Narcoleptic trip

I'm back again-ただ今戻りました

It's been couple of month since my last post ,my PC died on me,Old Web site data,some CG stuff, budget related data and so on, to make things worse i reinstalled old hard disk which worked for couple of days,but as soon as I downloaded photos from my camera and after i delete CF card which was about 1 gig of various work related stuff,well...PC crashed again..Lesson I learned, I'm going analog again. OK + digital(just in case).Get removable hard drive just for work related stuff.get pro Flickr account for back up,25 bucks for peace of mind.

長い間書き込みできなくて、すみません。パソコンのＨＤＤが壊れましたので、すべてのデータ、写真、ＣＧ画像、消えました。まじで泣きそうになりました。ま…また頑張ります。とにかく外付けのＨＤＤを買うこと。あとは写真をＦｌｉｃｋｒのサイトにバックアップすること。二度と味わいたくない経験でした。

Kotoichi or antique fair... kinda...

During the festival days there was a number of side events like small free market, vegetable market,and antique fair... well couple of tables anyway but not to complain. I manage to spent my pocket money very fast on two findings.No name kerosene blowtorch with bit dented tank and two wooden pegs missing,only identification is pat no 199991.I tried to find it on US and Japanese patent sites but with no luck. Guy asked $35 for it but I make my way down to 15 $. Perfect Weekend renovation project.I also get me nice automatic drill,...yeah automatic...call it Eco-friendly,no bits though,still look nice $10.

Kerosene Blowtorch

and "Goodell and Pratt" automatic drill

Nice Lamp couldn't afford it

old ceramic light fittings

Table full of chisels and planers

ww2 militaria

marine flag remind me of
Bruce Dickinson

nice tabacco ire with dragon fly clasps

big brush price mere $230

Inuyama Festival

Last weekend we were extra busy, main event in the city during spring period if not the for whole year.This is one of the biggest festivals in the area it's been going for almost 400 years.As in many other cities around Japan pushing or carrying the Float around city is the main event trough out festivals . Other famous festivals are in Kyoto (Gion matsuri) and Gifu (Takayama matsuri) .Inuyama have 13 floats,which represented number of districts in old Inuyama. In local terminology Dashi(float) it's called Yama (meaning mountain) due the height of the floats,of which some are over 8,5 m. and weight over 3.5 tons, I've been part of the festival since I've move back here in 2000.My family house is in old city so we have the obligation to participate.Although it seams simple it is fairly complex thing,First ,The float itself have number of appearances and it acts as a stage for different activities.Day time mode during which Karakuri performance is done.The stage for it is on top level(Ua Yama)of the float. Karakuri are automata dolls.Kinda old robot like things,Don't get me wrong ,movement it's not automatic , people still control them from beneath(Naka Yama) during the play,but it's surely complicated and can do some serious moves like flipping around horizontal bar,which considering time when they're made some 200 years ago was pretty radical thing to do.The lover level or Shita Yama carries a drum section and flute players called wakai shu (young ones) since the youngest of the drum players are about 4 years old.The music (hayashi) is constant as long as float moves and differ from district to district.Tempo and theme are changed according to the movement of the float.

Two times on a Sunday were allowed to do Donden Gaeshi ,which is lifting the one side of the float turn the float 180 or 90 degrees depending on the place,and move it down the street as far as possible this is Three and Half ton plus six people on top of it I'm talking about,Tekko or the pushers are the one who have the whole fun,but to tell you the truth it's most satisfying part to do.Macho shit I guess.With the sun set Floats get the new robe,Yoyama or night float have 365 chochins or the paper lanterns are placed and lit up . Cool site to see.

Little vivarium

I just kinda finished small vivarium as a prototype for the big one which I'm planning to do sometime soon.Whole process was new to me and I really enjoy it ,had couple of frustrating situations with expandable urethane foam,but I'm glad that I had to deal with it now,because it's very hard to work with it,I'll probably stick to Styrofoam panels,mortar bond and peat.I found some really nice pieces of wood for the big project hopefully they'll fit as I imagine.Still have to do vivarium exterior so it can fit the corner of our room.

Rants and precius little findings

Couple days back I went to home improvement center and find this perforated board very cheap.Since i have small workshop meaning limited storage space I thought It 's going to look nice and have that "workshop feeling "if I put it on the wall and with the metal pegs keep my tools on the wall.So I buy the sucker and put it on the wall,made some spacers with the planks so the pegs could fit in.It looked good.Now place where i bought it, is a not really big place which means that they do not carry too many things, like metal pegs for wooden perforated panels.So I start searching for these all around the city and nothing so I move further and still nothing at all.Recent metal rack systems with metal netting took over the market so all they have is just hooks which doesn't fit wooden boards.Now my question is why the f**k they keep making and selling those boards.I never saw any other usage beside for keeping tools and accessories on them,I mean who is going to buy this as a boarding panel,and spend next couple days just filling the holes so you can put wallpaper on it.If anyone know the other purpose please be nice and explain it to me.

"Meaningless board"

Now on to brighter things,I've been cleaning storage space in my wifes place,and i find couple of really nice tool boxes,with plenty of old tools most of which is still very usable.Like pair of plumbing bobs,rod bender,Big Lupe light,leveler,some masonry tools,old monkey wrench,abrasive wheels etc...this things really make my day.

They don't made 'em this beautiful anymore

Lupe in pieces
waiting air blasting

Plumbing bobs

Old Pocket Knife

I have no clue what this thing is
probably bicycle "all-in-one" tool?

King Kong Tattoo T-shirt

Postman surprised me yesterday with
King Kong Tattoo t-shirt.Cool!!
And it's in my Size XXL.
Kobe's Finest Tattoo Studio.
Young-Joe san,Miss Jasmine
Thank You Very Much.
Check the site King Kong Tattoo

Parts searching & Kaikado

Every shop has the place that should not be seen by the customers....

I have two , luckily same side next to each other,
my mini work shop and scrub room.So what I want to do is following
Partition wall with shelf as door
large vivarium as the part of the wall
compressor and vacuum pump
Most parts for the vivarium and compressor I
already found by dismantling old COKE fridge.

There was very useful motor that I'm going turn into the
small air compressor and vacuum pump.
Two medium sized fans
two heaters and thermostat controllers.
ballast and light
and most important was
two 120 cm long 45 cm wide double glass panels
two medium sized and two small sized double glass panels
since double glass doesn't tend to fog it is perfect for the front part of the vivarium.
yesterday I went to find vacuum pressure switch for compressor
and metal bars for the shelf ,since it's going to bare a lot of weight it has to be sturdy
so I we been thinking of 21 mm x 21 mm for the frame and floor and ceiling stays
I went to local metal whole seller and was really surprised to find how cheap steel was
less than 10 bucks for 550 cm and that included cutting prices for easier transport.
I ordered two it should be here by the next Wednesday.
Vacuum switch is another story,no matter how hard I've looking I couldn't find one home improvement centers were useless only one had some catalogs with them but price of these were out of my budget.
I search on internet and find the way of making vacuum switch out of old cars distributor pressure switch.So I went to "Kaikado"
Kustom Car and Bike Builder shop to find one, old GM pick-up truck had it but I couldn't
take it off the the engine , manifold had some fucked up lock mechanism.I't was already dark and cold so I leave it as it is. maybe I'll have better luck next time.Meanwhile I enjoyed nice atmosphere in the garage and the shop