jean michels page is back

[ticklingmedusa]

http://www.atbq.qc.ca/introjm.htm

Monsieur Jean Michel died on March 14, 2005. L'Association des Tourneurs sur Bois du Québec wants to pay a tribute to this man who help a lot of us by sharing is knowledge. With the approval of the management of his estate we are including in a section in our site all the pages related to woodturning of his former site (jeanmichel.org) . Comments are more than welcome

[soundman]

havn't looked at the page but it is good to see that you arent letting his "music" die with him. this way his skill and generosity in sharing his knoweledge wont be forgotten.

cheers

[Lignum]

Dont want to sound like a philistine, but who is Jean Michele:confused:

[Ashore]

Dont want to sound like a philistine, but who is Jean Michele:confused:

A turner who had/made some great inovative jigs and ideas , have a look at his dual grinding table for one

Rgds

[bitingmidge]

Thanks tickling,

His demise goes a long way to explaining why he never sent me the stuff! I guess I forgive him completely, given the circumstances.

Good on whoever it was that thought to rescue the site as well.

Cheers,

P

[Cliff Rogers]

'tis interesting to ponder the legacy of the past.
Maybe I should(will) cross post this in the 'How will you survive' thread.

I grew up in Central Western Queensland.
Cars & trucks only became available for general use by the 'bushies' during my Dad's youth & my Grandpas mid life. (About the age I am now.)
Before that, all travel/transport in that area was by horse or bullock wagon.

Some little remembered facts. (Like 'why bother?')
A horse with a load will average 14 miles a day. (About 22.5 kms)
A bullock with a load will average 10 miles a day (about 16 Kms) but will live 'on the road' IE: can stay alive eating the grass whereas the horse needs food supplements if it is to keep up the pace.

Great Grandpa Rogers bought a settler's block about 50 miles from Longreach (nearest town) back in 1888. (I think, it was 1880 something)

{bear with me, I will get to the point}

When he first settled there, he only had a horse so it was about a 3 & a half day ride to town & the horse was fairly buggered when he arrived.
That meant he either had to swap the horse for a fresh one or wait a while before he went home again.
Either way, he is still gone for more than a week.

{Getting closer to the point now}

They could carry some extra feed & put it in a nose bag but the need arose for ‘way stations’ or ‘stopover’ points for water, feed, maybe fresh horses, a bed & food for the traveler(s) too…
Remember the ‘stage’ coaches, Cobb & Co etc????
They would stop for a fresh team at regular intervals so they could travel further & faster ; this meant ‘towns’ grew around the ‘way stations’ or ‘stopover’ points.
Back in the late 1800’s in Aus, the ‘way stations’ or ‘stopover’ points were usually called Hotels.

{Still with me or have you gone to the pub?}

On the trip from my Great Grandpa Rogers’ place to Longreach there were at least 2 ‘hotels’ that I reckon I could take you to the general location of even though they were gone before I can ever remember.
I do remember where they are and their names but apart from a bit of broken glass on the ground, there is nothing left of those places… just word of mouth memories & I have never shown or told my kids & I moved away.
When I die, those word of mouth memories go too unless somebody else out there either puts up a sign or stays & has offspring who stay to pass on the memories.

A further 6 miles on from my Great Grandpa Rogers’ place, (6 miles being an average half day trip by horse or bullock) is a place that was an out station from my Great Grandpa Rogers’ place. If they were going to work in that part of the property, they would spend a day loading up, traveling there & unloading. They would then camp there until the work was done & then load up & go home again. It was near water, had a ‘night paddock’ with a trough for the horses & it had a rainwater tank for human drinking/cooking water.
I can take you there & show you the bore for the water, the old fence for the ‘night paddock’, but all else that is left is a concrete step & a bit of rusty iron & some broken glass. I even remember the name of the last bloke who lived at that outstation even though he was dead & gone before I was born but my kids don’t know.

My Dad now owns the part of the property around that outstation.
To get to town would have taken George about 4 days on a horse…
In the ‘60s we could do in about an hour & 5 mins in a 1962 falcon.

Just for the hell of it, I have done it in 45 minutes in a 1992 Commodore.
It takes about 20 minutes in a light aeroplane.

PS. I'm not an expert on horses & some people who do know more about them have issuses with the speeds quoted. The point I would make is that these are figures told to me from the days of old in the bush in arid climates & are not current for modern endurance rides.

[ticklingmedusa]

Fascinating stuff for me to read Cliff. I'm a third generation californicator
( a native with deep roots )
and spent a lot of my youth exploring and camping in the backcountry of San Diego
and also know of ramshackle roadhouses or hotels that preceeded paved roads.
I know the names of a couple of people who lived in those places
but I never met them. A few of my friends were older than I was and
had cars before I was old enough to drive and brought me along.
Ironically, the one who showed me the most drove a 62 ford falcon.
I consider myself fortunate to have been along for the ride.
So many of todays kids are sadly missing out on this kind of thing.
I don't think it is hard to draw a parallel with this type of living history
and mentorship and turning.
Backtime woodworkers were doing amazing things with less technology.
When I want a tool or a jig most of the time I simply buy it.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for those of you
out there who have the skill and ingenuity to create in that fashion.
Something else that struck a chord with me were your closing thoughts...
Twenty minutes in a light plane compared to four days by horse.
Jean Michel is a part of turning history now but his innovations
can be accessed today by a few mouse strokes or a bit of keyboard work in seconds.
I have no idea how long it would take to post a printed copy of his work
from Quebec to me sitting here in California or to you there in Queensland.
It is all pretty amazing if you stop and think about it.
Regards,
tm

[La truciolara]

Not only did Jean Michel create some interesting jigs, many have done so but none like him has shared with so much generosity.
When a turner would write to him to ask for some more information on how to produce then he would not hesitate to spend time on his computer to comment on the diagrams, give some additional advice and then enquire a bit later on how the work was proceeding.
He was far more than a woodtruner and a wood worker, he was an extremely nice and generous fellow.

[rsser]

Glad to see his web material will survive him and remind us of what a bit of creativity can do.

Thanks TM.