Our Dad was a great teacher, even though I personally didnt think he was doing any teaching when I was a kid. Everything was pretty much hands on while growing up. He would show us how to do it or we would just watch him and then we would be replicating how he did it soon after. It wasnt until later in life when I truly realized what he did for us. All 3 sons learned how to use tools and become craftsmen and at a very young age.
When Dad started making the Y&O props it was from start to finish. He would go out and pick the trees, have them cut down and hauled to the Saw Mill and we would go and watch the logs get cut into rough cut boards. We would then load it into our Neighbors truck (before Dad got a truck of his own) to haul it home...most of time time grossly over weight for the truck!. Then us boys would carry the long heavy boards into the shop and up into the attic and stacked neatly and spaced appropriately for air drying. Dad knew his stuff. He was very exacting and detail oriented. He had built his work shop himself (with the help of our grandfather... (Dads Dad) and our neighboor) and built it so he could store many tons of wood in the attic. We took dry boards down as needed and cut them to length, then down to managable strips of wood before doing all the various other steps, Shaper, drill press, rough sanding, finish sanding, stamping, varnishing etc, then into the “ready to sell bin”. Dad sold all we could make. He had a full time day job and we all went to school but in the summer time we could crank out a lot of propellers. I helped him make props up until I was about 17 years old (I think I started when I was about 7) He sold the propeller business not long after that.
Growing up and watching him, he was a true craftsman. There was nothing he could not make or repair. By trade he was a Master Electrician with skills to do some of the more precise technical trouble shooting and even some engineering of electrical boards and components. He was a great Machinist, Woodworker and Mechanic. He had a shop full of about every tool and machine needed to build and make anything. Lathe, Mill, Table saw, band saw, etc etc, he had it all. I didnt realize how good he was when I was young... I thought every kid had a father like him!
Dad was great at everything he did. He loved fishing and to this day I think if there was only 1 fish in a 1000 acre lake he would have no problem finding and catching it. The best fisherman I have ever seen.
So many great memories. He will be missed by his family.
George Schwagerman- youngest son