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It all started in a high school shop class.
John Schultz was a freshman at Watertown High School in Watertown, Wis., in 1955 when he became interested in putting things together.
“I just really had a good time there,” he said. “We started with simple projects like a hammer head and then there was a screwdriver that we produced. Those were the first two projects that I produced. I loved it and I took as many courses as I could.”
From those classes, Schultz said he learned to read blue prints, similar to the prints he now uses to build model steam engines, a hobby he began to pursue around 1990.
Schultz, who worked at Caterpillar Inc. as the numerical control coordinator for the company for 20 years and a buyer for 10, said his April 2001 retirement allowed him the time to devote to the hobby.
Perhaps it is just in his blood.
“My dad was a carpenter,” he added. “We had machines all over in his garage. My brother turned into a woodworking shop instructor.”
While Schultz dabbles in woodworking as well, he tends to focus time now on machines.
“It’s something I do because I want to, not just to fill time,” he said. “They’re mainly stationary engines that are copies of what were used in the old time factories. They run, but they power nothing.”
Schultz has constructed about 20 replicas of steam engines. He orders castings and blueprints from various companies and then spends anywhere from six months to two years creating the models, which range in size from about one to a few feet tall. He uses an air compressor to run the engines.
“The one I’m working on now, I’ve been working on on and off for about a year now,” he said. “I’ve got at least another year to go. It is so complicated.”
The model, a replica of a mill engine, which was once used in a furniture factory in Grand Rapids, Mich., came complete with 90 pages of prints for Schultz to read in order to construct it.
“If I don’t have other things to do, I’ll spend all day working on a project,” he said. “I’ll spend from about 8 or 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m. working on this stuff.”
Schultz works from the basement of his Washington home, where he has a shop complete with a milling machine to make flat parts, a table saw, a plainer, a sander, a jointer, an air compressor, a slow-speed grinder and a drill press.
It all started in a high school shop class.
John Schultz was a freshman at Watertown High School in Watertown, Wis., in 1955 when he became interested in putting things together.
“I just really had a good time there,” he said. “We started with simple projects like a hammer head and then there was a screwdriver that we produced. Those were the first two projects that I produced. I loved it and I took as many courses as I could.”
From those classes, Schultz said he learned to read blue prints, similar to the prints he now uses to build model steam engines, a hobby he began to pursue around 1990.
Schultz, who worked at Caterpillar Inc. as the numerical control coordinator for the company for 20 years and a buyer for 10, said his April 2001 retirement allowed him the time to devote to the hobby.
Perhaps it is just in his blood.
“My dad was a carpenter,” he added. “We had machines all over in his garage. My brother turned into a woodworking shop instructor.”
While Schultz dabbles in woodworking as well, he tends to focus time now on machines.
“It’s something I do because I want to, not just to fill time,” he said. “They’re mainly stationary engines that are copies of what were used in the old time factories. They run, but they power nothing.”
Schultz has constructed about 20 replicas of steam engines. He orders castings and blueprints from various companies and then spends anywhere from six months to two years creating the models, which range in size from about one to a few feet tall. He uses an air compressor to run the engines.
“The one I’m working on now, I’ve been working on on and off for about a year now,” he said. “I’ve got at least another year to go. It is so complicated.”
The model, a replica of a mill engine, which was once used in a furniture factory in Grand Rapids, Mich., came complete with 90 pages of prints for Schultz to read in order to construct it.
“If I don’t have other things to do, I’ll spend all day working on a project,” he said. “I’ll spend from about 8 or 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m. working on this stuff.”
Schultz works from the basement of his Washington home, where he has a shop complete with a milling machine to make flat parts, a table saw, a plainer, a sander, a jointer, an air compressor, a slow-speed grinder and a drill press.
“It’s all used for one thing or another,” he said.
Characteristics Schultz said are needed to build the machines include a desire to use your hands, careful planning and patience.
“When you wake up in the middle of the night and you think about what you have to do next and how to do it next — some of these projects are so complicated that they just take over your thoughts,” he said.
Seeing the finished project, he added, is the most rewarding aspect of building the models.
Schultz’s wife, Mary, said she is not bothered by the long hours he spends piecing together the intricate models.
“It’s something that’s in him. He has a relative who was one of the architects for the Empire State Building,” she said. “It’s a passion that has to be used. There are not a lot of people who would have the patience to do this. It’s something he really does enjoy.”
