Woodworking Tips from Pop…

Tamales for lunch

Recently I was reminded of the old days when Pop and I were installing handrails and steps for a local Atlanta stair company , It was alright for a while, we learned all kinds of info on curved stairs, bending rails, installing iron balusters and newels post. Like I said, it was alright for a while. Installing handrails for a living is a tough job, always on your knee’s, crawling around on dirty jobsite floors, constantly having to put up with other trades going up and down on the steps your trying to work on. And, nobody cares!
Throw in a van full of illegal Mexicans and you have the makings for crazy day.

It was an early spring morning several years ago, when Pop and I were racing a van full of Mexican painters into the convenient store for coffee. Pop must have been doing 50 mph when hit the parking lot, he didn’t care! He just wanted his cup of coffee first. Hurry up ! Lets go! He told me. Well, after a few dirty looks and a few comments about a loco gringo, we made it out first and Pop was happy and life was good. (for awhile anyway)
Well, anybody that is familiar with Atlanta traffic knows you can’t get too far too fast. This was never more apparent then that morning , traffic was bumper to bumper and of course Pop is in the wrong lane stuck behind somebody reading the paper while driving ( Not in a good mood anymore). The day only got worse from here, while pulling up to the jobsite, we couldn’t believe are eyes! Our south of the border buddies from the convenient store were parked in Pops’ spot drinking coffee. If only Pop was in the right lane. Well, there wasn’t much we could do about it, Except maybe go home, but it was our last day on the job and we wanted to finish. Nothing was going to discourage us.

Let the radio wars begin!

In this business, the bigger radio you have the safer you are.
There’s nothing worse then when you’re working and somebody is blasting music especially Mexican music. Well Pop, loves his elevator music so I’m sure you can imagine between the mariachi band and Pops waltzes that I was the one that was suffering the most. Well, it was around noon and about 75degrees outside and I know it was warmer up around the high ceilings where they painting and singing at the top of their lungs. This gave me an idea. The Heater! Pop carries that big 10000 BTU Kerosene heater until summer and if there’s no oxygen up there, they can’t sing. It worked like a charm, I got the heater out of the van and aimed it into the two story foyer where the loud one was working. Within minutes, silence! I told him to stop screaming and turn his radio off or the heater stays on all day. It worked like a charm.

From that point on- there was always a spot in the van for the heater.