Thread: New old lathe

That's how you learnt, I was in John Hendersons class a Wairarapa College, take you hand off the chuck key while it was in the chuck, no excuses, arse whacked. We learnt fast!!pity it doesn't happen these days!
We used to break down aluminium sourced from WW2 aircraft , heat it up with the gas and smash it with a sledge hammer, that was stopped when one of the guys got hit in the eye with a piece of alloy that left the eye on his cheek, he didn't learn he later died when a car he had jacked up but not put stands on, fell and crushed his chest! There also was a bullet hole in the match lining between the metal work and wood work room, old Fosil the wood work teacher must of shit himself when the ball bearing from the cannon next door flew
through his class room! Cannon making banned! Good days hahahahah

Back in the day at Cashmere High I opted to have 7 periods of practical metalwork (no theory) as my optional subject in the 6th form. I was allowed access to the metalwork shop to do this by myself (can't see that going down well with the OSH freaks these days) and used the time well. Amongst other things I made a bullet mould and a set of loading dies for my .38 S&W Victory Model (purchased in my school uniform on a street corner one evening for 8 Pounds including a box of ammo), a new cylinder locking bolt for the same gun after I broke the original spinning and closing the cylinder, and a new set of valves (remachined from old car valves) for a 1928 Harley Davidson that a class-mate was restoring. They really were the good old days (despite almost 200 strokes of the cane in my 3rd, 4th, and 5th form years!).