Brutal week..just brutal.
For those of you that may not know,I make my living building cabinets.
Those of you that do know,also know that I love my job,and the people that I work for.
This has been well documented.
There is however,one thing about this occupation that literally kicks my ass.
Staining...
Dont'cha know that you can pick from like 1,237,642(est.) different colors of stain to compliment any decorating scheme?..So,quite naturally,the biggest jobs always seem to require the most user un-friendly varieties.These would be the darkest colors,which are also of the thickest consistency.
Walnut..Dark walnut..Black walnut..Blind man in a cave at midnight during a new moon walnut..Holy crap.
Imagine painting the entire exterior of your house,..every nook and cranny,..and then,while it's still wet,wiping it all off with your T-shirt!
..It's like that.
Today I finished staining the last cabinet in one of the biggest jobs we've ever done.
4 bathrooms,..kitchen,utility room,and the garage!
All of the kitchen cabs have glass doors,which means that the insides must be stained as well!..I feel like I been shit at and hit.
So,what do I agree to this very morn?..
I agree to lay the carpet in the bosses' house this weekend.
Yep..I was a carpet layer for 10 years back in the day.
"Wait one minute there Sling!".."If we add up all the things you said you've done..3 years here..5 years there..10 years,. etcetera,.that would make you about 112 years old!..How is THAT?"..
Well,the answer is really quite simple.
..Figures don't lie!..
Now that I've cleared that up,here's a little Sam Cooke to celebrate the mood I'm in..
Labels: Sam Cooke
Make chex payable to §£ïñg 4:09 PM
26 Bootleggers
26 Comments:
hut, ahh, hut, ahh.....you pulled my chain with the stain stuff. Remember the wood borders in the bathroom?????
rosie-See!..You know exactly what I'm talkin' about..
I once stripped an old Iowa farm house, made pretty much entirely out of wainscoting. Just to re-stain it with a more 'uniform' glaze.
!!*?&^@!#?
And then I had a nice little stay in a hospital with soft puffy white walls and just the nicest cozy jackets.
So...yeah.
I watched the carpet guy remove the old and then stretch and lay the new one. That has to be the most physically demanding job in the world.
Hat-A-Rama..- YOU got jackets??..All I got was a stain soaked T-shirt.
(Oh great..NOW even my responses to comments suck.}
jan-Have you ever seen an old carpet layer?..I thought not.
did i ever tell you i looooove to stain?..and i have the best eye of anyone you have ever met in matching stains...i am also very very good at matching any color..when i worked at paint stores painters would bring me their hat, their watch strap, their drop cloths and say jackie...can you match me 3 gallons of this...?..sure..but where's the paint can..oh we thought it 4 gallons was enough so we tossed them..and we ran out..i have matched drops of paint..im good...
i also was very good at laying carpet...oh wait...i was very good at getting laid on carpet..
Perfect song to end the workweek Sling. Have you ever tried using old socks for staining? l’ve built a few bookcases etc. and find the sock works well. Can see you covering so much area with the stain- is no joke especially when it constantly needs stirring and then drips/runs everywhere! You have my sympathies.
Nice to get a turn on the computer today- l seem to have very little time to myself just now. My wee lad started school this past week so have been busy there.
Have a great weekend- brilliant song.
Bests
holy christ, it's a small world
i spent a lot of time on you tube watching sam cooke stuff. sam was one cool dude.
you should try to trick your clients into changing their minds like "Oh, I hear the hendersons down the block, you know the really attractive wealthy hendersons? well, they've decided to go with clear finishing for ALL of their surfaces... now i forgot, what was it we were talking about?" heh heh heh
Geepers Sling, we are in paint mode up here as well...and dreading it, and I am only doing the bead-board in the master bath. Bought some cool paint though. HHM hates this project.
I bet your project turned out Class A and the owners are loving it. Good job!
I have silly old dial up and therefore cannot open the Sm thingie...one day, when I am brave, I will attempt high speed..that is when they ever get it in my part of the forest, now your cabinets. :)
Onward ho, carpet Jo!
My father used to do lots of woodworking and furniture making. Guess who he roped into doing the fine sanding and finishing work? Always by hand until it was as soft as a babies hinder, and then staining, varnishing, sanding, varnishing, steel wooling, varnishing...at least you get paid, but I feel your pain, my friend. I feel it in both hands, arms, back, and neck. I will never, ever, lay a carpet. Too gay for that.
Yellowdog G.-I know that your stain matching skills are legendary!..We could have used you a couple of weeks ago.We thoght we had the stain matched for a linen cabinet,but it was a couple shades off.We had to build a whole new one.
You give new meaning to the phrase,"Getting called on the carpet"..heh,heh.
Horizon-Hi kid!Nice to see you out and about.
Actaully,we buy our stain rags by the box.
25 pounds of T-shirt material,cut into squares, in each one.
With the really thick stains,I go through about 3 12x20 inch rags per cabinet.
Have a wonderful weekend!
the rube-I once bought a "Best of Sam Cooke" cassette tape for $2.99 in the bargain bin..A few years later,oldies were so hot that the same album cost $12.95.
His music fills my head from time to time.
monica-You have unknowingly hit upon my dillema.The more difficult to use stains look so beautiful when they're done,that many of the contractors we build for recommend them to the customers...Personally,I really do like the natural look of hardwoods when they are clear laquered.
cs-Painting is just so nasty!..No way to do it without getting it all over yourself.
The owner of the cabinets in my post is the son of one of our biggest contractors..His words,.."I don't care how much it costs"..
That job cost him $26,000 dollars!..no shit.
tater-Dude!..At least I get to use power tools.It would take forever to do this stuff by hand.
By an odd coincidence,my grandfather was a retired cabinet maker.
I didn't come by the trade from him though.I was just a kid when he died.
The next time some one wants a dark stain, remind them that it will show ware sooner from the oils in your hands--- sorry, its ture@
The next time some one wants a dark stain, remind them that it will show ware sooner from the oils in your hands--- sorry, its ture@
citymouse-Sadly,I serve at the pleasure of the customer.
Truth be told,I love the way the darker stains look on hardwood,,It's just a pain in the ass to do.
Hey Sling! Holy bejesus! So you were old enough to serve in World War I! Did you?
dan-Sorry..could you repeat the question??...
Old Mustard Gas injury you know...
When I was wee, Dame Judi was big into rescuing crap furniture, stripping and refinishing and staining it. I watched and I learned.
I was in my 40s before I even dreamed of staining anything (2 pine Mission style end tables). That was quite enough for me. I can only extrapolate as to your experience this week but yeah, ass-kicking seems about right.
Oh, that's the best job I've heard of all week. Except for the staining part. Because my best skill is laziness, I'd probably spend a week inventing a long story about how I don't do staining - not because I'm lazy, but in order to allow the customer to involve him/herself, to participate in the creation of their home's beauty and blah blah blah.
Son of a bitch! The gardener is using a leaf blower on the ash from the fire!! No No NO! Gotta go stop the madness!
Ah Sling I just have no time for fussy people...and watching the song made ne renenber things my iwn and told me about unions andthe 1930's...maybe am just getting oold...
lorraine-To your credit,i think that furniture,with all it's parts and pieces,is some of the most difficult to stain.
When you mentioned mission style,you made me think of the 2 cabinets we built recently that didn't fit because the framers put the kitchen window in the wrong spot by 2 inches.We rebuilt them to fit.
You know what we do with cabs that dont fit?..We throw them away...Breaks my heart.
booda baby-Oh,how often I have wished the customer could take a more active part in the process!..Let them get in there and...Holy Crap!..Go stop that fool!
middle child-Having an historical perspective doesn't make you old..it makes you wise.
In building my house I have used really simple wood (#2 knotted pine) for all of the trim and just laquered it all. for the fireplace mantles I stained birch to mahogany because of the difference in grain I almost used pine for the mantles but was afraid of the softness of the wood.
Staining isn't my favorite thing to do but I would do it any day of the week over laying carpet lol. It was the only thing I've hired out so far..lol :-)
Wood is so beautiful. I just don't understand why people like it stained DARK...
My hat's off to a cabinet maker! I built my own kitchen. It's nice, but it would have been good to know more "how to" during the whole process. Maybe I should have spent some time in a cabinetry class and less time in the shower... ; )
Good to know I've made the right decision with a light stian for my kitchen cabinets! But what I want to know, is who needs 4 bathrooms?
CS-Well,the son of a wealthy contractor needs 4 bathrooms..And his very own Robo-Bartender!
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