My grandfather was about 75 when i was 8, and he showed me how to rebuild a 5hp briggs on an old tiller. Made me the man I am, for better or worse i guess. Fixing junk has been life ever since.
Mine lived across the street from the regional landfill, a tinkerers paridise. He had a 3rd grade education and taught himself to fix everything from tractors to tv's, farmed most of his life
Lots of philosophical things to say when it comes to grandparents and learnin stuff.
My mom's folks died when she was little so I never knew them.
My dad's dad (my Grampa) and his dad (my great Grampa) settled the farm in Saskatchewan where both my dad and I were born. Neither grandpa had any education at all. But man did they ever know stuff. Everything got fixed and nothing went to waste - NOTHING. I learned enough from them just helping them to fill more than 30 years of schooling ever did.
I learned different skills from my own dad. And I never thought that was right. My grandparents were gone one day and I found myself wishing for a stronger mechanical/electrical relationship with my dad. Not that we didn't get along. We loved to sit and talk about politics and what is all wrong with the world and how to be a better person. It's just that we didn't do stuff together. And he didn't do stuff with my kids either. So I was left to my own to learn from friends and neighbours about what I couldn't learn from my dad after my grandpa was gone.
As a result, I was determined to do a lot with my kids and they are all quite handy. Not at all like my grandpa's, but handy just the same in the modern way.
I love teaching my grandkids things. They all love to come to the farm and they all look forward to learning things the schools don't teach them. Our days are filled with questions, answers, and doin stuff.
At the same time, I know that my kids are handy because of me, not because of my dad. So I try hard not to get between my kids and my grandkids. I let that father/son/daughter be their main learning path. But I am still here when they don't know how to get that pin out of the piston, or why we see green better than any other colour, and they all know that.