VintageMachinery.org

10/02/2026

My friend and fellow YouTuber Dave Richards is going to soon be selling off his steam powered machine shop (as well as his more modern automotive machine shop) later in October. Dave has been a long time friend who has stopped by my shop and the museum on multiple occassions over the years to lend a hand and to just talk about old iron. I also looked forward to seeing him each year at the Florida Flywheelers Antique Engine Club Inc. events as he would usually winter in Flordia from his home in New York. Dave is unfortunately facing some pretty serious medical issues which has impacted his ability to work in the shop. As such, he has decided to liquidate everything. I hope that some of you guys located near him will come out and support his auction as well as just going to the party and the last running of his steam powered machine shop in October.

Here is the final video in the Old Machine Shop series. I have had ...

09/15/2026

I will be offering another Basic Hand Scraping Class at my shop in Tifton, GA on Nov. 6-8, 2026. Participants will learn to hand scrape surfaces flat, scrape in an 18" Straight Edge to keep (provided), and learn some basics in machine rebuilding. If you are interested in participating, please send me a private message, including your email address, and I will forward detailed information about the class.  I have had the opportunity to teach over 60 students hand scraping over the past year with students traveling in from all over the country.  If you have ever wanted to learn this essential skill used in rebuilding machine tools, come and join us for the informative hands-on workshop!

09/12/2026

Finished turning a new main roller fir a John Deere Amazon No. 3 Cane Mill. We had to cast a new drum from patterns that I made. While the casting ended up having a few inclusions, it is nothing that will prevent this roller from doing its job - crushing the juice out of sugar cane or sweet sorghum. Thanks to Windy Hill Foundry for doing the cast iron foundry work!

09/09/2026

Some turning on a brand new cane mill casting that was cast in iron at Windy Hill Foundry. Windy Hill Foundry ▶️ . This new roller goes on a John Deere Amazon three roller cane mill.

06/25/2026

Boring bronze bearings for the steam locomotive connecting rods. More details on the audio.

06/15/2026

I will be offering another Basic Hand Scraping Class at my shop in Tifton, GA on July 24-26. Participants will learn to hand scrape surfaces flat, scrape in an 18" Straight Edge to keep (provided), and learn some basics in machine rebuilding. If you are interested in participating, please send me a private message, including your email address, and I will forward detailed information about the class.

06/09/2026

06/09/2026

Some heavy duty milling on my Kearney & Trecker 3H Horizontal Mill using the Universal Head. These are bronze bearings for a steam locomotive connecting rod made from bronze castings.

06/02/2026

Defending myself from a lot of the comments on a video clip showing me using my rotary head milling machine to make a radius cut. Lots of people did not like what they thought they saw as to how I had the work was clamped down. Here is a more detailed look at what you could not really see in the previous video.

06/01/2026

Machining some bronze castings for a steam locomotive connecting rod bearing. First step is to mill the sides flat and parallel. Using my K&T 3H Horizontal Mill with the Universal Head set to 90 degrees for vertical milling. Using a 5" face mill.