Around the clock service with a $mile :)

Anyone that knows me personally, knows I love to work.... Maybe its my Midwest roots that make me driven to work around the clock but when a job comes in and it has to happen ASAP, I will answer the phone anytime of the day.

Those phone calls come in more then I would like, but really thats almost best for me to crank it out under pressure, I love it for some reason. Being a prototype metalcrafter willing to work around the clock to make sure its done correct the first time and done in a very timely way apparently has become hard to find nowadays. Maybe the older I get I will get away from this but who knows, I have a long time until I am old.

I am so lucky to have people that are willing to see that I am so in love with my craft, that they are willing to help fuel the fire and make it burn hotter...

I drove past a shop located on the edge of North Oakland and had to do a drive around the block again to look inside one more time....

The place was mind blowing, the amount of work involved in the building in every thing was overwhelming, so I stood at the gate and waited............. waiting for anyone to walk past so I could yell in to the shop to see if I could get a tour............. waiting.................   then an older dude walked past and it happened to be Daryl Rush, the owner of the shop.

The shops history is crazy as well, it use to be the Union Hall for the East Bay Machinist in the 1940s thru the peak years of manufacturing in the Oakland ( east bay ) area.

I chatted for a while, only to find out that this guy had brought up a lot of people I knew in to metal crafting and showed them some fun tricks over the years, even some well known bicycle frame builders.

Its been over a year since I met Daryl and I make my stop by the shop at least a few times a week and those days come up when I don't have a machine but I know hes in his shop almost 7 days a week building really crazy architectural concept projects with the machine I need, so with a box of donuts in hand I roll in to the shop and ask nicely if I can use the machine.

The guy has an eye for making concepts and building it correct. Don't let his age fool you, he is a true American Craftsman 110%, take notes these guys are one in a million.

This is a Nazel power hammer

One of the most badass machines built I think

Its used for forging metal, such as large steam locomotive parts

A lot of these machines spent their life in repair shops and forges across the world

Now they are one of the hardest to get machines because of the way they are built and put together, most  produced for so long ( 100 years )they got worn out and they were scraped. Its normal in old photos to see them in the background of old steam train repair shops. 

The odds of anyone building a machine that works as well as a Nazel from the early 1900s would be rare and if done would cost so much, and like the Pullmax machine due to Jesse James showing a Nazel on Discovery Channel its now put them in high demand, once again " thanks Jesse for making it not possible to buy cool things unless your rich " 

Heres Daryl testing out the cylinder rebuild. It uses about 17 to 40 PSI of air or steam but extreme volume of air, which is way different then would you would expect from a giant machine that puts out about a 100 tons of hit pressure at the head. 

This is the Verson Mechanical 6 foot press brake

I wish I could tell you what I am making but you will have to wait to find out, just know MLS is part of a big project that may change history and these old 1940s machines across Oakland are making the future. Trust me, MLS is not sponsored at the moment, I really just like DAD'S rootbeer. 

Making parts and tooling can require some mods to the machine and adjustments to make the perfect cut. 

This is back at my shop on my late 1960s Ex-Cell-O milling machine making custom press brake tooling .

These mechanical press brakes are really neat in how they work.

This one is really fast 

The T-shirt fund raiser is going to buy a machine just like this one. 

Trust me - Check out Daryl's stuff, his site shows about 5% of it.. but you get the idea

http://darylrush.com/