Bail me out!!

The main difference in the UAW and us homely carpenters is we don't whine loud enough. Hell, im not sure there is a cabinet makers union, not that im proposing anything so lovely.

So now you all own stock in GM. Maybe I can sell my stock and use it to put a down payment on a sweet plastic car seein' as they won't be making those anymore. Now, people are more likely to buy Ford because it seems they know more about money management than GM. Strange, cause they haven't made anything decent since the 93 Taurus wagon. I loved the very back hide-a-seat that faced backwards. Ya, I was there.

Yes, Ford is more popular than Chevy. Note to all those with the 'Calvin urinating on the Ford insignia' sticker. The poll says that 57% of Americans would buy Ford over GM or Chrysler. The folks are bent cause their hard earned pyramid money is going to the UAW now. Americans are attached to their money. I wonder how AIG is doing. Are you buying?? I will hate Ford till they put that shoebox back into production.

So my proposal is this: I get tired at work. I get up at 530 (am) on most days and get after it making as much sawdust as possible. Oh, and the stuff I make, people actually buy. That's right. I actually need customers to keep the doors open. We don't get subsidies from the government to send our cabinets to parking lots with acres and acres of other cabinets from other cabinet shops for people to see. To see.

Proposal: I get tired. Around lunch time I eat some food and go back to making my wooden boxes to go in another larger wooden box for the people to live up on the hill. The ones who actually subsidize that sweet parking lot full of nice, expensive cabinetry. Cars, not cabinets, cars. Then, around 7 (pm) if im not too tired from making boxes and sawdust, I go for a nice bicycle ride. My proposal is this: How about everyone pay me, to build what I want, when I want, how I want, for who I want. Let's bypass the middle man in Washington, and just pay me directly. We don't get enough benefits for me and my employees, so I will be sure to purchase some sort of benefits with all the money you send. We need a new building too. This one will be too small now that we have so much work to do. Oh, and a few new tools. I really like the Altendorf sliders, and a new edgebander. I will hire alot of unemployed folks who need work so send lots of money. I am also considering land in North Las Vegas next to the freeway for a cabinet lot. Send checks Payable to Deep Creek Designs in Springville, Utah 84663 USA.

Im glad we are all on the same page now that you all agree with me. It sure makes sense. Now, with so many unemployed folks working at Deep Creek, I will have more time and money so I can ride my bike (maybe a new one...) and I won't be tired anymore. I will sleep in a little, and go home earlier. Thanks. I really appreciate it. I will be sure to post pictures of all the projects we do. Maybe I will get another car...

How big is your mantle?

Wow, that's a big piece of wood! My brother who has worked in a shop for almost as long as me, was even fooled.

Leslie wanted something big, thick and chunky. Again. But to find a piece of quartered African Mahogany this big would have been nothing short of a trip to the Ivory Coast. And, with a piece that big, the ends would have checked (cracks in the end grain) after a few. There were several designs thrown out, just nothing that would fit the home, or look good enough for this house.

This right here is why I would rather work for these folks than try to compete with a production shop. But, you gotta be willing to do what the guy next door is not willing to do.

For example, Jon from Sabrosa. Started several years back crafting cycling frames out of his garage out of steel. With his bare hands. Brilliant artist. This guy grabs a file for hours on end and won't stop till it's perfect. My fingers hurt just thinking of it. The cycles he puts out are incredible. Unless your looking for a sweet industry name attached to tubes of some new fangled material, or the next sweetest thing, you won't find attention to detail like this. What does Sabrosa even mean. seriously.

Tad at Dutchman is another fine example. He has the market cornered on rustic cabinetry. I have seen this guy spend days looking for the perfect juniper trees to make a piece, and until a few years ago that I know, his was the only shop to have homes from Utah with his cabinetry featured in Architectural Digest. But no one in the Utah County scene even knows who Tad is.

I told my pops when I went into business with him that I wanted nothing to do with production. I would rather do something different than compete with junk. I'm not one to deal with the people who are more concerned about how much their cabinets cost than what they actually look like. Utah county is notorious for this; folks who will spend more time working out the price, and not give a thought to having wasted so much time maybe doing something else more productive. Like coming up with ways to make it look super neato.

When money is not an option, that's when it gets fun. If money is just burning a hole and you appreciate custom, the possibilities are endless. You know, like spending a couple of days making a few little pieces look like one big piece.

Well, do you?

Growing up I could never understand why people would complain so much about their jobs. I never understood how people could be so bent at having to do what they just had to do. Being so "naive" I would think, well just find another job that you like. So simple. Why wouldn't you just go do something fun, something better. No brainer. Now that I am older and sooooo much smarter, I see why.

I came to this exact crossroads when my friend in English writing class told me that he was about to partake of the dusty Utah powder snowboarding at the Canyons ski resort in PC. I was out; I still had another class, homework, work and who knows what else. So I stayed and watched the flakes fall.

I couldn't take it. So I quit school, and never looked back. Ya, I heard it all, exactly what you're thinking. Alot.

That brings me to now, or last week. Every now and then, I have a week or a day that makes me rethink. The day I don't enjoy this any more, I'm done. Just find another job that I might like. Or move to a different state. Or move to a different country. Or sell my truck and get a bus pass. Or sell my bike and get dish network. Or get rid of my dogs and get a cat. Ya, I thought I might last week.

It was a little on the rough side. There were a few nights that turned into day, and a few days where I just wanted to pour clorox in my eyes and step in front of a bus. I thought right back to Marlin's advice: Don't get into woodworking, you won't make any money. And that is exactly why I'm here, is the money. I will be so rich someday. Wheelbarrows full.

It's fun again this week. I am convinced I do what I like. We got Leslie's cabinets done, the Peruvian turned out. The satisfaction is worth it. But I still keep the bottle of clorox close for justin.

I'm thinking.... Thick and Chunky

Chunky is the way Leslie describes when she wants something beyond normal. Jon calls it gorgeous. We are talking wood of course, not peanut butter, or other. These are 2 doors (of the exotic Peruvian Walnut, I think I have the swine flu from breathing this stuff) headed for none other than Leslie's own house. She doesn't mess around when it comes time to beefin up the stiles and rails on doors, tops, posts, or anything for that matter. These are the biggest I have ever done: 5" on top and bottom, 3 1/2" on the sides. Ya, the standard from the nineties is 2 1/4 made from oak. It looks so nice together.

So if you are in the market for some timeless furniture or something thick and chunky, call Leslie. This is definitely gonna be a thick and chunky desk.

The Hard Way

You know those folks that do something the hard way just because its hard, or the hip thing to do? Ya, the guy who carves a cabinet out of one chunk of wood with fully functional hinges and drawer guides. Cause, I certainly don't have anything better to do and everyone wants one of those. And the ones who just don't know better, and do it the hard way. Im not sure which is worse.

According to some hosers that sell lumber, this wood is exotic. Not quite. Peruvian Walnut, as opposed to Fijian Walnut, or Thai Walnut. The difference from the two suppliers in the valley (Sierra and Mcbeath) was a hip hopping 3 dollars a board foot. Who's ever heard Peru to be exotic anyway?

Having never huffed the "exotic dust" of Peru, we decided to give this wood a go. We sold Leslie on it and have been looking back the whole time (should have gone Thai).

This photo is of an in house veneer we laid up on Thursday. We needed a panel with no movement. Wood is no different than any substrate, being exposed to certain elements, it grows and shrinks, and needs allowance. The movement is across the grain and a large panel like this one would move too much. The idea with a thin layer, such as a veneer, is it won't move.

We called around to our trusty suppliers. Nada. So we made our own. Usually in the past, contact cement (no different than shoe goo) has been the preferred method. But fearing the seams would curl, we called Tad from Dutchman and he recomended Titebond III. Good stuff.

After days of splitting and sanding wood into the thin veneer, and some evenly applied pressure for a while, it came out looking like a 90 dollar sheet of veneer. Better than expected. That was alot of work. I may have made 6 bucks an hour. Mmmm, thai walnuts.

A Hollywood Tan, Fake Bake

After a few days of baking, we popped the vanity and parts out of the oven. Mmmm, crispy. The piece laying on top is virgin white oak, not yet exposed to the ammonia. The white fletching you can see on the lighter piece turns darker than the other grains during the fuming. It was interesting to note how the ammonia penetrated thru the layers of wood, drawn in more on the end grains than the flats or edges.

I stopped in to meet Ed Creer of Creer Sheet Metal at his home, where I saw the most fascinating antique hutch built of white oak that has been in the family for a while. I'm gonna steal it one day unless they give it to me. I was so impressed by the piece. Maybe someday that sweet end table in your moms house will be an impressive antique... Stranger things have happened.

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