dp (with Frankenbike)

I have always been mechanically curious, and compelled to construct things.  My parents tell me I blew my first fuse before I was walking.  A gift of my very own crescent wrench (thinking that it would  get me to leave my father's tools alone), resulted in my disassembling the lawnmower's engine at age 2 1/2.  It was left apart for me to re-assemble, which didn't happen until age 9.  I taught myself to solder at such a young age, that I quite literally can't remember not knowing how.  Around age 10 there is photographic evidence of my access to propane: an absence of eyebrows.  A few years later, I turned various scavenged truck parts into a ballista.
(Not unlike a Scrapheap Challenge competition, but without the welding gear, the 10 hour time limit or my teammates;  The NERDS ).

Having grown up (physically anyway), I have a lot more tools now, but I still use scavenged materials when I build things.  I now build bicycles, Siege engines, and the occasional decorative object or musical instrument.  While I have accumulated the usual signs of a model engineer (club membership, a metal lathe in the basement, etc.) my primary interest is human powered devices, not steam traction engines.   I don't do scale models, and promise that I will break any tap smaller than 5 mm.
 

Recently, I have been leading events based on my experiences as a competitor. See the Rubbish Deconstruction League page for more details. I wound up as chief designer and builder of a piece of kinetic sculpture called The Buscycle, a 15 passenger human powered "bus". For the rock band ~Dirty on Purpose~ recent video Car, no driver, I built them a piano tossing trebuchet. The Throw, The build (in timelapse)