beatiful work here

the pictures of the awning are of last week. I installed the awning, Gagan made the parts from shop drawings that I made. WE used okoume marine grade plywood for the brackets, which are mortised together and then bolted to the walls. You can see a notch in the bracket where the ceiling panel(also made at that shop) slides into the bracket greatly reducing the amount of install time. The roof was framed up of 2x4 fir, built in place.

The next photo is of our most recently completed kitchen. I took a photo of this same cabinet sometime ago. title "my favorite cabinet". I still feel that way, there is something special about this cabinet that makes me really like it. Not to mention how the whole kitchen came out. on arched top doors like this we cannot use concealed hinges because of the pivot point of concealed hinges. the door binds at the arch because the door pivots inside the face frame. So we are forced to use barrel hinges, I like the added look of elegance. not to mention the quality, they out perform the concealed hinges. concealed hinges have some advantages that need to be mentioned, they self close, and also have soft close mechanics. barrel hinges like these require a magnet to hold them in closed.

 

 
 
 
 

getting radical

I have some great new ideas on setting up the interior of my van. When I get back from vacation I will be doing the next Kaizen event on that topic. It should take about 2 days. Yesterday I installed a small door awning. I had to do it alone because the staff is busy with their own projects. Gagan asked me if it was faster to do it with two people. It always is faster with two people, but we have to remain spread out now covering more work. The other thing that is balanced is how professional we have to look in the eye's of the customer. This job was directly for a homeowner who has no concern for how we install this awning. Had this been for a high end GC we would have gone out with two people, just look more competent and assure the GC that we don't need extra management. The other thing Gagan is that we have to allow ourselves to get radical. Especially in economical times like these, in any time if a single business wishes to separate itself from the others than it has to allow itself to get radical.

hand-made

Life at the shop has under gone some changes lately. There has been a little shake-out, and reorganization. We are currently at half capacity in terms of work load. I have mixed emotions about it, a positive is that we have more time now to work on assets and infrastructure. both of which have suffered recently because we have so busy we haven't been able to look at either of those. As far as our assets go I want to aggressively maintain and repair any assets to extend their lives. With infrastructure I want to improve work flow, by looking more closely at how we do what we do. Starting out with the paper flow(information flow), raw material flow, finish product flow, and personal flow(this refers to in the shop) Outside of the shop installation that is is a different thing totally. Although outside the shop cannot be forgotten. How the trucks are maintained is very important as well, And I will be spending time with the van, I am actually thinking of revamping the inside of the van totally. New shelving, smaller more effective shelving, it also involves some new portable tool boxes that I need to make. Hand made tool boxes are really the way to go, they will be more effective at holding what you need, and they will last much longer.

wicked killah stair parts

 

life of an artist

I have been looking at my almost finished grape trellis in my back yard. I have been building this for the past several months when I get a chance usually on Sundays. It is a whimsical piece. As I look at it I see all the mistakes I made, that is the trouble with being the creative type, our creativity is our best friend and also our worst enemy. It is a free form piece and the lumber I am using is very limited in size and quantity, I have had the lumber for years that I bought for a song, so the material is very limiting. It makes me think about how can I be creative for other people if I am not creative for myself. What I see is how the second step I took in making this trellis was very wrong and I regret it. That makes me think about how any great painter will say that the first stroke they make in a painting is wrong. I have said this before about installing cabinets that usually when I make a mistake in an installation it is with the first or second move. I have had people in my industry in other shops say that mistakes are for amateurs, and that really affects me because I make so many mistakes, is that to say that I will never be any but an amateur. I don't know.....well for now I believe that if you aren't making mistakes than you aren't pushing yourself forward. If you aren't willing to make mistakes than you will stifle your growth. I prefer to find creative ways to recover from making mistakes. In the mistake with my trellis I can't go fix this mistake I have to live it, look at it everyday. being a builder is in some ways a dismal life because we are constantly reminded of our mistakes. Look at the builder of the leaning tower of Pizzas, until his death he faced his errors everyday he looked at his achievements.

electrical penetrations

This picture below shows how I cut in a single gang box. This cut out is designed to accept what we call an old work box. I like the metal boxes the best, they have little flanges that go one the ends and it slides from the front into this opening and then the flanges are screwed to the surface. I have made so many of these cuts that I don't have to measure the box anymore I can draw it directly on the mill work. Then I drill with a 3/8" bit at the corners and in the center where the receptacle screw goes. After that it is just a couple of cuts with the jig saw. I usually ride the jig saw on a protective surface so it doesn't mark the mill work.