# Has a friend or relative been responsible for your beginnings in this hobby?



## Terrywerm (Nov 26, 2017)

People sometimes ask me how I got started in such an obscure and unusual hobby. I blame my grandfather! 

I suspect that many of us had a relative or friend that created the spark which led to this internal desire to use machines to make things from metal. For some of us it has also led to a love of old, oily machinery that carries with it an odor that is objectionable to many (just ask my wife), but loved by us.  For me it was my maternal grandfather, who worked as a machinist for much of his life, though I do not know exactly what year he began in that trade. Prior to that he was a chauffeur, gas station attendant, and truck driver (now I know where I got that, too) before being drafted into the military during WW2. For a short time after his return from the army he tried farming with his brother, but eventually went on to become a machinist for the Char-Lynn Corporation. Layoffs occurred from time to time in that trade, and due to those layoffs, he eventually worked for Telelect, Thermo King, and Continental Machines, makers of DoAll saws. I remember as a youngster, going with my grandmother for tours of Telelect and Continental Machines when they had various open house events for family members. It was during one of those visits that I was overcome with the burning desire to learn more about these fantastic machines that magically made usable parts out of odd chunks of iron and steel. I was hooked!

In high school I had the opportunity to take a number of machine shop and drafting classes and loved every minute of them. After graduation I gained employment in a local job shop and quickly became bored with drilling the same hole in the same part, several hundred times per day for weeks on end. They were some sort of valve body for army tanks, that's all I remember about them. My desire to make a living this way soon disappeared and I opted to sate my wanderlust by becoming a truck driver. Doing so never caused me to lose my interest in working metal, however.

My first machine was a drill press, but beyond that I purchased a 10" Logan lathe. I eventually found out that it was originally purchased new by none other than the Char-Lynn Corporation in 1941. This made it entirely possible that my grandfather had operated my lathe long before I was born. I can imagine him performing operations with it, never in his wildest dreams thinking that his grandson would come to own that lathe some day. Thinking about that for me is AWESOME, and completes another connection in my mind between the two of us.

I eventually purchased two midsized milling machines, one vertical and one horizontal. Naturally I've also purchased quite a bit of tooling since getting into this hobby, a seemingly never ending habit that causes my wife to roll her eyes and smile at the same time. Yes, she's an enabler!

In line with my love for old machinery, I have started down what I suspect may become a slippery slope by purchasing a 1937 Ninth edition of Machinery's Handbook in very good condition. That year is special to me, as it is the year that both of my parents were born. I do not plan to start a collection of all of them, but I do already have a 29th edition that I use as my 'working' copy. It spends its time sitting by the computer, a handy reference when needed. I also have the revised first edition of the Machinery's Handbook Pocket Companion which I keep in my shop and use it extensively. I hope to eventually expand my collection by a few select editions from special-to-me years, but if I ever purchase another brand new one it will be the large print version. I don't need it yet, but it's need is coming and there is no escaping it as time marches on.

So there you have it, my beginnings in this wonderful hobby. How about you? What's your story?


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## David S (Nov 26, 2017)

Very interesting Terry.  My grandfather was also my inspiration, but really not about machining.

When I was very young I was fortunate to be able to spend the summer months at their cottage on Georgian Bay.  Originally it was rather secluded and not many folks around but the locals.  We didn't have any electricity, running water etc.  He had two rental cabins, and each one had a wooden row boat and so did my grandmother have a lovely row boat.

My grandfather was very clever.  He cut wood for the fireplace / cookstoves, repaired the boats, maintained the cabins, had to do road work since the his road would get washed out at times by high water.  He was a wiry man without an ounce of fat on his body and not all that tall, yet he managed to lift boats into his boat house, move huge stones and fell large trees.  There were no power tools, but he had a large selection of hand tools.  He had all manner of hand cutting tools and he knew how to keep them all sharp.

Nothing got thrown out, he attempted to repair anything that broke and he would cleverly make functional things that they needed around the cottage.  There was always something to work on and we were busy all day, and every day seemed to bring a new challenge.  He taught me about levers for mechanical advantage and the use of block and tackle.  After a big storm all sorts of stuff would wash up on our shore, usually broken docks.  He would take the boat and haul the old dock parts back and we would take them all apart saving everything we could.  I spent hours straightening nails.

I spent many a summer with him learning all sorts of fixing skills.  My Dad was in the Navy and he would be away for extended periods, so Mom was the official keeper of the household.  We didn't have a lot of money, and we moved about every two years so it was up to me to apply my learned skills to fix stuff and make things that Mom needed for our rental housing.

As I continued to grow up I became quite good a doing mechanical stuff and also electronics.  I had taught my self to design with vacuum tubes, and then the early semiconductors.  Soon it became time to choose University.  It was a coin toss between mechanical engineering and electrical.  Electrical won.

However after graduation, I still had the mechanical desire, and started my own "hobby side business", restoring old small gasoline engines.  I also got interested in making R/C boats and wanted to make all the controls and servos myself.  I soon decided that I needed a lathe.  Back then there was no internet, my "world" was the local hobby shop and the classified.  I knew the owner of the hobby shop and he told me about the Unimat DB200 with mill setup and could get it for me at his cost.  I was hooked.  The Unimat taught me about patience as well since machining was very slow at times.

But I needed something larger for doing repairs on the small engines, and with a stroke of luck found an Atlas 618 in the newspaper.

The small engine worked ended when I had to move across the country, but I still maintained the equipment to make stuff and do repairs.  As I got close to retirement I decided that a nice clean hobby would be repairing old mechanical clocks, and have been doing that for the past 10 years.  My go to lathe is still my beloved Atlas 618.  I have made all sorts of accessories for it.  For a mill I tricked out an awesome JET bench top drill press with an X-Y table, Z feed and Z dro.  

So after a very rewarding career as an electrical design engineer for myriad consumer products and DIY tools, my mechanical hobby has been a pleasant change from the electronic side of things...besides the components are getting too small for me to have fun working with.  Clock parts are just the right size for me.

David


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## projectnut (Nov 26, 2017)

My experience is a bit different from Terry's.  I never took any machining classes in high school, and never saw a machine tool until my freshman year of college.  I was attending a state college (later to become part of the University of Wisconsin system) pursuing an Electrical Engineering degree.  It just so happened there was a machine shop for training future industrial arts teachers in one of the buildings  I had classes in.  One day when I was early for class I stopped in to see what was happening.  The first machine I saw working was a 20" shaper.  I didn't know it at the time but I was hooked.

After school I went into business for myself for several years.  Not a machine shop as you might expect, but rather more in line with my first passion automobiles. I purchased a Standard gas station/repair shop, and later against all logic purchased a second one.  That went fine for several years, but like most things in time I grew tired of the long days.  I sold the places and took a more regular job as a service manage of a local car dealership.  That grew tiring even more quickly than the long cold winter days in my own repair shop.

Although I wouldn't admit it I really thought I would like working in a machine shop.  Again as luck would have it I was alerted to an opening in the engineering department of a large manufacturer in the area.  I wasn't sure I wanted to work there, but on the advice of family I decided to give it a try.  I was assigned to an experimental machine design shop.  This wasn't the typical design shop in that just on the other side of the glass was a well equipped machine shop.  I don't know if anyone saw me when I first entered the shop, but I'm sure my mouth was wide open, I was drooling all over myself, and it was all I could do to keep from wetting my pants.  I must have made quite an impression because a couple of the machinist took me under their wing and attempted to teach me the craft.  It was a great learning experience and lasted over 10 years.  Unfortunately time moves on.  In my case that meant transferring to another part of the engineering organization, and away from the shop.  I did stop into the shop as often as I could, but much of my time was spent on the road.

 I spent another 11 years with the company with one of my responsibilities being to supervise a machine shop in a different location.  This shop was set up for 5 years as a temporary location to rebuild production machinery.  When the project was finished some machinists retired, while others returned to their original jobs.  The equipment was declared surplus and was to be sold to the production facilities in the system, or scrapped.  Much of it sold, but several pieces had no takers.  Rather than see it go to scrap, myself and another employee offered to buy it.  The offer was accepted and the rest is history.  I took an early retirement offer  in 2006 and never looked back.


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## royesses (Nov 26, 2017)

When I was 11 years old my dad took me to his friends shop. He was going to machine a small block chevy water pump for the NASCAR modified my dad ran. Every other impeller vane had to be shaved off to slow down the coolant flow. Gives better cooling and increases horsepower available to the flywheel. The friend was building an Indy car and also had a large lathe he was running. He showed me some brass cannons he was making on the lathe and mill. I was really interested. After that we went to a shop in New Jersey with a crankshaft, pistons, pins, con rods, damper and flywheel to get them balanced. Running 8500 rpm makes balancing super critical. I watched them do the balancing and they used a mill and drills to remove weight. I knew after that day that I wanted to learn machine work and at least get a hobby lathe and mill. It took many years, but I have both now and wish I'd gotten them sooner.

Roy


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## Robert LaLonde (Nov 26, 2017)

My wife gave my an HF 7x10 lathe for Christmas in 2005.  That was the beginning of the end for me.


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## f350ca (Nov 26, 2017)

Dad was a mechanic and my uncle who I followed like a puppy dog was a sort of carpenter. I grew up in the country building tree forts and summers spent on the river in an aluminum boat with a 3 hp Firestone (yes Firestone) outboard. When I was 14 dad taught me to use the arc welder which led to turning Volkswagens into bush buggies. High school opened the world of machine shop, drafting and electronics. Went into university to get an engineering degree not having a clue what an engineer actually did, never knew one.
 Through an uncle I landed a summer job in the steel mills, spent 5 hot dirty summers there while I went through school. Spent most of my time there as a millwright helper. One summer in the coke ovens an old English machinist took me under his wing and had me pouring babbit bearings and rebuilding duplex steam pumps. Learned a LOT from him.
  Came time to graduate and knew I'd never survive in an office. My then wife and I decided we had gypsy blood so got an oilfield job and headed west. I did field work, incredible money at the time but was away all the time so we decided to tough it out for 3 years to get my profit sharing bonus, that job ended up lasting 22 years. Pretty much all in the field where most engineers lasted 3. Saw a lot of incredible country and a lot of airports. 
Set up a bit of a cabinet shop in a shed that morphed into a friends bigger space. Ended up building a house with my own shop. 
 We hated the prairies and ended up spending any free time at the coast on various boats. We decided we needed a big one so I started building a 45 foot steel trawler. During that endeavour I was getting parts made a machine shop we used at work. Got to know Terry the owner well, he was also a neighbour. He wanted to do the jobs for free as a friend which was nice but slow as paying work had to take precedence. So in a weak moment I bought a new 14x40 Taiwanese lathe. The bug bit me hard, remembered some from my misspent high school classes and Asked Terry a lot of questions, that was pre internet.
 Lost Ann at that point to cancer and lost interest in finishing the boat. The kids were young then, tried having a nanny for a couple of years but the kids hated me being away. One night while I was 200 miles off the coast of Newfoundland I made my daily call to the kids and found out the house keeper was quoting. Decided I'd had enough of that so I took an office position, which meant another move, the 5th in 20 years. The next place had a bigger shop though. With evenings and weekends to play I bought a Bridgeport clone and retired the milling attachment on the lathe. Office politics and I didn't agree, and whining crews didn't like my solution to their problems, find another job. 
 Decided it was time for a change, took me a year to p!ss my boss's boss off enough to fire me. My boss couldn't fire me I had to go one up to get a severance package at the ripe age of 45.
 Moved back home at that point and finally got off the prairies.
 Built a two story shop here, finally separated the machine shop and the cabinet shop. Once the floor was poured I got my bigger lathe I thought I needed. A 17x 80 Summit, imported from Poland. Started getting some work, and more tools. Soon a Logan shaper, then the Taiwanese lathe was replaced with a Colchester that was eventually replaced with a Hardinge. Then the little shaper was replaced with an 18 inch Peerless and the space where the small shaper was got used by a Boyar Schultz  surface grinder, then a radial arm drill.
 Seem to spend an equal amount to time in the cabinet shop and the machine shop now. Guess I could make a living at this but its much more fun only taking work if it interests me or gets someone I know out of a bind.

Greg


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## kd4gij (Nov 26, 2017)

My inspiration came from the price of a seal driver. That was before HF times. I worked on anything that moved as a hobby. Self taught. I grew up back when you either fixed something or through it out and did without.


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## 4GSR (Nov 26, 2017)

I was born with a mic in one hand and a pair of calipers in the other.

I pretty much learned the trade from my dad. Started running dad's 9" South Bend Lathe when I was 10 years old.  Still have that lathe, too.
Decided after high school to try college to be an engineer.  Still playing an engineer/designer in the profession I'm in today.  Still running machines every chance I get.

Ken


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## Ulma Doctor (Nov 26, 2017)

my grandfather (my dad's dad) started the quest for me.
he was not a machinist.
he was a tinkerer in many the of wood arts(repair, restoration and furniture construction) and electrical repairs of various machines.
he had modest tools and was able to do many things by resorting to out of the box thinking.
a lot of those skills were undoubtedly due to necessity.
a harsh experience in the great depression honed sharp intellect and imagination in regards to practicality and resourcefulness.
it seemed that he could make repairs or make really useful things, from mere junk.
that fact has permeated my view of resources available to me.
i still think of him when i'm in the shop, hoping that i have made him proud
i lost him when i was 7 years old and i have missed him everyday since


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## Aaron_W (Nov 27, 2017)

Not specifically. My grandfather owned a small machine shop but it must have just been work as he rarely talked about what he was working on, and seemed to have no interest in machining as a hobby.

My dad is a tinkerer and likes building stuff. He got me into models as a child and involved me in projects around the house since I was a small child. He also did odd jobs for people from time to time and started to take me along to help when I was a teenager. I assume I get my curiosity about learning how things work and learning how to do things myself from him even if our specific interests are different.

From building models I became interested in doing more than just assembling parts from a kit. I began to make my own decals and scratch build parts. Later I learned to resin cast parts and have tried dabbling with photo etch although that last is still very much in the learning stages.
The lathe and mill are just the next step in modelling, opening up new capabilities. It was kind of a fun twist a few years ago when I taught my dad how to resin cast some parts he made for his models.

I learned a lot about woodworking and home repairs from my dad, but my knowledge of metal working and automotive repair came from shop classes in highschool (when they still offered such things) and beyond that have largely been self taught.


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## samthedog (Nov 27, 2017)

My father and mother were refugees and came to Australia in the 60's. My father was a good student but had to start full time work when he was 14 to help support the family. He worked in the building trade as an apprentice framer, then completed an apprenticeship in cabinet making while also completing his education in diesel and petrol mechanics. He went on to complete his certification as a master builder. He is a resourceful guy and always had a lathe, grinder, drill press and a multitude of other tools.

Despite being a lousy teacher and somewhat short-tempered, I used to stand at a distance and try understand what he was doing. This was how I learned the basics of machining, brazing, welding, carpentry, mechanics and prototyping. Since we lived on a farm and were self sufficient, it meant that we needed to repair and build most everything we needed to have to keep the farm running.

When I was dating my wife-to-be, I explained to her that in time, I will buy all the tools I need to be somewhat useful to the community I lived in so it was no surprise to her when we moved to Norway that I began to save and accumulate machines and tools. Living in Australia, it was very difficult to find old iron in good condition. Most everything I had seen came from the Asian market or was so expensive I couldn't afford it. Since moving to Norway, I have managed to put together the workshop of my dreams with small industrial grade machines. I have also had the chance to play with machining projects and repair these machines. 

I owe it to my dad who inspired me to be a useful person who can think out of the box, be resourceful, dependable and never allow a situation to beat me.

Paul.


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## kvt (Nov 27, 2017)

Mine is not so glamorous, while growing up, in HS and after worked in several shops that did engine machine work, and with several machine shops that did work for us, but then joined and retired from the USAF.   Was not until several years ago when my Father in law passed and I got his Sherline lathe and mill, that a started doing this stuff again.  Wife purchased another Sherline lathe for me,   Then I purchased a 10x24, and working from there.


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## Eddyde (Nov 27, 2017)

All great stories above, Thanks for sharing.
I was inspired from the beginning by by my father and my older brother who were both very resourceful in mechanics and electronics. My dad was a radio operator and IED maker in the Polish resistance during WWII, There he learned electrical and mechanical improvisation and developed a "get it to work no matter what" mentality. He imparted those skills to my older brother and they both imparted them to me. My "playground" was a NYC salvage yard located under the Brooklyn Bridge, a wonderland of junked Police cars, Fire engines, hospital, office and equipment of all kinds. My friends and I would sneak in after school and climb the piles of scrap, blow stuff up with M-80s and Blockbusters (sometimes homemade) or just dump stuff in the river, for fun. When I got into my tween-teen years I would go there and take stuff apart to learn how it worked,"liberate" some parts and build it into all kinds of contraptions, electric go-kart, solenoid machine gun, Frankenstine style HV display, etc. Yeah, I was that geek kid...
I took wood shop In High school (they didn't offer metal) and wound up being a teachers aid. Upon graduation, my shop teacher told me there was nothing more he could teach me, that I was a natural craftsman, but whatever I did, I shouldn't go into woodworking as a career, as it was a very tough business...
When I was 20 I did an apprenticeship under my uncle, who was a master tool and diemaker. He would produce parts from his garage shop that looked like they came out of an aerospace plant, to this day I am in awe of his work. He taught me most of my machining and metalworking skills. After that, I enrolled in NY City Technical College, in their electromechanical engineering program. However, I left after 2 years as I was already making more money working part time doing small painting & carpentry contracts, than they said I could hope to make working full time after graduation, but I did learn a lot there. At 22, I traded a custom built cabinet for my first lathe a 9" South Bend, which I still have. I followed the "easy" money into general contracting and custom woodworking. In 1991 I bought into a coop wood shop, one of the other members had a Bridgeport and another had a DoAll bandsaw, I had the lathe and some welding equipment, so together we had decent metalworking capabilities. Through those years, I practiced my machining skills building jigs, specialized woodworking machines and custom hardware. I left the coop in 06, As my shop teacher warned me, It's a very tough business... I worked for several years as construction manager and am now back to general contracting. In 2012, I bought a second home in upstate NY where I am currently building my dream shop. I have since acquired, a Mill, a surface grinder and a couple of more lathes... And more good stuff to come!

Eddy


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## Firestopper (Nov 30, 2017)

I see a pattern here, my grandfather (moms dad) was in my eyes a "master everything". He worked and lived and in Juarez Mexico. He was a superintendent for an American owned factory that processed cotton brought in by train spur. The place was old when I first visited prolly around age six. I still remember the awesome smell of the place. The cotton would be auger fed into machines that stripped the cotton and created large banded bails then shipped back to the US. The seed continued to several crushing machines and the oil extracted/processed and placed in 55 gallon drums. The crushed seed then went on to cook and compacted to create some sort of livestock feed (nothing wasted). This process was where the pleasant aroma came from.
My grandfather had a modest shack/office with a metal drafting table, slide rules along with fair amount of Starrett tooling and a technical library of vintage manuals.  I would visit him every summer and as I got older I would spend the day along side never bored. I remember once he was on the phone and quickly ended the call based on a frequency change he picked up on. His shack was a stand alone building away from the main factory and he still picked up on subtle anomalies, amazing to me then and now. My grandfather could weld, machine, design tools/machines, rewind motors, improve existing equipment and invented many things during his lifetime. He was not formally educated in this field but was very intelligent and knew how to use all his resources. His math was over the top too. 

At age 14 during a Thanksgiving break, he learned I was in beginners machine shop in HS and put me to the test. He made a deal with me, he sketched up a little project at the kitchen table on a napkin. It was my first paying job that I can remember. It required multiple diameters OD/ID and one external taper. He told me that if I could turn it to tolerance, he would gift me a Starrett Micrometer. Once we arrived to the plant, he let me choose what lathe to use, they had two very old machines but where impeccably clean.  I then scrounged for the stock required. It took me most of the day but I was more concerned with impressing my "Abuleo" as I used his personal wooden toolbox/tools.  He was so proud of me, his eyes began to sweat (as mine are as I type). He gave me a Starrett No.224 and a slide rule. I have used the mic over the years and it's a nice instrument.  The slide rule is just a memento of my hero. He past away in 1988 my son was one month old so it made it easier for me to cope with my loss. 

The handwritten note is in Spanish although my "Abuelito" was fluent in english. 
Translation: _*Accept this gift as a remembrance of your "gramps" Nacho, 6th of November 1979, Juarez,Mexico...and Merry Christmas*_.



 Man it still hurts to thinks about my grandfathers last days. His lungs failed from many years of no PPE and smoking, but that was the norm those days. I credit my "abuelito" for my desire to work with my hands and continue to learn. My mother and father where also responsible with unconditional support paying HS shop fees, signing papers allowing me to enlist in the Navy at seventeen. My mom visits  a few times throughout the year and always finds time to hang out with me in the shop. She thinks I'm special like my grandfather, but then again she's my mother.  I'm so far behind my grandfather but I'm giving it 110%. Wow!  Part of me is sad reminiscing , but the awesome memories outweigh the sad fact of life...Life is short, embrace it, and never forget those special people that made it all possible. In closing, I want to acknowledge my wife of 30 years who's unconditional love/support for my quest of knowledge has resulted in a considerable investment. She says I work too much, but for me its a purpose I truly love/enjoy.   
Thank you for allowing me to share a small timeline of my blessed life.
Turn and Burn!
Peace,
Paco


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## wrmiller (Nov 30, 2017)

I was aware of these machines of course for quite some time, but it was not until I was befriended by my local pistolsmith that I actually started seeing a use for them. It was all downhill after that.


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## Bob Korves (Nov 30, 2017)

firestopper said:


> I see a pattern here, my grandfather (moms dad) was in my eyes a "master everything". He worked and lived and in Juarez Mexico. He was a superintendent for an American owned factory that processed cotton brought in by train spur. The place was old when I first visited prolly around age six. I still remember the awesome smell of the place. The cotton would be auger fed into machines that stripped the cotton and created large banded bails then shipped back to the US. The seed continued to several crushing machines and the oil extracted/processed and placed in 55 gallon drums. The crushed seed then went on to cook and compacted to create some sort of livestock feed (nothing wasted). This process was where the pleasant aroma came from.
> My grandfather had a modest shack/office with a metal drafting table, slide rules along with fair amount of Starrett tooling and a technical library of vintage manuals.  I would visit him every summer and as I got older I would spend the day along side never bored. I remember once he was on the phone and quickly ended the call based on a frequency change he picked up on. His shack was a stand alone building away from the main factory and he still picked up on subtle anomalies, amazing to me then and now. My grandfather could weld, machine, design tools/machines, rewind motors, improve existing equipment and invented many things during his lifetime. He was not formally educated in this field but was very intelligent and knew how to use all his resources. His math was over the top too.
> 
> At age 14 during a Thanksgiving break, he learned I was in beginners machine shop in HS and put me to the test. He made a deal with me, he sketched up a little project at the kitchen table on a napkin. It was my first paying job that I can remember. It required multiple diameters OD/ID and one external taper. He told me that if I could turn it to tolerance, he would gift me a Starrett Micrometer. Once we arrived to the plant, he let me choose what lathe to use, they had two very old machines but where impeccably clean.  I then scrounged for the stock required. It took me most of the day but I was more concerned with impressing my "Abuleo" as I used his personal wooden toolbox/tools.  He was so proud of me, his eyes began to sweat (as mine are as I type). He gave me a Starrett No.224 and a slide rule. I have used the mic over the years and it's a nice instrument.  The slide rule is just a memento of my hero. He past away in 1988 my son was one month old so it made it easier for me to cope with my loss.
> ...


My eyes are "sweating" as well, Paco.  Thanks for sharing your memories.


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## core-oil (Nov 30, 2017)

I guess I started being interested in the machinery field when I was about four years of age, My father was a resourceful soul, and had worked since the end of the first world war, and due to the depression  was in various occupations, One of the earliest he told me about was that of a ships fireman, Strange to say furnaces and steam engines are in my blood, My fathers maternal Gr. grandfather was a ships fireman , and his son, dads  grandfather was a boilermaker,  My mothers father was a winding engineman in a colliery, & later to obtain more wages for his family he also was a boiler attendant, His father was the driver of a big steelworks rolling engine, So I guess engines are imprinted in my make up.

 When I was a small kid, helping dad to make do and mend was my best interest, He was employed in a second world war machine shop, He operated tone of the biggest radial drilling machines in the district, & towards the latter days of the war did much of the marking out and some erecting work, But the sad thing was he felt being in a machine shop was too restricting , and he wanted to eascape back to working with a horse in an open air environment which he eventually  aspired to.

 However his old pal who was a farmer and a mechanical genius with a few designs for machinery as well used to spend a Saturday afternoon repairing machinery which fascinated me,  Father was a keen on education and learning generally, and off an afternoon, Mother and I as well would head to the  city to visit various museums, One in particular had at that time the most exquisite engineering models which it would be hard to better, I can remember looking at these works of art, and saying to myself "I would clove to be able to make nice things like that in metal"  My favourite toy was a  wound armature from a little electric motor, I spent many an hour wondering how somebody managed to make it.

  One day dad took me down to his workplace and I was in awe of these huge machines and I was fascinated with the flow of white cutting oil on the lathes  It was a Saturday afternoon and the backshift was beavering away turning out various things for a totally pointless war which only led to misery for lots of poor souls  Another two guys who prompted me was my headmaster, who used to let us see his model galleons , and my mothers brother, who was a miner, but repaired clocks , that made me over the years realise , he could manufacture lovely turned spindles with the most primitive set of turns.
  Time rolled on and secondary school (Wake Up Call !) loomed It was not too bad as I was introduced to technical drawing & woodwork, and pretty basic metalwork, Only hand tools , Machine tools ? heavens no, except for a beat up pillar drill forget it!   I left school and enrolled in night schhol That was the first time I operated a lathe in anger, It was a 1920 Colchester screwcutting lathe , Not a bad machine, I learned a lot on that old lathe,  & as a bit of regressing, my pal found one of the same model for me , a few years back , Takes me back to a pretty innocent fifteen year old,  Later on I began my apprenticeship in afoundry and we moved back to the industrial belt , I began to build up a tool kit for fine work, and along came a small 3&1/2" centre height lathe  I was 18 years old at this stage, And,  father helped me set it up and get it working, That basically is how I began , Recently I came across another lathe off the same size so I have set about rebuilding it Another step down memory lane 
One of the things that was golden was my dads old mining colleagues from the pre-war years and him also telling me of how a co-operative effort in building a small drift mine came about It would seem my dad was the boilerman, steam windlass driver/ pony driver , repair man, and tea maker for a few years before the war,  These old guys could make much with very little
  I still even after forty seven years, miss dad looking over my shoulder in the workshop.


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## Bamban (Nov 30, 2017)

It was late in life when I jumped into the unknown world of metal machining. The motivation was the desire to learn something new and out of necessity.

I started high power competition in 1995 and still going at it. When I finally retired in 2011, I ramped up my shooting schedule to where I was burning 2 barrels, till the ripple effect of Sandy Hook made it terribly hard to get custom barrels in time. When the 2 barrels I ordered in 2013 were not finished till the summer of 2014, I decided I need to learn how to crank out my own barrels from blanks.

Bored at the hotel at Camp Perry during the Nationals in 2014,  I actively started looking for a Bridgeport and a lathe. While still at the Nationals I found a Jet belt drive 1340 just south of Toledo. Made a deal on it, the seller reneged on the day bedore pick up. Good thing I have not signed on trailer rental.

The day before returning to TX, I found a package deal on CL in College Station, TX. I called the seller and asked him what would it take for me to close the deal. Since I was still in Ohio, I was willing to ask my service buddy to pay him in my absence. I told the seller about the episode I went through in Toledo, he assured me that no heroics are needed, he won't sell them from under me and gave me his assurance that his word is good. We agreed on 5K cash for both BP and a lathe. The BP is S1 2HP variable speed with DRO, BP X axis power drive, and VFD just being used a 3P provider. For accessories; Kurt 6 inch, 6 inch Strong brand Super spacer, 5C collet indexer, small set of BP R8 collet, and a large box of end mills. The lathe is a Taiwanese ACER gear head 1236. It came with Aloris AXA and a dozen Aloris tool holders, Trav-A-Dial, a Strong brand 3J, unused 4J, and a bunch of brazed turning bits.

The day after I got back I went and picked up the machines.

Now that I got them, the journey to the joys and frustration of machining began. Never ran any of these machines before. I enlisted the help of the shooter I know from Memphis, Rick Voyles. Through emails and phone calls he walked me through the basics of running a lathe and mill. Not too long after I had the machines I ran across MKSJ when I decided to upgrade the 1236. Along the way, MKSJ not only helped me with the VFD, but he also helped me sort out a few machining issues. Very thankful to Mark. The forum was very helpful to me. I posted numerous questions, the outpouring of help was tremendous, forever grateful.

When I was ready to do some chambering, my shooting buddies donated their shot out barrels to the cause. A retired benchrest gunsmith from TX, Butch Lambert, guided me through the chambering process, the way benchrest gunsmiths do it. With the shot out barrels and my new found chambering knowledge, I must have done over a dozen training chambering jobs. I chucked up a barrel, indicate it, cut and thread the tenon, chamber, cut it off and start all over again.

2015, the TX Junior program, leveraging Butch's connection with Shilen Barrels, we were able to secure a deal for our juniors to get free barrels from Shilen. Besides the barrels I chambered for me and for my brother's benchrest rifle, the junior barrels started the backlog in my shop.

I have acquired 2 more lathes, one, actually my favorite now, a Jet 1024. It was sourced by Ulma Doctor in his AO. He crated it and sent to TX. This 1024 also has been upgraded with one of MKSJ's VFD creations. I am spoiled by them, can't live without them. The complete system for the SBL 13 is here, it will have to wait till I get done with both knee replacements, left is now healing.

Now, 75 barrels later from when I started the first barrel for me, the kids, my brother, and my friends keep me busy. I was busy, but the reward has been overwhelming. From the barrels from shop, one was used by overall winner in the 2016 President's Hundred, by one of our TX shooters This is a no sighter match shot at 200, 300, and 600 yards, attended by military and civilian shooters totalling over 1500. In the same year at Camp Perry, 4 individual national records were set by shooters with barrels from my shop. The 6 man team National record was broken by the TX adult team, actually smashed by 32 points. Of the 6 shooters, 3 of the barrels came from the shop. The old record stood since the mid 90s. 2017, one of our juniors set a national record for a no sighter match, Civilian Marksmanship Program Excellence in Competition, 498/500. Certainly, the shooters own all the credits, the barrels were merely enablers to their performance.

The machining journey continuous....


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## Dhector (Dec 1, 2017)

My story is no one in my family had anything to do with machining of any sort. Nor did they have anything to do with motorcycles. Will explain. I was adopted at one year old. I had the best mom and dad ever! Both of them worked for the IRS in VA. When they retired, I was young. They were the equivalent of growing up with grandparents, and old school morals and values. Of course as a kid I didn't agree but I'm glad they were the way they were. I only realized that later in life and am truly grateful for that. I have always been fascinated by machined items my whole life. I've also been fascinated by motorcycles as well. Once again, noone in my family had any background in machining, or motorcycles. About four years ago I decided to look for my biological family. It didn't go the way I would have hoped, but we are all dealt cards and have to take them good or bad. Found out my mother had a love for Harley's! I have my whole life too. Also, the father was a machinist. I've never met either as my mother was killed on a bike before I could ever meet her. The father is, from what I'm told, still a machinist, or at least he was in his career. It makes me think that it was in my blood somehow on both bikes and machining. Can't  explain it any other way. Either way both hobbies have brought me a lot of enjoyment in my life, although machining hasn't even hit one full year yet. It's been fun and this forum has taught me more than anything else. I have to say thank you to a lot of you that helped me out. It's been a real pleasure. Thanks.


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## Firestopper (Dec 1, 2017)

Dhector said:


> My story is noone in my family had anything to do with machining of any sort. Nor did they have anything to do with motorcycles. Will explain. I was adopted at one year old. I had the best mom and dad ever! Both of them worked for the IRS in VA. When they retired, I was young. They were the equivalent of growing up with grandparents, and old school morals and values. Of course as a kid I didn't agree but I'm glad they were the way they were. I only realized that later in life and am truly grateful for that. I have always been fascinated by machined items my whole life. I've also been fascinated by motorcycles as well. Once again, noone in my family had any background in machining, or motorcycles. About four years ago I decided to look for my biological family. It didn't go the way I would have hoped, but we are all dealt cards and have to take them good or bad. Found out my mother had a love for Harley's! I have my whole life too. Also, the father was a machinist. I've never met either as my mother was killed on a bike before I could ever meet her. The father is, from what I'm told, still a machinist, or at least he was in his career. It makes me think that it was in my blood somehow on both bikes and machining. Can't  explain it any other way. Either way both hobbies have brought me a lot of enjoyment in my life, although machining hasn't even hit one full year yet. It's been fun and this forum has taught me more than anything else. I have to say thank you to a lot of you that helped me out. It's been a real pleasure. Thanks.



Sounds like you got the best of three worlds: A sound foundation of moral values, the love of motorcycles and machining. Theres a lot to be said about blood lines for sure.


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## Robert LaLonde (Dec 1, 2017)

I could claim truthfully that my paternal grandfather was a research mechanic for NASA, or that my maternal grandfather was a professional machinist before anybody ever heard of a computer much less a CNC.  Those things are true, and I do have some of their tools, but the fact is if my wife hadn't given my a cheesy little Chicom Chinesium lathe from Harbor Fright I might not be doing what I am doing for a living today.  It still feels like a hobby.  I almost feel guilty some days out in my shop makingparts for people.  Somedays it is a hobby still.  I work on customer projects and my projects continuously all day long.


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## rock_breaker (Dec 1, 2017)

For as long as I remember there has been a lathe in my life. My father took an correspondence course in electrical engineering while working with my paternal grandfather in the plastering contracting business. As Dad put it "grandpa got the money and Dad got the work" from the business. thus the career in electricity. He sold power plants as part of his business and when the local blacksmith couldn't supply the replacement bushings as required my dad bought a lathe. That South Bend arrived at about the same time I did.  Dad later became manager of the local REA power distribution system so no longer had to turn bushings, a time I wasn't allowed in the shop as he needed to concentrate on the work. During my teen's he made a carosel shelf for the kitchen cabinets during the house remodeling. He had traded the South Bend for the Clausing 100 MK3 that I have Inherited. He taught my brother and I how to use that lathe. 

It was during that time the 1937 Ford Coupe I was driving ( this was 1952) needed some front spring repair which took place at a friend of a friend's machine shop. The machinist (one man shop) told me he had a gear making project and could not devote much time to my needs. So I got every thing ready for my job so he could do the 5 minutes of overhead welding required. I did notice his work during that time and I now I may have mis- understood what I thought he was doing. It seemed to me that he was cutting the gear on a lathe and had some sort of indexing device mostly a bar (spring) and a wedge mounted on the carriage. I later learned that the gear was used to drive an airplane propeller to provide ventilation in the local coal mine. 

During my hitch in the Navy I turned a couple of rings (jewelry) for guys that wanted to mount "cat eyes" found in the coral used as base material for the airstrip and plane parking lots at the Cubi Point Navel Air Station  Luzon Island in the Phillipines.  From that point on I had the itch but not the space or finances for a machine  shop. I did have a 10" radial arm saw that was used for hobby and some kids furniture. During my working career I was near employer owned heavy machine shops and visited when possible.  

I inherited the Clausing lathe and still have it. My curiosity about how Biff ( the machinist) had made that gear that day has never dwindled so now that I am retired  I have another lathe, a mill/drill, a horizontal mill, a shaper  and some tools in a shop from a made over house. This website has been a welcome part of my machining activity and I appreciate the help and support I have received from the membership.

Have a good day
Ray


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## KBeitz (Sep 19, 2018)

The earliest I can remember wanting to run machine shop tools I think was somewhere around 
3 grade in school when I was getting into trouble drawing pictures of metal lathe's. Probably what
got me started was my first erector set. (I now have 72 sets).  I have a textile machine shop that's
now only my hobble shop because there is no textile in US of A today... I also have a weld shop
and a wood shop backed up with a sawmill. I'm happy...


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## eugene13 (Sep 19, 2018)

My 18 years older brother had a wood lathe and I loved to watch him make bowls and spindles. He worked for our shirt-tail Uncle who owned a well drilling company and I watched him build shafts and bushings for his walking beam hole pounder, but my real inspiration began in 1960 when as a freshman in high school I took a class called General Metals.  It included Electricity, Welding, Sheet Metal, and Machine Shop.  Everyones first project was was a plumb bob, and I was the first one to finish.  The teacher, Mr. Traester, said "Eugene, you seem to have a real talent for this".  I took his classes for the next three years and upon graduation went to work in a welding shop.  Then I worked in an automatic screw machine shop, not my bag. I worked in a couple of other machine shops till I realized that the only people making any real money were the owners.  I never worked as a machinist again.  Fast forward to pre-retirement, my wife and I decided to build a shop for our automotive hobby (circle track racing) JET was having a special and a lathe and Milling machine fit into the budget.  I'm Happy too...


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## Nogoingback (Sep 19, 2018)

My best friends's Dad was a Doctor with a very demanding practice.   When not working, he spent time in his shop including
building a scale replica of a steam locomotive.  This was done on a DP and an Atlas 618.  After he passed away, my friend
had it for years and then passed it on to me.  It sat around my shop until I needed it to make parts for a project,
so I decided to overhaul it and learn to use it.  I've always enjoyed building and making things, so it's no surprise that this has
become a hobby.


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## 8mpg (Sep 20, 2018)

I blame Youtube


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