Does anyone know what happened to the man who purchased Ed Shulins stock turner and patterns before he passed away? I had Ed turn several stocks for me and I really liked a couple of his patterns. The man who purchased his shop equipment seems to have disapeared off of the face of the earth. Mori

Was he involved with Great Western?

Spent some time looking, name given was Rick Shay of Greeley, CO.

Lots of posts out there like this one wondering if anyone ever heard back from him. There was an old cell number and website but they were both dead ends.

Wish I could be more help.

Ed Shulen knew all the teaching staff at Trinidad State College in Trinidad, CO . I would try contacting Chuck Grace there. I'm sure he knew Ed. Maybe he could give you a lead.

Howdy,
I am an infrequent contributor to this site, but an avid reader here. I too had Ed Shulin cut stocks for me, and when he sold his business to Rick Shay, I contacted him about doing some wood cutting for me. He seemed like a real nice guy. He told me that he had been one of Ed's students back in the late '60s/early 70's when Ed still taught at Trinidad. He went on to become an engineer and worked for Hewlett Packard in Loveland, CO. Sometime in the early 2000-teens, Rick became re-acquainted with Ed and when showing his equipment to Rick, Ed asked him if he was interested in buying his business. He said that he was, and did. Ed gave me Rick's name and shop phone number when I last contacted him, which turned out to be just shortly before Ed passed away.

I couldn't get Rick on the phone at his shop during the day, but I eventually did reach him by calling in the evening when he was there doing his stock cutting work. Unbeknown to me at that time, he still had his day job at that time, and his shop was not at his home. Rick also had a web site, and it suggested that do to a hearing problem, email was the best mode of contact, but he almost never responded to my emails. Rick did cut one stock for me and did an excellent job. Sometime thereafter I needed another stock cut and tried to contact him again by email and by phone, leaving messages at his shop, and got no response, which was unlike Rick because he was usually very quick to reply. After a couple of days, I became genuinely concerned for his welfare. I even went so far as to contact the Weld County Sheriff's Dept. and asked them if they could check on Rick's well being. They told me they could do a 'wellness check', and sent a deputy out to the Eaton address I provided. The sheriff's dept. determined that Rick just rented the workshop in Eaton, CO, just a little north of Greeley, CO., where Rick actually lived. The sheriff's deputy obtained Rick's home address and met him outside his residence as he got home one evening after work. They told him I had been trying to contact him, and gave me a call to let me know they had made contact with him.

Rick called me later that night, apologized, and explained that he had experienced some kind of catastrophic health issue and had not been able to do any stock cutting work for some time. He was unable to go to his shop and get phone messages, and it was all he could do to just go to work during the day. Rick emailed a short time later that he was again working in his shop. Maybe a month later I sent him a check and letter explaining what I wanted. The letter and check came back as undeliverable, his phone was eventually disconnected, and at some point his web site disappeared. I can only assume that his health took a rapid turn for the worse. I have often wondered what had happened to Rick Shay and what became of his tools and patterns that he had bought from Ed. I have never heard anything more about him. RIP?

This is a shame. Almost sounds like something bad happened. It's too bad that the patterns and tools can't be put to use somehow. It would be interesting to find out if he ever sold the stuff since he apparently won't be using it... hopefully that part of Ed Shulin 's legacy won't be permanently lost.

A few of us own duplicators.

It is possible to have a pattern stock made, using one of your stocks as a pattern.

Then you would own a pattern to your likening and could sent it to a stock turner whenever you wanted another stock made.

In this photo I am making a pattern from hard maple. The black pattern stock is one of many styles I have, the new pattern will be modified with a different style cheek piece and pistol grip.

Note the white teflon tip on the tracer to prevent damaging the pattern, or in the case of making a pattern from an existing stock, to prevent damaging the stock finish.

How thick is your spacer? IE: how close do you cut to your pattern?

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
How thick is your spacer? IE: how close do you cut to your pattern?

The one in the photo is 1/8". I cut to 1/8" oversize, then hang the stock for a week or two as the wood often moves.

Then I cut using a 1/16" spacer, doing a good job for a good finish with the tooling.

Then to 1/32" or so, this leaves a sanding allowance.

I will play with different shims and cutter settings in different areas of the stock if I want more or less wood in the finished stock.