Home Accessories - handmade - built-ins etc.

[MountainDon]

 

Your clients are keeping you busy these days!

[Jens]

  


  Assembled glued and pegged:


Gives new meaning to your screen name

I love that lattice panel!  Greene and Greene architecture is one of my favorites, graceful curves, with a simplicity of line that belies its sensuous nature...or at least that is how I would write the article.  I need to find clients like you have.  I am always wanting to do stuff like this, but people either aren't interested, or I am just not finding the right people.

MDF seems to be pretty hard on router bits and saw blades too, gums em up a lot IME

[PEG688]

Thanks Jen's. A good client base is hard to develop thats for sure. This project is "real work" for the company I recently went to work for. They have a VERY impressive client base and I sort of fit a role that they really needed filled.

Not to brag but to pretty much just state the facts , guys with my talents , what I call "real carpenters" are few and far between.

I love this new job and as I sort of just do what I do they (the project managers and boss) just really can't believe what I turn out. The clients we have have deep pockets and want top notch stuff , I a blast being me at work!

No brag just fact sonny

Stick with it read FWW, FHB, find out how stuff is built , pay attention to the little details , like insuring the VG face of posts and spindle (balusters) are all the same way . Hide as many fasteners as you cab , buy and select your own stock , I never have this type material delivered , I go hand pick it . I match as close as possible for color and grain , and of course straight true stock.


I've not had that experience with MDF , I do clean my blade religiously with oven cleaner to stop build up , and I send them out to get sharpened often.

Good luck Jen's. And thanks for responding , so few do here , they look but they don't seem to post. Sometimes I wonder if it's just Mtn D , Glenn and I that look.   

         

[considerations]

Beautiful work PEG.  I lurk this thread often, just hard to comment in a useful way about something so far above my pay grade. 

[Jens]

Just before it gets to that point when I have let it go too far, it is Jens, no '    I am still trying to fine tune skills, but that will never end.  I got to do a bunch of historic work last year, and the superintendent was totally stoked to have me on the job, since I was "that guy" who could fix/replace whatever needed.  He had been the super on a couple of places at Williamsburg, VA, as well as on the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA, and the Witch House, in Beverly Hills, and so I was very pleased with his attitude toward my work.  Had I stayed in New Hampshire, he had told me that I would be his new go-to finish guy.  There was some crown molding that the laborers had canned, and he was going to have me just fit some clear crown in that didn't match at all, when I told him "why don't I just make some?"  Ground my own plane irons, roughed it on the table saw, finished it with the custom hand planes in a special jig.  It was the first time I had made a tool of this sort, I was stoked, he was stoked.  Awesome feeling when it all comes together like that.  Here is a picture of the crown.


And one of the sun porch that had to be rebuilt based on two fuzzy photos, a description from two people with conflicting memories, and horribly thought out architectural drawings (which I had to convince the architect and super were wrong)

When the framers put the windows in, they didn't align the heads of them, some were out 1/2" between windows.  Then they foamed all of the windows, but didn't have them setting in enough for the extension jambs to be even reveal on the inside finish!  tapered furring strips for days!  What you can't see in this photo, unfortunately, is how many reveals there are in the trim detail.  He didn't mean to just let me run with it, but every time I pushed it a bit further, he came out and saw, and didn't stop me!  Sometimes that can get me in trouble, other times it can work out.

Thank you for the encouragement Pops...I mean Paul .  I am confident that once I can build a client base, I'll get to do more neat stuff with carpentry.  One place I have been able to do some neat stuff is with tile.  I love it when a client shows me a photo, and says, "can you do something kinda like this?"  This was one of those.

after grout

Thanks for bearing with me too, I can be very long winded at times, blunt at others.  A bit of a 70 year old in a 29 year old body I guess

[Jens]

I know I just posted, but I was just looking back through this thread, (which I have done many times) and just wanted to tell everybody that I think your stuff is great.  I'm not just saying that either!  I really do.  I love "rustic" just as much as "refined", and think that many rustic things are refined, and vise-versa.  Saw a few turnings too, and remembered about my little cottage industry for a summer.  The summer Harry Potter 5 came out, my kids were stoked on the stories (ok, we love them too), and I started carving wands for them.  Then I picked up a lathe, and started turning magic wands out of exotics.  I sold them on ebay, for anything between $15, and $42 a piece!  Not bad for an hour in the garage, just killing time.  Had a woman send a drawing (not scaled) of one she wanted, and turned this one custom for her out of cocobolo.  $35, I was stoked!

[glenn kangiser]

Great stuff, Pop and son.

[harry51]

I hope the customer for the garden lattice appreciates the mortise and tenon joinery they're getting. One of those elements of quality design and construction that unfortunately sometimes goes unnoticed by a lot of folks.

[Jens]

I hope the customer for the garden lattice appreciates the mortise and tenon joinery they're getting. One of those elements of quality design and construction that unfortunately sometimes goes unnoticed by a lot of folks.

not only unnoticed, but also faked quite often.  It makes everything so much stronger too.  I think people take it for granted, that because things have been built on such a wham-bam, production line crappy fashion for so long, that there aren't alternatives, and never will be.  It's time for a quality revolution, my fellow Americans.

[MountainDon]

It's time for a quality revolution, my fellow Americans.

Quality like PEG produces, takes skill, among other things like patience and a superb eye for detail. It also requires money to pay for the skill. Not every worker has the skill. Not every homeowner has the money to pay for that upper level of skill.

....The clients we have have deep pockets....

[Jens]

Well, perhaps I don't produce stuff that is of the same quality as Paul (don't read this wrong, I am not taking offense), but in our throwaway world, where more is better, there is seldom room for craftsmanship.  I named my company in New Hampshire, All in 1 Craftsman, LLC, because I wanted to express what was important to me.  With everybody scared about the economy, and spending their money more carefully (as it is their money now, not credit), I think that it is even more important for people to take pride and care in the things they do.  And I don't think that this mindset should be reserved for those with deep pockets, but utilized within the framework of any budget, indeed it is the duty of the one providing the service to undertake it with the utmost care and civility, as if we are providing the service for ourselves.  The things we build should not be short lived or appreciated, but enjoyed precisely because of the care and honesty put into their production.  Martin Luther King JR said, "Even if you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep those streets as Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, or as Da Vinci sculpted, that when you die they shall walk the streets and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper!'".  Unfortunately, in order to do things in this way, one must look past the bottom line, to something much higher indeed.
       I will step off my box now, and I apologize for the thread drift, but this I believe.  I believe that everybody wants to do a good job, but they let the "job" get in the way of the "work".

Merry Christmas everybody.

[MountainDon]

I agree that any workman (workperson) should take care and pride in what they are doing, or find another line of work.

However, not everyone can afford a hand made TV cabinet like the one in reply#381.
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=1355.msg75246#msg75246

For many, unless they can make it themselves, they will have to"make do" with a store bought item. Some of those are real junky for sure, but if you only have $100, just to pick a low ball number, then you have to shop at a big box store.

[PEG688]

Well, perhaps I don't produce stuff that is of the same quality as Paul (don't read this wrong, I am not taking offense), but in our throwaway world, where more is better, there is seldom room for craftsmanship.  I named my company in New Hampshire, All in 1 Craftsman, LLC, because I wanted to express what was important to me.  With everybody scared about the economy, and spending their money more carefully (as it is their money now, not credit), I think that it is even more important for people to take pride and care in the things they do.  And I don't think that this mindset should be reserved for those with deep pockets, but utilized within the framework of any budget, indeed it is the duty of the one providing the service to undertake it with the utmost care and civility, as if we are providing the service for ourselves.  The things we build should not be short lived or appreciated, but enjoyed precisely because of the care and honesty put into their production.  Martin Luther King JR said, "Even if you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep those streets as Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, or as Da Vinci sculpted, that when you die they shall walk the streets and say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper!'".  Unfortunately, in order to do things in this way, one must look past the bottom line, to something much higher indeed.
       I will step off my box now, and I apologize for the thread drift, but this I believe.  I believe that everybody wants to do a good job, but they let the "job" get in the way of the "work".

Merry Christmas everybody.

Yup I agree Jens , note no (')  I struggle with that balance pretty much every day , cost over quality , how much I charge for a product . When they repeatly tell you "cost is a factor" I REALLY struggle knowing that a few more dollars brings a way better product and also the risk the job will go else where to a lower bidder.

It's nice to revel in the jobs that allow if not unfettered restraint a degree of do your best work with the best stuff.


Considerations and  other lurkers a smiley every once in awhile is nice , to show your looking and like what your seeing. It fills a "need" in the trouble of posting , and it strokes my ego , I guess 

Thanks for looking and post where applicable 



     

[Sassy]

Jens, you do some really wonderful work too - don't often see that quality of work done by someone your age  - nice to see it 

And of course, PEG, 

[glenn kangiser]

I envy your patience to do the professional work with all of the tedious detail, PEG and Jens.

I can't help just grabbing the screw gun calling it rustic so I don't have a lot of time tied up in it, but then I am not working for someone with high expectations of top quality art.

I just have to satisfy a wife who needs cabinets and storage to be able to function properly....

[Jens]

Thank you for the compliments, I would like to say that I was not trying to fish for them, and was really saying "perhaps I don't do the same quality work as Paul", because quite honestly, from one craftsman to another, your stuff is awesome Paul!  BTW, FHB, FWW, and Shop Notes are 3 of my favorite magazines, and have been for years.  I do wonder sometimes, if there would be different sentiment toward me if people didn't know how old/young I am.  In fact I have wondered that ever since I was building hot rods at 17, and starting a family at 19.  That may just be something I need to get over though, but people seem to treat you differently when you are young an ambitious.  The things that I share on here are just that, things to share, that perhaps someone can learn or gain inspiration from them. 

I am not trying to simply argue with you Don, but as one of the more poor members of society (officially considered "ultra-low income" by city of Knoxville), I do know what it is like to only have $100 to buy a TV cabinet with.  I also know, that in this world of consumerism, there is always second hand stuff to be had for cheap or free, that may be fine as is, or with sprucing up could be much better than the $100 Big Box store particle board.  One other thing I know, is that if there is an "extra" $100 to spend on that POS this month, the same people can generally spend an additional $100 the next 2 or three months after that saving up for something of higher quality.  But that isn't what we are about in America anymore.  Now we spend as little as possible, for something fake, that will "get us by" until we "can afford better".  The problem is that once we can "afford better", we have generally decided that the quality of the first item is sufficient, and so we just afford bigger but the same quality.  That is the biggest reason I was drawn to this site three years ago.  People here are generally more concerned with the quality of their lives, homes, and workmanship, than they are with the quantity. 
     Maybe I feel like I am 70 years old sometimes, because I was raised in a family that was poor enough that we had to build the things we wanted.  My mother was the only one to make enough to have "extra" money, but she saved and lent that so that other people could realize some of the things that they couldn't afford.  The "revolution" of which I speak does not simply mean that the craftsman should value their craftsmanship, but that the people hiring them must be content with less.  Less, but better.  Give me any example of things that you "need" to buy on a limited budget that dictates low quality, made-in-another-country-by-children, off-gassing, low wage inspiring, crack head hiring, destitute exploiting "stuff" (all it really is, stuff), and I will give you just as many examples of how you can get by without it, or make do with what you have, or even get rid of the thing needing a cabinet and being just as happy. 
     Maybe I am just too different.  My family (wife and four kids), live in an 800 square foot house, in the ghetto.  We moved into the ghetto to try to help people realize that they are free.  That they don't have to have everything society says they have to have.  That they can be humble and live well at the same time.  That happiness depends not upon who you are, or what you have, but solely upon what you think.  That you can grow your own food without being a farmer or a hippie, and you can have a TV with no cable and be ok.  That you don't have to buy enough Christmas presents to require a second mortgage.  We make, or find the things that we need most of the time, sometimes we buy, but if we can't afford things of high quality we do without.  We eat mostly organic and local (when in season) food, cooked from scratch in our house, because we feel it is better not to accept the "extras" society, the FDA, and monsanto say we need.  Extras such as pesticides, preservatives, dyes, artificial sweeteners, and the like.  We prefer to experience life the way God intends for us to experience it, with all the struggles and triumphs, because without one you can't appreciate the other.  Not to mask it with a temporary feeling of gratification that comes with buying just to have, because we have been down that road too. 

I have much more that is on my mind, but I just looked at how long this is already.  Glen, if you would like to move this to a new thread, maybe in the political rant section, feel free to do so.  Again, it is too much thread drift, but kinda what this thread is all about.  When I said earlier that I love seeing everybody's work here, it is for all of these reasons.  It is because whether it is rustic or refined, folks have found the joy in owning something that you can't find in a store, or anybody else's house.  It is because it is the way things used to be, before we as people decided that government and ad exects knew better what we needed or wanted than we do ourselves!  It is because in this thread, and in this forum, we can all connect on a level of DIY, without Ty.  We don't need Bob Villa telling us how to swing a hammer, when Norm can actually SHOW us how. 

Darnit!  Sorry, I did it again!

[Sassy]

Jens, don't apologize!  It's refreshing to read & see what you are doing, how you are doing it - so much wisdom there that many people will never obtain in a lifetime - carry on 

[glenn kangiser]

Carry on, Jens -- interested ones will read - others will skim over it.... no one will be hurt and some could be helped.....although you know I would never rant or stray from a subject....

[glenn kangiser]

You know, Jens, when it comes to plastic and cardboard furniture produced by factories for "Furniture" stores that we have to pretend is cool and pay a fortune for... or a simple solid pine, bug eaten, blue stained, varnished half rotten wood with a ton of character  in "Early American Settler Style with Screws", I'll take the latter every time.

[PEG688]

 Crap I just spent ten minutes writting a thread drift / rant . But the forum went wonky and it's lost.

Basically it said thread drift is good , good thought Jens , carry on . It was just longer so it's all good.

Carry on! 

[glenn kangiser]

Arrrrr -- it's driving me nuts....


I had the same problem, PEG, but I copied and saved it so I could paste it back in emergency.   Sometimes the back button will get you back to your posting but you likely know that...

Love that Clinton Quote, PEG...

[Jens]

You know, Jens, when it comes to plastic and cardboard furniture produced by factories for "Furniture" stores that we have to pretend is cool and pay a fortune for... or a simple solid pine, bug eaten, blue stained, varnished half rotten wood with a ton of character  in "Early American Settler Style with Screws", I'll take the latter every time.

And that is what I am talking about.  Even things made out of "scrap"  can be well thought out, and constructed with pride.  It's that pioneer spirit! 

I have edited this post, to shorten it, as it was just too long and wrongly placed.  I sometimes get spiritual stimulation in one place, and it can cause me to rant and rave spiritually in other places, because all things come back to the spiritual side of my life.  This isn't the place (correct forum or thread) to blurt out diatribes about religion however.  Let the furniture continue.  I may repost the deleted segment elsewhere on the site.

[Jens]

We needed more storage in our meager little kitchen, but we are broke.  I had some 1x16 leftover from taking apart the old cabinets, and shutters that used to be on the windows, so I put the two things together, and built this pantry cabinet.  The best part about it is, I didn't spend a cent on it!  Used old hinges that were knocking about, pieces of 1x for latches.

[MountainDon]

Jens, those are so dark I couldn't see a darn thing... so...

[glenn kangiser]

That's the way to do it Jens.  Recycle - save money.  Looks great and in my price range.