My entertainment center has doors on the side cabinets that are to be
fitted with glassed-in doors. We wanted to use something other than clear
glass in order to be able to obscure the contents of the cabinets (they are
intended for storage, not display).

Several weeks ago, we went to Goldbaum Door and Window in Tucson to
explore various options for these panels. They are fairly large: 17" x 42".
Unfortunately the owner had just finished loading a truck and trailer for a
trip to Michigan to deliver some of his work and was not able to do any
glass cutting at that time; he was very apologetic and asked if we could
come back another time after they had returned. While we were talking and
looking at what he did have on display, my wife found some corded glass
that met our criteria, so we agreed to a future date to get a couple of
those panels.

Made an appointment and went back today. Jon Goldbaum was an absolute
pleasure to visit with, to see his stained glass work, and to watch him
work. After cutting my glass, we visited some and he showed me his
woodshop; he makes doors for his stained glass and builds his own frames
and doors. One of the more interesting tools was a dedicated dovetail
machine; it's not very flexible in terms of being able to do all sorts of
spacings and the like, but very efficient for fast production. He also has
an old Delta-Rockwell shaper that, as he said, "was built before they
started making them light and cheap".

The glass wasn't cheap, but given that he spent almost an hour with me, I
know he wasn't exactly overcharging me either. He just moved to Tucson
about a year ago from Michigan and is getting established here. Given the
quality of his work and his friendly nature; I'd say he has a good future.
All in all, that was one of the most pleasant experiences I've had buying
something for a very long time.



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If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

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