bulgie 

I just got this nice Pogliaghi crown, '70s vintage I'd guess, made for D-section blades.

Anyone know what blades that was made to fit? And where to get a pair?

Thanks,
Mark B in Seattle

Cynikal 

Don Walker was also looking for a set of these on the Facebook Framebuilders group recently.

Andrew R Stewart 

To borrow a phrase from a nice guy and good builder "show the blades who's the boss!".

That's only slightly a joke. Andy

Doug Fattic 

Mark,I posted this response on the CR list and I'll do it again here. Somewhere in my shed where I store odds and ends of framebuilding materials, I have some D section fork blades (as well as D shaped fork crowns). I got them from Johnny Berry's shop in Manchester when I bought a lot of his framebuilding stuff from his widow in 1975. It seems like every pair have a different amount of rake and rake radius. I think they are Reynolds 531. My guess is that they were made pre WWII.

unterhausen

I didn't know people were still building with d section blades that late.

bulgie 

Yeah me neither, but rhm over in the C&V forum said he has a bike with D-blades that he's pretty sure is no earlier than '70s and might be '80s.

Mark B

bulgie 

Thanks Doug. I know wading into the shed can be a PITA, if yours is anything like mine... But if you're willing to delve in there to make a big sale of one pair of blades, let me know.

I'm not going to make a fork with 'em any time soon, so this is bottom priority. Especially if you have more crowns than blades, in which case it doesn't make sense for you to send me some of your blades.

I have one set of D-blades that look pretty old, I'm guessing pre-war, and I have a period-correct crown for them. My blades are nice and thin top and bottom (taper-gauge?), but they don't have any Reynolds markings on them -- did they stamp them BITD? Accles & Pollock Kromo maybe?

If this Pog crown of mine is destined to remain a tchotchke for the curio shelf, so be it. What I really want is to know what the heck Pogliaghi was doing with it.

Mark B

bulgie 

I'm not saying it'd be impossible to cram an oval blade into this crown after some reshaping on the blades, but it definitely wouldn't be easy. I've made some teardrop blades to fit crowns made for teardrops, but a D-section is more difficult, unless there's some easy way I'm missing.

If I ground out the socket to fit an oval blade, then it's not a D-section crown anymore, and so it's lost its only claim to fame. Reshaping the blades to get that straight (flat) section on the inside, with the rapid transition to the rounded outer side (true and proper "D") is not something I've tried, but I expect doing it well would be a Big Hairy Deal. Suggestions welcome.

Mark B.

rhm

@bulgie, I actually started a thread or two about this some time ago, perhaps you can get something out of some of the replies:

https://www.bikeforums.net/framebuil...rk-blades.html

Doug Fattic 

I found the box of D section fork blades in my shed. They vary a lot in weight, rake radius and amount of rake. I found markings on 3 blades. One was Reynolds H M 18 -21. For those not named Mark reading this thread, the 18 - 21 refers to sheet metal gauge (the bigger the number the thinner the steel). Another was Reynolds A 18 - 20. And the 3rd had CM surrounded by an oval. I have no idea what CM refers to.




I've had these blades for 45 years and have taken them out to look at them only a few times. I kept them around thinking they might be used in a repair but in fact I have never even seen a frame with D section fork blades. Most of them show heavy rust and some are pretty badly pitted. My body won't be cold in the ground before my wife throws them away so If you want a pair, I'm agreeable. Most likely you have something to trade.

Also in the shed are these British army artillery boxes Johnny also stored a ton of D section fork crowns of various shapes. They are not convenient to get them out to take a picture. Also he had Reynolds steerers that are 11 gauge on the fat end instead of the standard 13. On the threaded portion is a long slot that goes all the way through but not all the way to the top where another half moon slot stops its progress. I assume these were the kind used with lugs that were integrated with a headset.

rhm

Sounds like those were made for headclip headsets.

[img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7075/...26292f7b_b.jpg[/img]

The stem doesn't have an expander; you tighten the bolt, which squeezes the steerer, and this grabs the stem. Not a great system, pretty much abandoned by the mid-50's.

Andrew R Stewart 

I have a Raleigh Twenty (not a DL-20, also not a folding bike but does have 20" wheels) that has the steerer slotted so a clamp can be tightened thus securing the stem. I have felt this is a poor design since I first saw it. Andy (who has this bike on a rather long term loan, as in about 35 years now)

bulgie 

The 1963 Cinelli catalog shows a normal headset on the road frames, but a headclip on the track model. I can see how a headclip might be stiffer for a sprinter. Where a normal steerer to quill interface has some slop at the top, being anchored only at the bottom. I assume this Cinelli Pista used a regular stem with an expander, so the quill was anchored both top and bottom, totally bombproof.

I don't know how long Cinelli hung onto that anachronism. The next catalog I have is '73 and it was gone by then.

Mark B

bulgie 

Wow thanks Doug that's really cool of you to dig those out and take pics.

Much as I appreciate the offer to send some, and as much as I'd like to help you store some of those until we're both in the ground, honestly it's probably not worth your time spent boxing and shipping, since they'll likely never get used. And I don't think Reynolds HM blades from the '40s (or earlier?) are what was supposed to go in this Pogliaghi crown from (I'm guessing) the '70s. I think those Reynolds "A" blades might be from the 1920s.

I sure did like looking at the photos though.

-mb