An American in Spain

[joshagrady]

For whatever reason, I always seem to stall when the time comes to introduce myself on a forum. I've been a longtime lurker and am a fervent admirer of several of the mainstays of this forum. Words fail me when I try and acknowledge the debt I owe to "Bogstandard" and the passion he has incited in me for machining. I've learned more than I deserve from Arnold, Marv has given me insight on the value of technical data, I could go on and on. This forum has given me focus, has kept me sane, and has inspired me in ways that seem almost absurd.

I first came into contact with machining when I was eight, many moons ago, in my grandfather's shop. He'd somehow "liberated" a lathe from the Navy machine shop where he'd served during the war. Afterwards, he puttered around, helped neighbors fix their cars, and just generally enjoyed getting grease under his fingernails. As an impressionable lad, his shop seemed like paradise. However, real life imposed; I lived in New Mexico, on the other side of the country from my grandfather and his Philadelphia shop, and a living must be made, etc.

Somehow, along the line, I ended up moving to Spain, and eventually collaborated as a consultant with the Spanish government on a bill establishing sanitary requirements for the body piercing industry. Over the course of that consulting gig, metallurgy somehow crept into my awareness, As I fell deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, I rediscovered an interest in how metal was processed from raw chunks of material into a finished product. The discovery of this forum was a byproduct of that exploration.

I'm slowly setting up a home machine shop of my own, do some welding to create furniture for neighbors, the odd commercial venture, etc., and do some volunteer work at my daughter's school to get kids interested in building things. In the meantime, I continue to study, continue to learn, and hope to some day contribute at least a fraction of what I've received from this community.

 

[Tin Falcon]

Welcome to the forum. Thanks for the introduction . I too dreamed for many years before the shop became a reality. And kudos for the volunteer work at the local school.

I too do some back yard welding so far for wedding gifts.
I think I am up to about 6 of these I put a pine shelf on them.

Need help ? Just ask !

Small world I guess I have lived all my life about an hour from Philly . Your grandfather seems like he was or is a great guy. I expect there was lots of good stuff available after the war,what was valuable for the war effort soon became "surplus" and sold cheap when it was over.
Tin

 

[Maryak]

Josh,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob

 

[joshagrady]

Not too long ago, Spain, like the US, was a place where people went to buy industrial goods. Spain was renowned for its steel, toolroom machinery and quality hand tools. Now, for whatever reason, we've decided that producing quality goods is somehow "beneath us" and have allowed industries of long standing repute to move offshore and relinquish their hold on the market to lower-quality, albeit cheaper competitors. Along the way, shop classes somehow became superfluous.

Fortunately, the principal at my daughter's school recognizes the value of letting children learn, and this occasionally requires that they use their hands and their brains. She has allowed me to mentor a group of interested kids in the officially abandoned shop building as an after school activity. While insurance problems and other issues (imagine assuring that a group of ten eight-year-olds are all have their welding masks in place at the same time) limit the degree to which we can build stuff, the kids at least get a minimal dose of contact with wrenches, screwdrivers, saws and dirt. We take apart scrounged printers, etc. and try and re-purpose them as something else. Only time will tell if some to these kids will end up as contributing members of this forum, great inventors, or qualified craftspeople (we do have one girl in the group), but at least we have a good time.

I need to look and see if I can't find some pictures of my welding projects. I'm in the middle of a move right now, and am sitting in front of a computer on an empty desk, in a mostly empty room, so that'll have to wait a bit.

 

[steamer]

Welcome Josh!

Dave

 

[Henry]

Welcome! I am the opposite I am An Spaniard in USA, I hope that the cultural shock will be smaller that mine.
I think that we are the ones that look too many times for cheaper things and push the market in that direction, but if you look for it still good tools around.

 

[dvbydt]

Josh,

Welcome to the group!

Quote :-

"Fortunately, the principal at my daughter's school recognizes the value of letting children learn, and this occasionally requires that they use their hands and their brains."

I too get involved as a tutor for an after school club for 10-11 year olds,using kits supplied by this group :-

http://www.imagineeringweb.co.uk/

I love it, the children love it, everbody wins. ;D

Ian

 

[Herbiev]

Welcome Josh

 

[jim216]

Hi Josh,
Awhile ago Enco was selling 3/8 shank double ended end mills cheaply,
most were Chinese of course, but I did get a couple that were marked
AMTOS, Spain, the difference in quality was night and day. Just wondering if the company was still in business ?

Welcome to the forum.

Jim

 

[joshagrady]

Ian, what a great looking resource. I'll have to look into some of the possibilities your site offers. Thanks.

Jim & Henry, There is still some industrial activity in Spain. Atmos (Link) is alive and kicking, as is Canela Tools (Link). The precision lathe manufacturer Pinacho still puts out high quality products, etc. Unfortunately, for every example I can think of, ten more have closed or started "outsourcing" work to places with shoddier standards. This is hardly a problem limited to Spain, of course.

Henry, What part of Spain are you from? How long have you been in the US?

Thanks to all for the warm welcome.

 

[rkepler]

Jim & Henry, There is still some industrial activity in Spain.

I'm pretty sure Lagun is still in business. Nice mills, I've got an FT2 that still does nice work (in Albuquerque, NM, coincidentally).

 

[Henry]

Ian, what a great looking resource. I'll have to look into some of the possibilities your site offers. Thanks.

Jim & Henry, There is still some industrial activity in Spain. Atmos (Link) is alive and kicking, as is Canela Tools (Link). The precision lathe manufacturer Pinacho still puts out high quality products, etc. Unfortunately, for every example I can think of, ten more have closed or started "outsourcing" work to places with shoddier standards. This is hardly a problem limited to Spain, of course.

Henry, What part of Spain are you from? How long have you been in the US?

Thanks to all for the warm welcome.

Hi, I am from Madrid, I have living here almost 7 years now.
When everything will be done overseas and no one got a job, Who is going to pay for those products?. it is really sad.