• Scam Alert. Members are reminded to NOT send money to buy anything. Don't buy things remote and have it shipped - go get it yourself, pay in person, and take your equipment with you. Scammers have burned people on this forum. Urgency, secrecy, excuses, selling for friend, newish members, FUD, are RED FLAGS. A video conference call is not adequate assurance. Face to face interactions are required. Please report suspicions to the forum admins. Stay Safe - anyone can get scammed.
  • Several Regions have held meetups already, but others are being planned or are evaluating the interest. The Ontario GTA West area meetup is planned for Saturday April 26th at Greasemonkeys shop in Aylmer Ontario. If you are interested and haven’t signed up yet, click here! Arbutus has also explored interest in a Fraser Valley meetup but it seems members either missed his thread or had other plans. Let him know if you are interested in a meetup later in the year by posting here! Slowpoke is trying to pull together an Ottawa area meetup later this summer. No date has been selected yet, so let him know if you are interested here! We are not aware of any other meetups being planned this year. If you are interested in doing something in your area, let everyone know and make it happen! Meetups are a great way to make new machining friends and get hands on help in your area. Don’t be shy, sign up and come, or plan your own meetup!

Old Iron And Pride In Craftsmanship

whydontu

whydontu

I Tried, It Broke
Premium Member
Not metal working related, but I saw this 100 year old Singer leather / patching machine on FB today. I don’t need one, but if I did this would be on my BUY list. I certainly hope the designers and the craftsmen who built this took pride in their beautiful workmanship.

IMG_0137.jpeg
 
Growing up one of my friends Mom had the same machine in their basement as decoration. I always loved the look of it, and she offered it to me for free when they sold the house and downsized, but I had no where to put it, or any great need for it. The foot on hers was brazed at one point, so I don't even know if it was functional. I'd always heard they were for glove making, but not 100% sure.

There is a lot of beautiful craftsmanship in old sewing machines.
 
At the grand old age of sixteen, I went to the final closing sale at the Singer plant in Singer, Glasgow.

It was an auction, and there were the usual buyers there for the machinery, sewing machines and crates of spare parts. It was a very sad day. The whole town had been built around that factory which had survived the wartime Clyde shipyard bombings. There were hundreds of the local workforce there - a final farewell for many of them. I found myself in what would have been the tool crib, which had been stripped bare. There was an elderly gentleman sitting in the corner and we had a wee chat. Turns out that he was a machinist and had worked there since he was thirteen.

When I left, he handed me a box which contained a brand new 1/2" Jacobs chuck, JT mount, and some drills. It was a real treasure back then. I still have the chuck and mounts fifty years later.

And you are correct - the craftsmanship and pride of work were top of the line. Scots engineering at it's best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top