I’m the first to admit that not every object in my garage was made in the U.S.A. And I’m not the kind of guy that has enough time to constantly find myself wrapped up in some silly internet war between “patriots” and some guy that just needs an affordable rock tumbler. I guess I’m a moderate… I buy what I need and what I can afford.

One of our favorite box restorers just finished another. Txinkman took an old Gerstner and turned it into jewelry box for his wife. I know… But man, is this a nice box. There is just something about old wooden machinist boxes that really get me going. Check it out:

So most of the stuff that I work on is old and old stuff has the tendency to be stubborn. By stubborn, I mean that often it just doesn’t want to come apart. A great example is an old flathead Ford that we recently rebuilt. The heads and intake had seemingly become one with the block and once we finally got them removed, we were greeted by gasket material that had become imbedded in the gasket surface after decades of service.

I was messing around on YouTube today and found a series of videos based around machine shop tips and tricks and figured you guys might be interested. Mr. Pete is a retired shop teacher and his videos are patient, well produced, and just plain smart. If you are into this sort of thing, take some time and check out the series.

You can find them here.