60 million setting up water charges and they still have not got it up and running,and perhaps never will.

Hi Dave,

Do you type with one finger,like me ? I tried using two but the result was gibberish . Oh to be young again [well not too young ].

There is no doubt in my mind that these items are what we used to call "Wasims"

A Wasim was something we could not identify,or work out what it was for.

Hi Ady 1

Can you imagine that happening today? Do nabours even talk to each other anymore? And what about the dreaded H/SE? ARHaaaaaaaaaaaa !

Good morning Dave,Martin,

No,China,s boom will not last for ever,nothing does,remember Japan some years ago ?,then it will be somewhere else. I was unaware that there was anyone involved in the steel industry these days,apart from those selling it or using it,do you still make it? [Is it now owned by an Indian co?]

Not sure about the Auto industry,most of that appears to be owned and run by outsiders and I can,t remember the last time I saw an English made motorbike,it was a long time ago !

Re the Port of London,this is true of most major docks,they were due for upgrading anyway,as were the railways. This happened quickly all over Europe,but sad to say,not in England,where shipyards are a thing of the past and the railways??, need I say more? Of course,you are not alone,over here,they not only closed down the railways,they took up the tracks as well,just to be sure [maybe that,s where some of that old rail track came from ]

Are there any machine tools made there anymore,or did Maggie get rid of them all? I suspect that if there are,they would be priced way out of our range anyway,since they were never intended for people like us.

By the way do any of you remember a shop called Tyzacks in London [not sure if I have the spelling right ]? I remember seeing their ads years ago in a magazine called "The Mechanic",which my father used to get from time to time.They all got lost during my many house moves,as did many other things!.

Excuse my rambling,that,s what old age does to you !

PS Dave,I enjoyed your tale about trying to buy a secondhand lathe !,could tell you a story along those lines !

Hi Martin,

What do they make in England these days? Everything I see seems to be made in China! and in the Model Engineering field,very little seems to be home made.

Just asking !

Would have to agree with both Brian and Ian. Some of the stuff used in cosmetics and washing powders is scary,to say the least.,and again,---no factories,no accidents,simple as that.

However,there is something like one fatal accident every week on farms over here. I doubt if factories could equal that,at any time. Nothing the H/SE can do will correct this. When one sees the type of farm machines around now,one can see the need for common sense,but as Bernard Shaw said in his day,"There is no such thing as common sense,since about one person in every ten thousand has sense of any kind,it can hardly be called common"

Machines do not cause accidents,people do,by being careless around machines,which never sleep ! As everyone knows,there are some people who should never set foot in a workshop,in the first place. In order to protect such people from themselves,the H/SE puts a blanket ban on everyone.You can,t even select boards in a timber yard anymore,they wont let you past the counter,and you have to take whatever they bring out.Same in scrapyards [do they exist any more?]

Time will come when we wont even be allowed to use our own workshops unless we have completed a "course" and have a "certificate". I doubt if most of us will be around at that stage[or would want to be].

The wonderful works of a wheelbarrow !

Just reading all this stuff !!! UGH, how can I ever go out to my workshop again? My lathe is covered in oil,swarf,ect,likewise my mill,and as for my bench------that,s like a tiphead ! My drilling machine is a disgrace,and as for my bench saw,God only knows what might be living in the sawdust around that ! I can,t understand how I have survived so long with such dangers all around me. It must be because no one ever told me about them,but from now on,all that will change. N o more running out to finish off a job without being fully kitted up,helmet,goggles,earmuffs,gloves,knee pads,boots,the works ! can,t be too careful.

When I remember some of the places I worked in,machines with no guards,solvents of all kinds,paint overspray,and so on,to say nothing of cuts knocks,I wonder how I,m still around.

The fact is that the human body is well able to deal with this,has been doing so for the last 10000 years or so,so dont worry too much about it. If the H/S shower had their way,we would not be allowed to F-----t in case we might injure ourselves !.

Nice machine,should be able to do some serious work with it.

Talking about workshop size,when I had my garage/workshop built,I went for 800 sq ft inside in order to hold everything. Does it ? Well,more or less,usually less.My van seldom sees the inside and I often have to squeeze my way between machines and junk [good junk,might come in handy some time ] Still it,s all in a good cause,so I tell myself anyway.

Nice to find an old machine,a real machine,not a toy. Many happy hours with it !

Why dont they make sure that the wheels fit,before they sell them? That,s like buying a car and then finding that the wheels dont fit. There is no excuse for that kind of thing,no matter where they are made.

Prefer to find better uses for my silver steel !

Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story !

Hi David Clark, Glad to see that yo are still around !,Keep hanging in there !!