In 1996 they built the 40x80 ft. shop on the highway in Souris where the old car wash used to be.
The Tufts brothers were hired by the Souris Municipality in 1999 to rebuild the water clarifiers at the Water Treatment Plant, replacing rusted steel parts with new stainless steel ones.
Tufts has fond recollections of people he has met over the years – John Mason, a welder and the first employee he hired. Mason worked at Tufts Machining for 12 years, and is a regular visitor to the shop.
George Vandermeulen, a retired railroader would stop in at the shop nearly every day to visit and help out.
“He wouldn’t take any money, he just loved working with his hands. We became close friends.”
Tufts Machining continued to grow. In 2011 the business bought the Saputo Cheese building next door to the shop to use as storage.
Tufts Machining kept expanding and had five employees by the time Carman’s brother Leonard retired in 2014.
When Tuft’s wife Pat retired from the hospital, she bought Leonard’s share of the company and was now Tuft’s partner in business as well as in life. It was a good fit for her. Pat had been doing the books over the years and as the business continued to grow, so did her role.
In 2016 the Saputo Cheese building was torn down to build a new heated shop area.
Fixing and machining being a “Tufts family thing” is a bit of a running joke and hits the nail on the head. At the age of 99 Tufts’ father, also a machinist is still fixing things. Tufts recalls as kids on the farm always having something to fix or some kind of project. Tuft’s son Michael is carrying on the family tradition as the current owner and operator of the portable machining business Carman started with his brother. Michael had worked alongside his father over the years and Tufts feels this portion of the business is a good fit for his son who enjoys being hands on.
The Tufts’ reputation brings clients in from as far as Redvers and Waskada to the west, Killarney to the south, Russell to the north and Brandon to the east. It is the reputation of Tufts Machining spread by word of mouth that Tufts credits the success of the company.
“We made sure we always looked after our customers and supported and involved ourselves in the community.”
The opportunity to sell the business presented itself in the spring of 2021 when Jan Eissner approached Tufts. It was a timely discussion as the Tufts had started talking of retiring and were getting the business ready for sale in the fall of 2020. With everything already in place, Tufts Machining was sold in July 2021.
The Tufts feel good about selling the business locally and that the staff will stay.
Tufts is also building a big addition onto his garage and will now have time to work on his ‘55 Packard. An enthusiast of old cars, the Tufts recall the time taking their Model A out to the West Coast. Jokingly they remember the “care package” given to them for the journey by Uncle Jack.
“He said it had every spare part he could think of in it – but not really. It was a prank and had absolutely nothing of use in it in the event the car broke down,” laughed Tufts.
In the meantime Tufts is weaning himself from the company, still working for the next year but the transition has been more challenging for his wife whose work ended the day the keys changed hands. While working, the opportunity for extended holidays was not an option so visiting family, a trip to the East Coast and Dawson City and the Great Canadian Trail are all on the list.
Both are looking forward to what lies ahead for them and wish new owners Jan and Kim Eissner well.

by KAREN KEMPE, Recorder staff