Antique machinist chest (1 Viewer)

[leonard_nemoy]

Figured I would post this up here.

I met an older retired neighbor that likes to restore machinist chests for a hobby. I talked him into selling me one.

The guy said this chest was a jennings made in the early 1900's. It also came with the original owners notebook.

 

[PIP]

That's really cool!

An employee of mine was renting a house on a river that flooded. The owner had stuff stored in the garage. After the water receded the owner and my employee were throwing out most of the damaged stuff. I stopped by to help in the midst of it and the owner gave me his grandfathers Gerstner box from WWII. It had been completely underwater for days. I dried it out and was able to save every tool inside including the 1943 Machinist handbook. His grandfather was a toolmaker during the war. There's a lifetime of special tools and fixtures in that Gerstner and I have used all of it over the past 16 years of owning a manufacturing business. I try to keep everything that came in the box in the box. It's a time capsule, but I still use it everyday.

There have been times when I couldn't figure out how to fixture something or measure something. I'd sort through that box and 9/10 times I'd find a solution to my problem in there.

The ugly part about machinist chests is that all the little bits they hold can be parted out for hundreds or thousands of dollars on Ebay. The chest was just the container. The stuff that was inside that chest told thousands of stories. A lifetime of highly skilled problem solving. The vast majority of people with those kinds of skills in America are gone and entire industries have been built on their abilities.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

That's really cool!

An employee of mine was renting a house on a river that flooded. The owner had stuff stored in the garage. After the water receded the owner and my employee were throwing out most of the damaged stuff. I stopped by to help in the midst of it and the owner gave me his grandfathers Gerstner box from WWII. It had been completely underwater for days. I dried it out and was able to save every tool inside including the 1943 Machinist handbook. His grandfather was a toolmaker during the war. There's a lifetime of special tools and fixtures in that Gerstner and I have used all of it over the past 16 years of owning a manufacturing business. I try to keep everything that came in the box in the box. It's a time capsule, but I still use it everyday.

There have been times when I couldn't figure out how to fixture something or measure something. I'd sort through that box and 9/10 times I'd find a solution to my problem in there.

The ugly part about machinist chests is that all the little bits they hold can be parted out for hundreds or thousands of dollars on Ebay. The chest was just the container. The stuff that was inside that chest told thousands of stories. A lifetime of highly skilled problem solving. The vast majority of people with those kinds of skills in America are gone and entire industries have been built on their abilities.

Yep, my grandfather I never met was a machinist and my dad still has a few of his tools. They will live in this chest one day along with some of my other treasures.