Rit Dye 101

Okay so I've had a couple of people ask me how to dye wheels and could I knock up a how to guide.

So this is what I wrote on OldKookSkating after doing my first set…

Oh Well, not quite as Orangey as planned but hey it's a learning experience right? 

I took the wheels, gave them a good scrub in warm soapy water then rinsed them.

I bought myself a mess pan from "Poundland", cost a pound 

I filled it with enough water to cover the wheels, some Rit Dye and brought it up to the boil on the hob, 
stirring to ensure a good mix, then turned down to a simmer, added the wheels (carefully to avoid splashes).

I left it simmering for 30 minutes occasionally stirring and turned the wheels over halfway through.
Took them out and rinsed in cold water. 

So theses were supposed to be orange, this was Tangerine Rit liquid, obviously too strong a solution.

It's still a bit hit and miss after 3 years of doing it, final colour seems to be dependent on a combination of strength of dye mix, length of time in the mix and temperature.

I cold dyed the Rainskates the other day as I wasn't sure about how the hot dye would react with the hot melt glue on the wheels. I heated the water and dye mix up then let cool before adding the wheels, I left those for about 5 hours and they still came out pink rather than red although they looked very red when I first removed them from the dye. 

There is a lot of inspiration and tips here on the Bulldog Skates Forum.

Rit Dye comes in powder or liquid, I find that the liquid mixes easier. 

I think that covers most things. Any questions, leave me a comment and I'll try to answer them.

Fun with Rit Dye and Glue Guns

So today was my last day off work this week and I still had "Dye wheels" on the to-do list.

So, take knackered looking Rainskates wheels….

Sandblast clean…

With a glue gun add a pattern…

Leave in Rit dye all afternoon, remove, rinse and pick off glue...

Awesome...

Fish Eye Film F*** Up

Got my film back last week from the P30n included on it were some shots form the cold and frosty session at Tilehurst back in October.

This was the first time I'd tried the fisheye on a full frame camera and wasn't sure what results I'd get.

Well the built in lens hood gets in the way resulting in shots like these…

Edited they don't look too bad…

So, having read about people removing the built in lens hood using a Dremel which sounded a bit drasticI was happy to see a link to a guide on how to remove it by loosening a few screws and removing the front element of the lens.
All was going well until the main body unscrewed and I am struggling to get it back together now.

Damp Bournemouth Skate Day

Back on the 23rd November, Gra and I went down to Bournemouth and met up with Paul and Jase.

It was touch and go whether anything was going to happen as the weather was a bit iffy to say the least.

Slades Farm was a bit soggy so Paul took us to the nearby Velodrome which was fun.
Then we skated Slades and Kings Park interspersed with tea/coffee and cake at Paul & Charlottes.

A great day with great people.

Thanks

Here's some photos…

(Pentax P30n, 35-80-mm f4.0-5.6, Fuji C200 expired 11/08)

Surf, Surf & More Surf

Took a trip to the south coast again for the weekend, yes, Brighton again.
The Surfin' Lungs were gigging so it seemed like a good idea to have the weekend down there so I could have a few beers and not have to drive back.

First up were The Squadron Leaders, unfortunately being the twat I am I recorded the video at 90º and can't get it to rotate yet, will sort it out and edit.

Next up were Space Agency...



Then Los Fantasticos...



Before my old mates the Surfin' Lungs hit the stage...

Wheels, Wheels, Wheels

Been having a bit of a splurge...

These...

Well the ones on the right, BDS DubCons 100a duro which have yellowed slightly, nothing a bit of Rit Dye won't improve.

The BDS Shogos on the left were bought on behalf of Gra.

Then today these turned up...

Rainskates Stingers 100a (that magic duro) Single Conical version.

Anthony gave them a blast with the sandblaster and removed the tatty graphics for me, ocd happy now.

Might dye these too.

K-30

Well the plan was to sell the k20d and upgrade but it didn't sell on ebay after 2 weeks with over 20 watchers, tight gits!

Anyway, noticed that Curry's had the K-30 on offer at £429 and £50 cashback offer from Pentax so bit the bullet.

Weatherproof so could have done with it at Hog Hill last Saturday...

K20d with grip still for sale...

Bude Beer, Billet Block, Bow Waves and Bastards

Made the trip to Hogtoberfest today, was really looking forward to the slalom racing.

It was sunny but cold when I left home, a few spots of rain just before the Dartford Tunnel but arrived at a very grey and overcast Redbridge Cycle Centre.

Queued up to pay to race only to find that in the time it took to queue it had started raining, it stopped a few times and the sun came out and the bitterly cold wind blew. Didn't dry the track out though.

Still I had a really good time meeting up with old friends.

The lovely thoughtful Jo bought me beer for my birthday...

Here's my new 2014 Aluminium riser...

Work in progress...

What it is replicating...

Fitted

Got my board out of my bag only to find it had been vandalised by my so called friends, off centre and crooked sticker...

Bought some 2nd hand Seismic Hotspots from Paul Price...

And some Lush Slide Gloves from Jo & Steve size S but fit like a glove...

The wet weather didn't deter some people...

Stickers Not Stucks

Spent yesterday evening sorting my sticker collection into alphabetical order into a new ring binder.

The hours just fly past here at Dunmulleting Towers...

I don't like like these dark evening much, perhaps I've got Seasonal Affective Disorder, possible as I've been described as sad recently...

Whoop, 500 blog posts...

Hogtoberfest is coming

Next weekend is Hogtoberfest at Hog Hill or to give it it's proper name Redbridge Cycle Centre.

I'm really looking forward to this, hoping to go along on the Saturday and do some slalom.

Last time I raced...

What was Sperry's carpark in Bracknell, houses in background are long gone and are now the Peel Centre shopping complex.

On A Cold & Frosty Morning

Went to Tilehurst agian this morning with Trev, Paul and Brian. No Gray, apparently he was chained up in a dungeon wearing a gimp mask or something like that anyway...

A cold start, had the scrape my windscreen as it was still -1°C and misty.

Trev had the 44" Sims Taperkick with him.

The last three shots I took using the 35-80mm zoom from the Pentax P30n that dad gave me yesterday on my Pentax K20D. All the rest were with the fisheye. I also took a few with the P30n with the fisheye, will be interesting to see how they come out.

P30n

Popped over to see my parents today, went out for a nice spot of lunch and then back to theirs.

Dad gave me this...

A Pentax P30n from circa 1988, he bought a job lot of cameras at a car boot sale that use to belong to a university and have had identifying marks burnt into them with soldering iron.

Not a bad little camera, 35-80mm f4 lens.

Looking forward to running a film through it and luckily being a Pentax I have a few other lenses to fit it including my fish eye hopefully.

In other news I weighed in at 204lbs (14 stone 8lbs)  today, I started at 223 lbs (15 stone 13lbs).

I bought some running gear to celebrate.

Nostalgic Inspiration

How's this for nostalgia?

Tony Alva and Henry Hester from the 1976 Carlsbad Hang Ten World Slalom Championships.







Nice helmet Tony, I had one like that...



Oh to be that thin again.

Good to see that Alva and Hester are still skating after all those years too.

Project Cone Killer- Update

Bolted the slalom board together today, there was a lot of swearing.

Firstly, griptape, now if I was a shop selling a deck and chucking in some free griptape I think I'd make sure it was wide enough to fit the deck I was selling.

Ended up doing the old 'racing stripe' trick of gripping one side, cutting off the excess and then gripping the other leaving a gap to stretch it out a bit.

Oh, I removed the top sticker which was at too jaunty an angle for my OCD, did it carefully whilst heating with a hairdryer. It now lives on the bottom of the deck.

Secondly bolt holes and wedged risers and truck baseplates, nothing seemed to line up, I ran a bit short of wedged risers and ended up running a drill bit through the baseplate holes to angle them slightly.

So...

Bennett 4.3 on the front, used an old Tracker wedged riser that I had converted into a pair of 'rail' type risers and increased the wedge on at some point. Holey Smoke bottom bushing (deck side) Khiro orange barrel on the top with a flat washer.

Tracker RT-S on the rear, two Surrey Skateboards clear wedges which gives it a bit of de-wedge as it's mounted under the tail of the deck, standard Tracker bushings.

Cult Gamma Ray wheels, 72mm 80a all round.

Took it out for a spin to check it out, I could have used yesterdays blog title really, placed board on ground, step on, take a push, pump, wheel bite, slam. Rough concrete road meets skin, cuts to both palms of hands, scrazed knee, glasses bounce on road. Pick myself up dust myself off checking week old jeans (phew, no hole in knee). Tighten front truck.


My slalom test track was a bit damp and a bit green but I risked it anyway, feels good but I didn't want to go too crazy, check the wheel tracks out.

They were from this first video...

I then moved down the slope to a drier bit of road, I'm pumping down and then up the hill in this one...

The Pleasure & The Pain

My trucks for the slalom board turned up today thanks to excellent service as always from Gavin at Surrey Skateboards.

I went for the standard beginners set up of a Bennett 4.3 in the front and a Tracker RT-S  106mm in the rear.

Oh yeah, look how they arrived inside the jiffy bag and what else I got...