Years gone by...

[Snow ninja]

I was sitting in the tire shop yesterday looking through our local newspaper waiting for them to get done with my truck, when I ran across this old photo below.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180407/5cfaca339834e226b6da3928490a4c53.jpg

It's an old photo of some of the Fajen Gunstock employees from somewhere between '74 and '79. The man sitting second from left with the shaggy black hair is my father, this was taken when he was about my age. Sadly dad passed away a couple months ago, or I'm sure he could've told me everyone of those guys names. I know the man standing off to the right is Reinhardt Fajen himself.

My brother and I now have Dad's guns, several of them stocked while he was working at Fajen's. Interesting to note that if they had a "bad" piece of wood (a couple of checks or cracks that could be patched, but not sold to the customer), they could either buy it at extremely low cost or Mr. Fajen would just give them the piece.

They could work on the stock in their time off or on their lunch breaks using any equipment they needed. They would also trade off work to each other, so of you were a checkering man and needed some inletting work done, you'd just have to checker the stock of whoever inletted yours later.

It was neat to run across this old pic of "simpler" times, and to have another old photo of dad.


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[EDG]

Thanks for the interesting post.

[richhodg66]

That's nice.

[William Yanda]

There really were good old days!

[elk hunter]

Wish they were still in business. I think they made the best semi-inlet stock blanks of any company in this country.

[JBinMN]

Thanks for sharing a memory!
:)

[Idaho45guy]

Cool memory!

I was doing some clean up of old photos I had digitally stored and it's amazing how much things have changed in my lifetime; and I'm only in my 40's...

Found this photo of my second car; a 1969 Torino GT Sportsroof that I bought for $1500 in 1985.

It's parked in front of an old A&W that became Ted's Burgers in the early 80's. It was THE place to hang out with your buddies and your muscle cars in the late 80's. You'd just sit there and BS with your friends and then occasionally fire up the car and take it for a couple of loops around the downtown and maybe get in a race.

I joined the military after high school and I was surprised that when I came back in `92 how quickly that culture of muscle cars and cruising had died out. It had been around for decades and suddenly the cops cracked down on teens hanging out in parking lots showing off their cars.

Now they huddle in houses playing video games, drinking energy drinks, vaping, and sexting each other. Sad...

217843

[gwpercle]

Awesome !
My best looking , best fitting and most favorite rifle was a sporterized 7x57 model 95 Mauser, that I stocked with an American Black Walnut , factory second, full length Mannlicher stock. I bought it semi-inletted and spent months (working at night after work) inletting it...that full length stock was a challenge. Shaped, sanded and finished with hand rubbed coats of True Oil, it was beautiful!
The tiny tight knot in the fore end just added to the woods grain.
Fajen's factory seconds are #1 in my book.
It's sad, Fajen, Bishop and Herter's , who sold semi-inleted real wood stocks are all gone. Everything's Laminate now days....well Laminate is just a nice word for Plywood...and plywood is just not pretty
( okay ...it's UGLY) .
Thanks to your Dad and his co workers for providing us with nice walnut stocks , I miss them.
Gary

[atlas366]

That's great stuff. I'm young by most people's standards, but I've been at the same company for 23 years and I've watched it change with a change in leadership from a place like Fajen into a waking nightmare where employees are regarded only as commodities and not humans. We aren't a manufacturer either, it is a relationship business. I think there is much to be learned from the old ways and hope to see the pendulum swing the other way. Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Cheers

[bdicki]

Did you get any wheel weights?

[osteodoc08]

Back when there was still pride in work done. Sadly, mostly seems to be a byegone era

Thanks for the story and fond memories of your father.

[Snow ninja]

Did you get any wheel weights?
Not this time. Not my turn for the bucket. There's about 5 of us that gather from there, so the shop came up with a way to be "fair". I go every five weeks on Saturday and you get whatever they gathered for the week. Sometimes more sometimes less. We all agreed that would be fine. All the other shops in town refuse to even sell them to us. Even when we said we'd pay over scrap prices.

[Preacher Jim]

Snow ninja I probably met most of those folks and ones at Bishop they were great people. I wonder if I met your dad not that I could remember anymore. Still keep in touch with Henry P. Only one I managed to stay in touch with.

[woodbutcher]

[smilie=s: Outstanding Sir.Thanks for posting.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[MaryB]

20 years ago my mom made up a family album for all of us kids. Pictures going back to the late 1800's... letters from family etc. Every Christmas we get a few more pages to keep up with the great grand kids being born!

[smoked turkey]

Snow ninja thanks for posting this picture. I am down the road about an hour from Warsaw. However I have visited there many times as my wife's sister still lives across the black top road from the old metal building that housed the place. On one of our trips to visit, we walked across the road and my brother in law took me through the place to the various work positions such as inletting, checkering, finishing, etc. It was a real treat to meet the folks like your dad who made the beautiful masterpieces that they were famous for. It is likely I met your dad or at least saw him as we went freely through the place as my brother in law knew about everyone there. It was special to go in the "vault" where the really nice guns and wooden stocks were kept. Those were good times and great people. Unfortunately a heart attack took my favorite brother in law before his time. However the wife's sister called this afternoon and she is coming by for a visit in a couple of days. As you can see I have special place in my heart for the place and sure do miss the quality of work they were putting out on a daily basis.