Aladdins Cave for Sale

>> Sorry, bit long this, but bear with me on this one as I get around to
>> explaining it.
>>
>> Popped up the road yesterday to see a friend and have a chat about
>> this and that. Got talking about my little workshop and mentioned that
>> I was looking for a new lathe. Friend then pipes up and says "why
>> don't you go and see old Johnnie R., he's selling up and moving to
>> America".
>> Completely bemused I asked who Johnnie was, I'd never heard of the
>> bloke?
>> Friend then explains that Johnnie is an 82 year old Suffolk boy who
>> lives in a ramshackle old farmhouse up a dirt track in the middle of
>> nowhere, but only about a few miles away from where I live. Turns out
>> that he learnt to be an engineer/machinist with the Army during the
>> war, but when he was discharged he moved back home to Suffolk and
>> became a farm labourer and contractor, digging ditches and cutting
>> hedges, but never lost his love of machining.
>>
>> Over the years he bought the odd machine or two as a hobby and started
>> making a few parts for friends, in between the full time work with
>> ditches and hedges. After a while more people kept coming to him for
>> bits (still a hobby) so he bought another machine or two.
>> Turns out that he made most of the parts for a local millionaire's
>> gyrocopters and other light planes he was building, including full
>> gearboxes, transmission shafts, rotors, and engine blocks. Fixed bike
>> and car engines, tractors, lawn mowers, farm machinery, basically
>> anything mechanical that was broken.
>> Still as a hobby for pin money.
>>
>> Friend got to know him when he needed a driveshaft for his quad bike,
>> His had broken and a new one was large amounts of unavailable cash, so
>> he was pointed in Johnnie's direction for a fix. In 3 days Johnnie
>> made a new shaft complete with integral bevel gear, hardened it
>> himself and ground it all back and charged him a tenner.
>>
>> Anyway, his sons have now decided its time for him to sell up and use
>> the money from the house and land sale to move them all to America.
>>
>> Having heard all this yesterday afternoon, friend then arranged for us
>> to go across to Johnnies place this afternoon. Arrived at the house
>> which looks pretty much the same as it must have done 50 years ago,
>> and was surprised he wasn't still using gas lamps.
>> What a lovely old man Johnnie turns out to be. Very quiet, unassuming,
>> humble, yet incredibly knowledgeable and obviously very skilled.
>>
>> The workshop is an old tandem farm shed that is literally falling
>> down, gaping holes in the gable ends and glass with broken panes.
>> Inside a single fluorescent fitting sheds a small pool of light on
>> Aladdins Cave.
>>
>> There are machines everywhere. This place makes John Stevensons
>> workshop look like there's enough space to park a double-decker bus
>> in. Small machines are piled on top of larger machines. There must be
>> several tonnes of barstock on the floor, and you can't actually stand
>> anywhere without threading on this material, or using a chuck or a
>> motor as a stepping stone to worm into the gap between machines.
>>
>> All this stuff is for sale.
>>
>> Johnnie doesn't really have much of an idea what it's worth, and from
>> my short time with him today, I doubt he would ask for very much money
>> for it at all.
>> If no-one wants the stuff it's probably going to go for scrap value,
>> and there must be about 30-40 tonnes or more of stuff in this place.
>> I honestly don't believe I saw it all, as there is stuff hidden under
>> other stuff, piled behind other stuff.
>> Further down the page I've put a partial list of what I can remember
>> seeing.
>>
>> As you've probably gathered, access to get to machines is a problem as
>> well, and you would need to hiab half a dozen machines out of the way
>> to get to what you want.
>> Much of the equipment is rusty, but everything is in working order.
>>
>> If anyone is at all interested please get in touch with me, and I can
>> put you in touch with friend to arrange to go and see this.
>> I think there is about a 3-6 month window to get this cleared and sold
>> before the scrap man cometh.
>> Alternatively, can anyone recommend a machine dealer who might be
>> prepared to buy the whole lot without ripping off Johnnie? He won't be
>> expecting that much money for it, but he's such a nice old man I'd
>> like to help him if I can.
>>
>> List of the machines I can remember
>>
>> Hardinge HLV x 2
>> Ward Capstan x 4
>> Harrison L5
>> Pultra 17/70 lathe
>> Parkson Horizontal Mill
>> Fellows Gear Shaper
>> Kempsmith Horizontal Mill
>> K & T Milwaukee 205 C-12 Horizontal Mill x 2
>> Bevel Gear Cutter
>> J&S 540 Surface grinder
>> Elliot Surface Grinder
>> Other surface grinder x 2
>> Cylindrical Grinder x 2
>> Universal grinder x 2
>> Tool and cutter grinders x 2
>> K & W radial arm drill (large)
>> Beaver Turret ?Mill
>> Beaver Turret Mill with extended knee - extra Y travel
>> Do-All Bandsaw 20" throat depth
>> 3 other Bandsaws
>> Corona Twin spindle pillar drill
>> Small high Speed drill
>> Die filers x 3
>> Jig borer
>> Key Seater
>> Slotter
>>
>> About another dozen or more machines, small mills etc and even more
>> stuff - I couldn't remember it all!
>>
>> All mills with diving heads, some universal
>> All grinders with mag chucks
>> About 20 machine vices from 2" to 8"
>> About 20-30 chucks 3 & 4 jaw, all sizes
>> 100's of collets for Ward and Hardinge
>> Extra motors all over the place
>> 4 Fly presses, Denbigh/Norton various sizes
>> Hundreds of bandsaw blades, and hundreds of assorted cutters, drills,
>> and other tools.
>>
>> And loads more stuff
>>
>> Peter