My first experiences in learning Joinery cont....

Ok so i leave the fencing company and get a new job on a building site, which is better money and better prospects. I soon settled in and got friendly with a Joiner. While i was working as a labourer i also started helping out the joiner, i started learning how to hang doors, cut architraves etc. Six months later i quit the labouring job and started working with the joiner who had set me on full time. I also started college on a day release. Had to take a pay cut tho, cant win em all.
    I started college at 21, i was the oldest in my class which seemed really weird. All the other lads were strait out of school and so very immature.
    Month by month i was getting further and further ahead of the rest of the group, until one day i actually worked up the whole first years syllabus. Id finished my NVQ1course work in record time and just needed my exams to complete which were going to be 5 months away. I still had to go every week but instead of twiddling my thumbs i was asked my my lecturer to help out with the students who were lagging behind in class. I sometimes even took the class when the lecturer had a meeting or went for a sly coffee and cigarette.
The students thought this was cool, as i injected a bit of humour into the class, which got them motivated. I was even given the nickname "Joseph the joiner" The Joseph who was with Mary in the Biblical times, crazy ha?
     Life on site wasn't always plane sailing. I remember my first day. We were on a roof erecting roof trusses, now the idea is to nail every truss on an already marked 4x1 horizontal bracing strap. In other words nail the truss on the pencilled cross. I was that nervous and quiet scared of heights too, that i nailed them anywhere but the crosses. About thirty minutes later i had nailed them all. My boss took one look and asked me what i did was right. I looked at the roof and didn't know what to say, the roof was all over the place. It actually looked like a Tornado had swept across it. I thought i was going to get the sack. My boss sent me back on the roof and made me De-nail it all, lesson learned.
    Another mistake i made was when i was drilling a hole for a door latch. It was a new ogre bit which are pretty aggressive. That combined with a power drill is even more so. The drill started nice and slow and was boring the hole out nice, so i speeded it up abit, it must have hit a knot because  it went straight through the side of the door and into the plastered wall. You can imagine how i felt as i saw the size of the hole in the new door and wall. Its laughable now thinking back.
    Even now i still make mistakes no matter how careful i may be.
   
More later Folks...
   
   

My first experiences in learning Joinery.

When i was in High School i had a few choices as to what i wanted to do for my career options. First i wanted to be an Electrician and secondly a fireman. Never got my head around being a sparky and a friend of my dad was a fire chief, and he said i had no chance of been a Water fairy cos I'm Asthmatic. So i left school with all my GCSEs and got a full time job in a large supermarket warehouse.
    My first day there was to chop and wrap swedes, and i don't mean the human ones...hey we all have to start somewhere.I spent a few years there and saved for my own motor.
    I left and went to a footwear distributor, i packed and picked shoes all day, but at least i wasn't handling vegetables all day,and it was more money.
I soon got bored after a few years then left to go to a Fence Manufacturer. I flew through the interview and started a week later.

    The first day was horrific. The manager showed me how to make a small Trellis, he demonstrated how to use the compressed air gun too. COOL a Gun.

I made about 12 trellis ,as i got more confident i got faster and faster. But low and behold BANG!!
Yes i fired a 1" nail in the end of my finger. Now theres nothing more weird than having a foreign object firmly lodged in your finger, there wasn't even any blood, and it didn't hurt either.
So i trot off up to the office for the manager to have a look."nar then lad " he says ," wots tha bin doin ear ya daft bugger"
    Well i accidentally shot myself boss. I'm gonna have to go to A&E to sort it. "Nar just pull it wi these plyers, itil be reet". Thats what all the lads do ere.
So i took the pliers and braced myself (just short of a stick between my teeth) i pulled the little blighter right out. Almost instantly i experienced a large amount of pain, FOR  F*~#X###** .
Never mind the swearing,you should have seen  the amount of blood that pumped out. The boss almost peed his pants.
    Anyway i bandaged it up and got back to work.
BANG!!  Oh no not again and in the same finger. Now that did hurt,so i trotted back up to the office, i picked up the pliers and yanked. I screamed like a little girl. I looked down and the blooming nail was still there. "Rete lad you will need to go to the A&E now cos you have a small wire attached to the nail, hence why it wont come out"
    So the boss drove me to the Hospital. I eventually got seen too by a Doctor. And do you know what he did, he got out a pair of pliers and pulled it. Well i nearly shot through the roof.
I never shot myself again in the 2 years i was at the fencing company.
What i did learn was the art of making every fence panel design known to man.
     I became really good at working with timber and so then moved towards getting a job on a building site.

More to come tomorrow peeps...

Tools you will need to fit a Kitchen.

If you are reading the kitchen blogs, and are one day going to fit your own, then here is a tool check list you will need to accomplish this task.

1. A good power drill/driver

2. A hammer drill

3. Level

4. Jigsaw

5. Hammer

6. Silicone gun

7. Hand saw

8. Clamps

9. A set of drill bits and cutters

10. Router and Router jig ( if you are fitting the work surfaces with routered Joints and not worktop metal jointers)

11.A good assortment of screws (may not be supplied with kitchen)

12.Fine Rasp

13. Contact adhesive
14. Mitre Fix
15. Tiling equipment ( will get around to these tools in a later blog)

You will most definitely need all of these tools,as for the router and jig you could get a competent joiner to do these for you as they do take a long time to master and is really difficult to explain to a novice.
It will be really beneficial to use this method and not to use the germ collecting metal strips. NO NO
  
I will be attaching some specific tools which i tend to use all the time in my day to day tasks at work.
I will write a few reviews to help you decide which are the best suited for you.

Happy shopping!

Preparing for your Kitchen

So you have your Plumber and Electrician and kitchen delivery date sorted. Now you need to choose all the extra things you need to make your kitchen look the part.

1.Choose wall tiles
2. Paint colours
3.Floor coverings ie Tiles,real wood, Laminate, cushioned flooring etc
4. Window blinds
5. Ceiling lights, spots, directional spots

Theres plenty to think about when trying to redesign the entire kitchen, to make all the colours mix together to form a unique room in your home.

Did you know that the Kitchen alone can add 1000s to the sale of your home. It is probably the most important room in the house,and could sway the decision of a buyer. This is why its imperative to get the kitchen just right.
  Make sure you mull over plenty of ideas, look in magazines at what designs, colour schemes and finishing touches you can use to make your kitchen the best it can be.

*If your present kitchen is still in good shape you could always try and sell it. Take photos and write down the cupboard sizes and appliances etc. You never know a local Landlord/ Landlady may buy it off you for a rental property.

You have a busy few weeks ahead.
Don't forget you may need a skip when the kitchen arrives, there will be alot of packaging.


See you soon   The Jolly Joiner