Utterly mesmerized

[Bill in Oregon]

It made me oddly proud to know there are men still capable of this kind of patient, exacting craftsmanship. Who'd have thought a borax wagon could be a work of art and artisanship.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JVcE8gho4k

There are more in the series, if you get addicted like I did.

[Pitchy]

Really cool Bill, takes a crew for sure.
And the finished product.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KbqMKluCA

[JerryB]

Thanks Bill that is a real project, and some real old time craftsmanship at work.

[Bill in Oregon]

Watched that one, too, Pitchy. My late Uncle Paul was a mule man through and through. He would have loved that video.
I thought seeing the Budweiser Clydesdales up close was cool, but I can't imagine seeing a real 20-mule team hauling borax wagons.

[Pitchy]

Check these monsters out Bill, talk about wheel making.

http://pickeringbrookheritagegroup.com/sawmills7.html

[Nath]

Awesome film. Thanks for the links.
What a workshop!

N.

[marlinman93]

Boraxo used to sell miniature kits to assemble your own scaled down table top replica of the 20 mule team wagon train. They are pretty rare today, as hardly anyone ever completed the kits once they saw how much work it took! Friend of mine's wife took a year to complete a kit he found in the late 1970's and they still have it.

That video was fantastic Bill! Real old world craftsmanship! And it shows that much of that work still can't be done as well by machines, and the ingenuity of the men who built the tools to make them today.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, I dimly remember those kits, but I was such a lousy model maker I never would have attempted one. I recall, too, how popular model sailing ships were in the 1950s and 60s -- another genre I was too clumsy to attempt.

[Griff]

A coupla guys I've been following: From Acorns to Arabella. If I had any talent, that's the kinda stuff I'd like to be doing... My wife still laughs at my 1st attempt at bookshelves... I'm so glad she has a sense of humor!

[Bill in Oregon]

Griff, my furniture looks great too, from the 50-yard line.
Boatbuilding is a universe unto itself. I first stumbled on Woodenboat Magazine back in the late 1970s. They have a great Web site, with some really astonishing build-alongs.