steveb leatherworks: the blather

I had an experience I wanted to share…check it out here….

Here’s a little backstory. I was out tooling around “the Valley”. It was a beautiful day, I felt like busting out of the shop for a bit so i grabbed my camera and beat feet. I really didn’t have a specific agenda and didn’t pack for an expedition – just had the camera, no tripod, no nothing..

I headed North to the  Valley…I  am enthralled with the Valley – it is so damn rich in industrial history and lore – if you can get to it and get near it. I found myself following train tracks and rivers and happened upon as sketchy a scene as i’ve ever run into – that was between me and my mark. Ansonia Copper & Brass – as ancient and huge an Industrial Complex as ever was built.

Well, by sheer willpower and balls of steel I found myself in a machining and metalwork shop that was up until April – a running, viable business. It was freaky folks, it was sad and it was an eye opener. I am rarely at the scene of the crime before the body  has been laid bare – and here i was looking at a cold corpse – but still intact. Gloves left on machine tools, end mills, carefully sorted and oiled, custom tools with makers marks. This is where people worked folks, no offices, no Aeron ergonomically correct chairs. How about a Bridgeport Mill to call your partner for 25 years?

These folks went to lunch one day – and never came back, this was the Twilight Zone.

The scene took my breath away. This is the effect of our Political and Financial policy’s. This is the effect of Mergers & Acquisitions. These once mighty machine tools and machining centers and the proud, skilled and viable men and women who operated then will no doubt find themselves out of work or sent to Asia by years end. Sad and sickening. I captured what I was able to and left, a sadder and more educated man.

But I still think to myself… Where are the men that worked the monster machines?  Where will they go, what will they do?

quiet machines