Genevieve
Copyright© 2023 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 3
The aisles were clean and the new machines were dusty from disuse, save, here and there, a perfect lathe or mill, rotary broach or grinder, powered hacksaw or shipfitters bandsaw stood out sparkling ... the sparkling ones had clean benches and polished maple tool chests and each had a well thumbed manual of operation with hand written notes in the back pages. Some few had all the earmarks of recent use. Most of the new stood where older machines had stood for years. The new had electric motors ... the old were belt driven.
It was easy to see a systematic rework of the shop was in process before abandonment.
A shame really, the old machines had the fit and finish of clay cast iron or steel. The new were sand cast. It would take years of loving care before the coarse castings were as perfect as the clay cast.
After the run through the active shop the doors leading to the repair/refurbishment area was the next attraction. The benches had scattered and left wrenches, allen keys, nuts, bolts, spilled and hardened grease and mouldy rags and welding rods still on wands scattered hither and yon...
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