Jake Antonelli, who arrived here last spring from Philadelphia to manage the metal and wood shops, explains the draw to 3rd Ward: “You can get practical real-life application in a cool setting and be surrounded by plenty of high-end customized work. There's so much potential here, and it’s a perfect place for that to flourish.”

So on a recent afternoon, we toured the evolving space with him and learned about some new game-changing assets, including a Clausing Colchester 15" Metal Lathe, Bridgeport series 1 automatic and manual metal mills and a Kuhlmann engraver (Check out the photos after the jump.)

“Until now, our metal shop has been equipped for welding and grinding. Now with the addition of the Bridgeports and metal lathes, we’ll be able to mill metal, which allows for more precision types of applications,” Jake says. The equipment was purchased over the past few months from a neighborhood machinist who used to manufacture for the Navy and went out of business.

“All of these machines are 1950s technology. Students here are learning the basics from scratch; there’s no better way to learn. The timeless approach is being challenged by digital technology—meaning your hands are removed from the process—but what we’re trying to do is spark a renaissance to bring back old and forgotten methods,” he says. “This is an opportunity to really explore materials in depth and understand them from the inside out. We want to be current [and the shops’ digital components are growing], but also want people to understand things from the ground up.”