Rusty chrome cruiser project

I was recently given a rusted out old beach cruiser.   It's a cool bike but needs a LOT of love. In fact, it's so rusty it might not be worth the effort of trying to restore the chrome.  Some of the rust is so bad, I will probably need to strip it to bare metal and paint it.  But I feel like restoring the chrome a good project so I'm going for it.   I'll post some before, during and after pictures.  

Transfer of time and energy

There are thousands of unfinished projects out there just collecting dust.  Let's say it's a piece of furniture in the garage that’s partially sanded and halfway through restoration.  I'm sure every one of those projects has an excuse associated with it "I just don't have the time or energy".   On the flip side there are people, like you and me, that have the energy; and let's be honest, we have the time too.

So let's take on those unfinished projects and feel the satisfaction of completing something… and getting our nails dirty. 

Most of us only have 2 obstacles:  #1) Finding those projects (not that hard).   #2) Having a physical space and the tools to do it.  This is a big obstacle but I am working on it.

 
 

Free boat?!

I browse Craigslist Free Stuff at least once a week because it's hilarious the junk people put up there.   But the other day I saw someone giving away a boat!  It was in pretty bad shape but not completely junk.  The author of the post obviously thought someone could see the potential in this thing...  I am that someone, I want a freaking boat!
Now I've never restored a broken down old boat but I bet you if I had some tools, a big garage and some guidance I could restore that boat.
You see where I going with this right?

Who wants to go fishing?!

San Diego Pickers

You've seen the TV show American Pickers right?  A couple of dudes driving a van across the country 'picking' things that appear to be garbage then they restore it and sell it for double (or triple) the amount they paid.
Sounds cool to me.  Except, I don't have a van and I don't have time to drive across the country and I certainly don't have a place to restore anything I 'pick'.
But what if the next time I saw something that I thought was cool but needed some restoration I actually had a place to restore it...?
Now that would be cool.

What would your Great Grandpa think?

Do you ever wonder?  I do.   My Great Grandpa Chester was a man's man, he was a farmer, a craftsman and a gentleman.   He has been gone for quite a while now and I wonder what he would think of me; and my friends for that matter.  A bunch of city slickers with dishpan hands is what he would think.  Sure he would be proud of us for having 'real' jobs and making money but he would also be a little disappointed because we don't really DO anything.  What I mean by DO is, when was the last time you changed your own oil, or built a piece of furniture or just got dirty doing something with your hands?  ...and no, planting flowers doesn't count.

It's time we DO something we (and others) are proud of.