[TheForge] using tools to build tools

[terry l. ridder]

hello

earlier today ( saturday ) i was having a discussion concerning
inexpensive tools. the subject turned toward the age old questions that
people have been asking for centuries. how did the first person build a
lathe, wood turning lathe or metal turning lathe, without all ready
having a lathe to use. my friends all agreed that the craftsman's talent
would dictate the accuracy of the tool. they would not agree with me
that i should be able to use a homebuilt gingery metal lathe and the
other tools in in the gingery series to build large and more accurate
tools in a bootstraping manner. they did not see how i could use a metal
lathe of questionable accuracy to produce a metal turning lathe of known
accuracy. i hsd no examples to show them since my tools are buried in
the  garage amongst many layers of materials to remodel the house and
such. ( the home remodeling was put on hold because of the
head-on-collision back in 2007. i was hoping on finishing the home
remodeling this year but it appears that the doctors have other ideas
for my freetime. )

i was trying to come up with common examples of using tools of
questionable accuracy to build tools of high accuracy. for the life of
me i could not think of any examples.

would anyone on the list have some exampled that i may give to my
friends the next time we meet?



-- 
terry l. ridder ><>