Swarfblog
Two Letters from Paul on Guns
I received these pained notes in November and December from Paul Merandi, a machinery dealer in Hauppauge, Long Island. Paul is a thoughtful and sincere guy. I found his postings [...]
A Review Of Lincoln
I just saw the Lincoln movie and read Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln. Thousands of books and movies have been written about him—more than any other human being. The movie is [...]
A Must Read
Sometimes you read something so brilliant, so incisive, so right on, you want to jump for joy and call your friends. This came in yesterday from the publication Industry Today. (See [...]
The Year To Go For It?
The Toronto Blue Jays, also-rans for more than a decade, are now the most interesting team in Major League Baseball. They clearly made the decision to go all out to [...]
From “a_young_guy”
I am just turned 24 years old in September of 2012. I program, setup and run 3X HAAS ST 10 Live Tool C-Axis Lathes, (with no Y=axis). The turret is huge, the tool holders are huge, and the space is very limited, but it does not stop me.
Concentration Camp Tourism
Thirteen years ago I visited Hell for two hours and then boarded a bus to a local hotel. My wife Risa and her friend Judy were taking a winter holiday [...]
Is the Skills Gap Just A Pay Problem?
Let’s rethink the infamous “skills gap” that is almost as common in conversation in our machining clan as “the fiscal cliff.” Maybe the skills gap is partly a “pay gap.” [...]
Selling a Machine Tool Museum
Peter Bowman owns a small job shop near Green Bay, Wisconsin. He wrote me an email Monday asking for advice on how to sell the assortment of manual machine tools [...]
A Christmas “Gift” From Sears
Sears is a dwarf of the consumer superpower it used to be when it was the place you first thought of to do your shopping for a washing machine or [...]
Housing on Fire
I have spent a lifetime playing the cyclical market for screw machines. And I still screw up. By focusing on the BIG PICTURE – unemployment, Europe’s recession, the fiscal cliff, [...]