Mario or the art of lathing

My friend Mario is the man behind my "una-tantum" outsourcing... we've been friends for the last 22 years, now and he never end surprising me, teaching to me very esoteric knowledge in materials and machining them and more.

... no pixes of Mario... he's too shy and cool kind of guy for this and if I try to take a shot of him at the lathe, he damn me heavily;-) telling I'm a signorina and his workshop isn't a place for female gender:-)))

... anyway, not a serious issue... he's genuine Tom Waits' twin... he's tall like him, he speaks and moans and groans and MOST OF ALL, he looks like Tom Waits...

When I showed him a TW's picture, years ago, Mario yelled loudly and told me to stop taking pictures at the workshop without his permission:-))))

More than twenty years ago I was a full ignorant and asked about screws and things talking "in cm"... after he almost killed me with an huge screwdriver:-), years ago, after I asked for a bespoke alu part 8 centimeters long... he deadly seriously told me with - yessss.... - a low growling TW-like voice - "Hey you, HERE in my workshop talking or quoting centimeters isn't allowed, period!"

I could write a short story about the several, numberless events I witnessed or the tales made of arms cut straight by a metal lathe debris or when he began working as a kid for 15 hours a-day or the rifle champion who brings his premium bullets to be balanced at "ZERO" center flat to obtain a trajectory the most straight and winning to the target... talking about 200+ meters shots, pals...

Everything new intrigues Mario and his knowledge is on same par as his skills...

It seems from my above words I fell in love with Mario... yes, that's true, as friendship is sex-less love, don't you:-)))

Seriously speaking, Tom... aehm... Mario surprised one more time only few hours ago... imagine... better, what the hell, I took some (bad) pixes with iPhone:-) - it's a sort-of projector with lights and lenses and a BIIIG scope, something looking like a Jules Verne's Nautilus cockpit:-), all metal pale-blue hammertone, made in UK by Walton Engineering Mfg. Ltd, a magnifying-lens machine for quality control... he saved it from being dumped in the garbage, when a workshop was closing... the crisis, you know...

This cool piece of gears sure costed "something"... and it's something which talks about quality and care for workmanship and final product.

He passionately taught to me about how it works and the mods he made to further improve it and the merits, before and after his modding...

In half an hour I knew about this... thing a lot.

Thanks to Mario for being, as his always being hungry and thirsty of novelties and caring about virtually everything he does makes him a rare breed... an humble genius and lucky enough he have a good time working and he's able to infuse in his daily job same love and care a composer does to his music... with smoothness and easyness.

A poet with noble, big, strong, greasy hands... and one of them is showed, with his permission:-) on one pix, pals.