The Shed – September-October 2019

Some gear Dennis thinks that he will

probably never use, but, should the need

arise, he has the equipment to get the

job done. He says that he is entirely self-

taught, although he worked for several

years for the Christchurch company

PDL Plastics. There, he did all sorts of

engineering work, including running an

automatic lathe. According to Dennis,

the hardest part of any job is gaining the

knowledge: “You have to know stuff”.

Actually, he didn’t say ‘stuff’.

Bad luck

Dennis has had three strokes (three

strokes of bad luck he calls them) and

had to undergo extensive rehabilitation,

but apart from some weakness in one

hand he has no obvious impairment. One

thing that he does have is a prodigious

memory. As I brought the damaged

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he asked if I was still driving the Citroën

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know me?” I asked. “You used to come

into my second-hand shop in Addington,”

Dennis replied. “But that was years ago.

Maybe 20 years ago,” I said. “I know,”

he chuckled. “Not bad for someone with

only part of their brain working, eh?”

The thing that had brought me

to Dennis, rather than to one of his

competitors, was that his advertisement

states “While you wait”. What this means

in practice is that he gets the customers

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welding — so you get an up-close view

of the operation, along with a pithy

commentary on the process.

He’s been plastic welding for a while

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be done. f

Dennis has made a

serious study of the

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Triumph Tiger and pilot. Dennis says these

bikes are good for high mileages

A contented neighbour showing his

Muffler dent removal kit being trialled repaired vacuum cleaner part

Welding up cracks in a motorcycle fairing