Texas 4 - The 2018 Advanced/Basic Scraping Class

[swatkins]

Hi Guys.

We have 4 students committed to the class so far. We need at least 8 for the class to be held.

Because Richard's teaching time is growing short they have asked me to put a deadline on this class. This class must have the minimum number of students confirmed by Mid November or it will be canceled.

If you are already committed please make sure you have sent in the deposit to Alex King as soon as possible. They are getting antsy and can use this class date for other classes out of the Country.

If you have any interest in attending a class in this part of the country please contact me or Alex King ( alex_james_king_AT_gmail._com {TAKE OUT THE _'s and change the AT for a usable address}) for information as soon as possible.

As a bonus, buy a Straight edge from Richard during the class and I'll plane and heat treat it for free! I have a 8' planer and a 4' heat treating oven on site..

 

[hawkfan9]

For those of you on the fence:

I hymmed and hawed at myself for 2 years straight, and saw several of these classes taught near to my home come and go, before finally signing up for the class taught down in Georgia, 1200 miles away, earlier this year.

Let me just tell you that I am so glad I took the 5 day scraping class. I had mixed emotions about the class due to all the craziness occurring in this forum regarding this subject, but I can tell you that I Richard is an EXCELLENT teacher in person, and has so much information and tips that he shares during this class that my abilities in my own shop, along with my confidence to properly rebuild a machine, have grown tremendously.

Several times each day in the class, I was having those "ah hah!" moments where the cobwebs in the brain about how to do something correctly just dissipated. Take the class, you won't regret it.

Steve, that planer is awesome. I would love to come see it in action one of these days.....You have done a great job with it.

 

[Richard King]

Hello everyone, I'm back. :-) I missed the forum but I have had a relaxing summer at my new Cabin On Moose Lake one of Hayward WI better Muskie Lakes. The wife and I bought it in June and since then I have spent weeks up here being a maintenance man...lol...concrete repair, painting, sawing wood, electrical work, cutting grass, learning how to fish a lake with a lot of wood where if you add sinkers you snap. I am sitting in the living room now as a matter of fact. This used to be a fishing Lodge so it has 5 bedrooms, a basement, boat house, garage where I hope to someday host some scraping classes.

Up here Muskies are a catch and release fish and I have been fortunate to have caught a 36", 32" and a few smaller ones. My wife caught a 37"er. I have caught several Walleyes too. A great fishing lake and only a 3 hour drive to Cottage Grove compared my cabin on Lake of The Ozarks that was a 11 hour drive. I still own that one in Missouri and anyone interested in a cabin where you can fish off the dock, shoot me a PM. We also took a cruise to Alaska and if you have never taken a cruise to Alaska, you have to go. I saw whales up close aprox 100' away, fished and caught Salmon, toured a old Gold Mine, rode up to the Yokon on a vintage railroad ate amazing Alaskan King crab, etc..

I pretty much took the summer off after the class at John's shop NYC CNC on You Tube. I also taught a class and a new machine dealer in Indianapolis, showing them how to scrape Turcite. Now I am preparing to teach a class down at Kieth Ruckers shop in GA the first week of NOV then flying to Germany on Nov 17 to teach 3 classes for BIAX in Germany and Stefan will be helping with one. Then stopping in the UK to teach a class SE of London, (all these classes are full) coming home for a month of relaxation.

Then we will be going to Steve's again that's NW of Houston in Feb. It should be another hell of a class where you can not only learn to scrape and rebuild machines, you can have Steve plane your lathe beds, straight edges, lathe saddles, Bridgeport Mill Tables, etc..

Also have classes coming up at B&K in Rockford, a Class in VT and Northern CA in 2018.

I have missed the forum and will help again with your questions about scraping and rebuilding
Rich

 

[lars66]

Yeah and you forgot about somebody!

 

[Richard King]

Hey everyone, Lets talk about this class again. It should be a great class. We have 5 students so far and could use 4 or 5 more. Steve has a great shop with the "The Beast" a Rockford planner he had a long thread about it in the vintage machinery forum. He is about 1 hour NW of Houston Texas in Novasota. Last class one of the students drove and stayed in his RV right next to Steve's Shop. Rich

Pic' L to R, Steve and the Beast, 2 students counting points at the last class at Steve's, Scraping Turcite (taught in class), student Hand 1/2 moon oil flaking taught in class. pic 3 & 4 were not taken at Steve's.

 

[swatkins]

It looks like we are on track to hold the class as we only need a few more to sign up.. If you have ever wanted to learn scraping, or just need a brush up class please join us for a good week of learning and fun.

I find I need a brush up about once a year

I excited to have Richard give us some pointers on my new (old) CNC mill. As time moves on the CNC machines are getting cheaper and finding there way into more shops. Knowing how to evaluate and hopefully repairing the mechanical side of these machines opens up a whole new world for me.

 

[swatkins]

Here is a short tour of the oven we can use during the class...

 

[Richard King]

That's super Steve, your all set to make Straight-edges. All the straight-edge makers can send you their parts or you can 2nd opp them. Many time machines that crash you need to stress relieve the units too or they never settle down..

As far as the class goes we have another student flying in from Alaska and I just heard from a fellow in New Orleans. Have to get the word out and "They will come". :-) Rich

 

[nc5a]

I have signed up for the Feb 16 2018 scraping class. In 1999 I took Richards 5 day class at his shop in Cottage Grove MN and had a great time. Since then I have done a few scraping jobs and slowly been adding to my scraping tool collection. This will be a much needed refresher for me as I'm certain I've picked up some bad habits over the last 18 years. Hopefully enough students sign up before the dead line other wise the class maybe canceled. I believe 5 students have signed up so far and a minimum of 8 (I think) is needed to make it pay.

I've never been to the host shop but it looks like it's well equiped so if any of you are on the fence I'd take this opportunity and go for it.

Ron

 

[swatkins]

Glad to have you on board Ron... This has always been a very good class and we have a lot of fun and learn a lot..

We have to take advantage of Richard before he decided it's time to take up fishing full time

 

[Richard King]

Steve started the trend a few years back. I started to think and say I was going to retire and he asked me to come down and teach there. After that I have never been so busy, Hell I should have retired 10 years ago. LOL Seriously though this past summer it was sheer pleasure fixing up my cabin...it's almost a small house. It used to be the lodge of a resort. I just talked to the former resort owner Tuesday and he said the original cabin was built in 1941 and only had a crawlspace under it. Had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. No bathroom, just an outhouse. Then after WW 2 sometime they added the walk out basement, living room with huge stone fireplace, bathroom, dining room, and 2 extra bedrooms.

He bought the Lodge and added 3 cabins in the 60's and made it a resort. He wanted to retire about 15 years ago and could not find a buyer for the resort so he "Condo'd" it out. I'm the 3rd owner since he sold it and the the other owners just used it and never fixed anything. I had fun fixing it this summer working 10 to 12 hour days. Stayed up there weeks at a timewhile the wife came home to the cities and returning on the weekends.
I Slept like a rock every night in the Northern WI fresh air. We're about an hour south of Lake Superior. This last Monday night it rained and we had snow showers for about 1/2 hour too. Was 30 degree's.

Luckily it has a hot water boiler and base board radiators so I was plenty warm. The home inspection company and the former owner told us the cabin will be better off if we leave the heat on during the winter as it gets -30 alot in the winter and the old building survives better then letting everything freeze. So will keep it at 55 degree's over the winter. Steve your the expert carpenter /builder, you should know about that. I had the boiler tuned up by a pro and he told me it's old but a good cast iron one :-)

Anyway, I loved it. The cell phone doesn't work so hot and part of the condo association I get internet. It had a cell phone intensifier that works 1/2 the time if I sit in the porch stand on 1 foot to use the phone. LOL...no where else in the cabin. So practically no phone and the internet is shared by the 4 cabins on a phone line modem, but I don't have a phone. I have Wi-Fi through another cabin 100' away so the internet is about as fast as dial up.

I needed a break and I had a great place to relax, fix and fish. Now I'm ready to have fun teaching again. The wife said tonight "taking next summer off next year?" I said "sure am!!" The next 2 months will be a killer 5 - 5 day classes from Nov 1 through Dec 18. . One cool thing is I am flying to Europe with a layover in Iceland. Teach at 3 rebuilders in Germany, arranged by BIAX. That will be a blast comparing techniques and showing them how to power scrape. BIAX will introduce a new line of scrapers. I have been testing a new one that was a hush hush deal, not pictures, but a few slipped out in some of last springs classes. Some of the changes were from idea's I had. More changes will be introduced as time goes on. The new machines are more powerful, smoother, less vibration and easier to hold and steer. I'll post pictures. I'm getting up early now so the Jet Lag won't be so hard to get used to next month.

Anyway Thanks Steve for postponing my retirement. LOL.. Will sign up for SS next week when I turn 67, but will continue to teach until my body says I can't and then I can go fishing full time. I am glad to be back here. Many of you kept writing asking me to return. I missed it at first really bad, but I needed a break. Will take a break next summer too. Thanks all. Rich

 

[swatkins]

Just moving this thread to the top...

We've had a few more people sign up, just need a few more to make the class...

Been wondering what the weather is going to be like this year. We just had our first real cold front move through.

Last year in February we were running the AC units

 

[swatkins]

Still looking for a few more students.. If you have ever want to take a class please consider joining us.

 

[swatkins]

HI Guys,

Received an email from Richard today and he tells me he has a lot of interest and the Class is going to make!!!

Of the 5 people that have committed to come so far only one has sent in his deposit. Unless you send in a deposit your place in the class is not confirmed and you could be left out..

Please sign up soon so I can know how many are going to need hotel rooms..

Thanks

 

[Richard King]

My friend Nick Hughes in Nowata Oaklahoma wants me to drop by and see his new shop and Machinery, plus I want to escape the 20 below MN temps in February. I suspect we will be getting more people signing up sooner then later after the Keith Rucker class and his You Tube show of that class. Make our Day and sign up.... Rich

 

[TheCollective]

I'd like to attend, though I think that the distance is too far to make it work. Are these classes ever held in the north-eastern US?

 

[nc5a]

I have paid the deposit to secure my place in the class.

Richard, are you bringing straight edges to the class that will be for sale? If so what lengths will you have?

Ron

 

[Richard King]

Collective, we are planing classes in March for Rockford IL and Springfield VT in April. The Texas class will be a super class as Steve is a master..and I mean Journeyman Master of several trades and can revive you if you have a heart attack with all the info and hard work we will be giving you....LOL

Ron. I have been bad and have to ship Steve a skid of castings. He is going to be my go to Rockford Planer man. I can't now. but will ship him some around Christmas. The foundry has them sitting there now after a couple of months of pulling out my hair.

 

[TheCollective]

Rich, Vermont would work well for me. I'll be in touch closer to the time.

 

[CPM2014]

Rich, Vermont would work well for me. I'll be in touch closer to the time.

I was trying to make the last class out here but danged business keeps me too busy. Please send me the class info again as I am trying to not let this one pass me by.