Category: Design

Saddler and Co | Fine Saddles and Leather Goods

by Peter, posted in Art, Cool, Design, Fashion

A plug for a very talented saddler and leather worker from country New South Wales, Australia.

Bede Aldridge of Saddler & Co. crafts saddles and leather goods from the finest quality leathers at his workshop in Dubbo , NSW, Australia.

He has launched his online store with a stylish range of quality saddles and leather goods available for sale, but he also makes saddles and leather goods to your own specification.

The online store sells leather belts, bags, iPad & iPhone cases, whips, knife pouches, covers for (paper) notebooks, bridles, reins, tack and saddles, among other things.

I’ve seen and caressed some of his beautiful leather tote bags with my own eyes and hands and they are a delight to the senses as well as being practical and solid in construction.

Check out his online store and get in touch with him if you need him to make some specialised leather goods you just can’t find anywhere else!

Epic Foot Powered (Treadle) Lathe

by Peter, posted in Cool, Design, Holey Moley!, Movies, Woodworking

Below is a great video of a guy building a foot powered woodworking lathe which uses a flywheeel to maintain rotational force.

Personally, I would rethink the treadle construction and maybe use some bearings to give some longevity, but it’s just so awesome all the same!

I built a pole lathe years ago, which was connected to my lightweight shed to pull the pole back up after the down stroke from the treadle. This caused the whole shed to shake in unison with the lathe so that everyone knew when I was turning wood ;).

It looked something like this.

The idea behind a pole lathe is to use a treadle (and your foot) to push down causing the work piece to turn .

A rope is attached to the treadle at one end and a bendy pole or sapling at the other.

The rope is looped over the work piece to make it turn on the down stroke, which also tensions (bends) the pole or sapling.

During the down stroke you use your chisel to remove material from the work piece.

You take away the chisel from the work piece on the upstroke, which is provided by the pole returning to its untensioned (unbent) position.

A pole lathe works surprisingly well and can be made very cheaply.

A lovely curvy cutting board.

by Peter, posted in Design, Movies, Woodworking

I don’t know about you, but sometimes the simplest lines can produce the most graceful results.

Below is a link to a video of the process Scott Lewis uses to transform a simple rectangular cutting board into a beautiful, elegantly designed and functional accessory for any kitchen.

The Coolest Cutting Board Ever? – Fine Woodworking Video.

cuttingboard

It appeals to me.

Beautiful Bikes – Fyxomatosis build of a vintage ALAN

by Peter, posted in Beautiful Bikes, Cycling, Design, Vintage Bikes

Andy White of Fyxomatosis recently posted a beautiful custom rebuild of an ALAN.

Andy is a real bicycle fan and you can see it from all of the detailed photos of the ALAN he has taken from a large variety of angles.

From what I can gather…

ALAN is a private factory from Italy.

These vintage ALAN’s were screwed and glued (the tubing threaded into the lugs) and they were very light for the time.

They still make bikes, but now they’re using carbon fibre instead of screwed and glued aluminium.

ALAN had a wonderful run as being the top frame in cyclocross for about 20 years and had about 7 world championships to its race credits.

Cycling teams which used ALAN frames included: the national amateur team of Poland (1973/1974) Magniflex Italy from 1974 to 1979, Furzi, Vibor, GBC, Selle Royal, Fiorella, Famcucine, TEKA Santini (Spain), FANGIO (Belgium), VARTA (Colombia), Fanini (Love and Life) and GUERCIOTTI.

Indivduals who used ALAN frames include: Zilioli, Low, Bertoglio, Gavazzi, Baronchelli, Beccia, Battaglin, Thevenet, Kuiper, Lejretta, Parra, Lucio Herrera, Johansson, and in cyclo-cross Liboton, Zweifel, Wolfsholl, Stamsnijder, Thaler, Kluge and the Italians Di Tano and Pontoons (21 world titles won in cyclo-cross) and on the track Clark, Risi, Golinelli, Brugna and Villa.

Occasionally an ALAN frame would fail by cracking at the lugs (usually head lugs) a failure which could be fixed by screwing in a new lug.

All I know is that they sure look nice.

At last, Darth Vader’s powers can be mine!

by Peter, posted in Computerey Stuff, Computing, Design

This is pretty cool!

The MYO – The Gesture Control Armband allows you to control many aspects of your computer and other computerised devices with only movements of your arm and hand.

Watch the video to see it in action.

I can see a lot of potential for this device if it lives up to the hype.

I reckon this is how Darth Vader chokes Admiral Motti in the scene below.

“I find your lack of faith disturbing.”

An excellent tool for preachers with  unruly congregations. *joke*

Mwahahahaha!!!