"Bob Hoover" wrote in message
...
On Mar 18, 6:43 am, "pintlar" wrote:

Years ago ('50's) in one of the old Popular Science type mags there was
a 'readers speak'
article where a man made his own threading dies
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Everyone who has had to make a die... or even chores as common-place
as making a leaf-spring ...knows we stand on the shoulders of those
who have gone before us.

When faced with such a chore I'll reach for a catalog ninety-nine
times out of a hundred. But it is how well we are able to accomplish
that hundredth chore -- something as simple as making a leaf-spring
for an old rifle, pistol or shot-gun -- that defines our abilities
as a machinist, gun-smith or what-have-you.

Nowadays, what with oil- and water-hardening steel available in an
almost infinite variety of thicknesses, widths and lengths, making
such a spring ENTIRELY from scratch is similar to being able to
fabricate shoes for a Shetland pony. Or even more tricky, for an ox
(!!).

Since being diagnosed as having cancer I know a lot of these skills
will die with me. That makes me almost as unhappy as the thought of
death itself.

-Bob
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Bob,

You are going to live forever, if the internet has anything to say about it. THANK YOU for all the insights. It is up to
us to practice and learn...

Dan D.