Entry Closet Project #7: One Step Closer!

Todd-

This project is looking great, I really enjoyed the interview as well. Good luck with the final touch ups and things.

-- Kaleo , http://www.kalafinefurniture.com

im wondering if you will suffer some form of withdrawal symptoms when this job is finished . i know it happens to me sometimes usually on a project where i have to be strictly focused .

Kaleo – Thanks.

mrtrim – Yep, I have suffered the same thing.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Great action shots. Can’t wait for installation.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

My wife can’t wait for me to get done and get home. I think the thread of patience is wearing thin. I feel horrible for being here this long. She is a long suffering woman married to a silly man-child.

I think I will focus on my own house when I get home. “The cobbler’s children never have shoes.” She deserves better than that.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Todd -

I have been following this blog closely. Absolutely impeccable work. I think you are still in the nail biting phase! Your depth of talent is amazing woodwork, metalwork, . . . what else?! I really appreciate you sharing so many details. Looking forward to final installation. Hope you get home soon!

David

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Once I had the doors made and veneered, I passed the “point of no return”. From there on out if I made a mistake it would be devastating. The further along I get the more previous work is at risk.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Great Todd. A nice blog for finishing metal.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Closer and closer

-- Thos. Angle

You can try my method of quality control. Show up on the job with little or no sleep. Take some strange cough stuff for your flu. The kind that keeps your head from quite working right. Drink lots of coffee. Then spend your first few hours trying to do the job without the right tools because you forgot them at home in your hurry to leave.
This should insure that you get so little done that you chances of screwing anything up are greatly lessened….maybe.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

I’ve operated in a fog a few times. Your story is real familiar.

One thing that I find on a project like this is that it takes what it takes. You work harder and faster and it doesn’t go any faster because you end up performing a lot of counterproductive motions. Staying up and working late only increases risk of mistakes but you can’t help yourself to meet the deadline or to get home.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Or Just start planing and thinking how you will “power out” of the next mistake.

That is simply SOP and something Im sure your very good at by now.

Or as you said in your interview ” oh todd you will figure it out”.

I have faith in you…

Great job!

-- Dusty

The enormity of this project is what amazes me. Got to be a lot of mixed emotions as you near completion. I hope you made enough on the commission to take a month off and rebond with your family.

Todd, you had better be just a little careful when you get out of the viehecial at home because you have been gone so long I’m not sure the dog will know you. LOL!! It sounds like your departure won’t be to far off so be careful and no speeding home.

-- " All Things At First Appear Difficult"

Todd, I’ve followed this project and your work is remarkable. I’ve shown your pictures to folks to illustrate the quality of your work because words don’t do it justice. When you said you’d only been doing this for four years, I didn’t believe you, but I’ve come to accept the fact that my years just go faster than yours. You are a true craftsman. Now, I’ve noticed that you show up in a lot of your photos. Do you have a photographer travel with you, or do you run in front of the camera really fast?

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

Thanks guys.

I do wonder if the dogs will remember me. The last time there was a moment of delayed recognition. But then my springer , Cookie, grinned. She is one of those dogs that tries to smile like people.

Russel, the photos are real but I have to take them with the self-timer and a tripod. I seem to have plenty of time to get back in the shot. I set it on the double shot mode. If you start taking a lot of photos during the process it becomes second nature to get the shots while you work. You get an idea of what you want to show along the way.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I agree with Todd on the photo journal of a build. It becomes like brushing your teeth before you go to bed. I don’t do the self timer shots, but like David, I shoot alot of video in the shop as well. Photo blogging and video blogging becomes second nature. Get your layout, snap a pic, go to work, snap a pic. Get your layout, setup the shot, start the self timer, go to work, snap a pic of the outcome. It really becomes an important part of the entire project for some as the camera is one of the most used tools in the modern woodworking bloggers shop.

Great work as always, Todd. Thanks for taking the time to do the setups. It makes for a better read for us, and helps with self promotion on your personal website. I think the woodworker making a small box or the professional doing the largest built-in, would benefit from photo’s in a blog on process. I love to look at project pictures, but I like to get insite into how that woodworker did that particular task as well as their shop, layout and techniques. It makes us all grow as woodworkers, but, more importantly, it makes for a better read!

Cheers!

Tom

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Mot is right, the camera and computer are becoming very important me. These are the tools for promotion and marketing. The pictures alone or with simple titles will speak volumes to the woodworkers who want to see “behind the scenes”. But if you aren’t taking the pictures then you have nothing to draw from for website or printed advertising.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I am nowhere near marketing my work just yet and fortunately, I still have my day job. I do make a specialized crib for wheelchaired parents, but that’s more pragmatic than product. Are you saying that even at my level, if I have an eye toward selling my work, I should be taking pictures?

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

Russel – You should be building a stock of photos all the time. With all the photos that I am taking now I wish I had done more in the past. That library will give you more opportunities to present yourself and the specific image you want to create to your clients. Of all the photos I take only a few really hit that sweet spot for printed material or website placement.

When someone visits the site they have to get the abbreviated version. The photo has to say all and say it fast.
The LJ members are interested in looking at all the details of construction, but clients are not. They want it short and sweet. But if you aren’t getting the photos then what do you have? Nothing.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Fair enough. Thanks. I won’t be relying on my good looks then. ;-)

-- When you give someone a chance it may well be their last.

You are a bit pale and thin lined from what I can see.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

And brush your hair for goodness sake!

I can attest to the pictures being very helpful.

Regardless of how you use them they will come in handy at some point in the future trust me.

You may find you use them for marketing, or to recall how you did a project or for perhaps an insurance clain.

One thing for sure “no picture, it didn’t happen” is likely to occur.

Case in point when I was documenting all of my work on “This Old Crack House”, I had missed any inspection accidentally and would of had to break up the floor again to prove to the plumbing inspector I had did something that was required. Instead he accepted the picture.

Whew.

There has been countless other times I have used pictures.

I have several thousand of them stored on cd,s and they take up very little room and with ditigal they last longer and are so much better quality.

I have been doing a lot more video lately.

However, being completely computer and photo challenged I have not figured out how to post that work on the web yet.

I am learning.

Slowly.

-- Dusty

Dusty brought up some great points about photos and insurance claims or for inspection records.

I have used photos with the inspector’s permission when he could not make it in my time frame. He assured me if I did it wrong or did not take the photo that I would be tearing it out.

My business insurance covers work that I have done that may get damaged or stolen. No photos, it didn’t happen as far as the insurance is concerned.

Also, if the IRS wonders why I am buying kitchen appliances I have photos showing the use of a blender to mix glue.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Looking good Todd. Don’t lose too much sweat over it. Just as well it’s winter over your way. We had 30 deg (86F) over night here.

-- Grumpy - "Always look on the bright side of life"- Monty Python