1936 Wards hawthorne Silver King project.

[sandmangts]

Well I was tinkering around with the fork trying to get the stuck stem out and the whole steerer tube just came out of the fork! Oh well, better that it happened now instead of during a ride! I may be able to get a nice silver Bomber fork with a 1 inch steerer anyway. That would be pretty cool.

 

[sandmangts]

I did a test polish on a small area today just to see if the results will be worth the effort. I didn't even wet sand, I just used my bench grinder with a course buffing wheel and course emory compound and then a quick rub with Mothers aluminum polish and this is what I got. If I do a full wet sand from 600 through 1500 grit and then buff from emory all the way down to jewelers rouge and then a coat of clear this thing is going to glow in the dark.

 

[Rio]

I did a test polish on a small area today just to see if the results will be worth the effort.

Yes it will!! Very nice, can't wait to see the end result. I try to imagine what it must feel like to work on a frame of that age. Must be satisfying

 

[sandmangts]

I think I found the fork I want to use.

 

[BobCatMax]

shiny!

 

[klunkerbr]

Are you going for canti's on the front? Looks really good IMO!

 

[Dr S]

Oh please use the original fork- it's a work of art!

Send it over here and i will repair it for you FOC.

That bike needs to be completely high polished alloy. Only tyres, grips and saddle escape. It will look sick!

 

[klunkerbr]

I'm with Dr S the original forks looked way better. Though it's a matter of personal choice!

 

[sandmangts]

I'm with Dr S the original forks looked way better. Though it's a matter of personal choice!

I am still working on fixing the old one plus I think this fork may be pushing the limits of the geometry. The head angle would be super slack and steering would be pretty lazy I think. There is a guy in town who says he has an original silver king fork with the truss rods. I may just buy his if it looks good. Then I may just use the Bomber fork on my Mercury.

The wheels are going to be Araya 7x stripped and polished to a mirror finish. Vintage skip tooth cranks with fresh chrome and a rear Morrow hub with fresh chrome.

 

[ferrus]

Oh please use the original fork- it's a work of art!

+1
This is such an interesting frame and fork, it would be a real shame if you had to seperate them. If you only had the frame and then found the matching forks, they'd have been a great score!

What a fascinating project, can't wait!