Hacksaw Blade

In this economic crisis I can’t help laughing a lot. That’s because so many of my fellow consumers have been made fancy gadget addicts, and they have to pay others to do simple things for them. In order to survive anymore I have to fall back on some real old-fashioned skills just to get some necessary things done. Here is an example of one skill that has saved me quit a few bucks.

First of all I had been real lucky lad. My grandfather had been a homebuilder way back in the first half of the nineteen hundreds. Since I was his oldest grandson I had been called to help him out just like young men had been in earlier ages. That turned out to be a real helpful part of my life. While helping out I was shown the basics of carpentry and had learned how to use a bunch of them old fashioned tools that he used.

As the eldest grandson I inherited a vast number of tools when my grandfather passed away. They even included some that my great-grandfather had used. They weren’t much of a big deal way back in the nineteen eighties because most of the lazy boy tools of today hadn’t been introduced yet.

While on active duty in 1980 I had bought myself a 1980 Harley Davidson Sportster. My first erg was to turn it into a wild looking custom chopper. Back then just about the only way I had to get many things done was to do them on my own. That requirement wasn’t discouraging because of all the biker friends I had made. They would mostly be working on the motorcycle themselves when it was too cold to ride them. Instead of spending a large sum of bucks to buy some needed part I saw several of them either make on their own or work like a team with some other biker to do it. One of my friends had even made me a lifter so I could easily lift my Sportster up off the ground to work on it when required.

Like any other biker on the road there have been some times when I have had to replace some custom parts that had got broken. Instead of buying some replacement it’s always been easier to pull out the hacksaw that was inherited. It has been a fairly easy task to set the damaged part on some steel and trace it with a magic marker. It’s just that I have had to learn how to cut circles, which way to have the hacksaw blade in the hacksaw and which blade to use.

This tool has allowed me to makes some parts on my own. My Sportster chopper has a drag bike rear fender. I picked it out because most of the rear wheel isn’t covered like on a stock bike. It’s just that in order to ride around town legally a rear taillight had to be added. With that a license plate had to be mounted. The only taillight I could find left the license plate up too close to the passengers seat. That way just about any chick that was packed would bend the license plate by sitting against it. This old fashioned tool allowed me to make a set of braces to hold the license plate up.

Naturally the carburetor I got to replace the stock one didn’t have a support rod. It took a while before I learned a lesson. Without that rod the carburetor would shake loose and almost fall from the intake manifold. With a support rod to copy it was an easy task to use my hacksaw to make one on my own.

This antique tool has become real handy as far as nuts and bolts go. There have been many times when the only replacement bolt that could be found was too long. Those bolts can easily be made the right length. I just always make sure a nut is on that bolt as far as it will go and hacksaw it right on the threads. That way after I file the end of the bolt a bit and unscrew the nut the threads are in fine condition. Then the shorter bolt can be used to replace the missing one.

A couple years ago I decided the oil tank on my chopper had to be replaced. That’s because the homemade one in use only held two and a half quarts and I had found out three and a half would help the engine run better in the hot summer weather. It had ended up that small because I had to make it out of one of the wrap around oil tanks used on Shovel Head choppers. Half of that one had to be cut off because of where I have the motorcycle battery holding pad mounted. It was fairly easy to use my hacksaw to cut that wrap around apart and then take the pieces to get them welded where I was working then.

At least I understood that the new oil tank should at least hold three quarts of oil. I was a little more patient in designing the new tank. That allowed me to use a cardboard box to make a testing model. Once it was shaped to fit I could put a shopping bag into the model and see how many quarts of water it held. After the initiation was taken care of I had to find out how thick the steel used to make oil tanks is. In this case I could call several motorcycle repair shops and find out the thickness of the steel should be. Then I had to figure out what kind of steel should be used so that it would look nice. Then it was found out that stainless steel could be buffed and made to look just like chrome. It took me a little while to find some place within driving distance that actually sold some stainless steel that wasn’t all scratched up or covered with something that wouldn’t allow it to be polished like jewelry.

Once that was accomplished I had to learn about how folk use their drills to saw steel.

That was needed because the large flat piece of steel that was purchase had to be cut up into the top, the bottom, and the circular pieces of the new oil tank. My old hacksaw just wasn’t able to cut the large piece that had to be so tall and so wide to get bent into the right shape. Nothing I could get for my drill at the local hardware store was tough enough to cut that much stainless steel. It would just rub some slots along the magic marker lines that were drawn to get the pieces the right sizes and shapes.

To get the large pieces cut I had to take the steel over to a friend of mine who owns and runs an automobile paint and body shop. Naturally he had equipment that was heavy enough to get the large sections cut.

After receiving that help I could take the stainless steel back to my motorcycle shed and start making it ready to get welded. The first thing done was to get the steel as shinny as possible with a buffing wheel. That made me ask the local machine shop what kind of buffing compound was used on stainless steel. The owner of that shop guided me to the Navajo Indian Jeweler Supply Company. They promptly shipped my order without charging me for shipping. I was even able to get a heavy enough buffing wheel right in town at a local hardware store.

It’s just that the new grinder that I have wasn’t tough enough to buff the stainless steel. It would just bog down and stop grinding fast enough. At that point it was some good luck that I still had another old tool to use. I had also inherited the old grinder that my grandfather had used on his diary farm. That big tough machine has stood in my motorcycle shed for years. That old piece of equipment has been used to buff aluminum or steel to make them look brand new or like they are chromed.

Once I got the steel buffed up real shinny it had to be taken with my cardboard example to a local trailer repair shop. I did that to get the large piece of steel bent properly. They were nice enough to do that for free. I just had to help so the buffed steel didn’t get scratched back up.

After reaching that point it was time to grab my hacksaw back out. It was used to cut up all the smaller pieces that were required. To cut the round edges I had to use the magic marker and hacksaw it as close as possible. Then I could grind the steel down to the markings.

In this case the phrase “Practice makes perfect” applies. I had to be real careful and watch closely to make sure the pieces were cut properly.

It is well known that many people tend to think a hacksawing is real hard work. They are the ones who go out and get one of the weak light want to be tools offered anymore. I can’t help laughing at them when they go out and buy some expensive workout weights to stick in their garage. These old fashioned tools that I have inherited have kept me in good shape. Using the hacksaw itself strengthens my forearms as well as palms down curls do. It also keeps me free from becoming a fancy tool addict. That way I will always have enough money to keep my Sportster on the road.