Sorry if this is too far off topic. I just thought some of you might like these pictures, though the quality isn't too good, I thought the subject was interesting. A friend of mine took these of a mutual friend of ours. Jim is Amish and makes a living building some beautiful buggies. Most are for the Amish community, but he really likes to build stuff for the "English" which is their word for the rest of us. I was there one day and he was building a buggy for an English, and he talked about how light and fast it would be, and it was going to be red and yellow, (a far cry from the solid black he usually does). It was interesting to see him talk and show the plans for it, he had the same excitement in his voice, and *****le in his eye, as any hot rodder does when talking about his latest project. Anyway, these pictures were just taken of him and his latest project, he's building the carriage body of a 1905 Buick. I've often thought I'd love to do a woody someday and have him do the wood, he's an amazing craftsman. And before my friend took these pictures he asked if it was ok, Jim said "yes, just don't show my face", my friend answered "ok, but smile anyway."
Bad***!!! There's quite a few Amish in my area, and they are amazing craftsmen...and freaking expensive ...
In the 1st picture there is a can of Westsysetms Marine Epoxy 403 microfibers in the back ground. Going old school with high tech boat building materials !!
A guy my Dad knows makes a ludicrous amount of money restoring old wood boats. He has an Amish guys that makes alot of the pieces for him. The Amish guys charges a very modest fee, when offered more he simply states " I charge what I charge and it is fair, to take more would be a sin"
It's kind of funny when you get to know these people, they're really not much different. A couple years ago we were sitting at the saw mill taking a break, when one of Jim's boys started telling us about some trouble he was in. He and a friend were "street racing" and their wheels connected, and he lost control and went off the road and rolled the buggy in a ditch. State police wrote him up on several charges like reckless driving and failure to control his vehicle, as well as DUI. He was still paying off the fines.
Interesting folks, all about family & community. Different Amish groups have different ways of course - one common way is to allow electricity, phones, etc. at work but not at home - at work it's a necessity or brings folks together, but at home it takes away from family traditions.
Some use electric and some don't . Depends on what group they are in . The true ones don't use electric but they are allowed to use batteries . They use a generator that runs off the buggy through gears to have running lights and charge the battery . In Pa. when the Amish use the buggy's on the road they must have running lights now . Most also use the orange tri angle sign on the back of the buggy . I know many and if you talk with them they really are very nice people . They mostly barter but do work at jobs on farms to get some money for things they can't grow or barter for . They just live a very simple life and are very GOD fearing . The Amish are some very talented craftsman and p*** down all their knowledge to their sons . Retro Jim
The group will use gasoline engines but not electrical starters They've got a sawmill with a 600 cid Minniapolis-Moline 6-cylinder engine for power with a Honda 6hp engine set up as the starter
A hotrod memory: MANY years ago, early '60's, I was too young to drive and too poor and igernt to do much more than stare at the ruinous deuce I had acquired... There was a big Rod and Custom car show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I think one of the big commercial ones that appeared all over the country with a mix of local iron and the year's big show cars. One of my friends had a sister who lived there, and we were able to arrange enough parental transport to connect the dots from Northern Virginia. While we gaped at chrome, candy apple, and angel hair, in came four or five Amish teenagers; they looked like fugitives, furtively glancing in all directions as though an Amish elder was likely to be in that den of flash and chrome and electicity. They were obviously fascinated with the forbidden shorts, and stayed for at least an hour, gaping at hotrods and endlessly sweeping the horizon for parental police... I wonder where they are now and how they remember that evening. And what they said when they got home...
Never got the "romance" of all things amish. Not to dis what the posted example is but overall they don't really impress me. Never have. I've seen enough amish stuff to form that opinion and also know of a few shops that source them for things. In general, I wouldn't. As far as p***ing on craftsmanship, I always thought that was a given, amish or not. Sorry if I offended any amish HAMBers...
The Amish have a large community about 1/2 hour from me. Alot of them work for the RV industry in Northern Indiana. The young men can get a little crazy with stunts of defience. They get a period of time to live a normal life if they want and then they decide to return to the community or live on their own for the rest of their lives. Pretty calm people, but don't push too far, they seem to have missed the part about turning the other cheek cause them boys can s****!
I could be mistaken, but I bekieve that period of freedom where the young can leave the group and explore the outside world is called "rumspringga" (sp?). Anybody know, for ceratain?
Yes, there are several ways to spell it (check Wikipedia) but basically it's Pennsylvania Dutch for "running around". My nearest neighbors are "steel wheel" Amish and I have used an Amish construction crew extensively for my home, barns and business. There are many sects,or churches, and each more or less sets it's rules. So around me are farmers who use horses and mules, farmers who use steel wheels on all their powered equipment and farmers who use rubber-tired tractors. None of them have motor vehicles for the road-they'll hire a driver for long distances or deliveries. Those who use horse drawn equipment will use a gasoline motor to run their baler, for instance. They're good neighbors, no carrying on, no loud parties, and keep their farms and fields in very good shape. We don't hang out-but we wave and respect each other's spaces. Most around me will use a gas generator to power their power tools or they'll have air-driven tools. A lot around me are dairy farmers and have to have electricity in their barns to maintain the bulk milk tanks. As for craftsmanship-like the rest of us, there are good and not so good.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ Channeled "low-boy" Roadster __________________________________________________ <TABLE width=520 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>Thou hast just received the Amish Virus. </CENTER> </TD></TR><TR><TD>As we haveth no technology nor programming experience, this virus worketh on the honour system. Please delete all the files from thy hard drive and PM this virus to all your H.A.M.B. friends. We thank thee for thy cooperation. </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
The Amish run-around happens at age 18, usually in Philadelphia for PA ones; they get to go live out in the regular world and experience TV, crime, VD, and noise... I have no idea what general results are or what percentage decide not to live the traditional life, but could pretty certainly find out...I'm sitting in a theological library. I know there have been some disasters...some were recruited as drug runners by a motorcycle gang some years back! Those kids apparently had no clues to allow sensible choices. I suspect they get some heads-up about the ways of the shakier parts of the world now.
Too bad they don't give the same rights to the Amish girls, I think Middlebury, IN could become the Spring Break capital of the world!
Hemi32, I'veeen that "Amish" car at York-or something very similar. Always amazes me when someone puts that much time,money and effort, plus skills, into something so blatantly stupid. It's the HAMB, and I fully subscribe to building what YOU want, but is there anyone on the planet,besides the builder, who things this looks good?
I think they can use any type of power as long as it is not taxed, Diesel generator to run shop tools, run a compressor and operate pneumatic tools, I've seen some with diesel pickups, they use non taxed ag diesel. They make a lot of kitchen cabinets for around here, they deliver them with a big trailer and a big new Ford diesel F450, guy driving the truck is absolutely amish, he has the haircut.
5window - Not me! ... I thought it was goofy looking (hence its inclusion in my "humorous" post). That said, in the '70s, a member of our car car (Nor Cal Early Iron) built a very cool Street Rod out of a late 19th century Studebaker carriage ... I'll have to dig up some pics of it. I've always thought it would be cool to own an old Amish buggy ... don't know what I'd do with it ... probably just restore it and use it as "lawn art". roddinron - Sorry for high-jacking your thread about Mr. Byler's amazing craftsmanship. Now back to your regularly scheduled program, already in progress ...
The Jalopy Journal
