What you used to do for a living??

[Mike]

Interesting Kody I never thought of a hurricane bringing work to upholstery roofers builder boat canvas. Ya I gueese my couch would be last kn my list

[byhammerandhand]

Mike Rowe speaks on the trades:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=cC0JPs-rcF0

[rustyeod]

I joined the Navy at the ripe old age of 17 and worked on jet ejection seats and in the same shop was the parachute riggers and sewing machines!  6 years into the Navy I met some bomb disposal divers and got into that which included being a navy prachutist and a paraoft with sewing machines.  I retired after 22 years but did the bomb disposal as a civilian and bought a sailboat to live on which drove the necesity to get a sewing machine to do my own canvas work (after paying too much for a bimini).  Doing other sewing projects for my marina neighbors is what got me into the business.  I'm still on a retainer with the bomb company, I have my shop in the marina that I live in.  My wife (she was a manager at West Marine) and I run the shop now.

[gene]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg

gene

[Mike]

My wife (she was a manager at West Marine) and I run the shop now.

do you meen the canvas shop not west marine ?

[rustyeod]

Mike
She was a manager at West and wanted to quit so she learned to sew, quit west, and came to work with me.  Now she holds her own in the shop and does it all.

[hidebound]

     I did 2 years in the army then became a millwright apprentice in 76. The economy got bad and in 84 I got a job in a local factory as a maintenance mechanic. I did all sorts of things but mostly worked with the boilers and A/c systems. In the late 90s they began to contract all of the HVAC work out which pushed me out and they retrained me as an electrician. After 28 years I am still there and looking towards retirement. That is why I am learning the upholsterery trade I plan to work till I cant move my fingers.

[Darren Henry]

we could have been jockeys.  eh Darren?

Don't laugh---- I almost did. Friends of the family ran ponies in the chariot circuit.Billy is a BIG  man. Like 275 pound with a belly that hung over the front rail of the chariot.They wanted me to come drive for them, and I was sorely tempted,but I was still in high school and couldn't do both.

[limey]

In 1971 I wrote letters to every dealership in and around the north of England looking for an apprenticeship in the auto trades.  I was car mad as a kid, and was offered an apprenticeship as a coach builder. I worked in the "commercial" facility of a major Ford dealership. We where provided various chassis and cab variations from the factory and built bodies to suit the buyers needs. I was sent to tech school once a week to be instructed in woodwork, panel beating, painting, etc. After about three months an apprentice was needed in the trim shop. No one wanted the job, including me, but being the runt of the litter, I was chosen. Have not had another career since. Served my time, and decided to concentrate on"vintage and veteran" cars. Leather work mostly, tonneau,s, tops (hoods!) lots of woodwork, door panels floorboards top frames, and although the big bucks where in vinyl tops and sun roofs in the new cars, I found I had a steady and usually prosperous clientele. I went into business with a trimmer I had spent time with and managed a couple of apprentices of my own, and yes, did the odd vinyl top, sunroof, carpet job, and all the production type repairs, but stayed mainly on the older cars. In "81 I met a guy with a collection of old Rolls Royce and Bentley's, who was in need of a trimmer. He owned a number of businesses in Los Angeles and provided me with a work permit. I spent a year in L. A. then moved up to San Francisco where I met my wife. I have been married 28 years. Since then, I have had the good fortune to stay busy, and work on some incredible cars. I think the decision to stick to what I was familiar with has enabled me to stay busy without having to advertise, I did have a clientele who provided me with regular work and through the mid eighties to a couple of years ago I have always had at least one car with my interior work on display at Pebble Beach and other prestigious events. However, last year,for the first time, I missed a deadline. Time was tight and although I used to revel in 18 hour days working to get a car "on the lawn" I found I could no longer do it. I am 56 this year and consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but my eyes have gone wacky (on Costco 175's but may go up!) my hands are arthritic, and have a little carpal tunnel going on for good measure. SO, this year no prestigious, judged to the hilt projects for me, small one day to one week max projects, for people who wish to drive and enjoy their cars. I plan to embark on some furniture projects I have been planning to do for oh, 15 years, and yes, I can tie springs, am familiar with exotic stuffing's and hand stitching techniques, all used on cars "back in the day" Might even get to work on my own cars! We have a couple of old commercial buildings we bought with our retirement money, about a day before the bottom fell out of the economy, but we figure we would have lost the money in our pension funds anyway so at least we own some " Americana" 100 year old buildings (old for way out west!) I have taken care of all the wiring, plumbing, sheetrock, paint etc etc myself and some day labor, and all I need now are tenants(no luck with that) I intend to work until people refuse to pay me for my labor, later rather than sooner! While this is not the most lucrative of trades, I believe it is good for the soul. Your work is there for the whole world to see, and more often than not we push ourselves too hard to please, but in hindsight I really can't think of anything I would rather do.

[Peppy]

After highschool I went to art school and ended up in Material Arts and Design. A catch-all program of jewelry making, ceramics, and textiles. Having been my moms sewing helper as a kid I fit right into textiles. I really liked the looms and weaving cloth but didn't like sitting at them, and found basket weaving to be even cooler. I was told I was the only person to graduate identifying as a basket weaver. After school I went into 'production' and did craft shows. I loved the work, but hated the sales.

As a sideline I was a carpenter/drywaller/painter/general labourer. I found a job at an upholstery shop as a filler for the winter before I went back to basket weaving.  Then I met a woman, then I got married, then I really started to love my job. Then kids, mortgage, domestic bliss ect ect. Now ten years later I can't believe how lucky I was to stumble onto this career.

[kodydog]

Good Luck Kody!  Sounds exciting.  Will you be able to live where you do now? or will you have to move to Jax?

June

Thanks June. Last July we bought a fixer upper in St Augustine at the bottom of the housing market (I hope). Neat thing is its three blocks from the inter-coastal. Went kayaking today. They say the Red Fish are moving inland. Back in Live Oak now. New job starts next week.

[sofadoc]

Last July we bought a fixer upper in St Augustine at the bottom of the housing market (I hope).
New job starts next week.

Congrats Kody!
You are always free to say NOYFB, but if you don't mind me askin', is this new job in addition to, or in place of your home based upholstery business?
Good luck either way.

[SHHR]

My dad always had a sideline business doing paint and body and building hot rods other than his regular 40 hr a week job as a state maintenance foreman, so I helped him out in the shop a lot and kind of took that over as he got older and wanted to slow down a bit. In the mean time as an older teenager I tool a job in a local parts store as a delivery driver then on to work the counter and then to sales in the paint and body dept. I quit that to take a job as a tool maker in a local plastic factory since I was getting married and needed a better paycheck. I quickly became the lead journeyman mold maker there and worked for about 14 years to quit and take over the Welder/machinest foreman job that my dad had just retired from after 40 years with the state. All along I was still doing custom body work and paint first at dad's shop, then I built my own shop out back and moved the operation here in the evenings and weekends. Somewhere along the way I added upholstery into the mix in the shop offering a complete service for customers. Dad always wanted to learn upholstery, and once years ago while I was doing a night shift stint in the factory that I hated, he showed up one morning and took me to Louisville , where we ended up at a dealer of sewing machines and he bought me a new Consew 206. I started practicing, bought some books and videos, then took on a small job or two then decided to do the interior on a 1960 Buick I was restoring for a local car dealer. I was still working a full time job elsewhere and several times I almost ditched it in favor for working for my self. I was ready to do it I felt, then the economy started tanking back in 06-07 so I stuck it out at my day job, until back in 08-09 I discovered a state prison was taking over the grounds of the state hospital where I worked in maintenance. They laid off all the foremen with the idea prisoners could do all the work. I was forced to go full time on my own. and admit it's been extremely tough during this recession/depression we've been in. My wife was a teacher staying home with our kids, so she found work back in the school system and things are going decent in the shop. I've to an extent kept doing full ground up builds for people, but take on late model repairs both body and interior along with marine upholstery. I've slowly been more selective with the body repairs and by the end of this years should be geared totally to trim work. Although I have a large shop I lack the divided clean room for interior and regular work area, so I spend a great deal of time just switching from one job type to another. I'm also spreading myself way too thin taking on all types of work. It's the upholstery side that I truly have an interest in and am letting customers know that's what my shop is advertised as now.
Kyle

[kodydog]

You are always free to say NOYFB, but if you don't mind me askin', is this new job in addition to, or in place of your home based upholstery business?
Good luck either way.

I'll be going to Live Oak on weekends to work, at least for a while. Maybe till my (3) yellow pages ads runs out next year. And I'll always be available for my best customers. Any jobs I get on the coast I'll send to my new employer. There a father and son operation. The son owns three businesses and the father is the one with the upholstery experience. They have some good ideas and I can see this business really taking off.

[jojo]

Wow, I'm surprised at how many of us are ex-military. I was a parachute rigger in the Air Force. Even though the AF now throws away chutes with holes in them, the tradition of having machines in the shop stayed. So it was our job not only to inspect and pack chutes and all survival equipment, but also to fabricate covers for outdoor ground equipment and sew patches on officers' flight suits.

They use Consew 206-rb machines (or did when I was in), and we were taught how to use and time them.

I've also driven a bus and a limousine, was a secretary, worked in retail and bartended.  I could never go back to working for someone else. Ever.