Vintage Martin T75 restoration

[Patrick Walsh]

And just because I was called a looser and loved it!

One of my favorite songs ever,

Well and mama tried, warf rat and you know a million others. But it makes my top ten. Hits close to home and has pretty much my whole life through.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vLwgQOF7o

[Jim Becker]

A lot of machinery these days has that more "hammered"/Orange-peel-y finish because it "covers up" stuff. IE, it's less expensive to produce stuff with a simpler finishing regimen like that.

[Martin Wasner]

A lot of machinery these days has that more "hammered"/Orange-peel-y finish because it "covers up" stuff. IE, it's less expensive to produce stuff with a simpler finishing regimen like that.

Kinda like textured ceilings. You can hide a multitude of sins.

I'm just busting your chops Patrick. Go sub par and I'll be the first to pipe up though.

[Patrick Walsh]

Yeah do much seemed pretty obvious. It's kinda a double edged sword and a tuff choice.

Go textured and it hides lots of stuff, saves a bunch of man hours on prep. Looking at the older martin snd side by sides of similar age machines with a orange peel finish vrs smooth it's also clear the smooth shows use and abuse much more easily.

So it really makes you think for all your hard earned effort what is the smarter choice.

For me it will be a smoother finish as satisfaction is as important to me as wear snd tear.

Sooner or later both approaches will result in a beat up saw as it's a saw and that's what happens if you use it.

[Patrick Walsh]

Nope no sub par work from me.

At this s point I set my bar to high, I'd just be disappointed.

You know the same disappointment as if I miss the mark because I just suck.

I prefer honesty it's always the best approach. So please if I’m hacking something up or doing it all wrong or not being attentive enough to a subtle detail or the finish work or skipping over things I should be tending to. Please say something. I may or may not agree but if I missed it I’ll always fess up as apposed to pound my chest.

[Brian Holcombe]

It's coming out beautifully. I like the textured finish on new machines, but when I painted the Maka I made it smooth. I actually didn't put much thought into texturing it, and I still would not have.

The first scratch is the worst, after that it is business as usual.

[Patrick Walsh]

You know in all honesty I can do a pretty good job tending to not scratching, denting or letting my cast tables get all ugly. Now in a work environment with other people it’s pretty freaking hard. Nobody is going to respect and care for your machinery like you will.

The Martin still looks as new as the day I got it nearly a year ago now. It wouldn’t if I did not clean the dust dink’s off it as soon as they were drawn on it lol. But you know I have that sweet snap on tool box, it’s a collectors edddition “for whatever that’s worth” probably nothing, point is it’s old and in perfect shape. I would never lean anything against it or put anything atop it as to not scratch it. My co workers on the other ha d knee jerk instinct is quite the opposite. The good news is they generally respect my stuff even when they think I’m over the top about caring for stuff.

The first scratch on this is gonna stink though.

Is the maka done Brian?

It's coming out beautifully. I like the textured finish on new machines, but when I painted the Maka I made it smooth. I actually didn't put much thought into texturing it, and I still would not have.

The first scratch is the worst, after that it is business as usual.

[Brian Holcombe]

The machinist I worked for would have no patience for anyone damaging the equipment, and my father always looked after his tools. So, I came up with a sincere respect for equipment. It’s baffling to me that anyone abuses the equipment, it only makes their own work more difficult.

Maka is almost done, I pressurized it the other day and have been doing various layouts for the dust port.

[Martin Wasner]

The machinist I worked for would have no patience for anyone damaging the equipment, and my father always looked after his tools. So, I came up with a sincere respect for equipment. It’s baffling to me that anyone abuses the equipment, it only makes their own work more difficult.

Maka is almost done, I pressurized it the other day and have been doing various layouts for the dust port.

Never mind more difficult. The dollars. That's THEIR dollars getting pissed into the wind.

[Patrick Walsh]

I have to agree,

It always baffles a majority of people not getting the concept that money not in the bosses pocket is money that will never make it into yours.

When I have a job I like I like to try and do everything possible to assure I keep it namely making the boss money vrs costing him money. I also see it just as good moral proactice to humbly to that what it is you sign up for to the best of your ability at all times.

I must be old cuz that sounds like grandpa crying about “when I was a boy”

Never mind more difficult. The dollars. That's THEIR dollars getting pissed into the wind.

[Patrick Walsh]

I think it just comes down to that unless it was your blood and sweating that earned something you will never care for it like like you did.

Then there are those that just unconditional have consideration for others but that’s rare.

I know I was raised partly by my grandparents. Also by a mother that worked two jobs to survive. Nothing came easy but we didn’t have nothing either. What I do remeber and know was that non of us had the nicest stuff but the things we had we treated like gold. We also didn’t get new things just to get new things but when something broke or was worn out from use. I think like you Brian you are taught to care for and respect “things” or your not.

The machinist I worked for would have no patience for anyone damaging the equipment, and my father always looked after his tools. So, I came up with a sincere respect for equipment. It’s baffling to me that anyone abuses the equipment, it only makes their own work more difficult.

Maka is almost done, I pressurized it the other day and have been doing various layouts for the dust port.

[Mark Hennebury]

I remember when i was a young lad, my older bother who had been working with a contractor buddy of his, asking my father (finish carpenter) why he cared so much about the work that he did, what difference did it make if something was not quite perfect behind a wall, covered up where know one could see it, and my father said, every time i walk past that wall, i will see it.

Once when we came out of a shop he abruptly turned around and marched back in and said to the checkout girl........ you gave me too much change.

i never stood a chance.
I was screwed from the getgo.

What can you do but be what you are.

[Warren Lake]

im no different than that Mark and I like your father without even having met him. even on my roof rebuilds I put big care in, the change thing the same, it wont change my life.

Huge time into my roof rebuild. I did it for me and the feedback from all the times I have looked at it was worth it. I know i did my best. It changed the look of the home.

Id love to have my machines perfect. I learned to make paint perfect from great people. Reality is I bought six new machines 36 years ago and most of them have endless battle scars on them. I now dont care, id like them to look nice but I used them hard and they did a ton of work, they have to work well its the work the main thing. I had to let some past things go for now or be crazy. The last whatever number of machines have all been used. I hate seeing stuff rust and getting marked up but for now let it go. As some shop aspects get better and more under control then ill make them nicer again.

[Patrick Walsh]

I forced myself to make the 1 hr trek from where I was working installing in the city to the shop after work tonight.

I’m starting to see a trend with the project. To get anything substantial done I’m finding I need to put in 3-4 hours at a clip pretty much five days a week.

Since I really got into this project I have been going to work early like 5am and getting in a a good 1.5-2hrs of work on the machine. Then Pretty much the same after work. Anything less and this project would be crawling.

Tonight I was at the shop from 6-9 working in the parts in the pictures bellow.

I stated by sanding the prime back with some 120...

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Then I slathered everything in a coat of bondo.

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Then I set to work sanding it all off except for the low spots I am looking to fill.

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A fair amount of what I did was sand metal. The casting had flat spots sanded into them from the factory that were also previously filled with body filler.

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I’m getting a little crazy about some of this I guess. Many of these parts have wavy lines ground into the castings. I dint much want to use thick or heavy amounts of fill so I’m sanding back a bit of metal here and there.

[Patrick Walsh]

Using the mdf scrap revails the casting has a shallow in it. I dint know why but this bothered me. The depression was enough I didn’t want to just fill it with body filler. It pretty crazy how long it can take to sand just a small amount of cast iron away. I did the same on the large pot belly type door at the rounded edges. Many of them had flat spots galor. I felt body filler on a corner was just asking for problem later so I sanded them nice and round.

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Nice and flat now, well flat enough..

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In these pictures you will notice body filler in the corners where the radius comes into the flat at 90%. From the factory there were very bad sander digs I imagine from cleaning up the casts. They just painted over this piece with the digs previously. Again I could not just leave such a mess again.

Small detail but all this takes time.

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This piece also had a high spot where you see the bare metal in the center. Sure I could skimmed it all out with bondo but you know I don’t want the bondo to fail and thus my paint to fail when I bounce a sheet of plywood off this later.

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And that’s about it for today. My guess best I can tell is I have about nine more hours of this filling and sanding before I can prime again.

I’m not making these parts finish paint perfect with the fill as they will all get a nice heavy coat of polyester primer over them essentially a spray on coat of body filler. I leave this coat to take care of any scratch pattern and minor imperfections. What I’m doing now I’m doing to get rid of the big stuff. I hope after the polyester I can just sand everything lightly with like 320-500 and be ready for finsh paint.