next reception desk (finished)

[Crazyraceguy]

Physically, I haven't done most of this one. It's my helper/apprentice's first big job "on his own" which is kind of a generous view of it. This one was not exactly ideal for that first shot, but he has been with me for a while, time to give it a go. Order of operations is always important, even more with something like this.
I allowed him to talk it out and advised accordingly. He has done most of these tasks along with me, some multiple times, so now it was time put them together. He is working right next to me, so I can keep an eye out, while doing my own thing at the same time, helping where physical need for two people comes up.(for either of us, we build big/heavy stuff) I helped him wrap the curves with the laminate, it takes 2 people to handle that, but I let him lead, just being the assistant.
Overall, he is doing well, I just wish his neurotic overthinking would ease up some. When he does well, I do say so, but it doesn't seem to add up to confidence? He did get out over his skis a couple of times, and hopefully retains the fix technique I showed him. Repairs/work arounds are the next most important part, after order of operations.
So far, the big boss hasn't gotten on him about speed, but it's going to happen eventually. He did jokingly tell the kid that I did a good job on his project....that was hilarious and a great way to end a Friday.  [big grin]
It should be done before I go back on Tuesday, but I won't hold my breath. He knows what to do, we discussed it Friday, but I won't be there. It would be cool if it was done, but as long as it's close, we're good. It ships fully assembled, on screw type leveling feet, so no break-down at the end.

 

[Michael Kellough]

If I was a young guy tasked with filling your shoes I’d be pretty neurotic too  [blink]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

If I was a young guy tasked with filling your shoes I’d be pretty neurotic too  [blink]

Haha, nobody expects that.

 

[tsmi243]

If I was a young guy tasked with filling your shoes I’d be pretty neurotic too  [blink]

No kidding...  When I grow up, I wanna be like CRG  [big grin] 

I've trained a lot of apprentices (I'm the CRG in my line of work- I'm just a hobbyist in what you do).  I know exactly the stage your kid's at- you just have to let 'em break stuff.  There's no way to avoid it, and besides, the purpose of skill is to deal with risk.  Eliminate the risk, and skills are kinda pointless. 

Tell him I said "Don't panic"  [smile]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Thank you [member=51752]tsmi243[/member] that is very kind of you.
I am a firm believer in letting them get in their own way and hope they can figure it out, but there is a point where it becomes wasteful. It seems like that it "Oh $#!^, now what do I do?" moment sticks better than someone warning them about everything. You have to do that in the beginning, talk through, walk through, stand back and help when needed.
Order of operations, problem solving, practice, that's what it takes. Remembering how you did it last time helps a lot too.
Of all things though, the one that seemed to have the greatest impact on him was a very simple quote.
"You are not a dog", which always gets a funny look without the rest of the story.
You throw a stick for a dog to fetch and when you throw it across a puddle, the dog runs straight though the puddle.....don't be the dog.
It is intended to mean "look at it another way", "think outside the box", "go around" etc. The hard part is thinking of that other way. You have to run across a lot of problems/challenges and it takes years of solutions to get good at this.
I give a lot of credit to the Festool system. I do things quite differently than I did years ago and it has added to my speed.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

Perfect job as always, CRG. Every large-scale heritage job I do alongside other guys is notable by the grey or white hair of the guys doing it. Everyone’s my age, all in our 60’s and 70’s. These guys are lime plasterers, leadworkers, stonemasons - all masters of their craft. I can’t ever remember seeing anyone under 50. Unless these skills get passed on, they’ll eventually disappear.

So around 20 years ago, I started looking for a young lad who I could train up, and pass my experience onto. My hope that was to eventually set him up with a little van and a toolkit, and send him out to do the small jobs which I’d rather not do these days. There’s an honest living to be made out of this - especially when you’re the only guy within a 50-mile radius who can carry out a particular task because the colleges are totally focused on new-build work. And understandably so.

I’ve been through 26 of them, and I’ve yet to find someone who has the slightest trace of a work ethic. Latterly, they all seem to think they can become rich Instagram ‘influencers’. The one notable exception was a 22-year-old from Lithuania who was everything I’d hoped for. Interested, enthusiastic, diligent, quick to learn, and proactive. I sadly lost him when he moved back to Eastern Europe with his folks - part of the lunacy which was Brexit.

I sadly gave up.

 

[smorgasbord]

Latterly, they all seem to think they can become rich Instagram ‘influencers’.

Yeah, when you look at channels like this:

I can see why people who know very little, yet get a good enough following to almost quit their day job are what everyone wants to be these days. "If that shmoe can get 180k subscribers, I can, too"

The ironic thing about this video is that his "mistake" was using T-Tracks, but he ends up making a few more mistakes building yet another a basic workbench, from making the top too thick for the clamps he wants to use to using a poor alignment jig to drill the holes, etc.. And yet here he is, a video with workaround fix after workaround showing people how to make a workbench? His earlier videos are filled with bad choices, too.

Maybe people like watching people make bad choices in builds and tools so they know what not to do themselves or to make them feel better about their own mistakes? But, how do they know unless/until he comes back and admits them?

 

[squall_line]

Maybe people like watching people make bad choices in builds and tools so they know what not to do themselves or to make them feel better about their own mistakes? But, how do they know unless/until he comes back and admits them?

It can sometimes be more helpful to a beginner to show how to fix whatever mistake they made because it will show up on a search result. Avoiding mistakes is the next step, obviously.

That said, "the algorithm" benefits click-baity titles, videos, etc.

See also: "I made a $16,000 mistake" videos from Blacktail and Foureyes.  They weren't actually $16,000 mistakes, and the pieces that they're showing off were never actually sold to the commissioning clients but end up getting sold anyway, so the video is a) free advertising for the "ruined" table, b) advertising for their online classes, and c) an income-grabber from the views and clicks.

Some of the content creators on Youtube who have woodworking channels will openly admit to being content creators first and woodworkers second.  Some of them are self-deluded into thinking that they're woodworkers, and some intentionally misrepresent themselves as woodworkers even though they spend more than 75% of their time shooting and editing video, and less than 25% actually working wood.

Almost all of the "successful" ones have side-hustles on top of their channel to supplement the income: Patreon pages, subscription websites/forums, online classes, etc.  At that point, you're a content creator.

Note: I would put Norm Abrams into the "content creator" category as well, even though he had a production crew.  If you're making the plurality of your money from putting your face or voice on a video, you're a content creator.  That doesn't mean you're not also a woodworker or that you don't have woodworking skills, but that's no longer your primary source of income, and it influences what you do with regards to prioritizing your time, energy, and even workflow.  I can't imagine that Kevin or CRG would get nearly as much work done if they were more concerned with where to hang a video camera than making sawdust.  The fact that the phones in our pockets make it trivial to quickly document progress with still images benefits this group and others without needlessly getting in the way of the job itself.

I could go on an even longer rant about this, but, alas, I'm not a content creator, and nobody would subscribe to my podcast if all I did was rant anyway.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

I can't imagine that Kevin or CRG would get nearly as much work done if they were more concerned with where to hang a video camera than making sawdust. 

Dead right, SL. I even thought about trying it out once. But then the phone rings with the next job coming in. Keeping customers happy and focusing on doing a good job is way more important to me than making a few bucks on the side whilst getting my 15 minutes of fame. Hard pass from me.

 

[kitfit1]

I can't imagine that Kevin or CRG would get nearly as much work done if they were more concerned with where to hang a video camera than making sawdust. 

Dead right, SL. I even thought about trying it out once. But then the phone rings with the next job coming in. Keeping customers happy and focusing on doing a good job is way more important to me than making a few bucks on the side whilst getting my 15 minutes of fame. Hard pass from me.

Maybe something to consider when you retire Kev  [smile]

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Funny you should say that [member=75217]squall_line[/member] My ex wife (married at the time) and a friend of mine, tried to get me to do a video series on custom motorcycle building (frame fabrication, engine building, the whole bit) way back before any kind of social media ever existed.(1995ish) It would have all been VHS/DVD sales based back then, but I didn't want anything to do with it. After watching Norm for all of those years, knowing that he did at least one complete prototype and who knows how many sub-assemblies and set-ups, my thought was that it was a waste of time. Doing the same thing over and over, for a video, plus the capitol to have that excess? Nope, besides I'm extremely camera shy. I would have to do "This Old Tony" style or not at all.
That is where I picked up the multiple routers thing though. As the shows progressed and the shop grew, he was big on 2nd or 3rd machines to cut down on set-ups/bit changes

Most of the channels I watch, do occasionally mention how much time is consumed by camera movement and editing, also no. I'm just trying to get the job done and move on.
Honestly, Youtube has changed so much in the last few years, that I'm getting frustrated with it. The earnings potential has probably brought better/more professional content, but the algorithm games are tiring. It didn't used to be like that. There were times when I could go hours without a single ad. Now they are everywhere, even between videos, where a creator isn't getting paid. Then you have all of the "ad-reads" within the content itself. It used to be a place of expression for extroverts, turned into a small side-hustle for people who had a day job. Then became the be-all end-all aspirational goal for self-employment. I'm sure the pandemic drove some of that, but it was leaning that way anyway.
A lot of the channels I used to like have gone off the rails, because of the money. It changed them and what they do. Some get so big with Patreon and other additional revenue, that they give up on Youtube altogether. I get it, Youtube's thumb is on everything, and their pockets are always wanting, but I miss the old way.
That Spencer kid that [member=77266]smorgasbord[/member] mentioned is one of those changed ones. He started in an apartment complex one car garage with a single 15amp circuit (that he couldn't access the breaker for directly) and has gone up to the point of sponsorship from FUSA? (at least it looks that way) He was in the background of that horrible video they did at headquarters last year, along with several others. Now his little garage is stuffed full of Systainers, that he didn't have before. He went from begging for subscribers to be able to "take this thing full time" to a Saw Stop and a shop full of Festool equipment.

I just wouldn't want my life to be my business or vice versa. I may not make as much as I could as a business owner, but I prefer to just do the work. Since I have been out of the install game, I never have contact with customers or contractors. I don't have to go get the jobs, I don't have to tell someone when it will be ready, I just get them done.
The company president has tried to get me into the office as a project manager, foreman, or into the computing side of the job, for more than 10 years. He pushed even harder when I brought up retirement, thinking I was just physically tired of it, but that's just not the case. I don't want to have to work every day until I die. If I am going there every day, I'm doing the building/creating that I like doing. The physical demand is leaving home in the morning, not doing the work.

Teaching the kid is kind of a mixed thing for me. My loyalty to the company is the main reason I agreed to it and to stay in general. I have taught some specific techniques to others, in the past, only to have them leave. That made me feel like I gave it away. The point was to benefit the company, not the individual, to go somewhere else with it. It's not like I owe it to anyone. No one taught me. As I said before, I picked it up by working next to another guy and ran with it on my own. I have far exceeded that guy. Watching Norm, watching David Marks, reading every woodworking publication I could get my hands on, then later guys like [member=3513]PaulMarcel[/member] and Mark Spagnolo and others on Youtube helped me tremendously. That's especially true in the conversion to Festool. It is a different way of thinking.
Speed is kind of my thing, that and the ability to be interrupted to do something else, then go right back where I had been, with no loss of what I was doing.

 

[smorgasbord]

It can sometimes be more helpful to a beginner to show how to fix whatever mistake they made because it will show up on a search result. Avoiding mistakes is the next step, obviously.

Sure. My problem is that he's making more mistakes than he knows now. Kind of like Norm's first couple of seasons, but at least it was fun watching Norm advance from carpenter to woodworker.

See also: "I made a $16,000 mistake" videos from Blacktail and Foureyes.  They weren't actually $16,000 mistakes, and the pieces that they're showing off were never actually sold to the commissioning clients but end up getting sold anyway, so the video is a) free advertising for the "ruined" table, b) advertising for their online classes, and c) an income-grabber from the views and clicks.

Yes, but at least those guys pretty much know what they're doing. Foureyes' mistake could happen to anyone, and he did lose the commission, but that was good to see that mistakes happen, and besides Foureyes has a good aesthetic with his own designs that's always interesting to see. Spencer building a workbench with an after-thought dovetail slot routed in the edge instead of an actual vise is well, not something to recommend to budding woodworkers.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

He got it finished today and it looks great. He didn't escape without the boss "mentioning" the time though.
He started last Monday afternoon and finished today just before noon, so somewhere around 56 hours.
Apparently, the job was budgeted for 24. Someone has gotten too used to me  [big grin]
He was nice about it and the kid took it well. He got it done, without much from me (physically) and I can only hope that some more experience will bring some speed with it.
This one was a bit much for a first solo anyway, so I'm good with him being able to put a lot of the methods I have taught him together in one place.

 

[smorgasbord]

Next time get him to video you building that in 24 hours. Would be impressive!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Next time get him to video you building that in 24 hours. Would be impressive!

It could be done. Those guys aren't usually too far off in their estimates
This is the last of 8 nurse stations that I built two summers ago. Exactly 3 days to complete (24 hours)
and it has to come apart into 10 pieces.

 

[pixelated]

Looks nice, I am duly impressed, FWIW.

It would probably take me a lot longer than 56 hours, plus it wouldn’t fit in my workshop space.

 

[smorgasbord]

Next time get him to video you building that in 24 hours. Would be impressive!

It could be done. Those guys aren't usually too far off in their estimates
This is the last of 8 nurse stations that I built two summers ago. Exactly 3 days to complete (24 hours)
and it has to come apart into 10 pieces.

Sorry, I wasn't doubting at all, just that I'd find it impressive to watch a 24 hour build of this (edited down, of course).

 

[Alanbach]

[member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member] - Great job! I’m sure it sure it’s rewarding to see your apprentice fly (albeit slowly) (almost on his own)!

Question - I’m sure that you have said this before but how do you generally go about all of the big long kerf cuts you need for curves like these? Table saw? Track saw? Fancy programmable big Euro slider? Curious as to your preference?

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=66185]Alanbach[/member] it's kind of a combination, depending on what I need. For a straight column type curve, I use a even more over the top machine than you suggested. It's a fully computerized beam saw. It can cut those kerfs at any spacing and I can program it to start any distance I want from the end. That way I can have a panel that bends in the middle, but is flat on both sides.
The track saw and a jig to control it comes into play on the cone sections like that other desk.
There were 2 different radii in that, so the jig had an adjustable pivot point.
The beam saw is beautiful. It does rectangular panels, with perfectly square edges, but that's it. Don't ask it for angles, bevels, anything else. The awesome thing about those kerf cuts is that I can walk away and just let it go. Even more impressive, it does every other pass as a climb-cut. It goes so fast that when I have 20 kerfs or less, I don't walk away. It would be done before I got back to my bench.

Sorry, I wasn't doubting at all, just that I'd find it impressive to watch a 24 hour build of this (edited down, of course).

I wasn't offended or anything, it's just that this type of work is not common enough for anyone to have a clue as to what is involved or how long it takes.
Also, I was kind of "cheating" the numbers of that big nurse station. Like I said before, it was the last one, from a group of 8. They were all "effectively" the same, just slight variations in the lengths between the bends, so I could "batch cut" parts as I went. Of course, this adds a little bit of time to the previous project, but it is minimal.
When I set up the jig, for kerfing the cones, I did enough for 4 complete units. (2 at 90 degrees, 1 at 45 degrees for each unit) I used the same jig to cut a bevel on the end of the radius, with a tilt-base router. This made the parts fit much better, making it far easier to flush trim in the final assembly. (MFK700)
The CNC machine made the C shaped blanks and I kerfed them by hand. Same with the vinyl sheeting that it is covered with. The CNC made slightly over-sized pieces to fit. This kind of thing can dramatically speed up the process. It can be even faster now, since my helper could do that  [wink] while I am building the frame. Back then, I did it all myself.

 

[smorgasbord]

I wasn't offended or anything, it's just that this type of work is not common enough for anyone to have a clue as to what is involved or how long it takes.

That adds to what would make a video on how the pros do projects like this so fascinating. Especially with the advanced machinery available to you.

That things have gotten so specialized that shops go to a sub-contractor to make doors and a different sub-contractor for drawers, etc. is also interesting.