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Thread: what pays thge bills... (well, mine anyhow)

  1. #21
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Amber, NY
    Posts
    556

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    Well on this thread with the last few posts there's too much to respond too. Heh! I will say one of the things i've been considering offering now that i have a machine that will cut full sheet. Standardized and custom case kits. Mainly for the DIY guy that just can't afford or doesn't have the space for all the larger tools he thinks he needs to cut the case goods. That way he can use his little chop saw and folding table saw to make the doors, drawers and face frames. Honestly, I got paid minimum wage to work for this one cabinet shop as an "apprentice" for a while years ago. In this shop the "panel saw" was a good circular saw and a straight edge with a couple clamps. It was actually my first experience with building anything out of sheet. Before that it was all mill work with solid hardwood and rustic out of cedar and pine. I learned a lot of interesting skills from the old guys. The one old delta table saw was reserved for dadoes and I wasn't allowed to touch it.

    As far as the big box stores, i've worked for both at one time or another. I know all about the headaches they run into. Another question i get now and then is if i can match their work. Followed by the story that they're a couple cabinets short. As far as furniture, yes i can be compete with their regular prices but not their "sale prices". We have Hardens Furniture up here that has over the top prices for what you get. I also have an unfinished corner curio cabinet in the shop from them someone wanted fixed. They got it at the "Seconds" store where they sell their broken unfinished furniture. I kind of opened their eyes about the quality when one of the parts broken was the main shelf. It was 5/8" thick with 3/8" glued dowel pins on three corners. No dadoes, just free to crack and break with too much load. The local refinisher wont even touch anything made from them after 1950.

    Regards
    Randy
    I don't always indulge in evil scientific research...but when i do. I make the parts on a ShopBot.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Norman, Ok
    Posts
    3,251

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    Thanks for posting Andrew,

    It's always good to see creative fellows carrying on. A one person shop work best when the skill levels are at their best. That's what we're seeing here.

    Keep up the good work, we're with you.

    Joe Crumley

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Timmins, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    1,825

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    Quote Originally Posted by joe View Post
    Thanks for posting Andrew,

    It's always good to see creative fellows carrying on. A one person shop work best when the skill levels are at their best. That's what we're seeing here.

    Keep up the good work, we're with you.

    Joe Crumley
    Joe, I really appreciate it.

    I have to say, I have one person in particular to thank for my very enjoyable life... my father, Joe Coholic. My whole life, I watched my dad (who came to Canada in the 1950s without a dollar in his pocket, and unable to speak any English) build a successful business and teach me how to be a hard working, dedicated and responsible person. My dad was trained in Europe as a mill wright, and then started his own woodworking business in the early 1970's right after I was born. His father was the village carpenter back in Croatia where he is from (at the time, Yugoslavia). I was lucky I was able to learn from him both mechanical and woodworking skills. My dad is 81, and still does a lot of woodworking. He is the reason I do what I do! Thanks, dad!

    AJC

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

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    I like to hear stories like that. Now you can pass that craft down to your children and grandchildren. I am a bit philosophic about woodworking and trees. I had a big oak tree in the way of expanding my shop and wouldn't dare cut it down for about 10 years till it started to die.

    Has anyone thought about any other god given resource that man uses for so many things in life and how not one twig from a tree should be wasted and can be used for something. It has hundreds of uses....what would we do without them? Thanks God!

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Timmins, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    1,825

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    Quote Originally Posted by myxpykalix View Post
    I like to hear stories like that. Now you can pass that craft down to your children and grandchildren. I am a bit philosophic about woodworking and trees. I had a big oak tree in the way of expanding my shop and wouldn't dare cut it down for about 10 years till it started to die.

    Has anyone thought about any other god given resource that man uses for so many things in life and how not one twig from a tree should be wasted and can be used for something. It has hundreds of uses....what would we do without them? Thanks God!
    Jack,
    My son just turned one two weeks ago. I can only hope that (as I did) he takes some interest in my work, and wants to grow up knowing how to make things, and work with his hands (as well as get a good education in school).

    I went to university for three years studying math & physics mainly, before deciding to follow my love for wood working. I did not return to complete my 4th year and therefore did not get my degree. I then went to woodworking college for a three year stint... learned a lot, then I went to work for the family business. As for my university degree, never looked back... and no regrets not having completed it.

    It is a very rare thing to completely love what you do to earn a living. I see that every day. But as much as I love what I do, and have the respect for my father, and his father - I would never push my son to follow. That is a decision he will have to make on his own, as my father allowed me to do.

    AJC

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Posts
    7,832

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    Well if he's only one, you have a while to nurture it in him. I have always thought that "if you teach a man a trade, the only tools he needs is his hands and his mind and he can earn a living anywhere"....

    I just made that up myself, wow i'm a fee-los-ofer! gooooleee

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