KEF 103.2 rebuild

[highfigh]

As my dad passed away early due to cancer I really cherish the tools I inherited. He was a master organ builder by trade so learned to do wood work and sheet metal. When we moved to Canada he joined a German organ builder who was a very good businessman. As organs went electronic, the company transitioned to a tool and die shop and small manufacturing. My dad became a capable machinist and millwright over the years and the company was one of the first to invest heavily in CNC equipement. MIkado463 might be interested to know that the company also built and tested throttle control systems for GM diesel locomotives.

I inherited some woodworking tools which I shared with my brother, but I received the bulk of the machinist tools, including some Mitutoyo measurement and setup equipment. I don't have room for a lathe but a table top clock makers lathe would be very cool to have for machining brass parts. My grandfather was also a master organ builder and I have a few of his tools as well. (The lathe isn't mine but a good example.)

Small lathes are available- some are only 2'-3' long, max.

 

[TLS Guy]

As my dad passed away early due to cancer I really cherish the tools I inherited. He was a master organ builder by trade so learned to do wood work and sheet metal. When we moved to Canada he joined a German organ builder who was a very good businessman. As organs went electronic, the company transitioned to a tool and die shop and small manufacturing. My dad became a capable machinist and millwright over the years and the company was one of the first to invest heavily in CNC equipement. MIkado463 might be interested to know that the company also built and tested throttle control systems for GM diesel locomotives.

I inherited some woodworking tools which I shared with my brother, but I received the bulk of the machinist tools, including some Mitutoyo measurement and setup equipment. I don't have room for a lathe but a table top clock makers lathe would be very cool to have for machining brass parts. My grandfather was also a master organ builder and I have a few of his tools as well. (The lathe isn't mine but a good example.)

Which organ builder did your father work for? We have organs by Cassavant Frere in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, there most recent instrument is in Bemidji. There is also a fine instrument of theirs in Grand Forks ND, which I recorded on two occasions. We have a fine instrument By Gabriel Kney at St. Thomas University in St. Paul. As far as I know both of those are still in business.

 

[Eppie]

Small lathes are available- some are only 2'-3' long, max.

I only have a small indoor shop with limited floor space. Still dreaming of the move to the country where I could set up a larger work space.

 

[highfigh]

I only have a small indoor shop with limited floor space. Still dreaming of the move to the country where I could set up a larger work space.

Many people with small shops put their smaller machines on hinged shelves, with legs that are positioned temporarily for use. Obviously, something that's heavy isn't a good candidate for this unless an overhead lift assist is used(block & tackle and a rope with a hook or loop on the end).

I want a much larger shop- next place will have this.

 

[Eppie]

Which organ builder did your father work for? We have organs by Cassavant Frere in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota, there most recent instrument is in Bemidji. There is also a fine instrument of theirs in Grand Forks ND, which I recorded on two occasions. We have a fine instrument By Gabriel Kney at St. Thomas University in St. Paul. As far as I know both of those are still in business.

I'm familiar with Casavant Frères as they are one of the few remaining organ companies in Canada. They rebuilt the pipe organ in our church several years ago. Brings a smile to my face because my father complained about the original organ being too airy and not sounding full. The rebuild was a noticeable improvement. This is the rebuilt organ at Wesley-Knox United Church in London, Ontario:

My father worked for Knoch Organ Company just outside of London. The company was originally just my father and Werner Knoch. They did install organs in the U.S. as I recall him staying in Montana for a job. That would have been over 50 years ago. The company became Knoch Manufacturing and around the time my father retired they had almost 100 employees. It was purchased by an American who didn't invest in the company like Werner Knoch did and closed shop a few years ago. I worked some summers there as a student and was fortunate enough to join my father on one last organ service call. It was a church organ in Stratford, Ontario, home of the Stratford Festival Theatre. It was a real pleasure getting out of the noisy machine shop and working in a quiet church cleaning and tuning pipes for two months.

(Wow, just by chance I found an entry in pipeorgandatabase.org for that organ. Installed in 1962 by Knoch Organ Company it is a Walcker Opus 4. There is a link at the bottom with more details and photos. I helped to take out ALL of those pipes and clean and reinstall them.)

My grandfather worked in Vienna out of his shop in the Prater (the city park with the large ferris wheel). I could even show you the shop from Google street view. It's sad to see the windows boarded up now, though. The house was built by my great grandfather and then they added on the organ shop, a maintenance shop for the wooden row boats they rented on the river (Heustadlwasser) and then a variety store that my great uncle ran. My grandfather had done repairs on the organ in the Vienna Music Hall (Musikverein), the chapel organ at the university and once restored a practice organ used by the composer Franz Liszt.

I have some negatives of his work from a smaller organ although I'm not sure which town or church. The photo of the console has a plaque on the left bearing his name.

 

[MrBoat]

I will never have room for a big shop. I end up doing 90% outdoors. I finish out there as well and is one of the only ways I can get a dust free varnish finish. I simply turn the sprinklers the day before to lock down whatever dust may be present below the turf. I just need about 6 hrs of no rain to have it dry enough to not let anything stick to the surface.

Advantages to working outdoors (if one has a yard) is no sawdust or dust collection needed. I end up doing the assembly indoors and that's about it. It's just a great excuse to be outside, really. Of course I have no winter to speak of, and have somehow become immune to mosquitos in the process.

I built an entire 18' wood boat outdoors, upside down on strong backs. I had a couple 2 x 8s on saw horses for a work bench for scarfing the planks together to get the lengths needed. Mostly done with hand tools, with the circular saw being the most elaborate power tool. After this project, everything else has been easy. I reckon this was to be the pinnacle of my woodworking achievements for life.

I set up a piece of plywood on saw horses to build speaker boxes on. My router table and other jigs fit the same spacing on the horses so I don't have to move them when switching processes. I suppose a life in construction is what got me used to field setups like this. I have the extension cords and tools for it and even have my old compressor that we used to use for nail guns that I just rebuilt a couple years ago. So basically, it's just like going to the job site.

I cut the same strongback down and made it into a cradle for the now right-side-up ops. I was then able to slide it from here, right onto the trailer by myself.

 

[Eppie]

I think boat building with hand tools would be any woodworker's pinnacle. That's a beauty and I love the detail in the stern. Southern Ontario gets very cold in the winter and hot and humid in the summer so not practical for outdoor woodworking. Spring and fall and some summer days would be ok but I would need a dog to keep the squirrels and chipmunks out of my projects. I can do finish work in the garage but would need to set up a make shift booth to keep the dust out.