Anyone remember George Montgomery? Actor- use to be married to Dinah Shore.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Montgomery_%28actor%29
Anyway, he also ran a successful 20 man woodworking/cabinet shop along with designing houses in between acting gigs.
I had some similarities while I was still doing work professionally –Advertising, corporate and product photography with a separate business of one-off custom studio furniture and cabinet work. I’m out of it all now except for a few pieces for me/family but…
How many of you out there have traveled the same path – duel jobs?
Even if you didn’t do woodworking professionally and it’s just a hobby, what’s your day job. (retired like me doesn’t count)
Dusty – full time woodworking doesn’t count unless you have another job like…..fishing on the Rogue or managing the claro walnut forests. 🙂 (Down in CJ last week. 100° not fun. 60° here more better!)
Boiler
Replies
I think I have it pretty good.
My side job is at Lee Valley. Now I just need to get a one-day-a-week job at a power tool store like KMS or Summit.
Mel, Thanks for the
Mel,
Thanks for the interest. It took a bit to see where you were coming from. I think I may have been a little misleading in my question. What I was really enquiring was what is your main job? For example their are some that hold two or more jobs and then, like most, their are those that have a single job and have fun with woodworking. So I would revise the original phrasing to:
What do you do for a living?
I know that Bob (kiddervilleacres) is retired as you are and that Samson is a full time lawyer, Dusty, full time woodworker (trying to corner the Claro Walnut market), Derek, a psychologist, Rob, full time cabinet maker, Lataxe is retired, Will is retired, etc.
A few photographers and graphic designers, one or two doctors, a few engineers...Richard (SgianDubh) - Teacher, about to be author and designer/cabinetmaker, David (Ring) - (controls the world supply of french oak) about to be retired but still a builder of exquisite kitchens. Philip and Larry, plane manufacturers. I would like to hear others check in.
Just curious
Thanks
BB
I got into broadcasting in 1957 and only left two years ago. Check out Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes fame. I think FWW did a piece on him and his shop a few years ago.
BB,
You asked what I did for a living. I was a Human Factors psychologist. HF folks design tools, workstations, "man machine systems" in such a way that humans can interact with them intuitively, and as efficiently and effectively and safely as possible. After spending from 1948 to 1969 in school, I did Human Factors work from 1970 to about 1985. By that time I was at NASA, and I got into management. I managed technology development (R&D) programs from about 1985 until about 2000, when I had a chance to get into Satellite development for Astrophysics. I was a program manager for four satellites under development from then until I retired in early 2008. Technology that I got started in the "automation and robotics" technology program formed the basis for the Mars Sojourner rover. Working at NASA was "a two E-ticket ride", as the original astronauts used to say. There was a time when different tickets were sold for different rides in Disney World and DisneyLand. The tickets had letter designations: A, B, C, D and E. The most expensive and best rides at that time cost two E tickets. That's where the phrase came from.
Doing woodwork as a hobby was a good pairing with work at NASA. At NASA, every project is "touched" by hundreds or thousands of people. When you do woodwork, it is all your responsibility. Engineering project work runs in cycles of high, medium and low pressure, and there was always a good deal of politics. Woodworking is very physical, yet relaxing. Nice juxtaposition. It turns out that there were a number of woodworkers at NASA. Very interesting.
I hope you get some more responses, but I doubt you will. Best I can tell, there is not much interest in such things by the current Knots brood.
Mel
I was a Human Factors psychologist!
I was a Human Factors psychologist....
What am I that loves black hair and I married a dark hair brunnet? And I loved Blondy singing Grass Heart?
I know that Bob (kiddervilleacres) is retired as you are and that Samson is a full time lawyer, Dusty, full time woodworker (trying to corner the Claro Walnut market), Derek, a psychologist, Rob, full time cabinet maker, Lataxe is retired, Will is retired, etc.
Hi BB
In reality, I woodwork -specialising in high end shavings - to subsidise my other job as a shrink.
Regards from Perth
Derek
What do you do for a living?
I now babysit my offspring. Mostly baby girls and I have a hard time understanding them as I did with my daughters.
I now have a neighbor boy that is a autistic child. He loves my woodworking shop for some reason. All he does is watch me. I NEVER use power tools while he is in the shop. My shop doors are always open so he can leave anytime he wants to. It is a garage with carriage doors I made. So he comes and goes as he pleases..
Yes, I am a man, I love little children.. I would never hurt a child in any way..
This' IS WORK' making sure a child is safe in my workplace while he still has fun visiting me. He has a professional nurse that sits outside while he is inside my shop. She has a full view of what we do together in the shop.
He seems to like round objects so I bought many different sized dowels. He seems to like the 1/4 inch round ones. He will take them away and play with them and then return them to the exact place where he took them from.
He is a wonderful boy.. Not mine, but I love him alot...
How many of us could be very happy just playing with a bunch of 1/4 inch dowels?
I think of this old song while he in my shop..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7AhExWtH8U&feature=fvw
Feeling bad blues by Ry Cooder. I was listening to this song when I received a call from the hospital that my lovely wife died...
I get very sad for him but I think his world may be way better than most of us have?
EDIT:
I love this guitar..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlXlaOeYl2c&feature=related
I receive no money for babysitting.. Why would I ask for money being with any child that makes your day perfect in ways you could not imagine?
Retired DDS?
In my travels south to NC and north to Maine I often stop to visit high end shops along the way. I can't tell you how many times, when inquiring about the local craftsman with a one off very expensive hall table on sale in a local shop, I am told "Oh, he's a retired dentist." I guess the attention to detail required of a dentist along with good hand skills attracts them to woodworking.
Swenson,
My dad was a Dentist, and his side line was jewelry work. He liked abstract lost wax casting. He loved the fact that he could color outside the lines that way. He never enjoyed woodworking, funny, but I think given the chance he might have liked working on a lathe though.
Boiler bay. I am a Landscape Designer and contractor, and I am still working!! http://www.earthartlandscape.com
Morgan
Warning.
That reminds me of a note I read that came in a Dremel tool instruction booklet" "Warning ! This tool is not to be used for dental work"
This won't hurt a bit.....
Morgan
That was funny!
As in the above comment..
Since I'm retired, I don't count, particularly since my other job is being retired, too. ;-)
Earlier day/main jobs while making hobbiest sawdust have been in the title insurance business, software development, UNIX consulting and tech support, and publishing (UNIX-related tech magazines). Hobbiest/semi-pro photography has paralleled much of that time period, as well.
UNIX consulting ?
Damn you must be very old! I have a dual boot Suse linux with Microsoft Vista Pro or whatever it is...
I like both for different reasons.. I also have a old GRAFIX RIP Postscript 1,2,3? I will not sell it! It runs on a old DEC 32 bit Vax11?
If you were early Postcript I bet you know of Don Lancaster...
http://www.tinaja.com/post01.asp
All of my old sortware is on 8 inch floppies and I have nothing to read them on.. I have printed copies someplace?
I loved Postscript! What a amazing printer language!
My Job
I'm a C-17 (large, 4 engine, cargo jet) pilot in the Air Force Reserves. My education was in aerospace engineering and flying is fun (although after 18 years of doing it non-stop it's getting to be a little less thrilling) but it doesn't fill the engineer side of my brain as much as it used to. Furniture building appeases my engineer tendencies nicely; mostly from trying to engineer a fix to something I've messed up. I get to spend about 3 to 4 hours a week (grade school kids take a LOT of time!) in my garage shop that continues to grow and my new dream is to retire and move to Williamsburg, VA so I can volunteer at their cabinet makers shop.
"Working" at Williamsburg would be fun. But, you'd have to wear those funny period clothes and learn to speak in period English. ;-)
Working at Williamsburg would be fun. But, you'd have to put up with that guy who hangs around the shop and won't go away and asks too many questions and stares for hours at the tools and projects and won't leave until his wife comes back and drags him out by his ear... oh wait, that's me.
So that's where Lataxe learned to talk....
I'm a C-17 (large, 4 engine, cargo jet) pilot in the Air Force
I remember the old four prop (something) air refuling tankers that took off from O'Hara airport when it was mostly Air Reserves at one end of the big airport?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O'Hare
They would rattle all of my windows and shake the ground... AC-130P's? not sure... but they were ground shaking and I loved them going over my house...
O'Hare
Will,
Thanks for the link. Thanks for keeping us young'ns educated about where we came from and why we have it so good now.
Props are Cool
The Reserves did fly 130's out of O'Hare, not sure of what type. I flew "slick" 130's for about 4 years and have a soft spot for the bologna slicer -- I still like the prop sound over a jet! Interestingly enough the 437th Troop Carrier Squadron from the 50's was at O'Hare flying C-46's and now the 437th Airlift Wing is the host wing where I'm flying C-17's.
Architect also sort of
I am or was an architect until I became a zoning consultant more than 20 years ago. New York City Zoning regulations are more than 1,000 pages. And they keep revising and adding to them. My partner and I advise the development community and the architects who design their building on the compliance with the zoning regs. Used to be very busy. Not so much now, but as during the last time things slowed down, they will pick up again. Already seeing that starting.
So on weekends I make sawdust in our weekend house up north.
ASK
Among the "retired"
I'm a retired Power plant Engineer. 30 years of swing shift was enough!!!!!!!!!!
Now I support my WW habit as Tech rep. and Counter sales person for http://www.eagleamerica.com. About 80% of the props you see on the WWW or in the catalog, I've made.
OFF TOPIC: I'm a retired Power plant Engineer..
Off topic:
You sure brought old memories for me!.. I worked as young boy under a "Power plant Engineer" supervision. Yes, I am NOT ashamed to say it was in Reform School..
http://www.listphile.com/StCharles_LocalHistory/Illinois_School_for_Boys_Illinois_Youth_Center St. Charles reform school.
My problem was that I HATED SCHOOL and refused to go there.. My mother was a drunk (I do not hate her)...
We had a Power Plant there for the 'dry steam?' (did I remember something?) Four hard coal boilers and the two electric generators. One generator and I think two fire boxes ran at one time... We cleaned and fixed the down while others were operational. Hell, I even learned how to replace fire brick without the whole boiler wall comming down on us!
I believe the plant super. was Mr. Turney?? It was so long ago I forget. I could be thinking of somebody else.
My 'job' (among others) was to crank around the generator flywheel, tooth by tooth. with a very long lever while he inspected whatever he was looking for. I was very strong fo a small boy and got alot stronger doing that about every other day.
After about two months of this work, the boys that beat me up before, never messed with me again! I never became a bully. I think it was a job given for me to do so I would stand up for myself? Not sure.
I do know it was nice not being punched in the face every day!
I will say that all the staff were VERY strict.. I was never hurt (maybe my pride) by any staff member there or did I ever see any child hurt by staff. The other boys were a different matter. Somehow they weeded them out and they went to a 'special home building'.. I have no idea what happened there.. I thought it best to behave and not try to find out.
I learned many things from the "Power plant Engineer" supervision.. He was a wonderful man.. Old at the time, so I am sure he has passed onto a better place, that putting up with me....
I loved the 'wine' of the exciter motor for eack generator. I have not heard that sound for many years but I guess they use something electronic for that these days? Each exciter sounded a bit different and you could tell if something was going wrong.. I'd just yell for the 'Boss' if I heard something strange in the generator room. I was not allowed in the huge boiler room without supervision.. Did they know I loved fire?
I only talk about this because I had fun in reform school and even went to school classes if it did not interfere with working in the generating station.. I do not remember that it was mandatory for us to go to school classes? I think it was work or school and I was given a job of hard work that I loved to do...
Mr. Turney gave me plenty of electrical problems I had to solve before I could touch any switch or other in the control room..
While I was inside the cooled off boilers.. He was always at the door yelling instructions for me to follow.. I think he just want me not to get hurt doing something stupid?
I still do stupid things to this day.. If I ever get near a very old, brick lined boiler, I hope I am on the outside yelling instructions... It was scarry in there!
And my favorite woman was my wife.. She was a brunette. And I love listining to Heart of glass..
http://www.last.fm/music/Blondie/Atomic%3A+The+Very+Best+Of+Blondie/Heart+of+Glass
I would never cheat on my lady. As a friend or as my wife.. I just love Blondy music for some reason.
And I still love a old Hank Williams song
You pick the words that he liked to sing,,,
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/hank-williams-lyrics/771c5fb4e48862f54825699d0029b0d1
..
Powerhouse "noise"
My "office" ( the control Room) sat between the boiler house and the turbine room. As loud as it was, I knew every sound that was supposed to be there, I knew immediately when there was something going wrong just by the sound changes.
We used to get CETA summer help kids. Thats another long story.
Me ? My day job ? Oh . . . ahuh . . . ahuh
I'm just a straight man for Mel.
I'm just a straight man for Mel.
I tried to be one but I got lost with curved axes.. Only one Viking in my family and I think he is from swedish kin. He would say yumpin yiminy all the time and I never knew what he was talking about!
My day job
I've had so many jobs in my life, starting at age nine, It's hard to recall them all. I went to school to become an architectural draftsman, however I didn't care for it so I became a dentist after a few years of hard work. I'm seventy and still at it, when I'm not woodworking. The woodworking part is the therapy which keeps me from having to spend time and money with someone like Derek Cohen. No offense meant Derek.
Jim
I may not count but will pipe in anyway
My entire working life has revolved around cabinetmaking and construction and I still love building things. I tried college breifly but I preferred to teach myself by reading and asking questions and listening to people smarter than me.
I started building furniture and cabinets out of my Dad's garage as a teenager, worked for a while building wooden water skiis and then took a job at a custom cabinet shop. Opened my own stand alone cabinet shop at age 21. Built my first house from the ground up at age 23.
The cabinet shop was a successful venture for over twenty years. The last house I built was finished about a year ago. I estimate that I built over 200 custom homes over the last forty years.
I currently live in a home I built for myself and have done so 5 or 6 times previously. I built my current shop about 1 1/2 years ago.
I've also dabbled in real estate investments and development.
The downturn in the economy brought my forty year run of home building to a halt and I was forced to let my entire staff (6 full time employees) go. For the past year or so I've been installing cabinets and doing kitchen remodeling and working by myself or with a helper as a carpenter. I toyed with the idea of retirement but I like working and building things. Not having any employees has reduced my stress level to almost nothing.
I've been working at my new career as a furniture maker and have achieved some success so far. I've been getting my shop set up, designing and building prototype furniture pieces I've had a few commissioned pieces and small cabinet jobs over the past year.
Bret
I hired many folks.. One black applied..
My one black worker was a wonderful mechanic and pretty good at electreonics. He was a good worker but out white customers treated him like dirt.. He was way above dirt.. Sort of like a mountain that dirt rolled off of...
What a shame... He was one of my best workers.. All the shame would be for my white customers.. I never took a job from them after and I would bet that they did not care a think about it.. They lost a very fine worker and I LOST A GOOD woodworker and a friend.. Life can be very hard at times...
My regular gig is..
a Maintenance Tech in a semiconductor (Computer Chip) factory. I have 26 years
with this company. I've had many different jobs there over the years like Manufacturing
Forman and Process Engineering Tech. I also teach afterschool WW handtool programs
to children through the Parks and Rec departments in the towns in my county.
Prior to that I was a cabinetmaker, finish carpenter, and construction estimator.
GRW
Sir I remember the blond women..
Green Acres is an American television series starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways, Inc.
I really liked Eva,, She was beautiful and very funny,, The best of the girls in my opinion! I think any woman is very far from stupid.. AS in most are brillent! My wife was alot like her... She made life wondrefulwonderful..
Earning a Living
I've earned a living as a woodworker over the last 20 years. I went to school for furniture design, I've worked all phases of construction and maintenance, and currently run a shop for my employer where we do all kinds of wild custom fabrication. I have never been out of work and am currently doing 60+ hours a week because I can't find qualified help.
I always have side projects away from and in no way in conflict with my day job. Those are almost always high end furniture jobs.
I've built museum quality pieces of furniture for clients and I've been a "Kitchen Builder"(not my terminology). When you choose to work wood for a living, in my experience, you need to be flexible. Some can do one thing and be sucessful. I don't know those people.
This is not a hobby for me but I would do it for free. Just don't tell anyone.
Regards,
-Paul
Sales Rep
I'm a sales rep in the building industry. Spent nine years at Senco until they let me go before they filed chapter 11 last year. Spent a year on unemployment and thought "Oh sh*t what am I going to do now?" I started to get my ducks in a row and make a business plan in case my unemployment ran out and couldn't afford food. So I subscribed to the Crafts Report and applied to an area craft show in the spring. I started to make some furniture to sell at the show but unfortunately I wasn't chosen by the jury to attend so I backed off building inventory. Luckily I got a job at Oldcastle as an outside sales rep a few months ago and I'm back on my feet but I still would like to persue the craft show circuit. I would like to sell furniture on a part time basis until I had enough business that I could go full time.
I'm a sales rep..
I tried that for about 6 months..
I sold many machines while doing my service work. I got a kick-back but not as much as a regular sales person. (I think). I sold at the 'spur of the moment' while the boss was yelling at me for some unknown reason.. Most yelled at me because of the price that they had to pay for my services... I was very good at my job and never let that get to me.. Any call-back within 60 days was free labor. Parts they still had to pay for unless I thought it was my fault overlooking the problem. I kept very accurate notes for all of my work....
I went with a woman sales rep that specialized doing 'cold calls'... She was sure a talker but not much of a doer for sales.. She could get into any door and opened it for a pro salesman to follow up... NOTHING BAD to say about her.. She was a 'door opener' and VERY good at it! She talked too much to close a high profit sale...
Hell, I'd never get into the door in the first place, trying to sell something!
I'm a full time woodworker, part time, drummer, professional sports official, certified instructor, volunteer fireman and snow remover.
Hammer, That sounded like a perfect life, and then you had to bring up snow remover... I used to live in Denver and the Mt Towns in Colorado. I found that I could not be a Landscape person without being a Snow removal person. So here I am in Phoenix where we can work 365 days a year.. should I laugh or cry?
Asmo, my daughter lived in Denver for a while. She really liked the weather but missed the ocean. I guess the winters were pretty mild despite being in the Rockies, she got her sun bathing in most of the year. We get about 7 months of winter up here, which isn't the greatest for us motorcycle enthusiasts. Snow plowing can be a very lucrative business although you can be looking at 24 hr. working days but only about 8-12 times during snow season. Last year we hardly got any. The year before we got clobbered, had to hire loaders and dump trucks to clear it. I cry when it starts snowing but smile when the checks come in.
Hammer, What sports do you officiate? What type of certified instructor?
I'm a PAVO volleyball official. The season is just starting up. I have high school and college matches almost everyday this September. I do a couple of adult leagues 2 nights a week starting in November and may do a few tournaments on weekends, the adult leagues run until April.
I'm a certified vocational instructor in my state. I taught carpentry and woodworking at a technical high school but have retired. From time to time, I also teach adult woodworking at night. Occasionally, I teach an adult class in fly tying. I don't need to be certified to teach that, just good at telling fishing lies,... I mean stories. I hoping to entice a 40"+ stripped bass tonight, the big ones have eluded my offerings so far this season.
My main job..
For a living, I am a Pathologist, practicing primarily Dermatopathology and Surgical Pathology. Fortunately, I make enough from that to support my hobby habits. Unfortunately, I don't usually have the time to do what I would like to. I have always said that I have too many hobbies for my own good. Woodworking is primary among them. I am a very long way from retirement, so I think the time when I can do more woodworking is a long way off. Also I am about to get a new baby daughter from Russia. I will have even less time then (not that I am complaining though :) - totally worth it!).
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