fortyfour
Well-known member
A little about myself: I'm an industrial Designer by trade. In a previous life I was a goldsmith and silversmith. My mothers father was a Union Welder and apparently his specialty was Tig Welding. Although I did not know him very well (he passed away when I was pretty young), somehow his skills and attention to detail were passed along through the wind. My interest in metals must have been fused in my brain sometime when I was young poking around his shop and admiring his well used tools.
I own a small design studio specializing in Product Design, Graphic Design and all things in between. I've always had a true passion for bicycles. Especially mountain bikes or anything two wheeled that touches dirt and the rider is the power source. My life long goal has always been to start a small custom frame shop. As luck would have it, when my wife and I moved from Providence, RI to New Hampshire, I had an opportunity to apprentice under a long time frame builder (Ted Wojcik) and hone my skills once a week in exchange for graphic design and redesigning his brand identity. I came to the bench already possessing many practical skills and knowledge but Ted was kind enough to help hone those skills even further but pass on some much coveted "trade secrets" and those little tips that make all the difference. Much respect and gratitude goes out to anyone willing to pass along their skills and knowledge. I hope to one day do the same.
Let me just say this too: pretty much everything I do I do it on my own terms. I'm very DIY almost to a fault. So when tackling this project, I want everything on my own terms. I even started my design business to help fund this project. When it's done, I want that satisfaction of knowing I did it myself, I did it to the best of my ability and the result will be a product that's made here in the USA by hand one at a time and a business built on honesty, hard work and expertise. I figure if I can pull that off, I can finally go to sleep at night knowing I'm doing my part to help build back what's been torn down. Even if it's only one bicycle frame at a time.
So naturally, the other life long goal of always building something from scratch is to have that place to create. A place to envision that "big idea" or where those mistakes turn into something unexpected. One factor when we moved to New Hampshire was to have a nice piece of land, not too much mind you - just enough to feel like we weren't elbow to elbow and to have a place for a shop. Mission accomplished: Our property has a 22 x 30 horse barn about 150' from our house. Naturally the apprenticeship came to a close about a year and a half ago and I made the decision to stop lolly-gagging around and bring production home as it were. I always have wanted a shop/studio of my own, now seemed like the right time to do it. My focus now turned to going after building out the shop:
Shop Report: 4.9.2011 by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
From the front (it overlooks one of our large vegetable gardens across the way):
Shop - Front by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
From the back side:
Shop - Rear by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
The previous owners had let too many of the trees grow too big too close to the shop - I traded a friend a custom frame in exchange for cutting down 4 trees. (Bartering is alive and well in the Granite State)
The first thing to do was to remove the horse stalls and get things ready for the build out. So weekends here and there along with the occasional day off coupled with running your own business and all that goes along with just plain living equates to things moving slower than you'd like. Here's a shot from inside the space showing what it looked like at the time. Just a lot of work ahead of me.
Some Perspective by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
Removing 6" of heavy packed clay by pick, shovel and wheel barrow almost certainly killed me. I was broken off by the time that was done. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger as they say. My family heritage is Pennsylvania German. I'm not sure if that is a blessing or a curse as I always seem to take the manual labor approach to everything. A tight budget also makes the DIY decisions a bit easier as well. Since I finished that I've gotten to know a lot more people in town who own, among other things, tractors with front end loaders. A good thing to get to know your neighbors...
Next up was stripping the wire from the old structure and digging a 160' trench for the 2" pipe for my new power line for the shop. Unfortunately, half the distance is up a steep slope, and the access to the south side of the house is pretty tight from any direction not to mention I was on a tight budget too making renting a ditch witch not possible. So again-manual labor:
Out of the woods by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
The final approach to the house for the line goes right through a garden bed. That had to be meticulously taken apart and tended to (my wife has a green thumb. She was kind enough to let me tear this apart for the shop...):
The Grand Finale by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
This was the tool of choice as the hole got deeper. Shovel, pick and hoe all in one. I picked this up when I was about 12:
1968 Folding Shovel by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
And finally laying the pipe. Yes those are rocks and I only dug the minimum 18". I encountered too many to count (again, it's the granite state). One of which was the size of a small bus. I simply dug around that one and moved it out of the way by 4 inches. That took some time...
Running power to the Shop. by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
Thanks for looking - more on the way.
I own a small design studio specializing in Product Design, Graphic Design and all things in between. I've always had a true passion for bicycles. Especially mountain bikes or anything two wheeled that touches dirt and the rider is the power source. My life long goal has always been to start a small custom frame shop. As luck would have it, when my wife and I moved from Providence, RI to New Hampshire, I had an opportunity to apprentice under a long time frame builder (Ted Wojcik) and hone my skills once a week in exchange for graphic design and redesigning his brand identity. I came to the bench already possessing many practical skills and knowledge but Ted was kind enough to help hone those skills even further but pass on some much coveted "trade secrets" and those little tips that make all the difference. Much respect and gratitude goes out to anyone willing to pass along their skills and knowledge. I hope to one day do the same.
Let me just say this too: pretty much everything I do I do it on my own terms. I'm very DIY almost to a fault. So when tackling this project, I want everything on my own terms. I even started my design business to help fund this project. When it's done, I want that satisfaction of knowing I did it myself, I did it to the best of my ability and the result will be a product that's made here in the USA by hand one at a time and a business built on honesty, hard work and expertise. I figure if I can pull that off, I can finally go to sleep at night knowing I'm doing my part to help build back what's been torn down. Even if it's only one bicycle frame at a time.
So naturally, the other life long goal of always building something from scratch is to have that place to create. A place to envision that "big idea" or where those mistakes turn into something unexpected. One factor when we moved to New Hampshire was to have a nice piece of land, not too much mind you - just enough to feel like we weren't elbow to elbow and to have a place for a shop. Mission accomplished: Our property has a 22 x 30 horse barn about 150' from our house. Naturally the apprenticeship came to a close about a year and a half ago and I made the decision to stop lolly-gagging around and bring production home as it were. I always have wanted a shop/studio of my own, now seemed like the right time to do it. My focus now turned to going after building out the shop:
Shop Report: 4.9.2011 by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
From the front (it overlooks one of our large vegetable gardens across the way):
Shop - Front by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
From the back side:
Shop - Rear by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
The previous owners had let too many of the trees grow too big too close to the shop - I traded a friend a custom frame in exchange for cutting down 4 trees. (Bartering is alive and well in the Granite State)
The first thing to do was to remove the horse stalls and get things ready for the build out. So weekends here and there along with the occasional day off coupled with running your own business and all that goes along with just plain living equates to things moving slower than you'd like. Here's a shot from inside the space showing what it looked like at the time. Just a lot of work ahead of me.
Some Perspective by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
Removing 6" of heavy packed clay by pick, shovel and wheel barrow almost certainly killed me. I was broken off by the time that was done. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger as they say. My family heritage is Pennsylvania German. I'm not sure if that is a blessing or a curse as I always seem to take the manual labor approach to everything. A tight budget also makes the DIY decisions a bit easier as well. Since I finished that I've gotten to know a lot more people in town who own, among other things, tractors with front end loaders. A good thing to get to know your neighbors...
Next up was stripping the wire from the old structure and digging a 160' trench for the 2" pipe for my new power line for the shop. Unfortunately, half the distance is up a steep slope, and the access to the south side of the house is pretty tight from any direction not to mention I was on a tight budget too making renting a ditch witch not possible. So again-manual labor:
Out of the woods by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
The final approach to the house for the line goes right through a garden bed. That had to be meticulously taken apart and tended to (my wife has a green thumb. She was kind enough to let me tear this apart for the shop...):
The Grand Finale by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
This was the tool of choice as the hole got deeper. Shovel, pick and hoe all in one. I picked this up when I was about 12:
1968 Folding Shovel by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
And finally laying the pipe. Yes those are rocks and I only dug the minimum 18". I encountered too many to count (again, it's the granite state). One of which was the size of a small bus. I simply dug around that one and moved it out of the way by 4 inches. That took some time...
Running power to the Shop. by BLACK CAP Studio, on Flickr
Thanks for looking - more on the way.
