Chaos Coasters

[Crazyraceguy]

I stopped in to work today (I've been on vacation all week) to fiddle with some personal projects.
One of the bosses asked me if he could have one of the off-cuts I had laying around. I said sure, what are you going to do with it? He said coasters? in a questioning way.
I said, I'm just fiddling around, I can work that in. Shape? Round, square, something silly? "Round with a sunken center?" ....done deal.

I re-sawed the piece, glued it back into a small panel, and got 4 from it. Then I went over the top into raising the bottom, so they register on each other, in a stack. I made a little jig to hold them upside down, but forgot to take a pic of that phase.
At this point, they are only sealed with one coat of Tried & True. Tomorrow, I think I will hit them with some of that conversion varnish that we use for wood locker room benches. That stuff is nearly bombproof. Oil would never get it on an end grain coaster.

 

[Michael Kellough]

The interlocking feature is a nice mod and the round forms are a great way to display the crazy mixture of bits and pieces you created.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Awesome job, they look great!

What brand is the varnish you'll be using?

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Awesome job, they look great!

What brand is the varnish you'll be using?

I'm not 100% sure, I think it's an ML Campbell product. I don't do it anymore, since we have a dedicated finishing guy now. The delivery driver used to do both, but it's just not possible anymore, too much for one guy to do. Whenever I need a spray finish, primer, paint, lacquer, conversion varnish, I just send it back to him. He does a great job and I keep doing my own thing.
Back when the delivery guy was out driving, I had to do it myself.
When I did my daughter's kitchen, it was off hours, and I wanted to do it myself anyway.
When I do oil/wax, it's a hand application, usually small parts.
He sprayed them this afternoon, but I was already gone. I went in at 7 to do a repair on something I was asked about yesterday and left at noon.
I did get a shot of them stacked and the fixture I used to do the other side.

 

[Euclid]

They're sure gonna miss you...!

 

[rvieceli]

CRG those are very nice. Great job as always

Ron

 

[woodbutcherbower]

That company is going to be so, so screwed when you're gone, mate ........

 

[Crazyraceguy]

That company is going to be so, so screwed when you're gone, mate ........

Thank you, that means a lot coming from you.

They're sure gonna miss you...!

Thank you very much.

It actually weighs on me to more of a degree than I am comfortable with.
Today is exactly the last day of my 20th year at this company. I have seen it go through so much in that time, down to the fact that I was the last person (in the shop) when the layoffs happened. The downturn of '08 was rough. It was just me and the foreman, doing the little work that was left. That only lasted a couple of weeks, and they called back 6-8 guys at once, been going strong and growing ever since.
Tomorrow starts 21, at this point, staying until the first of the year, at least. The weather may have something to do with it.

I'm very much in two minds over it. I want to leave, intentionally, not working right up to the day I no longer can.....for whatever reason [unsure]
I know too many people that have suffered that fate. (Relatives and co-workers)

At the same time, I know I will miss it. I have worked with a few of these guys for all of that time.
With the CEO retiring, I'm 3rd in seniority, with literally hundreds coming and going in between.
Also, I would like to be able to do stuff like this at home.

CRG those are very nice. Great job as always

Ron

Thank Ron. I'm currently working on another chaos cutting board and it might just end up with one random round patch.....as a tribute  [big grin]

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] We’ve chatted on PM’s and we realised were the same person in a huge number of respects. You’re winding down and so am I - with the main manifestation of my slowdown being that I’m now very, very picky about what I do. Unless it’s something of interest I’ll decline to quote, and use the time to have some fun instead. There comes a point where we all have to adopt a mindset that we’ve worked our nuts off a whole lifetime, leaving a legacy of beautiful things which have enhanced the lives of others. The time comes when we realise that it’s time to enhance our own lives. I know at least three guys like us (different trades, but same mindset and skill level) who all worked way beyond the point they should have stopped to enjoy the fruits of their labours. They were all dead within three years of finally stopping.

That’s not going to happen to me. By this time next year - I’ll be done. The van will be sold and I’ll be out of the game.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

There is nothing I can add to that. 100% correct.

 

[mino]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] We’ve chatted on PM’s and we realised were the same person in a huge number of respects. You’re winding down and so am I - with the main manifestation of my slowdown being that I’m now very, very picky about what I do. Unless it’s something of interest I’ll decline to quote, and use the time to have some fun instead. There comes a point where we all have to adopt a mindset that we’ve worked our nuts off a whole lifetime, leaving a legacy of beautiful things which have enhanced the lives of others. The time comes when we realise that it’s time to enhance our own lives. I know at least three guys like us (different trades, but same mindset and skill level) who all worked way beyond the point they should have stopped to enjoy the fruits of their labours. They were all dead within three years of finally stopping.

That’s not going to happen to me. By this time next year - I’ll be done. The van will be sold and I’ll be out of the game.

I would agree to disagree here.

Usually the folk which work full steam till almost falling do so because work IS their life. It is "keeping them alive" psychologically. Once they are forced to abandon it, for whatever reason, they mentally feel useless and it affects their health as well. Even if many do no admit it.

So I see the implication the other way around.
The problem is not they working too long. The problem is they *have to* work such to "stay alive".

I am not in the trades, but in IT. But have seen this in folk in their 30s or 40s even. Their private lives just "do not work" so they afix on the work. Some even arrange their private lives in such a way to be adjuncts to their work/carreer/etc.

The worst part is - it works for them. For a time. The problem comes when their project/job/health causes them to be forced to stop, even for a while. Suddenly, these folk lose the "driver" that was carying them forward and get "lost".

ADD:
For such people to be able to work to an old age is a blessing - their life then had a meaning throughout. Their work.

Seeing this a couple times, I now never "castigate" a person for working "too long" into their 60s or 70s. Or "too many hours" when younger. Not unless knowing his/her private life good enough to understand they do have a private life to get back to.

Cheers to you both!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=61254]mino[/member] That is a very valid point, for a lot of people. The job they do is a lot of "who they are".

I have years worth of goals, things I want/need to build for my house, starting with the shop itself.
The next big one is the kitchen. I have built hundreds of kitchenettes, for commercial applications, a handful of residential kitchens for family/friends, but never for myself.
Then there is the bookcase/mantle and who knows what else.
There is also the learning CNC machine and expanding the Shaper Origin projects.
I really want to get back into cycling, like I did a few years ago, too.

I have already slowed down to 4 day work weeks, way down from the 6 or 6 1/2 that a few of us did back in the early 2000s. Those were in the days of 10 hour shifts too. It's really nice to make more in 32 hours than I did back then in 64-65. I can't even imagine do that now.

I do get a sense of accomplishment, from the things I build, but it is really just an internal thing. I never see the end user/client, rarely even see the finished install. There are a few exceptions, some local retailers and libraries, that kind of thing. At this point, the goal is really just speed and teaching my apprentice.
It definitely doesn't consume me, it's just getting past the "Change" aspect of it.  [huh]

 

[BigDan]

Crazyraceguy,

I have been reading/viewing your posts as long as I can remember and you have never come across as crazy  [big grin].  I always admired your work and lessons shared... even the funny ones.  The community here is better off because you were a part of it.

Change is Change.  You will find out soon enough what my dad told me many, many years ago is true. 

"Once you retire, you NEVER get a day off."

Seems anecdotally funny to hear it like that but it's true.  I have several folks in my neighborhood who have retired (in their mid 70's now) and all of them complain how much they have to do and cant seem to get it all done or even keep up...they usually say something like I miss my job... At least I got weekend off.... 

After retiring once (22 years Navy) I'm now about to retire AGAIN for good.  Never doubt the decision to retire.  When it's time to retire you know it in your gut.  But, like you said, it's change.  I hope you enjoy retirement and all the changes it brings.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=69213]BigDan[/member] Thank you very much. I won't be leaving here, just different projects, most shop build, at least to start.

As crazy as it sounds, the "crazy" name came from a Hooters waitress, back in the mid 90s.
I was doing some part-time work for a guy who rented sound equipment to local bands. When I tore down the set up at the end of the weekend, I would need to return it to him, but not at 3am  [eek]
So, I would do it the next morning. His house was just a couple of blocks from the Hooters.
I would go in there for lunch after dropping it off. I sat at the bar and watched NASCAR on tv.
She knew my name and always used it in conversation, but when I walked in the door every Sunday, to a usually still empty restaurant, she would squeal "Crazy race"!
There were others, she had names for all the regulars.

I have heard the "too busy" thing before, but I'm not particularly worried about that. I'm not married, live alone and learned how to say no, long ago.  [big grin]
If I learned nothing else from the ex, it was that.

 

[BigDan]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member]  I knew there was something to the name...  I heard Paul Harvey in the background of my mind while reading... "and now the rest of the story..."

Too funny.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Yeah, [member=69213]BigDan[/member] I was thinking the same thing. I even had a website by the same name, learned HTML to do it. (back when you could actually use it) and I've used it as an Email address for years.