LeakyCanoe
Active Member
Gents - it's a little cold in the shop today to be playing with old cast iron so I thought I would do some arn surfing online instead.
I actually found this site almost 2 years ago now and tried to join then but ran into membership affirmation issues. No acknowledgment email would ever come back as promised (yes, I checked my junk folder) ... And so I would drift off and play elsewhere and occasionally come back and try again (to no avail). Then this last time I tried it finally came - so voila !
Although I've always flown a desk for a living (hope to retire soon and join the Big Quit) I am a long time woodworker. Loved the hand tools there and chasing and refurbing/refinishing antiques back in the day when that was all the rage and a couples thing to do. That pulled me into woodworking machines, and of course that got me into machinery refurbing with a particular love for the vintage stuff.
My late father was a Millwright and I admit that I once thought that the grease and grime of metalworking was not for me. But then over the last decade I've been pulled into it. Why ? Probably because the machines and the operating functionality of them are just so damn cool, for starters. Especially the vintage ones. While I have a full appreciation for CNC, 3D printers and code, etc. and how that is where you need to be to make a living, I have pure old-school leanings and DNA (although that won't stop me from considering a DRO on an old machine, etc.).
So far, I've been in the accumulating phase of vintage machines and associated tooling. I've bought and sold many pieces on the journey, and refurbed along the way. This harkens me back to my antiquing days, and the quest for parts and missing accessories, etc. is all good fun to me. The churn has also helped me fund this hobby. It's way cheaper than restoring old cars. IMO. Just not seen as cool by as wide an audience. And my wife could care less and is worried about my plan if I clutch my chest and expire suddenly. Joining this forum is probably a step in mitigating that risk, truth be told. Anyway I have friends and acquaintances all over North America through this hobby and have sourced a motor from Montana and sold a Rivett speedbox transmission to a buyer in Oregon. All coming and going with the buddy system of "pottering and ruckering", as it's called over on the OWWM site where I think these things first became an organized thing.
On one machine fishing trip I ended up hooking a tuna and got pulled around central Ontario for about 5 years before getting most of it in the boat finally. Just getting my metal shop together now in the fall-out of that and with retirement looming I look forward to spending more time at this, and to sorting out just what I will keep and why. Currently 5 metal lathes and 3 mills reside here with me now, along with 2 tool and cutter grinding machines, 2 metal shapers, a jig borer and many drill presses, a die grinder, etc, etc. Some of the heavy iron was originally line-shaft stuff converted over to single-phase. I'm lucky in that I have gobs of tooling for most machines. I learned early on that the spend on a machine can easily be doubled otherwise. I also have a welder and torches and want to reclaim some of those fab-related skills, with have been dormant since high-school. Until just before the pandemic this was spread out across a couple of "ratholes" and that made it hard to gain ground. Now it is all repatriated here, and the bones of my metalworking-specific shop is almost fleshed-out and nears completion.
So I look forward to interacting with you fellas and spending some more time on here as that unfolds. For now, I'll probably mostly lurk and get a feel for how this site supplements the rest of the many forums and what it is I am looking for. Being Canadian in focus, with many of you nearby, will certainly be a factor in that. My love affair with the vintage machinery and refurbing those will certainly be an itch I am looking to scratch, and I haven't put the time in here yet to assess how many others here are into that.
What do I want to do with all this ? I get asked that all the time and it is hard to answer, since there are so many rabbit-holes to go down. For now, I have considerable refurb and restoration ahead of me, along with a monumental sort-out and assessment of tooling and what to keep ultimately. It may be just hobby machining or it could go into the model engineering side too. I have a buddy who has made his own rose-engine lathe and ornamental turning and engraving interests me too. If the machinery is cool, the product likely is too !
cheers ! Leaky
I actually found this site almost 2 years ago now and tried to join then but ran into membership affirmation issues. No acknowledgment email would ever come back as promised (yes, I checked my junk folder) ... And so I would drift off and play elsewhere and occasionally come back and try again (to no avail). Then this last time I tried it finally came - so voila !
Although I've always flown a desk for a living (hope to retire soon and join the Big Quit) I am a long time woodworker. Loved the hand tools there and chasing and refurbing/refinishing antiques back in the day when that was all the rage and a couples thing to do. That pulled me into woodworking machines, and of course that got me into machinery refurbing with a particular love for the vintage stuff.
My late father was a Millwright and I admit that I once thought that the grease and grime of metalworking was not for me. But then over the last decade I've been pulled into it. Why ? Probably because the machines and the operating functionality of them are just so damn cool, for starters. Especially the vintage ones. While I have a full appreciation for CNC, 3D printers and code, etc. and how that is where you need to be to make a living, I have pure old-school leanings and DNA (although that won't stop me from considering a DRO on an old machine, etc.).
So far, I've been in the accumulating phase of vintage machines and associated tooling. I've bought and sold many pieces on the journey, and refurbed along the way. This harkens me back to my antiquing days, and the quest for parts and missing accessories, etc. is all good fun to me. The churn has also helped me fund this hobby. It's way cheaper than restoring old cars. IMO. Just not seen as cool by as wide an audience. And my wife could care less and is worried about my plan if I clutch my chest and expire suddenly. Joining this forum is probably a step in mitigating that risk, truth be told. Anyway I have friends and acquaintances all over North America through this hobby and have sourced a motor from Montana and sold a Rivett speedbox transmission to a buyer in Oregon. All coming and going with the buddy system of "pottering and ruckering", as it's called over on the OWWM site where I think these things first became an organized thing.
On one machine fishing trip I ended up hooking a tuna and got pulled around central Ontario for about 5 years before getting most of it in the boat finally. Just getting my metal shop together now in the fall-out of that and with retirement looming I look forward to spending more time at this, and to sorting out just what I will keep and why. Currently 5 metal lathes and 3 mills reside here with me now, along with 2 tool and cutter grinding machines, 2 metal shapers, a jig borer and many drill presses, a die grinder, etc, etc. Some of the heavy iron was originally line-shaft stuff converted over to single-phase. I'm lucky in that I have gobs of tooling for most machines. I learned early on that the spend on a machine can easily be doubled otherwise. I also have a welder and torches and want to reclaim some of those fab-related skills, with have been dormant since high-school. Until just before the pandemic this was spread out across a couple of "ratholes" and that made it hard to gain ground. Now it is all repatriated here, and the bones of my metalworking-specific shop is almost fleshed-out and nears completion.
So I look forward to interacting with you fellas and spending some more time on here as that unfolds. For now, I'll probably mostly lurk and get a feel for how this site supplements the rest of the many forums and what it is I am looking for. Being Canadian in focus, with many of you nearby, will certainly be a factor in that. My love affair with the vintage machinery and refurbing those will certainly be an itch I am looking to scratch, and I haven't put the time in here yet to assess how many others here are into that.
What do I want to do with all this ? I get asked that all the time and it is hard to answer, since there are so many rabbit-holes to go down. For now, I have considerable refurb and restoration ahead of me, along with a monumental sort-out and assessment of tooling and what to keep ultimately. It may be just hobby machining or it could go into the model engineering side too. I have a buddy who has made his own rose-engine lathe and ornamental turning and engraving interests me too. If the machinery is cool, the product likely is too !
cheers ! Leaky
! It comes from a limerick ... 
