It's 2026 and there's News!

What time do you call this

It’s 2026, and like every self employed person (I hope) I never get around to updating my blog.

However, I’m updating it today and I want to start by saying: this is me, Harley, writing. I may never know what to write about but I’d rather have an empty website than have anything written by a large language model.

The main issue I run into with blogposts is that the individual jobs I do seldom seem worth writing about. “Today I put up some shelves” “today I replaced a sink” “today I insulated a loft” yes yes that’s all very well Harley but no one wants to read about it.

ANYWAY this time there’s News. You see that capital N there? That’s how you know I’m serious.

OK OK get on with it what is the news you’re so excited about

OK so here’s the thing: I’m shutting down the workshop. “Not the workshop!” you cry. “That’s a huge part of your identity!” you continue. Yes you’re quite right but the fact is that it isn’t anymore. I live in Bethnal Green, and the shop is in Croydon. I just can’t get down there enough to make it worthwhile, and I’m much more focused on site work now. I’m trying to play to my strengths among the shifting sands and sudden hippopotamuses of late stage capitalism. So I’m shutting down the shop (if you’re interested in any tools or machinery, please get in touch- everything must go! except for the stuff I’m keeping, you can’t have that it’s mine).

is that all? I need to lie down in light of this shocking development

BUT that’s not all! In a fit of personal development, I’ve started training as an Electrician! This is a multi year process, so don’t expect anything to come of it for a while, but in the not too distant future I’ll be able to take on electrical work to a much greater extent than I can now. In all seriousness, I’m excited about this and what it will do for me, and allow me to do for you.

Thanks HarlequinWorks fans. There’s more to come. Harley out.

Metalwork

About 18 months ago I was given an arc welder, an angle grinder, and a host of other old tools by my cousin, who was moving house. I was scared of the welder for a bit, but on my birthday last year, trying hard to avoid working, I took it outside, and plugged it in. It sort of exploded, and knocked out the power, but I took it apart, and rewired it, and then it worked fine.

I started teaching myself how to weld, and for a long time I thought I just wasn't very good at it. Then I bought some decent electrodes and started storing them properly, and my welding improved a great deal. On a fabrication job, my welder kept overheating, and I realised that I'd need a new one. At Harlequin Works, "new" invariably means "new to me but much older than I am", at least when it comes to tools. I bought a Pickhill Bantam, an old oil cooled welder, and that knocked out the power the first time I used it too.  This time I needed to build an inrush inhibitor, to prevent it drawing too much current when it was turned on, and now it, too, works fine, and much better than the old one.

Today, I took delivery of a lathe- it's a step that many metalworkers seem to take, from fabricator, to machinist. The lathe increases the capacity of my shop a great deal. Jobs that were fiddly or impossible before will be easy now, and if I need a part for something, I can almost certainly make it rather than buying it.

People who use tools laugh when I say this, but that's the last big tool, really. Perhaps one day I'll get a milling machine too, but from here, the shop is more or less complete, and any new tools will be upgrades.