- Joined
- Jan 16, 2020
- Messages
- 8
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?
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?