This is by way of a formal introduction, I have already posted in the Help Required area and received some excellent advice, thanks to all who replied.

I have lurked on the site of and on for some time and have subscribed to MEW for a number of years.My main interest is in building bicycle frames which I have been involved with since 1976 (when Noah was a lad, and before Pontius went solo) Before that I was a teacher of craft subjects ie metalwork, woodwork and tech drawing. That was back in the days when kids in school actually made things on nasty dangerous machines before the safety elf reigned supreme. I packed in teaching in 1980 and set up a business building custom bike frames, M.Steel Cycles .We had a retail shop in Gosforth and a framebuilding workshop in Wallsend It went well for many years until in 2005 we were forced to close the framebuiding side due to falling demand because of cheap aluminium imports from the far east.

I moved to a smallholding in Lincolnshire with my then partner, now wife Debbie and we set up Dave Yates Cycles and Engineering the same year. We extended a building to make a decent workshop and have been here ever since. I knew there would be enough work to keep just me busy and having reduced my overheads at a stroke this proved to be the case. I am now semi retired being very selective about which jobs I take on. I build new frames, repair, alter, and respray older steel frames and run courses for enthusiasts to come and build their own frames

I have always been into machine tools since I discovered the delights of making swarf when I was at Wallsend Technical School in the 60's. and have always had access to machines since then. However the workshop I have now is the one I have always wanted . Currently I have a Colchester Master 2500, a Bridgeport, a Union cutter grinder, an Eagle surface grinder, a Kerry Super 8 and Progress3a pillar drill, a Q&S power hacksaw and have recently acquired a Super 7 from Russ B of this parish. Most of it has a legitimate use in the business (well, I can argue the case quite well) There is also Oxy Acetylene kit, a Lincoln 255 Square wave TIG set, a paint shop for stove enameling and a shot blast cabinet which are definitely part of the business but very handy for all sorts of "stuff"

In addition to bicycle frames I also make custom knives and sticks. I just love making things and it is what makes me tick. I hope I can make some worthwhile contributions to the forum in whatever form

Cheers

Dave Yates