"A good machinist is like gold in my book." Soft, pliable and overpriced or a rare treasure beyond most mortal men? Thinking about my father, a machinist of almost seven decades, I pick the later description. A good machinist has more practical knowledge and more learned ways to get things done than most people ever understand. Books can only take you so far then you need to learn how to do it as my father told me many years ago.