Let me tell you about a Lathe.

When I graduated from High School I knew that I had to work with my hands. University would only lead to a desk job as an Engineer or Architect.


I felt like College was going to be a waste of time and money because I believed that I had already developed skills beyond what I would have learned there.


So I took a different route. I did a lot of research and hunted the city for the best Jack of all Trades and found Tony MacDonald who runs a shop in the West Toronto Junction. He has a warehouse with an extensive metal fabrication and machine shop.


I wrote an application to apprentice there by stating that a lathe is a tool that can be built from simple hand tools and be used to fabricate a better and more refined Lathe frome which can be made an even better one. The Lathe is a machine that can duplicate and improve itself.


I boldly challenged Mr. MacDonald that 'For the price of a college tuition let me take over your shop and I will build three Lathes. Each better than the previous.'


In a week I built the first primitive lathe out of scrap lumber with a treadle and belt drive with which I turned the wooden blanks for the parts and pulleys I needed for the second lathe. Using those blanks I casted the parts from scrap aluminium melted in a hand made forge. In a couple of more weeks the aluminium lathe was then used to mill steel for the third lathe. That third lathe took another month of around the clock work to fully outfit with additional screw driven adjustments, indexing and gear cutting accessories.


Tony was so impressed that he hired me and as a bonus he gave back my tuition money in exchange for those lathes.


I suppose I could have just opened up my own shop but I hate dealing with the business side of things. Accounting and taxes… Administrative desk work.


Plus, trading off of Tony's reputation meant that I could hit the ground running with an established client base and get right to work.


Toronto is 'Hollywood North' and that means we get work for scenery and props as well as building and repairing their equipment. Plus custom automobiles, both for the movies and for the movie stars.


Tony is letting me live in the hard loft that is part of the warehouse/garage. I'm the on-site security even though the area is pretty safe.


With unlimited access to the shop I get to work on all sorts of side projects for my own personal use.

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