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Jaw dropping woodworking hobby shop (video)

Milacron

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woodworking machinery martin planer martin jointer butfering wbs knapp combo saw - YouTube

Funny thing is, two years after the fact I find out the shop was not that far from me... in Myrtle Beach, SC. One would think this was young yuppie dot com implosion related, but it actually was a fellow basically "retiring from retirement" at age 80 who decided to sell it all.

Funny though the combination of ultimate jointer and planer, expensive Festo stuff, German wide belt sander... but then a bit of Chinese crap here and there like the Jet spindle sander. Also a bit odd he didn't go with Felder for the multi machine (having said that he obviously didn't need a multi-machine in the first place since he had the seperate machines anyway)

The icing on the cake was he had a nearly new Onsrud CNC router that's not even showing in the video.

Anyhoo, just thought this was interesting. Dealer says now he's waiting on the folks who bought the equipment to go out of business so he can sell it again. ;)

=============

And just for fun, here's another strange woodworking machine video that looks like it was taken by a hummingbird on drugs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zlbhokkt58
 
I don't know why, but I always feel my hackles rising when a salesman describes something as "never used"...
In the case of the Martin jointer and planer, it is possible they were never used...at least for all practical purposes...since he had both functions already in the Knapp multi- machine. He also had the most impressive looking power feed unit on the Martin jointer that I've ever seen.
 
I don't know why, but I always feel my hackles rising .
You got me curious....hackles= the long feathers or hairs on the back of the neck of some animals and birds, which stand up straight when they are in danger
 
WOW what a shop...... there are shops like that out there and it makes you wonder how many of them get disbanded privately and we never hear about, the family thinking it's just some tools out in the garage and we'll let one of the handymen have them cheap. Keep in mind to someone with the means to have a shop like this it is most likely more of an annoyance to deal with in the big picture of settling the estate, to us it seems like a major asset. To them it is pocket change.

As for "never used", there is that sort of thing out there. Last year (or the year before) MJD Antique Tools sold out a shop that the fellow had bought about every expensive hand woodworking tool on the market... full line of Nilsen, Bridge City, etc...... most of it unused, some the boxes never opened. I think it was couple hundred lots of things even grouped together..... About 25 years ago I helped a customer empty her fathers shop..... over a 100 Stanley tools plus lots of other stuff in their boxes..... all unused. See he was a Navy man and they don't like rust, and he was an officer so he had organizational skills. He took all the cutters out of the tools and put them in a few cans of cosmolene (in a fire proof cabinet of course), all the instructions and envelopes with the plane's slitters and tiny parts were in the file cabinet... as were all the receipts. He was what I called the Jenk's for lunch bunch. In Washington DC there was a old downtown hardware store named W. S. Jenk's that was into yuppie tools by the late 70's (I bought my Inca stuff there in 78').... a lot of government bureaucrats would go over on their lunch hour and shop. The DC are was full of shops filled with unused tools. Anyway this guy had bought most of it in the late 50's early 60's.... I sold it for them in groups based on what he had bought together with the original receipts at top collector prices for the day.... my mistake was I should have bought it all and then sold it a few years later.... but who knew?

Anyway that is a fantastic shop.... shame you didn't get a chance at it Don. Looks like your kind of stuff.....
 
When you can park your car on a hardwood floor, I personally think thats pretty "high end".

I just don't see it in my future...... tearing down forklift mast cylinders and spraying hot weld slag on other days, not to mention the "tar pit" lube oil formulation found in my Barber Colman machines :D

It is sort of a little sad I suppose, build an awesome shop space like that and not even use some of the machines...(special dispensation for those of us who have "project machines" requiring several years of work before they will ever run again ;))
 
I wonder what the actual cost of buying all that stuff new was- I kinda think that, by woodworking tool standards, it was a lot, but relative to other things people spend money on, it is, as my mother in law used to say, "bupkis".

my seat of the pants guess is a hundred and fifty to two hundred grand.
Which, for saws and planers, for a hobby shop, seems like a lot.

But my son and I were down in Southern California a few months ago, and, while driveing around in our rental car, made a game of counting Bentleys. We got to somewhere between 25 and 30 in about two days- and not just staid old four doors, either- we werent counting unless they were at least new Continental GT's, which start out at about $185,000 for a stripper model. Most were bigger, Mulsannes or SuperSports, in the quarter million dollar range.

And you know every one of those guys had at least a few more cars at home- a mercedes wagon for the nanny, a Lexus for the little lady, maybe an Suv.

Compared to the auto budgets of thousands of LA residents, this shop is not much money.

And dont even start on what people spend on boats- we arent surprised at all around here when somebody drops a half million on a pretend tug boat from Nordic Tug, or cool few million on what is actually a pretty small yacht.

My point being, this only seems like a lot of money because so few people with money actually spend it on nice workshops- not because they cant afford it, but because it doesnt interest them.

I know a bunch of people who have one painting that cost more than this shop, in a house full of paintings.

All that said, its pretty cool, and I wish I could justify, and afford, woodworking tools that nice.

Here is an interesting contrast in terms of shop-
Entirely from SEARS, the major tools in this shop were given to the woodworker when he retired from his day job, as President of the United States, by his staff. The whole shop probably cost less than the Martin planer shown above. However, I think a lot more work has gotten done with these tools.
Regardless of what you think of his politics, he actually knows his way around tools.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid452319854?bctid=1408708866
 
I wonder what the actual cost of buying all that stuff new was- I kinda think that, by woodworking tool standards, it was a lot, but relative to other things people spend money on, it is, as my mother in law used to say, "bupkis".

my seat of the pants guess is a hundred and fifty to two hundred grand.
Which, for saws and planers, for a hobby shop, seems like a lot.

But my son and I were down in Southern California a few months ago, and, while driveing around in our rental car, made a game of counting Bentleys. We got to somewhere between 25 and 30 in about two days- and not just staid old four doors, either- we werent counting unless they were at least new Continental GT's, which start out at about $185,000 for a stripper model. Most were bigger, Mulsannes or SuperSports, in the quarter million dollar range.

And you know every one of those guys had at least a few more cars at home- a mercedes wagon for the nanny, a Lexus for the little lady, maybe an Suv.

Compared to the auto budgets of thousands of LA residents, this shop is not much money.

And dont even start on what people spend on boats- we arent surprised at all around here when somebody drops a half million on a pretend tug boat from Nordic Tug, or cool few million on what is actually a pretty small yacht.

My point being, this only seems like a lot of money because so few people with money actually spend it on nice workshops- not because they cant afford it, but because it doesnt interest them.

I know a bunch of people who have one painting that cost more than this shop, in a house full of paintings.

All that said, its pretty cool, and I wish I could justify, and afford, woodworking tools that nice.
That is a good perspective on things. One member and I were talking recently about how strange it is that there are so many "man cave" men that are obsessive about pristine cars and might have $300,000 worth of them... but then if they want a milling machine they head straight for Enco or Grizzly and get some POS minimal mill brand new.

So, this guy was a pretty rare bird. But even he seemed to have limited sense of what was the very best equipment (example being Jet stuff in the mix). It's almost as if he bought what he got talked into at trade shows and had limited knowledge about the rest.

Re his investment, the Martin planer and jointer would have cost about $58,000 as equipped (not counting the jointer power feed). I haven't seen a photo of the Onsrud CNC router but their least expensive one now is around $100,000. After that would be the German wide belt sander but the rest is chicken feed compared to the Onsrud and Martin stuff. Not counting the Z4 car of course ;)
 
That place was very nice but, really looked more like a showroom than a shop.
The other thing is the shop seemed ridiculously small and tight for such large machines. I'll bet the guy was making small craft items and yet planning on using a 20 inch jointer ! Frankly I don't see how he'd even manuver a sheet of plywood in there. Shoulda spent more on the building first but maybe he had zoning issues.
 
Another interesting thought about about a shop of this nature is did the owner even make the machine choices? Or did he just call a salesman to the house and say fit out my shop... the budget is?

I was once in (I bought most of it) a shop that was fitted out in 1916... a DC guy had a salesman from Cary in Baltimore come over and just ordered some of everything he might need.... many of the tools were bought by the half dozen.

Or in this case did he pour over the catalogs and pick each piece out? Or maybe the guy down the road had a shop and he wanted one of what ever he had but better?

I too agree with Reis...... I have folks come over and rant how I can afford a antique rose engine or some other neat old tool...... they show up in a new P/U truck costing 50K.... I drive a Scion. It is all about how you want to spend your money and time.

Basically once again it shows tools are a cheap hobby comparatively.......
 
The other thing is the shop seemed ridiculously small and tight for such large machines. I'll bet the guy was making small craft items and yet planning on using a 20 inch jointer ! Frankly I don't see how he'd even manuver a sheet of plywood in there. Shoulda spent more on the building first but maybe he had zoning issues.


That was my impression as well. The spray booth was sized for little gizmos not casework. The other thing I just though about is no moulder or sticker and 7.5 hp cyclone is way undersized for the big machines.

Steve
 
I too agree with Reis...... I have folks come over and rant how I can afford a antique rose engine or some other neat old tool...... they show up in a new P/U truck costing 50K.... I drive a Scion. It is all about how you want to spend your money and time.

This is common. Some years ago I had a person from work want to come round on the w/end and use my lathe to make some bits up for his bike. I don't allow access to my tools (and I never lend anything with more moving parts than a hammer) and politely told him so.

Got the guilt-trip whine about how lucky I was to have a nice shop and not everyone was so fortunate. I pointed out that he'd just come back from a long & expensive overseas holiday that cost a lot more than my lathe. When he was ready to pay for an o/s holiday for me, I'd be prepared to consider letting him use my machines.

Conversation sort of died at that point.

PDW
 
Nice, but it's just a case of someone spending money to 'have' rather than to 'do'. I'd be more impressed if he had less fancy tools and actually did something with them. Anyone can write a check...
 
mixed feelings

When I see stuff like this, I never know whether to laugh or cry. I'm hoping in this case that the guy didn't fall ill or some other tragedy.

But I've seen this a number of times- guys that can afford the best of the best and most of everything, and it's never used. Spotless shops that have no chips or dust. They look like operating rooms, because they never work in them. The tools are just props to show off the power of their bank accounts or symbols of some hope to create something that is never fulfilled.

I see it as wasteful in light of the fact there must be thousands of struggling craftspeople who would give their right gonad to have stuff like that, yet make do with what they can afford.

Maybe I'm just jealous, but when I see shops like this all I can think of is 'why?'.
 
I forgot to mention that he even had the best dovetail jig money can buy ;)

It's interesting the place has the feel of a home shop but in the brief glances out the windows I get the impression it may have been in a regular business area. Which if so, and with that much money would make it all the more ridiculous to operate out of such a small space. The low ceiling heights alone would make me clastrophobic !
 
The reason "why?" is easy. It's because it is what they always wanted but never had the time and money to do it. Now they've got the money, but actually its too late. Enzo Ferrari said it well: "I build cars for young men, but only old men can afford them"
I totally agree with Ries and PDW, just a matter of priorities.

Alan
 
I can't stand retired guys that put together these expensive shops, but they don't know how to make jack shit. From the looks of it, I'd say he knew almost nothing. I saw an adirondack chair in the corner that he might have made. What a waste.
 
maybe in some cases

The reason "why?" is easy. It's because it is what they always wanted but never had the time and money to do it. Now they've got the money, but actually its too late. Enzo Ferrari said it well: "I build cars for young men, but only old men can afford them"
I totally agree with Ries and PDW, just a matter of priorities.

Alan

Maybe in some cases, in other cases no. People generally can find the time if they really want to do something.

I think in some cases people have jobs where they have no tangible work product at the end of the day to point to as an accomplishment. So, they want to create tangible things, but get sidetracked into buying things but never doing anything with them. Sort of like spending $200,000 on machines to make a reproduction Shaker blanket chest that never gets made.

Different strokes, I guess.
 








 
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