Some people that I knew were making telescopes for themselves. They would share the trials and trevails of the construction and testing of their instruments. Making one of these beasts seemed like a good challenge, so my interest was piqued.
Then one day my wife mentioned that someone had placed an ad in the local bargain shopper for three 12.5 inch blanks. for 35 dollars. I assumed the price was a mistake, and was more like 350 dollars- still a very good deal. So I didn't do anything, after all I wanted to start off with a six inch scope.
When she mentioned that the ad was still in the paper the next week, with the same price, I decided to check this thing out. I called the gentleman on the phone, and arranged to meet with him. He mentioned he also had a few other scope type things.
Did he ever! He was moving out of the area, and didn't want to move all this glass with him, so by the time I left his place, I had the three 12.5 inch blanks, several 6 inch blanks, some optical glass, a gaggle of unpolished binocular prisms and lenses, and various grits. All for 35 dollars! I was on my way to becoming an telescope maker.
These pages are, much to my chagrin, under construction, just like my scope. The major omission is the photographs, which I promise to put here soon, Really.