I was out visiting my Mom last weekend and I spoke with an old friend
who happens to be of the Amish persuasion. He has a woodshop that
runs off of a waterwheel and he creates some very nice, albeit rough,
country furniture. Emil said to me, "You Englishers seem to be having
quite a problem with this oil thing. I hope you all don't finally
decide to use the creek. It's a small creek and would only support a
couple of Englishers, although it could probably handle fifty or so
more of us Amish.

Emil has never been a subtle man.

But he has always been truthful.




t.

"Tom Watson" wrote:

I was out visiting my Mom last weekend and I spoke with an old friend
who happens to be of the Amish persuasion. He has a woodshop that
runs off of a waterwheel and he creates some very nice, albeit
rough,
country furniture. Emil said to me, "You Englishers seem to be
having
quite a problem with this oil thing. I hope you all don't finally
decide to use the creek. It's a small creek and would only support
a
couple of Englishers, although it could probably handle fifty or so
more of us Amish.

Emil has never been a subtle man.

But he has always been truthful.

Sounds like you were in Lancaster County.

Travel 400 miles west and you are in Wayne County, Oh where I grew up
among a very sizeable Amish population.

They were allowed to use internal combustion engines for stationary
power to run saw mills.

My dad sold them grease and oil for those engines.

To this day, they still build a lot of white oak furniture and there
are still working sawmills in the area.

Had a neighbor who had a house built by the Amish.

They would not quote a price other than labor by the hour.

The neighbor had gotten a couple of quotes from local contractors but
elected to have the Amish build it.

Every morning a crew consisting of the father, some uncles and a whole
bunch of kids showed and worked the whole day with nothing but hand
tools.

Before summer was over, the house was built, under budget and of good
quality.

Something to be learned there.

Lew

On Oct 1, 10:53*pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
"Tom Watson" wrote:
I was out visiting my Mom last weekend and I spoke with an old friend
who happens to be of the Amish persuasion. *He has a woodshop that
runs off of a waterwheel and he creates some very nice, albeit
rough,
country furniture. *Emil said to me, "You Englishers seem to be
having
quite a problem with this oil thing. *I hope you all don't finally
decide to use the creek. *It's a small creek and would only support
a
couple of Englishers, although it could probably handle fifty or so
more of us Amish.

Emil has never been a subtle man.

But he has always been truthful.

Sounds like you were in Lancaster County.

Travel 400 miles west and you are in Wayne County, Oh where I grew up
among a very sizeable Amish population.

They were allowed to use internal combustion engines for stationary
power to run saw mills.

My dad sold them grease and oil for those engines.

To this day, they still build a lot of white oak furniture and there
are still working sawmills in the area.

Had a neighbor who had a house built by the Amish.

They would not quote a price other than labor by the hour.

The neighbor had gotten a couple of quotes from local contractors but
elected to have the Amish build it.

Every morning a crew consisting of the father, some uncles and a whole
bunch of kids showed and worked the whole day with nothing but hand
tools.

Before summer was over, the house was built, under budget and of good
quality.

Something to be learned there.

Lew- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You know, Lew - I worked side by side with Amish fellas for years. I
preferred them as framers and masons because they had good numbers,
didn't have loud radios, and didn't drink wine at lunch, which could
be a problem with some of our other masons, although not the framers.

It's pretty damned interesting to be on a job with an Amish crew.
There's no chatter and there's no cussing. They get done more in a
day than a typical Englisher crew. I do have to say that they are not
the best finish carpenters I've ever worked with. Their concept of
plain leads them away from my concept of finish.


t.

On Oct 1, 10:53*pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
"Tom Watson" wrote:
I was out visiting my Mom last weekend and I spoke with an old friend
who happens to be of the Amish persuasion. *He has a woodshop that
runs off of a waterwheel and he creates some very nice, albeit
rough,
country furniture. *Emil said to me, "You Englishers seem to be
having
quite a problem with this oil thing. *I hope you all don't finally
decide to use the creek. *It's a small creek and would only support
a
couple of Englishers, although it could probably handle fifty or so
more of us Amish.

Emil has never been a subtle man.

But he has always been truthful.

Sounds like you were in Lancaster County.

Travel 400 miles west and you are in Wayne County, Oh where I grew up
among a very sizeable Amish population.

They were allowed to use internal combustion engines for stationary
power to run saw mills.


I read (IIRC FWW some 20 years ago) that the (some?) Amish are allowed
diesel engines as they do not involve electrical stuff to operate and
start easily with (optionally hand-pumped) compressed air. The article
dealt with a shop which was run entirely on hydraulic motors and air.
The air router they showed intrigued me enough to go chasing after one
until I found out the cost and the insane CFM required to produce 1 HP
on that particular model. It looked like a pretty serious operation
all run off one stationary diesel.

r

In article dfb5d459-8f3b-47e1-998f-e7180f0eabf0
@l76g2000hse.googlegroups.com, says...
On Oct 1, 10:53*pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
"Tom Watson" wrote:
I was out visiting my Mom last weekend and I spoke with an old friend
who happens to be of the Amish persuasion. *He has a woodshop that
runs off of a waterwheel and he creates some very nice, albeit
rough,
country furniture. *Emil said to me, "You Englishers seem to be
having
quite a problem with this oil thing. *I hope you all don't finally
decide to use the creek. *It's a small creek and would only support
a
couple of Englishers, although it could probably handle fifty or so
more of us Amish.

Emil has never been a subtle man.

But he has always been truthful.

Sounds like you were in Lancaster County.

Travel 400 miles west and you are in Wayne County, Oh where I grew up
among a very sizeable Amish population.

They were allowed to use internal combustion engines for stationary
power to run saw mills.


I read (IIRC FWW some 20 years ago) that the (some?) Amish are allowed
diesel engines as they do not involve electrical stuff to operate and
start easily with (optionally hand-pumped) compressed air. The article
dealt with a shop which was run entirely on hydraulic motors and air.
The air router they showed intrigued me enough to go chasing after one
until I found out the cost and the insane CFM required to produce 1 HP
on that particular model. It looked like a pretty serious operation
all run off one stationary diesel.

Last spring we bought a couple of rooms of cherry furniture from one
of the local Amish companies (http://www.greenacresfurniture.com/).
They aren't grid connected, rather have diesel generators for their
woodworking and showroom lights. From what I can gather from
talking to them, they aren't allowed to use technology personally
(luxury) but can use it to run their business (necessity). They use
calculators, advertise on the web (and radio), and even use cell
phones for the business.

--
Keith

krw wrote:
In article dfb5d459-8f3b-47e1-998f-e7180f0eabf0
@l76g2000hse.googlegroups.com, says...
On Oct 1, 10:53 pm, "Lew Hodgett" wrote:
....
I read (IIRC FWW some 20 years ago) that the (some?) Amish are allowed
diesel engines as they do not involve electrical stuff to operate and
start easily with (optionally hand-pumped) compressed air. The article
dealt with a shop which was run entirely on hydraulic motors and air.
....
Last spring we bought a couple of rooms of cherry furniture from one
of the local Amish companies (http://www.greenacresfurniture.com/).
They aren't grid connected, rather have diesel generators for their
woodworking and showroom lights. From what I can gather from
talking to them, they aren't allowed to use technology personally
(luxury) but can use it to run their business (necessity). They use
calculators, advertise on the web (and radio), and even use cell
phones for the business.

Like most others, there are different groups/sects/sub-sects w/
differing rules...

Around here some use automobiles as they've been judged necessary owing
to distances making alternatives unviable even though some of the same
still farm w/ horses/mules; otoh, the dairy barns are fully
air-conditioned and equipped w/ the latest in automated milkers and
other production-aiding technologies.

In general, it's impossible to generalize...

--

Visited the towns of Intercourse, PA (the town commonly used in movies
about the Amish, such as "For Richer or Poorer" starring Tim Allen and
Kirstey Alley) and Bird-in-Hand, PA, a few years ago.

We did the tourist thing and visited the quilt shops and antique
stores. Quite a few seemed to exist for the purpose of shaking down
us English. High prices. Some were not even run by Amish... they
just looked Amish on the surface, so tourists spent money there!
Sick. If you see a horse and buggy and a woman dressed funny, she may
only be there to shake you down. Buyer beware. The Amish masquerade
party.

We got tired of that and visited a few true Amish shops off the beaten
path (from a block behind the main drag, to many miles away). My wife
wanted some cloth swatches for her own quilts, so we visited a few
fabric stores. They ranged from having electric lights, calculators,
credit card machines, and even electronic cash registers, to very
non-technological... gas lights, simple kind people, and very
reasonable prices, depending on where you went. Some even use
plastic grocery bags (presumably recycled). I think, given the credit
card machines and grocery bags, when it comes to doing business, they
do have a lot of leeway.

Bought some homemade root beer from one elderly gentleman with a
hand-lettered sign in front of his barn. It was meant to be read by a
customer in a very slow-moving vehicle, I think, as it was only 8x10
inches. We had to back up and read it again... it was worth the stop.
Farms around the area sometimes put out fruit and vegetables on tables
and stands in the front. Never any people around, you just take what
you need and leave money in a jar, on the honor system. Sometimes
they don't even put prices on things... you just pay what your
conscience tells you to and make your own change (which means they
probably get about 10x what they would have asked if they had posted
prices.)

A word to anyone visiting the area... get out and drive around the
whole area. Get lost, then get found again. If you are out driving
around Lancaster County and you don't see any other cars, but you see
horses and carriages, you are in Amish Country. If you see more cars
than horses, you are in Tourist Trap.

It's worth a trip. I hope to go again someday.

I heard that when the Amish go deer hunting, the quietly sneek up on the
deer and build a barn around it.

On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:02:31 -0500, "Dave B - Parkville, MD"
wrote:



I heard that when the Amish go deer hunting, the quietly sneek up on the
deer and build a barn around it.




The Amish don't hunt deer. They invite them.

In article ,
says...
On Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:02:31 -0500, "Dave B - Parkville, MD"
wrote:



I heard that when the Amish go deer hunting, the quietly sneek up on the
deer and build a barn around it.




The Amish don't hunt deer. They invite them.

....to dinner.

--
Keith