machinist
Today I got back into the shop, but not until a drive through beautiful Oregon farm land to pay a visit to my machinist Craig. He lives in a town about an hour outside of Portland. I would probably complain that I have to drive out to his house every time I need hardware and pay him cash, if it weren’t for the fact that it is a lovely drive and it is a lot of fun hanging out for a bit shooting the sh t. It’s doing business the old fashioned way, by hanging out and BSing for a bit, then getting down to business. It usually takes us a few times to count everything up correctly and I always end up confusing him a few times, but I drive away with some fine handmade brass hardware.
Craig is retired and likes to bow hunt elk and fish, so I get loads of great hunting and fishing stories. I miss that living in the city, knowing people who really get out there and land their own food. Especially with a bow, I have huge respect for that. I also have to remember that he is gone out in the woods for a month each fall and to get my order in ahead of time.
In his garage Craig cuts, bends and threads my hooks. He makes the hook nuts, end bolts, turned ball end shoes and hex rim bolts. When my butterfly shoes and cast ball end shoes come in, I take them to Craig for taping and surfacing. Craig showed me how to do drawings to design hardware, even though I took a bit of drafting in my short stint of college. Looking at some of the drawings he has made for me in the past, refreshed my memory and I was able to do the drawings for my tailpieces on my own.
I met Mr. Craig through a machinist friend who plays Irish music and I’m forever thankful. I didn’t get a picture of the man himself or any of his taxidermy today, but I did take a picture of the funniest aspect to me in the whole deal. The fact that I walk into the machinist house with a pocket full of cash and I leave with lunch baggies full of brass hardware. I feel like a banjo gangster.
