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#1
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Woodworking Goal
My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge,
skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b |
#2
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b
wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? Very similar to your answer, except I'd add this as well. I know that a lot of things I would like to have just aren't around for any price- and while it may be possible to hire an artisan or furniture maker to make them for me, it seems foolish to leave the execution of something I've got in mind to someone who may see it from a different perspective, and create something different than I wanted. So much of the world seems to be mass-produced and disposable these days, it's nice to think that I've got unique items furnishing my home. While they may not be quite as nice as some high-end gallery quality stuff, everything I've made has been better than it's equivilant at the places I can afford to shop- and I know that I'm not going to see a carbon-copy of it in someone else's home. Barring some unforseen accident, I don't intend to give up at it- and god willing, I've got another 50 years or better to gain experience and skill. Hopefully I'll be good enough someday to leave carefully protected heirlooms for posterity that people will protect and enjoy when I'm gone. It seems like a good legacy to me. |
#3
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b
wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. Being skint and nailing 2x4s together will achieve that much. I seem to have got to the point where I can make furniture that no-one can afford. In a world where Ikea will sell you a perfectly functional table, how many people are there left who are prepared to pay for anything better than MDF ? I can make the stuff, and I've got any number of people who want it. But as for _paying_ a sensible rate for hand-work (which is inevitably slower and more skilled than factory, even for modest quality) then where's the market gone? Who _wants_ a table they can leave to their grandchildren, when the current fashion is to paint it pink because that's what Changing Rooms told you to do this week, then throw it away the week after. I can see a future not too far away, where the only people with really good _new_ furniture are those who are building it themselves, or being given it as gifts from the makers. Quality just isn't part of commerce these days. |
#4
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I have no knowledge of the economy in the area where you live, but there are
a LOT of people will to pay a LOT for truly wonderful, custom furniture/cabinetry. I have a buddy that decided to take the plunge from being a highly successful computer engineer (i.e. making $100K+ per year salary) to being a full-time woodworker for hire. His net income (the amount he pays himself, not the amount the business get's) is abour $140K. This is only his 4th year of doing this and he has work booke with 6-9 month waits, and people don't mind. I'm no pro - far from it. But I've done the odd job for money here and there, and made a fair bit on those jobs. And they weren't anything special, to say the least. I think what a lot of woodworkers forget when they try to sell their work is that they have to target a specific market segment, clearly define their "ideal customer" and then SELL to those people. They can't make a museum-quality armoire that took them 500 hours to make, and then HOPE they find someone with $25K to spend. They need to find the customer FIRST. And if they can't? They need to change their business model and either make something else, or search harder for those customers. You hit it on the head, Andy, in one respect. The people that will go and buy stuff at IKEA are NOT the one's you will sell to (and, I might add, aren't the ones you WANT to sell to). The money is there to be made, you just have to get your message out to the right people: marketing is key. I don't know anything about Tom Watson's business model, but if you ever looked at his website and the things he made when he was a pro cabinetmaker - I bet you will get an idea of how that kind of business works. And then look at Tom Plamann. 'Nuf said. Sucks that it isn't just about being really skilled at making furniture, but alas. Mike "Andy Dingley" wrote in message news On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. Being skint and nailing 2x4s together will achieve that much. I seem to have got to the point where I can make furniture that no-one can afford. In a world where Ikea will sell you a perfectly functional table, how many people are there left who are prepared to pay for anything better than MDF ? I can make the stuff, and I've got any number of people who want it. But as for _paying_ a sensible rate for hand-work (which is inevitably slower and more skilled than factory, even for modest quality) then where's the market gone? Who _wants_ a table they can leave to their grandchildren, when the current fashion is to paint it pink because that's what Changing Rooms told you to do this week, then throw it away the week after. I can see a future not too far away, where the only people with really good _new_ furniture are those who are building it themselves, or being given it as gifts from the makers. Quality just isn't part of commerce these days. |
#5
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On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:34:02 GMT, "Mike in Mystic"
wrote: I have no knowledge of the economy in the area where you live, but there are a LOT of people will to pay a LOT for truly wonderful, custom furniture/cabinetry. Sadly the current distribution of income seems to favour those with absolutely no taste! A bureau made from recycled railway sleepers (ties) still with the creosote on them and sprayed with lacquer just to keep the smell in ? I have a buddy that decided to take the plunge from being a highly successful computer engineer (i.e. making $100K+ per year salary) to being a full-time woodworker for hire. Woodworker or furniture maker ? Things are a lot better for on-site work. If you're buying a competent tradesman by the hour, then you're paying a decent rate for it and there's generally little argument over the time spent and the amount owed. The problem is the invisible work in the workshop - how can any piece of furntiture possibly take more than an hour to make, when Ikea will sell you one for an hour or two's income? |
#6
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 11:50:11 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote: The problem is the invisible work in the workshop - how can any piece of furntiture possibly take more than an hour to make, when Ikea will sell you one for an hour or two's income? People who think that way usually end up several hours later with a big pile of particle board and Euro-fasteners on their garage floor. I suspect I could make enough money to support my hobbies just doing Ikea furniture assembly for the truly clueless. And there are a *lot* of them out there. Lee |
#7
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On Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:06:54 -0700, Lee DeRaud
wrote: I suspect I could make enough money to support my hobbies just doing Ikea furniture assembly for the truly clueless. What? Take on responsibility for all the future failings of a piece of cheap crap, for a fee that's appreciably less than its purchase price? No thanks ! |
#8
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Hello,
That was my first job! when I was 12, I placed a message in the local church buletin bord saying that I was a "pro" at assembly IKEA stuff and I was getting calls from housewhifes that were calling me to the rescue when their husband started breacking the IKEA stuff of frustration! made quie a lot of money like tha t:-) cyrille "Lee DeRaud" wrote in message ... On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 11:50:11 +0100, Andy Dingley wrote: The problem is the invisible work in the workshop - how can any piece of furntiture possibly take more than an hour to make, when Ikea will sell you one for an hour or two's income? People who think that way usually end up several hours later with a big pile of particle board and Euro-fasteners on their garage floor. I suspect I could make enough money to support my hobbies just doing Ikea furniture assembly for the truly clueless. And there are a *lot* of them out there. Lee |
#9
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On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:34:02 GMT, "Mike in Mystic"
wrote: I don't know anything about Tom Watson's business model, but if you ever looked at his website and the things he made when he was a pro cabinetmaker - I bet you will get an idea of how that kind of business works. And then look at Tom Plamann. 'Nuf said. Sucks that it isn't just about being really skilled at making furniture, but alas. Mike I was only able to make nice stuff because I lived in an area with a lot of wealthy people in it. The Main Line area contains several of the richest zip codes in the country. For the last fifteen years that I was in business I never worked in a house that was worth less than a million dollars and most of them were in the three to seven million range. The work you can do is driven by the market that is available to you. My business model, if you could call it such, was simple. I wanted to do all the work, including marketing, designing, selling and producing. I wanted to have a life that didn't take a lot of money to run. I didn't want employees. The marketing was done by getting to know which builders and architects were involved in my target market. A letter of inquiry, followed by a visit with portfolio in hand was the next step. Most cautious builders and architects will try you out on a smallish project, which I would discount until I was running close to cost. Once you're in, if you are a one man shop, you have to find a way to handle all the work that a busy design/build firm can throw at you. If you can't they'll start looking for someone else. Since I wanted to be a hands on sole proprietor, this problem could get dicey. Eventually, I found that I was better off not trying to handle all the needs of a company and started to solicit only special projects, allowing a lot of the bread and butter work to go to others. Towards the end I was only doing word of mouth work for individual homeowners - because that was all that I could handle. Had I been interested in growing a business, this would have been insane, but that isn't what I wanted. I knew too many guys who had started out as good mechanics and wound up growing a business monster that needed constant feeding. They spent too much of their time trying to feed the monster. The design work started out as a necessary chore but became one of my favorite parts of the business. I learned it on the fly by stealing bits and pieces of the good drawings that I would get from architects and designers. Later I spent a good deal of time reading and studying designs from the classical era on. My area has a lot of people who want a very traditional look in their homes. On the other end of the scale are those who want only modern stuff. I happened to get typecast as one of the traditional guys, which was partly a result of the market and partly that of personal temperament. It is almost always the case that a shop will get known for a particular kind of work and this becomes their niche. When you have a niche and the beginnings of a repeating client base, you are really in business. When I would begin to get a little bored with another run of base units and bookcases, with the same details as the last few projects, I would try to find a job where the customer would let me play a little bit. I did a lot of design drawing that went into overhead but wound up paying off in sales. Sometimes I would like the design so much that I would sharpen my pencil enough to get the price to where the customer would have been crazy not to take the deal. Oddly enough, these jobs often wound up being very profitable because they would lead to additional work - at better margins. I don't know what to say about selling. I often thought that customers felt comfortable with me because we had similar educational and cultural backgrounds. I think a lot of them thought of me as a charming anachronism - a hippie carpenter who never went corporate. On the production side, I wanted to take everything from rough lumber to finish and installation. Eventually I made certain compromises and would buy out prefinished doors, drawer fronts and door boxes, if the time demands were too great. When I realized how I was being taken away from my vision of what I wanted to do, I slowed down and started making it all myself again. Once I turned fifty I started to have a number of physical problems with things like bad knees, a chancy back and a good bit of arthritis here and there. I knew that I had to back off on the work load and was gearing up to turn the business into a pure one off furniture shop, with a mix of items that would be built on spec, mixed in with commissioned work. I was hoping to do a fifty fifty split between the two, with an idea of growing the spec business to a point where I was well enough known that I could increase my margins and reduce my hours on the shop floor. A visit to the doctor, who said that I was looking at twin knee replacements within a short time, if I didn't get off my feet, convinced me to get off the shop floor. Most guys that I know who have small shops work about sixty to seventy five hours a week. About fifty or sixty of that is spent on the shop floor. Now I spend about forty to fifty hours a week, mostly at a computer, or dealing with client contact, with some visits to the production facilities to see how things are going. I have better health benefits, a better retirement program and make more money than I did in most years of running the shop. Had I decided to make my one man shop into an actual business, I would have had to mortgage the house, move out of the 1200 sq footer that I'm in, into larger quarters, buy different equipment, hire people (a very difficult problem), and spend all of my waking hours running a business. I decided to go help run a little piece of someone else's business. The cool thing is that I get to make whatever the hell I want now - as soon as I finish the exterior trim on the house, the painting, the new fence, refinish the hardwood floors, plumb the new bathroom, etc. - which I never had time to do when I was working for myself. As JOAT often remarks, "Life is basically good." If you want to work with your hands, as I did - I think that's great - but remember that you will age and that you might not always be able to do what is easy for you to do today. If you are any good, it is actually pretty easy to grow a business - what is hard is not having it grow to overtake your whole life. Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
#10
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"Tom Watson" wrote in message Much very good information snipped If you are any good, it is actually pretty easy to grow a business - what is hard is not having it grow to overtake your whole life. Tom Watson - WoodDorker Thanks for the story, Tom. It is nice to like your work as much as you did. Your last comment shows a lot of wisdom. -- Ed http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/ |
#11
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 23:26:52 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote: "Tom Watson" wrote in message Much very good information snipped If you are any good, it is actually pretty easy to grow a business - what is hard is not having it grow to overtake your whole life. Tom Watson - WoodDorker Thanks for the story, Tom. It is nice to like your work as much as you did. Your last comment shows a lot of wisdom. Thanks Edwin - Wouldn't it be nice if wisdom would grow on the one plate of the scale without us having to balance it with life's lumps on the other? Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
#12
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Subject AKA Operating your own business.
I am reminded of a fraternity brother of mine who one day, quit his job, borrowed $5K and started a consulting engineering business that over the next 10 years made a ton of money. Along came CAD, he didn't choose to invest, began losing customers, and ultimately closed the business. We were having lunch one day and I asked him why he closed the business. His answer was a classic, IMHO. I got sick and tired of having to go to the bathroom and hold everybody's wiener every time they wanted to take a leak. I understood. Lew |
#13
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On Sun, 05 Jun 2005 00:40:10 GMT, Lew Hodgett
wrote: Subject AKA Operating your own business. I am reminded of a fraternity brother of mine who one day, quit his job, borrowed $5K and started a consulting engineering business that over the next 10 years made a ton of money. Along came CAD, he didn't choose to invest, began losing customers, and ultimately closed the business. We were having lunch one day and I asked him why he closed the business. His answer was a classic, IMHO. I got sick and tired of having to go to the bathroom and hold everybody's wiener every time they wanted to take a leak. I understood. Lew Hiring good people is the hardest thing that you can do in a business - as far as I know. I got out of the construction business, which I was doing pretty well in, to go into the shop and work by myself. I was real tired of the people problems. Swingman seems to have a handle on it and maybe he'll chime in. Seems like he just builds a little bit each year and keeps some time out to do those things that he enjoys. He must have damned good subs that he's worked with for a good bit of time. A buddy of mine always says, "Hell, the making is easy - it's the people that make it hard." Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
#14
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b
wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b ======================== Well I have been "shooting" now for close to 40 years.. and to be very honest I have hit the bulls eye almost all the time... My aim has always been to relax, and to improve my work... Never built anything to save money... but have build a lot of furniture that I needed ...but I did it for enjoyment... Bob G. |
#15
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Building furniture for myself and friends from lumber milled from my own
trees...its all good! Schroeder What're you shooting for? charlie b |
#16
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b wrote:
My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b well, my goals seem to change a lot, Charlie... They used to be things like "learn to build cheap stuff that we can't afford to buy".. Evolved into "if I had the tools, I could build nice stuff.. I got back into woodworking when my wife started law school, figuring that since she was going to be either busy or sleeping 24/7, I could spend a lot of guilt-free time in the shop.. My original goal was pretty clear.. to improve my knowledge and skill, and eventually make very nice jewelry boxes for the wife and friends... with a sort of "maybe goal" of building things like china cabinets, display cases, etc... After about 4 months of building shelves, cabinets and drawers for the shop, I got side tracked into wood turning in a big way.. My wife has been almost too encouraging, probably because this keeps me home and sober, and has just bought me my 2nd lathe. well, 3rd, if you could my trusty old shopsmith.. I still have the goal of fine woodworking some day, but my present goal is to improve my turning and finishing skills as much as possible, as long as it's fun... I sell a few things, but that's not the reason that I work wood... So far, I've spent at least 4 of every seven evenings in the shop, have a few hundred turnings and not only have not burned out, but still want more time to turn.. BTW: I have a lot more patience and drive to do things right in my late 50's than I did in my late 20's/early 30's.... When I worked wood before, I would either skip a step or "mickey mouse" something to get it finished quickly... now, I'm at the age where I can not only hear the phrase "it's not the destination, it's the journey", but I can know the difference and enjoy the journey.. mac Please remove splinters before emailing |
#17
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"charlie b" wrote in message ... My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b I work with my great-grandfather's tools - they are all hand tools that do not use electricity. I also have his forge and metalworking tools. I don't use the tools just to be different than, say, the people who shop at Lowe's. I genuinely enjoy working with human powered tools. When I use the tools I somehow feel connected to earlier generations of woodworkers and the escape from the busy everyday overworked modern life helps me keep balanced - it's like finding new meanings in old familiar poem. My goal is to keep enjoying using old tools, learning some more techniques, and making things. Xopher |
#18
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"charlie b" wrote in message What're you shooting for? charlie b Just to enjoy what I'm doing. So far, I've succeeded. I like to improve my skills and try new methods. I make things either I want, my wife wants, or I can give to a friend that would appreciate the item. I'm careful to keep it a hobby, not a job as I already have a good job. I did accept payment for material on a bench I made for a friend but even that was after the fact. Some day I'd like to build that museum quality piece. Woodworking has taught me patience (maybe age is a factor also) and the sense of accomplishment is very good also. If it stops being fun, it is time for a new hobby. Ed |
#19
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charlie b wrote:
My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b To be able to afford what Tom Plamnn can buy? -- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove -SPAM- to send email) |
#20
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On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:49:48 -0400, no(SPAM)vasys wrote:
To be able to afford what Tom Plamnn can buy? To --sell-- to Tom Plamann for his personal use and for far more than he intended to pay. |
#21
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My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b For me it is the exact same, however as much by hand as possible. No table saw, no elecric jointer or thicknesser. But I do have a mini band saw and a mini drill press, an electric hand Skil-drill, and a Makita palm sander and an old Rockwell 1/2 sheet sander. "Minimal-izm" maybe... but I love the old ways of woodworking at heart. Chisels, hand planes, hand saws, surforms, rasps, braces and handcrank drills, clamps and a woodworkers bench, and so forth. The hardest part are the old molding planes (side beaders?) for doing the original work that electric routers replaced, such as knowing how to choose, use and sharpen them and making my own blades succesfully. I bought an old skew blade dado plane with a laminated blade, has no hardness and grinds down like chalk when sharpening. Rediculous. -- Alex - newbie_neander in woodworking cravdraa_at-yahoo_dot-com not my site: http://www.e-sword.net/ |
#22
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what goal Im looking for in my woodworking is to be able to build peices
of the quality and with the same skill that my great grandfather or his sons did or my dad who died when I was only a year old did they did it all with such care and attention to detail without a shop full of power tools we still have these tresures in our famly hand down through the years my granddaughter plays with a doll cradle built by mt greatgrand dad for my grand mothers sister I just hope some day that I can make them proud as they look down from above at my work Jim |
#23
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Sounds like a really great heritage, I hope it is also a part of your sole. .... I wish I had a heritage like that. -- Alex - newbie_neander in woodworking cravdraa_at-yahoo_dot-com not my site: http://www.e-sword.net/ |
#24
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#25
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charlie b wrote:
My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. Now you know why I'm building a boat. Lew |
#26
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Lew Hodgett wrote:
charlie b wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. Now you know why I'm building a boat. Lew Lew, When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." I take it from the tense of your above statement that that project is still 'in-process.' Wow, that gives me hope that some of my long-going projects might eventually be completed. Regards, Mike |
#27
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Mike wrote:
Lew, When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." I take it from the tense of your above statement that that project is still 'in-process.' Wow, that gives me hope that some of my long-going projects might eventually be completed. Building a boat is lot like wrasslin a bear. As long as the bear wants to wrestle, you wrestle. Building a boat, you are never done, but every day when you leave the boat yard, something is finished that wasn't finished when you got there. Lew |
#28
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 03:37:29 GMT, Lew Hodgett
wrote: Mike wrote: Lew, When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." I take it from the tense of your above statement that that project is still 'in-process.' Wow, that gives me hope that some of my long-going projects might eventually be completed. Building a boat is lot like wrasslin a bear. As long as the bear wants to wrestle, you wrestle. Building a boat, you are never done, but every day when you leave the boat yard, something is finished that wasn't finished when you got there. Reminds me of that Steinbeck novel "Tortilla Flat", where the guy was building the perfect boat on shore, and never got it sailing because he was afraid of the water... |
#29
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On 3 Jun 2005 17:47:58 -0700, "Mike" wrote:
When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." Building boats is quicker and _far_ cheaper than maintaining them once afloat. Ask any boat owner. The amount it costs to look after it is more than they expected, in rough proportion to the reduction in the time they actually get to use it compared to expectations. |
#30
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 11:45:44 +0100, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 3 Jun 2005 17:47:58 -0700, "Mike" wrote: When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." Building boats is quicker and _far_ cheaper than maintaining them once afloat. Ask any boat owner. The amount it costs to look after it is more than they expected, in rough proportion to the reduction in the time they actually get to use it compared to expectations. recreational boat: hole in the water designed to pour money into. DAMHIK mac Please remove splinters before emailing |
#31
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"Andy Dingley" wrote in message ... On 3 Jun 2005 17:47:58 -0700, "Mike" wrote: When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." Building boats is quicker and _far_ cheaper than maintaining them once afloat. Ask any boat owner. The amount it costs to look after it is more than they expected, in rough proportion to the reduction in the time they actually get to use it compared to expectations. For some, buying a boat is the two happiest days of their lives; the day they bought it and the day they sold it. Gary |
#32
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"gary" wrote in message link.net... "Andy Dingley" wrote in message ... On 3 Jun 2005 17:47:58 -0700, "Mike" wrote: When I first started reading this n.g. several years ago you were in the process of building your, iirc, "bullet proof boat." Building boats is quicker and _far_ cheaper than maintaining them once afloat. Ask any boat owner. The amount it costs to look after it is more than they expected, in rough proportion to the reduction in the time they actually get to use it compared to expectations. I know everybody has already heard this, but . . Definition of a boat . . . "A hole in the water, into which you pour money". Daughter & SIL just bought a 26' cruiser w/Mercruiser V8 that has suddenly developed a bad case of "not gonna go". Can't get more than 2800RPM out of it. He'll eventually get, but it's supremely frustrating(and costly). -- Nahmie The greatest headaches are those we cause ourselves. |
#33
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charlie b wrote in news:429FE963.4C15
@accesscom.com: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) You're right. Tom Plamann has made furniture I cannot afford to buy. Patriarch |
#34
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charlie b wrote in news:429FE963.4C15
@accesscom.com: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b It started out as sawdust therapy. One place where I could not be reached by cell phone, because I could turn it off without guilt for safety reasons. And to have something, anything, tangible, to show for the planning, learning, struggle and fight that was my life at the time. I've at least temporarily cured the career induced problems. My wife & I are discussing telling the corporate world that it can do without us, that with our children raised and their educations paid for, and our parents at least fairly well settled into their later years, that it's time to do the artsy, studio-types of things we postponed 30+ years ago in order to have a home and responsibly raise a family. The business plan is taking shape, I'm getting sufficient confidence in a focused area of endeavor, and have put together some network of resources to show, market and install the types of things I can economically make in a semi-customised manner. And then I'll still do a few exploratory pieces, just for my own enjoyment. But it's nice to have recovered at least some of my former good nature. Patriarch, who owes most of it to sawdust... |
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In article ,
charlie b wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b When I hit 50, I took aim at winding down my workaholic lifestyle. Workshop and workers to the left, customers and the regulation (tax, safety, workman's comp, insurance, bankers, accountants, suppliers and weasels) to the right...and Rob in the middle. A continuous act of putting out fires, starting new ones and always running into-and setting deadlines. I hadn't turned on a piece of equipment on in a few years. That corporate treadmill already cost me two marriages and I was burnt out and freshly divorced. I had it up to here with the bull****. Sad part was... nobody to blame. I couldn't even take a vacation without my cell/satellite/internet connections. Even a 10,000 mile trip in 1999 to Australia wasn't far enough from the rat-race. But it was on the way back from the Great Ocean Road through the Otways rain-forest in a pub in the town of Forest, that I had a few pints with a few locals that it sank in. I actually caught myself relaxing... what the hell.. my plane wasn't leaving for another 2 weeks... When I came back to Canada, I set the wheels in motion to liquidate my assets to start all over. I had to cut clean. Sept 2003 I went out the laneway from the shop and retired.... well... semiretired. My new lady-friend at the time made the effort to show me around her province, The Cabot Trail, seafood, beer and people similar to those I met in Oz. Laid back. Many people come by it naturally. I had to acquire the skill of being laid back. Piddling around in my garage/workshop (then empty) allowed me to think. I LIKED working with my hands, using my head. I could whip up a solid surface countertop in my sleep... the money is good.. so I decided to fund the growth of a woodworking shop entirely from the proceeds of my solid surface sales. So far so good. 30 years of millwork experience on all levels has left me with enough experience not to do foolish things. I do continue to slap myself when I ohh-and-ahhhed at that General 24"(?) Heavy Duty Industrial planer with the serrated feedrollers that David Eisen at Federated Tools showed me a few days ago... Perspective and therapy.... and a project plan. What to build first? I'm working on a new cherry headboard, then what? Was thinking about Harley Davidson rocking horses..there are no plans I like, so I'm drawing away.. I could easily make a 100 of those and make some money *SLAP* |
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On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 22:23:47 -0700, charlie b
wrote: My woodworking goal is to be able to develop the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to design, build and finish furniture I can't afford to buy. (BTW - Tom Plamann's done it - so there's hope.) What're you shooting for? charlie b "All I wanna do is have some fun And I get the feeling I'm not the only one..." (apologies to Ms. Crow) I want to take all of the elements of the furniture that I have seen over the last many years and synthesize them into a few pieces that reflect the history of those items that I respect the most - and give these pieces away to the people that I love - in the hope that they will keep them and treasure them forever. I want to build the most perfect tall case clock, that has a traditional look and feel but is unique in its design to a degree that it can't be thought of as a copy - and I want the person I give it to keep it forever. I want to learn to carve as well and as sweetly as Mike Hide does. I want to build a modified version of the classic knee hole Goddard Townsend Desks, to be used as night tables in my bedroom. I want to develop the pleasant personality of Norm, the phlegmatic approach to the work of Dave Marks and the apparent insensitivity to pain of Roy Underhill. I want my son to get tall enough so that he can work at the tablesaw without fear that a kickback would take his head off. I want to make a cherry tall chest with a crotch figure for the doors - that I am still searching for. I hope that I don't die before I get to build my Herreshoff skiff. I've recently come to want to build a new version of my old carpenter's tote box, with nice wood and joinery, well above its station, to give to my son as a twelfth birthday present (he's eight - there is still time). I want to live long enough to see the wooddorking magazines back off of the 'how to do' stuff and allow a little room for the poetry of wooddorking. I want Tommy Plamman's new shop. I want to learn how to turn wood so thin that you can damned near read a newspaper through it. I want to sell my Leigh and be able to see well enough to sharpen my dovetail saws. I want Keeter and O'Deen to come back to the Wreck. I wish that I was twenty five again, so that I could do everything over that I have already done. As Momma used to say, "If wishes were horses - beggars would ride." Still, it's the wishing and the wanting that keeps us moving forward and, like our cartilaginous cousins, the sharks, if'n we stop moving forward - we sink to the bottom and die. Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
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In article , Tom Watson
wrote: Still, it's the wishing and the wanting that keeps us moving forward and, like our cartilaginous cousins, the sharks, if'n we stop moving forward - we sink to the bottom and die. Nice list, Tom. I just want to build a piece that doesn't have some stupid mistake that I pray nobody sees. ;-) djb -- ~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~ ------------------------------------------------------ One site: http://www.balderstone.ca The other site, with ww linkshttp://www.woodenwabbits.com |
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:14:44 -0600, Dave Balderstone
wrote: In article , Tom Watson wrote: Still, it's the wishing and the wanting that keeps us moving forward and, like our cartilaginous cousins, the sharks, if'n we stop moving forward - we sink to the bottom and die. Nice list, Tom. I just want to build a piece that doesn't have some stupid mistake that I pray nobody sees. ;-) djb Thanks for the kind words, Dave. As to the wish for perfection - I've adopted a modified version of the concept of The Persian Flaw. As it was related to me, Persian rug makers, although capable of creating a perfect rug, would include an intended flaw, so as not to give offence to The Only Perfect Being. I call my implementation a modified version because I know damned well that I have not and probably never will produce a flawless piece - yet I take succor from the humility expressed by those more capable. You may notice that I used the word, "probably" - I haven't quite given up yet. Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
#39
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In article , Tom Watson
wrote: As to the wish for perfection - I've adopted a modified version of the concept of The Persian Flaw. As it was related to me, Persian rug makers, although capable of creating a perfect rug, would include an intended flaw, so as not to give offence to The Only Perfect Being. I call my implementation a modified version because I know damned well that I have not and probably never will produce a flawless piece - yet I take succor from the humility expressed by those more capable. You may notice that I used the word, "probably" - I haven't quite given up yet. I did say "stupid" mistake. ;-) Some years back I had a copy of the "Monty Python Bok", actually, the "Paper Bok" 'cause it was in softcover. One of the pages in the "Bok" announced: "Find the Deliferate Mistale! Yes, somewhere on this page, there is a deliferate mistale!..." etc. The deliferate mistale. That's what I aspire to. -- ~ Stay Calm... Be Brave... Wait for the Signs ~ ------------------------------------------------------ One site: http://www.balderstone.ca The other site, with ww linkshttp://www.woodenwabbits.com |
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On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:44:48 -0600, Dave Balderstone
wrote: The deliferate mistale. That's what I aspire to. I think that all mistakes are stupid. I can't recall one mistake (in or out of wooddorking) that I couldn't have avoided. Regarding Those Pythons: I rented this day copies of The Holy Grail and The Life Of Brian to spring on my unsuspecting thirteen year old daughter. Some might call this an attempt at the transmittal of culture. I actually just wanted to give her a case of the Sillies. Tom Watson - WoodDorker tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (email) http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/ (website) |
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