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Gerry[_9_] Gerry[_9_] is offline
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Default My First Punch and Die - Makers & Builders

On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 00:39:05 -0400, Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 23:45:31 -0400, Gerry
wrote:

On Fri, 26 Apr 2019 08:49:54 +0700, John B.
wrote:

On Thu, 25 Apr 2019 15:57:09 -0700, Bob La Londe
wrote:


On 4/25/2019 1:42 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message
...
...What about a machinist... No. Just ask any old manual machinist.
I'm just a hack, button pushing, shade tree, wannabe by the very
fact that I never serviced apprenticeship for 3 lifetimes in a steam
powered line shop. LOL.


Hmmm, at age 18 I did operate machine tools in a factory with overhead
line shafts and leather belts. Can I call myself a machinist?




Only if it was steam (water wheel is ok) powered and the old guys in the
shop always sneered down their noses at you and said you weren't a real
machinist if you didn't serve an apprenticeship beating metal over an
anvil first.

Actually I'm old enough that when I served my apprenticeship there
were still a few of those old guys around. My "apprentice master" was
well into his 60's and had "gone in the shop" when he was 14 years
old. I never heard them talk about beating metal over an anvil. About
the only ones left that did that when I was a boy were
Farriers, who shoed the few working horses left and they worked to
tolerances of, "well about that much" :-)

If it has any bearing - my maternal grandfather shoed his first horse
when he was eight years old. Latter life saw him modify the steering
system on the Ford 999 to suit Barney Oldfield's cycle racing
experience.


Did you get any photos of him with 999, Gerry? That's quite a piece of
racing history.

Unfortunately not, and the only photo of his Cadillac with the Ford
motor after the original was burned, was stolen from my uncle when he
took it to school (U of T) for "show & tell". However my son still has
the dinning room table where my Grandmother found him refinishing the
damaged body when she returned from visiting her sister in Canada.
He did have some great stories from his experiences working with
automotive pioneers.
When I took my son to see the 999 several years ago, his first comment
was "Dad, it's made of WOOD!"