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In search of iron, takes one interesting places sometimes..

  • Thread starter D. Thomas
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D. Thomas

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In looking for a tablesaw I happened upon an ad for a complete woodworking shop, comprised of Felder and Inca machines in Yemassee, SC. Little ol Yemassee is just a Jethro Bodines stones throw from my new shop, so I'm wondering who the heck could have such high end stuff *there* ?

Turns out it was at just about the only "high end" place there...the Frank Lloyd Wright designed, Auldbrass Plantation !

Press the button at the main gate, tell the woman on the intercom I'm there to see the manager, gate open automatically. Wow ! Amazing vistas, buildings, sculpture, and exotic animals abound everywhere.

www.peterbeers.net/interests/flw_rt/South_Carolina/Auldbrass/auldbrass.htm

The machines were in the same building as the owner's (Joel Silver, movie producer) car collection, which included two Lincoln Zephers that were Wright's personal cars...cool. Manager told me about an escaped hippo that got out on the highway. Struck by "Shameka" a local Yemassean, who told the Beaufort Gazette (front page news, btw), she ran into a rhinosarus
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Anyway, struck a deal...going back next week to pick up the iron with wood dust on it.
 
Funny you mention that Matt, as that's supposedly *why* they were selling their big stationary machinery. For these guest houses they want all portable machines so they can have them all right on site !

One funny thing about the Felder "5 in 1" machine is that out of all that stuff..table saw, shaper, planer, joiner, horiz boring machine...the only thing they ever used was the (16 inch) planer section !
 
That's a pretty cool history to those machines Don.
I could handle having a place like that. That place would cost many tens of millions of dollars out here.

Les
 
Very cool, FLW was way ahead of his time, that's for sure. What model of Felder is it that they have? I have a KF700S and an AD741, just curious what machine they have.

Brian
 
Don, I'm curious. Do the machines have a coat of rust on them as FLWs structures are notorious for leaky roofs
 
My wife has been involved in a charitable group for the past 20 years. Each year they take an old mansion in the Pasadena area, restore it and open it to the public for about a month. The houses range in size from 8,000 to 18,000 square feet. Almost all were built around 1930 give or take 15 years.

Since I usually get the honor of video taping the entire project before the group takes posession, I have seen some very interesting things. Home shops with state of the art machines from the 50s all in neglect, really old cars with four flats and 1/2 inch of dust, jewelery vaults, secret rooms, wine cellars, grand pianos, a real laboratory and many objects that would seem lavishly expensive just strewn about as if they were excess junk. Haven't seen another decent home shop in the last ten years, but I keep waiting.

A machinery dealer friend of mine told me that he and his dad set up more than a few elaborate and expensive home shops in the 60s and 70s. Most were for big wigs. Some they bought back unused a few years later.

Rick
 








 
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