# What do we call ourselves?



## Doug Gray (May 6, 2021)

What do you call yourself? Are you a 
Hobby Machinist?, 
Home Shop Machinist?
Home shop Masicist? 
Manic Mechanic?
Garage Guardian?

My dad was a "Putterer". What do you call yourself?


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## DavidR8 (May 6, 2021)

Metal scrapper, wood waster, occasional part maker.


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## TCSmith (May 6, 2021)

Never really put a title to it....  I make it clear in this context that I'm not a machinist!  
I do tend to refer to myself as a "Maker"  I like to make things.  Using machine tools is just part of the things that I like to do.  
As David eluded to some times I make absolute scrap!  Other things turn out ok.


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## tech610 (May 6, 2021)

When I talk to people and this subject comes up, I tell them that I have a small lathe and a small mill and the ones who know what lathe and mill are say: "Oh! You are a machinist" and I answer I'd like to be one when I grow up (I'm 71).


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## benmychree (May 6, 2021)

I cheated and apprenticed to the machinist trade, and worked at it until I retired and sold out, and still work at it occasionally, age 76 now, still enjoy it.


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## mmcmdl (May 6, 2021)

45 years ago , I couldn't even spell masheenest and now I are one !


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## Razzle (May 6, 2021)

Maker
Or 
Jack of all trades
Master of none.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk


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## darkzero (May 6, 2021)

1. Dangerous
2. Most people call me, Will. 

Where there's a Will, there's a way, but around this Will, you better stay away! (Because no.1)


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## Weldingrod1 (May 6, 2021)

I say that I suffer from the need to make stuff ;-)

Maker, renaissance man, mad scientist, they all fit...

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk


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## hman (May 6, 2021)

I call myself an "amateur machinist" or "tinkerer," depending on how many blank looks or silly questions I anticipate.

PS - I was once asked, "Why do you have a milling machine?  What do you do with it?" by a female acquaintance.  My carefully considered reply was to ask her, "Why do you have a sewing machine?"  I guess the best answer to both questions is "Whatever comes along."


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## Ultradog MN (May 6, 2021)

Doug Gray said:


> What do you call yourself? Are you a
> Hobby Machinist?,
> Home Shop Machinist?
> Home shop Masicist?
> ...


I'm a carpenter but I have a lathe, mill, torches and welders in my garage.


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## 682bear (May 6, 2021)

I've worked as a machinist for somewhere near 30 years, but call myself an 'incurable tinkerer'...

-Bear


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## jbobb1 (May 6, 2021)

Been around machines since I can remember, worked as a machinist for 39+ years.
Now I'm self employed in a different line of work, but still consider myself a machinist, mostly because it was born and breed in me.


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## Aukai (May 6, 2021)

A moderate capability machine shop owner, and the owner is working on his capability. Hack for short


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## sdelivery (May 6, 2021)

Insane just fricking insane


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## Eyerelief (May 6, 2021)

A blind cow............
Every now and then I find an oat


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## projectnut (May 6, 2021)

Over the years I've been called a lot of things.  The first and most prevalent is AS**OLE.  The terms go from A to Z, but somehow machinist has never been included in the mix.  I don't know why, but the term 'Maker" has always raised the hair on the back of my neck.  For some reason it's a term I detest.


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## sdelivery (May 6, 2021)

projectnut said:


> Over the years I've been called a lot of things.  The first and most prevalent is AS**OLE.  The terms go from A to Z, but somehow machinist has never been included in the mix.  I don't know why, but the term 'Maker" has always raised the hair on the back of my neck.  For some reason it's a term I detest.


You have the same name as me? lol


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## Doug Gray (May 6, 2021)

Of course the most important thing is......
Just don't call me late for dinner

Somebody had to say it.


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## davidpbest (May 6, 2021)




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## Shootymacshootface (May 6, 2021)

Cheap
So cheap that I have to fix everything myself, and make my own parts too.


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## vocatexas (May 6, 2021)




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## Mitch Alsup (May 6, 2021)

Chip creator, occasionally makes a useful part.


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## KevinM (May 6, 2021)

I'm called "The strange old dude down the street that fixes all of our stuff (for free)".

Edit: I call myself that too.


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## markba633csi (May 6, 2021)

Eccentric old guy with chips embedded in shoes, greasy hands.  Strange, cackling laugh.  Frightens children at Halloween and other times. 
-M


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## higgite (May 6, 2021)

What I call myself varies from "genius" to "dumb S.O.B.", depending on whether my last move was remembering  to lock the Z-axis before fly cutting or forgetting to lock the quill before fly cutting. In mixed company, I'm a "hobby machinist".

Tom


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## Aaron_W (May 6, 2021)

Guy with tools? I like dabbler too, but that user name is taken.  

I tend to downplay any phrase that includes machinist, mechanic, carpenter, welder as those titles are too high falootin for my skill level even with the qualifier of amateur or hobby. I make stuff, and sometimes it even looks decent but that is as far as I'd go. 

I have a secret I will let you in on. A lot of things can be fixed with glue, paint, putty and / or a grinder. 

I don't use the term "maker" although I have nothing against it. I am a bit surprised at the negative reaction it gets from some (the poster above is not alone in dislike of the term).



hman said:


> I call myself an "amateur machinist" or "tinkerer," depending on how many blank looks or silly questions I anticipate.
> 
> PS - I was once asked, "Why do you have a milling machine?  What do you do with it?" by a female acquaintance.  My carefully considered reply was to ask her, "Why do you have a sewing machine?"  I guess the best answer to both questions is "Whatever comes along."



When people ask what I make with my machines, I usually reply with something like whatever I want.


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## rabler (May 6, 2021)

I was talking to my auto mechanic today, old family friend.  I showed him a picture of my latest acquisition, a K&T 3K vertical mill.  He asked, “so you’re a machinist?”.  I told him I own a socket set too, but I that doesn’t qualify me as a car mechanic.


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## NCjeeper (May 6, 2021)

Doug Gray said:


> Of course the most important thing is......
> Just don't call me late for dinner
> 
> Somebody had to say it.


I am never late for dinner because I am the one that has to cook it.


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## frankly2 (May 6, 2021)

Retired curmudgeon !


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## silence dogood (May 7, 2021)

There is a story that Colonel Harlan Sanders of KFC fame stated it best.  One time he had to testify in a courtroom.  The lawyer asked him what the title colonel meant.  Sanders without missing a beat stated that it means the same thing as an attorney.  Not a damn thing.


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## martik777 (May 7, 2021)

When my kids were young they called me Mr. Fixit, now they just say dad is playing with his war machine.

(It has a war production board tag on it)


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## Bi11Hudson (May 7, 2021)

My background is (mill) electrician. I have worked as apprentice electrician as far back as 1974. But an apprenticeship had no thought of "marine" electrician or motors. So I had to basically start over. That excludes the military time, from 1968 or as a general "fixer" even further back. That wasn't a paying job, just a helping hand sort. I worked as a "Master" in Florida, grand fathered in. Essentially, I'm nothing. Practically, I'm an "old school" electrician. Oh, and a modeler, but that isn't official or paying. Just helping out when I'm needed.

As an "old school" electrician, I use machine tools just like I would use a screwdriver or wrench. Not just a drill press, but a lathe, milling machine, etc. And again, side work as a modeler. I use the term from the British Royal Navy of *Master* *Artificer  *(Electrical). The term is not well known Stateside, except in legal dictionaries. And it probably has changed meaning in the last 70 years or so. I live a great deal in the past. . . But my understanding of the word is one who works on anything that has a wire on it. Doing whatever is necessary to "make it go" again. If it is necessary to make a piece, I make a piece. If it is necessary to land a wire, I land a wire. Is there even a proper word for what I do? I don't know, but when asked, I reply "Artificer". It usually gets me puzzled looks, with an occasional nod from English or Irish friends.

I have never been impressed with the term "Master" anything. That term is usually used or generated by the people that don't really know what it takes to accomplish anything. They just shuffle papers until the ink is worn off. And have no idea what I do. What I do is easiest described as "make it go again". A "master model railroader" is someone who has completed the appropriate projects, an apprenticeship, and is checked off in certain areas. I consider myself a master when friends come to me for help and my advice is followed. Not a master anything, just a fellow that knows what to do in a given situation.

About the only thing I "make" is mistakes and piles of wire scraps and chips. I just make the machines go again. Whatever it takes. Is that enough?

.


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## savarin (May 7, 2021)

I say I'm a maker of stuff.
Sometimes I stuff it up sometimes I dont.


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## Guv (May 7, 2021)

Toolmaker.  maker of tools to make other tools with that I will most proberly never use but are nice to have


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## Doug Gray (May 7, 2021)

Cellar Dweller?


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## Doug Gray (May 7, 2021)

Eternal Apprentice?


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## Doug Gray (May 7, 2021)

Metal Mangler?


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## T Bredehoft (May 7, 2021)

I am a Journeyman Tool & Die Maker.  I retired from this position (in employ of the country's largest manufacturer of Natural Gas Compressors) in 2000.  I fumbled around not knowing what to do with myself until about 2014 when my son bought a "factory" to make balsa airplane propellers and assigned me the job of actual manufacture. The "factory" included an Ames turret lathe, we added PM mill (PM25) and lathe (PM1030). Since then I've been happier than a pig in mud.


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## Braeden P (May 7, 2021)

I get called a smurf dang Prussian blue for scraping. CAS AKA certified A$$Hole. wannabe machinist (have to wait 3 years before I can go to tec school)  I always get yelled out for dragging chips in the house but who doesn't have chips in the hair running inside to find the tweezers because you got a blue chip up your nose and you can smell it buring.


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## Just for fun (May 7, 2021)

I don't call myself anything really. 

I like to say that "I can fix just about anything but I can't tune a carburetor"

Or "if there is a way I have the will"


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## projectnut (May 7, 2021)

sdelivery said:


> You have the same name as me? lol


I think there are a lot of us out there with the same or similar names.  As I've mentioned in the past the company I worked for designed and built most of their own processing and packaging equipment.  Many years ago near the end of the year we were finishing up a prototype packaging machine.  The project had to be completed and a working model filmed in a limited production situation before the end of the year  to get a large tax credit.  Myself and six other engineers, machinists, and technicians were putting in long hours to get the job completed.  On the final day of debugging we worked well into the evening so the camera crew could begin filming the next day.

When the job was finally done we all were beat and the scraggly bunch exited the building.  We walked side by side up a long driveway between the buildings.  We were about half way when someone yelled from behind us HEY AS**OLE.  All seven of us turned around in unison to see about 20 production mechanics in an overhead doorway laughing at us.  It was a bit embarrassing that we ALL acknowledged the term and turned around in unison, but there were no hard feelings.  The word of the incident spread through the place like wild fire.  It took several months before the humor of the situation finally died down.


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## Boswell (May 7, 2021)

depends on the audience, but generally I just say I am a Hobbyist and that seems to satisfy most people. If I am talking to a professional then I might say I am "Only a Hobbyist"


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## MrWhoopee (May 7, 2021)

Recovering Machine Shop Owner.


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## Aaron_W (May 7, 2021)

Doug Gray said:


> Metal Mangler?



Oh I like that, but I work with many materials, so I can step it up and say I'm a multi-media mangler, that sound extra important.


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## Doug Gray (May 7, 2021)

I never would of guessed this is a real thing! I'm going with this. True or false it rolls off the tongue.  

Mechanician

A person skilled in the theory, design, operation and care of machinery.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mechanician


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## JimDawson (May 7, 2021)

Problem solver?


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## Papa Charlie (May 7, 2021)

Fabricator, but other may say Dirty SOB.


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## Eyerelief (May 7, 2021)

I try and avoid monikers or titles, but there is one I cant seem shake
"Disturbing"

I'll try and fix anything but a broken heart...............


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## Shotgun (May 7, 2021)

I'm a smoker
I'm a joker
I'm a midnight toker
I cut metal just for fun.


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## projectnut (May 7, 2021)

"I never would of guessed this is a real thing! I'm going with this. True or false it rolls off the tongue. 

Mechanician

A person skilled in the theory, design, operation and care of machinery.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mechanician"


Not only is it true, it's a federally recognized job classification.  In fact that was my actual job classification for several years.  When I hired in the department was expanding, but all the allotted engineering positions were filled.  I hired in as a Mechanician I.  Some years later after the reorganization was complete my classification was changed to project engineer.


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## Masterjuggler (May 7, 2021)

hman said:


> PS - I was once asked, "Why do you have a milling machine?  What do you do with it?" by a female acquaintance.  My carefully considered reply was to ask her, "Why do you have a sewing machine?"  I guess the best answer to both questions is "Whatever comes along."


That question. That right there is something that is always tough to answer. I was asked the other day "what do you make on a lathe?" I've never had an amazing answer other than try to describe some of the projects I've done.


projectnut said:


> I don't know why, but the term 'Maker" has always raised the hair on the back of my neck.  For some reason it's a term I detest.


I agree. It's too general, and seemingly used mostly for people who do things like scrap booking. And yet, considering I also do wood working, 3d printing, sewing, leather work, etc., I'm sometimes forced to call myself a maker.


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## epanzella (May 7, 2021)

I'm in scrap metal. I create it!


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## Jubil (May 7, 2021)

I’m an old “roughneck” who enjoys learning, making, and fixing stuff.

Chuck


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## Janderso (May 7, 2021)

davidpbest said:


> View attachment 365120


You gonna make us look that up David?

I call myself a hobby machinist or an aloof eccentric.


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## Boswell (May 7, 2021)

I just realized that as of a few weeks ago, I can now answer the question with "Retired"


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## 7milesup (May 7, 2021)

Janderso said:


> You gonna make us look that up David?
> 
> I call myself a hobby machinist or an aloof eccentric.


Without looking it up I think it means a "Raccoon on a shish-ka-bob".   At least that is what I got out of it.


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## MontanaLon (May 7, 2021)

A chip maker and clothes stainer.


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## bill70j (May 7, 2021)

Doug Gray said:


> What do you call yourself? Are you a
> Hobby Machinist?,
> Home Shop Machinist?
> Home shop Masicist?
> ...


"Wanna-be"  I worked with exceptionally talented machinists in manufacturing plants for umpteen years.  Plus I had a good Dad.


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## tweinke (May 7, 2021)

I hear from acquaintances all the time the same questtions all the time, what do you make with your mill,lathe, shaper or welder? My usual reply is whatever I want to or need to. When asked if I can make this or that for them I reply with Probably as long as its not for the space shuttle and you buy the material. If asked if I'm a machinist I reply with NO I'm just a guy with machines who likes to fix and make things.


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## Aukai (May 7, 2021)

Exactly^^^^


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## westerner (May 8, 2021)

Somebody on this site used the term "permanoob". 
I identified with it immediately.

Another sage fellow here, when asked what he makes with his machines, replied "mistakes, mostly".

Another man after my own heart.


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