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tool making....

I love that kind of stuff. Way back in the day my grandfather used to make his own twist drill bits from scratch. Only ones I’ve ever seen. Made his own profile and shaping bits for his home made table router. He was an old school furniture maker that made furniture for mansions and altars for churches all over the world.
When he died all of that stuff got lost. Sure wish I would have grabbed a few.
 
One of my wife's sisters worked in a factory (in OH) where she hand cut the grooves on carbide burrs.
 
My grandad had a workshop full of old time hand tools. All were well cared for and ready to be used. He always said it was important for a man to have a complete set of tools for building and making, anything. He would say that back in his day you didn't just go out and buy anything. You made it. Unless you were rich, then you got some one else to make it. He had no power tools. Didn't want any either. He said there was no ART in them, in using them.
 
My Grandad was a Fitter/Turner in his day. From the generation of "Nothing can't be fixed" unlike the motto of today's youth - "I'll buy another from the store".
He would make all sorts of unusual tools and gadgets for home and on our farm. He had a bag full of hammer heads, all waiting for replacement handles. He made simple things like a device to remove your muddy boots without using your hands. Luckily he was also a gearhead...he used to recount his youthful stories of driving all sorts of powerful motorbikes and trucks.

One story was driving home on gravel roads with an IHC truck with no brakes....nearly 200 miles, up & down hills.

Another was a 'cursed' motorbike he owned briefly - a Chater-Lea. That bike had claimed the life or given serious injury to every owner it ever had....my Grandad escaped with a badly cut up leg before he sold it. The guy he sold it to decided to enter a race at a local racecourse (they did that sort of thing in the 30's)....well, the race was going OK for the most part, until the Chater-Lea unexpectedly caught fire with the rider being flung up in the air. Thus, a new nickname was born - the guy was known thereafter as "Fiery Faulkner" My Grandad used to laugh about that a lot...they were good friends for many years.
 
Back to tool-making. As an apprentice electrician, I was engaged to work for nearly two years at a roofing factory. They made their own tool dies on site for pressing the roof tiles. One of the head 'Toolies' was a gearhead also. Old Keith....he wanted the table mill to go at different speeds to what the factory had provided, so he set about altering it. He actually managed to graft an old Bus 5-speed gearbox to the drive of the table, and therefore increase the range of speeds the table travelled at. The funny part was that he kept the shift lever from the bus as part of the machine.....kind of like a 69 B-Body lever but longer. :D It was funny to watch him change the speeds on that mill.
 
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