Another Old Shop tour, beautiful wood interior

[Steve Stube]

Some time back a thread titled,
"What lumber was used on the interiors of old shops and mills in new england, etc?"
shown here http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=22422

lead to much discussion and I directed the thread to more explanation at another forum. Well it turns out that the connection between these two shop owners (Tuckahoe shop and the collection of Wm. Willock) is made a little clearer by this thread and a shop tour of the other man's holdings (and the owner of the 1903 Curved Dash Olds that showed up in the thread here at SMC). If you like/have an interest in old shops this should be worth the read.
Title: An amazing private machine shop and collection
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001297

[Vaughn McMillan]

Very cool stuff. Seriously old school. I echo the question others asked on the other site: Where'd he get his money?

- Vaughn

[Jim Becker]

Wow...what a great building!

[Steve Stube]

I had previously thought that maybe only one Curved Dash Olds existed between these two men but think now that each had his own CDO. I checked CDO registry files I have but they do not go back far enough to include an entry for either man. Of coarse there is no assurance that either was registered with the CDO Club. I surly would have liked to meet either of these gentlemen and see their shops personally.

[Dev Emch]

This is really cool. We know a bricklayer that does this kind of work. He is known as the "Mad German". Booked as much as a year in advance and he gives all the contractors the willies. He takes no goff from anyone and if one of the subs in front of him is late, Oh Boy! Better him than me! His speciality is curved brickwork. Arched entrances, eyebrow windows, etc.

I see this gent had a stanley steamer. Those are so cool. I have gotten detailed photos of stanley's hydroelectric power plant which is similar to these photos. Anyone wants these, just email. Jay Leno has a stanley two seater and actually got a ticket for going about 70 MPH. The cop said it was the oldest car he has ever given a speeding ticket to. Made in 1904. The stanley had no transmission as well!

Its sad to see this all going away. The old mills and shops with this vintage gear is always interesting. And its a real pleasure to run a fine modern woodworking machine. But I do own some of the old stuff including a 1904 shaft drive fay and egan 20 inch planer and its always a hoot to fire this thing thing up. I also still use a 1900ish drill press set up to bore hinges on cabinet doors. Not sure of the make but it was sold by the Zortman Machine Tools Dealership and its the same model used by Thomas Edison in his shop. Cool Stuff. It may be babbit and about 100 years old but it works like a champ and I am not replacing it!

Thanks for the photos...

[Steve Stube]

Here is another thread containing more photos of the Wm. Willocks collection.

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001300 (http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=001300)

Not really woodworking related but some may be interested in steam powered machines (like a lawn mower, cement mixer, shovel, boat, generator, air compressor etc.) and of coarse his shop line shaft drive plus an indication of where the money came from to support this endeavor. I hope you enjoy this piece of history, I know I do.