The Art of Metal Shavings

As of January 7th I will have been working in and around machine shops for eighteen years, and in all that time I've never lost a feeling of amazement at the beauty of some of the things a machine shop can produce. I'm speaking not of the parts made with the mills and lathes, but the metal shavings they leave behind.

Fans, coils, flakes, springs - accidental art all over the shop floor. Years ago I tried photographing some of them. Here are a few examples (be sure to click on the scrap bin picture above, too):

Radios Clean-Up

Here are some updates on the Radios No.16...

Once cleaned, the reflector was about 90% good, so I've decided to use it as-is.

The lens is glass, so it cleaned-up easily in acetone. Not scratches of chips anywere. I wonder if all Radios lights had glass lenses?

The bezel polished up so-so at the bench wheel, but there's some deep pitting on one side. I may try one more pass, but it's never going to be "perfect".

Radios No.16, As Found

This Radios No.16 came in a big box of unidentified used lights bought on eBay-France. Other than an overall coat of silver gray paint, de-silvering of the reflector, and a dent where the base meets the shell, it's complete and in good condition. I'll clean it, remove the base, straighten the dent, reattach the base, and re-silver the reflector. Here are a bunch of "before" pictures.

Into Outer Space

Luxor "50" small headlight, and four images of a brass Luxor battery operated taillight with green-lensed porthole light on one side.

80 Cockerill Street

This decal survived hidden beneath a taillight. The bicycle was a "Prima" using the same graphics as seen here, but with the name substituted for "Leroy".

Light Weaponry

This is by far the most intimidating bicycle headlight I've seen so far. There's something weapon-like about the shape and proportions... part ray gun, part hand grenade. Seen on French eBay.

Today has just been one Royal Codrix after another...

I occasionally find an old bike name that seems inexplicably disturbing. This one comes from France:

Luxor "50" and Matching Taillight

Another lucky find on French eBay - a partially-hammered Luxor "50" (small) headlight and matching taillight. These will go nicely with the twin Luxor "65" lights/rack set and hammered Honjo fenders.

1960s Aluminum Fringe

A few rolls of the fringe they used for making aluminum christmas trees...

Like a Creature From the Deep

Another view of the PYB taillight...



















...twin Luxor "65"s...




















...and the logo from a JOS "513"

Layered Fenders

Yet another interesting set of fenders found on eBay France.

More Night Lights

A few more lights in their natural state. From top down: JOS #315, Luxor "80", Cibie 65, Cibie 65 side view, and PYB taillight.