How KTM Makes Brass Models
How Katsumi in Japan makes brass models.
Read MoreCraftsmen
Machine Tools And The Men Who Created Them.
Back when I started this blog I posted some pics from the Watts Campbell factory in Newark NJ, a more or less early 20th Century steam engine factory that was stuck in amber for fifty years.
A Good Cause
Every year, as part of his paying it forward, master machinist and YouTuber Keith Fenner, owner of TurnWright machine works has run a tool box giveaway for some worthy apprentices just entering the trades. This is a very good cause as getting started in machining requires expensive tools.
This year seems bigger than ever.
This is a good cause that Keith has done for Four years now as a volunteer effort. As he said, the whole thing is a contributor effort. If you have some tools that you no longer need this is a good home for them. Contributing for shipping is not a bad thing either as previous winners have been international as well as domestic. Work doesn’t have borders.
How The New Nerf Gun Was Designed
Solidsmack linked to an interesting video on the design of the new Nerf Blasters.
Art Of The Week; Miniatur Wunderland
Is a model railroad art? I don’t know, but the people at Miniatur Wunderland have been doing some fun and creative stuff for a long time and makin millions of people happy.
http://www.miniatur-wunderland.com/
Here’s the video.
The Youtube channel is filled with good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC99kO6xDZSh2UNA-jdpN7cA
Best of all you can visit virtually.
https://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/miniatur-wunderland/
Truly a wonderful creative thing
What Does The 10,000 Hour Rule Really Mean?
Is the 10,000 hour wrong or just misunderstood?
Another Kokeshi Post
Last year I posted a video of a man making Japanese Kokeshi dolls. Here’s another one. I’ve wanted to do a longer post about these wonderful wooden dolls. When I was doing Ebay years ago, I encountered these wonderful wooden dolls in tag sales and sold a couple of them. So I had done some research on before and I wanted to share the fruits of that research.
Making In The 1930’s
We like to think that the maker movement is something new. Actually making has been around for a long time and magazines back in the 1930’s like Popular Science and Popular mechanics fed the need for people to make stuff. My grandfather had a shop and I suspect that a lot of other people did to. A whole back I found a collection of stuff to make printed by Popular Science. some things in the book are strange to people today and much of it is downright dangerous. It’s all fun though.
Great Grandpa’s Watch
A while back I posted some videos of old watchmaking factories. The videos went through how those wonderful watches were made.
https://theartsmechanical.wordpress.com/2015/03/24/two-old-watchmaking-videos/
I followed up shortly after with another post showing how a mechanical pocket wacth works.
https://theartsmechanical.wordpress.com/2015/03/27/how-a-mechanical-watch-works/
Recently I inherited an ELGIN WATCH!! this watch had been my great grandfather Duthee’s watch back when he ran the hardware and feed store in Pullman WA. This is strictly a workingman’s watch with no frills or extras, just sound construction and good timekeeping. Here are some pictures.
I did some checking and found some databases with a bunch of Elgin watch information including databases with the production dates of every Elgin watch.
http://www.elgintime.com/Home/about
The watch was fabricated in 1882 or 1883 and more than likely my great grandfather mail ordered it about that time. He then carried it for the rest of his life and it was passed down to my grandmother and finally to me. It doesn’t currently run as I don’t have a key to wind it. It needs to be cleaned anyway. I hope to get it cleaned and make it my very retro daily timepiece.
The Viking Ship
Recently I ran into an old book about Viking ships dug up from burial mounds. It was a small book from the Viking Ship Museum. I don’t know how I got it. It may have come from one of my grandparents or from a book sale. Anyway I scanned a few pages.
These were remarkable finds back in the early 20th Century and greatly increased the knowledge of how the dragon ships went together.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Ship_Museum_(Oslo)
http://www.khm.uio.no/english/visit-us/viking-ship-museum/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oseberg_Ship
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gokstad_ship
Of course, since then, replica ships have been built using the old techniques and sailed. Sailing a vessel is the only way to understand how it functions and how well it does. You can’t sail an ancient artifact and having a real ship to replicate makes the whole thing possible. Here’s a stack of videos to watch.
The Arts Mechanical 