Out of Town 2nd to 7th
Hey Folks,
I will be going out of town from Sept. 2nd to the 7th. I've been swamped with work, and have been working 90-100+ hour weeks for 6 weeks straight. If i don't take some time off i'm likely to explode. That's not good for anyone, then i light everything on fire and get hauled off to the loony-bin... And while the nice break from reality would be a nice temporary escape from the daily grind... i'm fairly certain that none of my customers want to get bags of ashes in the mail instead of seats.
I will still have my phone and be answering emails... but with me out of town the Spike Customs' facility will be closed and no extra work will get done.
Later,
SPiKE
Drill Press + My Finger = Disaster
Okay Kids...
Today's blog post is another perfect example of how *my* example... can be a *bad* example.
Sometimes you have a moment when you are nothing but pissed off at the world; brooding over everything that is going wrong at the moment, be it a philandering deceitful girlfriend, finances not being what you want, customers that make you angry... or anything that is wrong in your world. These moments happen. It's normal it's human... get over it.
The point here i can not stress enough here is this: While this is going on, don't decide to operate machinery. especially not something with sharp spinning bits. Like, oh let's say for example... a drill press... and i would further go on to state that while drilling holes for mounting brackets on seat pans with a 9/16" bit is an even worse time to be distracted and worrying about everything else in the world.
fingermovie3 This is the beautiful thing that happens, when while you are too busy worrying about how crappy people have treated you, and the violent daydreams about what you could do to them if you had a chance... your workpiece catches on the bit and spins your finger into the very sharp almost brand new bit.
Granted... all the pictures i have are all after i got it to stop bleeding as much as i could. I bet it would have looked hilarious if someone were watching when it happened. Imagine me scrambling around a crowded shop with one arm over my head and blood running down my arm looking for some paper towels and something to use like a tourniquet (the tightly wrapped blue tape).
After i could throw a couple paper towels on it, i grabbed my trusty blue masking tape, quickly tore off a foot or so, and wrapped my finger as tightly as i could. Bleeding stopped quickly. Then i went into the house and started to clean it... which is when i thought, "i should share this with the world." because everyone should share in my unhappiness about having a giant gash in my finger now. And so i grabbed my camera and took some pics. since i had already washed it a bit, the pics aren't nearly as gory as i would like. You've been spared for now.
I was lucky, in that the little flaps of skin that had been sliced into by the sharp hardened flutes of the drill bit were still somewhat attached, and allowed me to have a sort of 'built in' cover to glue it all back together with. Like i said, lucky me. Of course at this point, i was no longer distracted by any outside force, and was completely focused on the task at hand. Funny how that works out? If you set off with the wrong mind-set, you end up getting into the correct frame of mind one way or another.
and if you're wondering now, "Why Spike, you got it to stop bleeding... but how do you close a huge gash without going to the hospital for stitches?"
That's a good question... and it's been my experience that hospitals don't use stitches anymore. They use Super Glue. Of course they can't just go and *call* it super glue... because then they couldn't charge you $100 for it. But rest assured, it's the same cyano-acrylate glue labeled as super-glue, crazy glue, or (my favorite) loctite super-glue that you can buy at wal-mart for $2.
So, after a good couple cleanings with some antibacterial soap and douse of hydrogen peroxide, i was ready to dry and apply my glue.
Look ma... now i'm my own craft project.
And here's the finished product. Skin flap glued back down into place. You can clearly see the 'C' shape of the edge of the flap in the pic. I imagine this will dry up and have to be removed soon... perhaps more pics? just because i love you so much. haha.
Just remember folks... do as i *don't* do on this one. When approaching machinery that can potentially maim or mangle you or your precious appendages, always clear your mind. stay focused, and be alert.
Metalwork is a joy. Usually beating shapes into sheetmetal, making gastanks, frames, seatpans and the like puts me into a zen-like state of meditation, where i am centered mentally and unhindered by the world outside of my little shop. Obviously not the case this time.
Later,
SPiKE
Technical Difficulties / Server Crash Last Week
Sorry everyone about the site being down last week (5-24 to 5-29). My server crashed and it took that long to get it back up. If you tried to contact me during that time, you will need to re-send your message, since my email was down too and i could not receive any messages.
But not to worry, as the site is back up and running for everyone to look at and love.
Enjoy!
SPiKE
“Deadman’s Hand” .44 Caliber Bullet Custom Softail Seat
“Deadman's Hand” .44 Caliber Bullet Custom Softail Seat
I made this seat up for a guy on the east coast back in March '09. This seat came out absolutely beautiful. This is the kind of work that a customer gets when they tell me an idea that they have and say something like, "i'll leave everything else up to your judgement." When you set me loose, you get a beautiful work of art.
Yes, those are REAL bullets. i went bullet shopping for this seat and found these beautiful babies. it makes me want to buy a 44 just so i can use them. They're chrome plated split top hollowpoints. I didn't even know you could buy hollow-points in this state!
This was made on a stock style softail seatpan that was fitted to a custom softail bike. The pan was re-foamed with high density memory foam for much more comfort and sleeker style.
The tooling is skulls on flame backgrounds, and then the “DEADMAN'S HAND” banner that wraps around the deadman hand (Ace's and Eights) all accented in a deep gunmetal metallic silver. If you don't know the story, it comes from the wild west. This is the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot and murdered, the last card is face down because he was shot before the last card was dealt... dead mans hand.
I picked the alligator side panels because they just look so frickin' nice on an all black tooled seat. The black lacing with chrome eyelets just accents perfect with the bright chrome bullets.
Enjoy,
SPiKE
“JackAss” Jack Daniels Custom Bobber Seat and Solo Sidebag
“JackAss” Custom Bobber Seat and Solo Sidebag
This was a fun project i just finished up in October of '08. It's a seat and solo sidebag for a custom chopper that was done in a "Jack Daniel's" theme. It all came out very nice.
This seat was a bit of a departure for me, because there was no black material on it. It was a quick change of pace, as i get a lot of "all black" tooling seats, or seats with a lot of black in them because all black seats are something that not many seat builders can make look good. Like in paint, black shows every mistake.
It also challenged my design ability... how to make a donkey look cool. 
The matching bag came out very well.
I ran aluminum bar around the inside to give the bag support and keep it from loosing shape when it was empty, and keep it from sagging or flopping when it was full.
Heavy duty straps tie everything together (1/4" thick leather) so they won't wear out, tear, or break no matter what. I made it so that it will fit most all softails and custom hardtails.
Enjoy,
SPiKE
Custom Metallic Flame & Pinstripe Seat for a Softail
Hey folks.
You know, sometimes i just want to be a better photographer. Taking pictures of this seat is one of those times. I just couldn't figure out the lighting/camera settings to make the metallic colors pop out... instead they just look lighter or like they're reflecting light...
This is a seat a made for a custom softail. I matched the colors and design to the paint job itself, which happened to be a metallic flake paint. The really cool part of this seat is that when i color matched the paints, i also matched the metallic. Since i end up mixing almost all of my own colors, i can mix in stuff like metallics and pearl.
I asked for a paint swatch or painted test panel with the colors of his bike on them, so that I could colormatch... Instead he sent me his whole finished and painted fender, so that I could not only color match the seat, but also match the flame design and bright blue pinstripe from his paint job.
After tooling and dying, the super shiny tooled leather got paired with alligator panels, and lacing to make one very nice custom seat. The blue pinstripes were no easy trick to pull off, either. Since leather is already browish color, non-opaque colors like blonde, yellows, and blues are very tricky to mix and color correctly so that they come out how you want them too on the seat.
Enjoy the Pics,
SPiKE
Custom FXDWG Alligator Solo Seat with Lacing
Here's a seat that i made for a Wide Glide a little while back.
not everything i do has to be completely insane. This is a perfect example of how simple, clean lines and make a top-notch seat.
The honey colored alligator material laced with the black material with chrome eyelets gives this seat a subtle, yet amazing look.
“MISERY” Custom CFL Tooled Bobber Seat
Hey Gang, 
This is a bobber seat that i built up for a customer on his CFL seatpan and CFL frame.
His bike was being painted a metallic pewter color and black, so i mixed my own metallic dyes and painted the letters with a silver and pewter metallic colors.
It's hard to get a good picture of shiny dyes like that, and they end up looking like they're gray in the photos. lol... maybe if i actually knew about lighting and cameras and crap i could do it.
Enjoy the pics.
SPiKE
“DRONES” Custom Softail Seat
This is a seat i made for a customer back in June 2008.
He had changed his custom softail's rear fender out for a custom one, and his stock style seat did not fit anymore.
He needed a new seat that would fit correctly, and it had to be stretched about 3" I had him take pictures of the seat area in every which direction with a tape measure in the picture so that i could get the exact measurements needed to stretch his seatpan the correct distance and make it follow the fender correctly. The foam also had to be redone, as he would not be able to reach his controls if he were set the 3" back in the seat.
he told me that he wanted crossed pistons and maybe some fire coming off the top of them, and he wanted it to say DRONES on the seat. all in black.
This is what i came up with. His very own, very custom 'reach' seat. when he got it the seat fit like a glove. All his buddies swore that i had the bike here to make it fit... but i made it work from across the country without ever laying a hand on the bike. :nice:
Enjoy,
SPiKE
1982 “FTW” Custom Tooled and Flame Stitched Custom Seat
Hey Gang,
Here's a seat i did around March '09 ago for a guy and his '82 Sportster. It was a little bit of a new trick in my bag, combining the tooling and embossed stitching like this. Usually the tooling is the centerpiece, not the stitching, but it works out pretty good like this, too.
From this seat I got set up for ready made sportster seats for sale. You don't need to have an existing seat to re-cover, you can get the whole thing from me ready to bolt in place of the stock seat!
Enjoy the Pics!
Later,
SPiKE
