First Job Search

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Thank you for the positive feedback.....putting my thoughts and memories in writing is my way of dealing with the inevitable demise of my physical body and aging mind. I'm sure everyone here has a story to tell.

Trust me,,, you’re pretty much gonna forget about all the hard work and look back with pride while your doing any freaken thing you want every day all day.... LOL

I’m available for lessons... LOL

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by Guppy

Trust me,,, you’re pretty much gonna forget about all the hard work and look back with pride while your doing any freaken thing you want every day all day.... LOL

I’m available for lessons... LOL

Sounds good Ray! I'll try to get to the point of my story soon..........if there is one! .....I want to remember those first few years that shaped my future. Coming of age in very short amount of time..........

[Guppy]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Sounds good Ray! I'll try to get to the point of my story soon..........if there is one! .....I want to remember those first few years that shaped my future. Coming of age in very short amount of time..........

Great read......

[beamie]

I think the point is most of today’s generation just wants to google tweet or instaface how to build something properly the first time every time without messing up or without getting off the sofa

Which isn’t how it works

I guess it may be going that way if you can click click click on an app to put a 20 x 20 addition on your house and it shows up on a few trailer trucks prefabbed in a warehouse.

I do also love the read every few days. Interesting stuff.
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[Rmarsh]

That interview, turned workday, on a Saturday morning was to be a very significant turning point in my life. When I came back to start the new job on Monday morning, my new boss Jim, took me to where he was building new homes in an exclusive area near Neds Point. He had built his own beautiful home in this area of town, where he had also built houses for doctors, lawyers, business executives and the like. His home was actually the nicest of the bunch. The spacious cabinet shop he had built nearby was also very impressive.

I felt sure that working for him I might learn more than just the basics of framing, roofing and siding I had been doing for the last year.
Didnt know much about my new boss at first. He was very tall, had broad shoulders, a crewcut and wore neatly pressed matching #^&#^&#^&#^&ies work clothes.
He didnt smile much and seemed very driven and stern....made sense to me when he mentioned his basic training at Parris Island and being in the US Marines for several years.
Also explained why he was treating me like a drill sergeant treats a new recruit.

[Rmarsh]

Working for my new boss, Jim, was not going to be easy. He was impatient and very critical, my work was neither good enough or fast enough for him, and working with him was grueling, he would yell and scream about picking up the pace, and at the same time calling out my less than perfect attempts "butcher work".
He sent me to the local lumber yard for materials, and when I mentioned his name as the account to charge to, heads turned to look at me quizzically, wasn't sure why. But a few weeks later, after several trips to get stuff, one of the desk clerks looked at me and said quietly..."are you still working for that guy?" "No one else stays for very long" he said.
I was starting to get the idea, and before long realized most people in town considered him to be a little crazy.

[Rmarsh]

Jim was living up to his reputation... a real hard ass, but having had many other male authority figures in my life, starting with my Dad, I had developed "thick skin"....as a defense mechanism. Still after a few weeks of his unrelenting criticism, I was at my limit, and at the end of a particularly rough day I told him that if I wasn't good enough to fire me. Well, at that point his attitude changed, he lightened up a little and told me I'd be fine. I guess he saw a least some potential in me, or maybe he realized finding a replacement for me might not be so easy.
Whatever the case I started to realize it was okay to push back when he got obnoxious.
On the positive side, he was obviously a master carpenter/cabinetmaker, and had earned a degree at Wentworth Institute after his time with USMC. He had knowledge and skill but he wasn't a great teacher!

[Rmarsh]

We worked, just the two of us, for the first month or so, on various remodeling jobs he had going on in town. He had told me about his foreman "Mike", who was finishing up a big commercial job in New Bedford at the time and that he would be joining us soon to get started framing a large custom home. I looked forward to meeting this guy Mike, maybe it would be good to have someone else around as a buffer....from working alone with Jim. I guess I had formed a mental picture of him in my mind, from everything I had heard,....but those assumptions turned out to be wrong.

[Rmarsh]

When my boss Jim, a very tall, broad shouldered and lean individual, talked about his foreman, Mike, I guess I thought he also would be a tall and rugged kind of guy. When his jacked up pickup truck rolled up to the job one morning, I looked over as he opened his door to step out. When he did, I couldn't see him, he was so short he disappeared behind the door. Physical appearance and first impression.... he looked like an elf to me.
Mike was a very outgoing and pleasant guy, we hit it off right away, as he was quick with a joke, and I found myself amused with some of his antics. I was a bit relieved, working with him was going to be alot less stressful than working with Jim all the time.
He told me he had graduated tops in his vocational high school class, valedictorian and all, and also attended Wentworth for a few semesters before dropping out to start working and making money.
Right off I found him to be an excellent teacher, patiently explaining things about home building and carpentry skills that were still a mystery to me.
Mike was about five years older than me and over the next couple of years he became my mentor, and not just for carpentry stuff.

[Rmarsh]

Things got better, stress wise, after Mike came into the picture, compared to working with the boss Jim. Jims way, when things didnt go well, was to scream and curse.... Mike on the other hand was so calm and lighthearted, working with him was enjoyable.....my thoughts about quitting subsided. When I learned Mike had already built his own house at age 25......I told him that was my goal too. He had some very good advice for me.

[Rmarsh]

Over the next few months, Mike and I worked together a lot, mostly without the boss Jim around. My previous experience had been as a framing carpenter and I knew the routine pretty well, it was all about production and fast paced, but when it came to doing the finish work I was not so good. Mike explained to me that first of all "you've got to slow down!" Finish work takes a whole different mindset and tools. He picked up my hardly ever used block plane and asked "you ever sharpen this thing?" "I thought it was" I said. He laughed and said the blade needs to be sharpened on a regular basis and then showed me his technique for doing so...when he was done he shaved a patch of hair cleanly off his forearm with it, and also advised me to buy a low angle block plane, better for the kind of work we're doing he said. First of the many lessons I would learn from my new friend.

[Rmarsh]

One morning.... boss man Jim tells me to get in his truck and we go to the outskirts of town where he has a 40 acre tract of land to be developed into house lots.
When we get there he points out the yellow ribbons on the trees that define where he intends to put a road in. He gets a large chainsaw out from the back of his truck... a couple cans of fuel...chain file and some bar oil....and asks me if I can handle a chainsaw. I figured ...how hard can it be...and said sure. He explains that I am to cut down all trees between the ribbons....cut logs into four foot lengths and load them on the flatbed truck he had out there....then take all the brush make a pile and burn it. He had a couple of old tires there and told me once on fire they would help the green brush burn better.
He stayed for about half an hour to get me started then left...important business he said...and that he would come back later and pick me up. It was a hot day already and I was glad to have a full jug of water. It was fun at first...dropping those first few big trees.

[Rmarsh]

Looking back now it might be considered negligence...leaving a 19 year old, in the middle of the woods, with no phone or car...with a chainsaw and a couple cans of gas.....(but we rode our bikes with no helmets back then...if you can believe it!). I started to get the hang of getting the trees to fall where I needed them to...but then there were the ones that didn't. No buildings or wires around but I found out...it can be a real problem when they get hung up on another tree. I managed not to hurt myself, and after a very long day ...hauling logs and burning brush...I was totally exhausted...... waiting for my boss to come get me like he said he would. He didnt mention what time though.

[Raven]

my mum once sent me a newspaper article about a man with very arthritic hands
that was using WD40 as a solvent to clean up a real gunk covered carbuerator.
he didn't give it much thought any more than getting gasoline on his hands and
just washed them when he was done and left the parts to soak.
The very next day he was amazed to find he had recovered 80%
of his manual dexterity in his hands. i was mudding\sanding ceilings out in california
and could barely raise my cup of coffee my shoulder hurt so bad. then i said Fug -IT
sprayed wd on my left hand and massaged it into my right shoulder. Pain subsided!
it was warming like an epsom salts rub... i went back to work...

great story RMarsh

[Rmarsh]

Thanks for the tip Raven....I've tried a lot of remedies....nothing has worked so far...cortisone injections, cbds, creams, ointments pain pills etc. Doctor says....good news is its not going to kill me....bad news... no known cure and it only gets worse with age. Too many years of use and abuse in construction trade.... the wear and tear... especially where thumb and wrists connect.... Lately it seems like every injury I ever had and recovered from is back to torment me. Happy to have good legs though

[Raven]

I know what ya mean on injuries. I totally cringe when i see people miss-using and/or ABUSING THEIR ANKLES... like they are Bionic or have the terminator body where they simply auto regenerate. I have a 2 foot wide ramp that leads from the midsection connector room up to the main barn (40 ft) and i was pushing a wheel barrow up there to go get firewood. Being extremely cold i threw up my hood (bad idea) and it messed up my peripheral vision just enough that my right foot stepped out on into the air. This made me spin and flop down onto a big pile of slap wood (kindling) really fast Blam! tearing off my shoe, cutting my leg right thru my dungaree's and thermal underwear it hit me so hard. So Now i plan to rebuild the ramp 3 feet wide with 5/4 plywood plus adding proper safety rails.

[Raven]

keeping the hot fire going
using your hand repetitively takes a toll on the ole thumb muscle

so we almost daily use Arthritis penetrating heat rub
used to be just $1.00 dollar now your lucky to find it!

it's either that or a muscle rub /blue ice or Lido-caine patch from walmart

here's what it looks like:

[Guppy]

You buried up there?

[Rmarsh]

After a long day of cutting down trees, loading logs, and burning brush ....quitting time came and went....and still no Jim. When he does show up, I am relieved, i need him to give me a ride back to my car, so I can go home, and get cleaned up for a date with my girlfriend......but there was a problem. Jim tells me that we have to go deal with a concrete form that gave out right when they poured it....he sped back to town where the job was.....and as darkness came we were there shoveling concrete back into the refastened formwork.....with him cursing the whole time........now I was really exausted! Showed up late at my girls house and fell asleep on her couch.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by Rmarsh

Thanks for the tip Raven....I've tried a lot of remedies....nothing has worked so far...cortisone injections, cbds, creams, ointments pain pills etc. Doctor says....good news is its not going to kill me....bad news... no known cure and it only gets worse with age. Too many years of use and abuse in construction trade.... the wear and tear... especially where thumb and wrists connect.... Lately it seems like every injury I ever had and recovered from is back to torment me. Happy to have good legs though

Hey you guys try this stuff : Voltaren

I have Ostio-Arthritis in both knees. I am "bone on bone in both with bones spurs in both. This stuff works for me. It is not cheap but it does work.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by piemma

Hey you guys try this stuff : Voltaren

I have Ostio-Arthritis in both knees. I am "bone on bone in both with bones spurs in both. This stuff works for me. It is not cheap but it does work.

I've got a large tube of the Voltaren in the truck....apply it before work and at lunchtime. I dont think it gives me much pain relief though..hard to tell when I go right back to using my hands for my work...but it is expensive so I must not waste it.

[Rmarsh]

When I was in high school I hung around with all the cool kids.....all we cared about was getting high and getting laid. But all the partying was turning some into alchoholics and hard drug users. I didnt want that for myself, I started to see them as losers that I needed to break away from if I was going to succeed.

They say you will become more like those who you associate with.
Now that I had graduated high school, I was working with two grown men who were both straight arrows...no drinking or drugs. Both had built their own homes. Working full time...learning to be a carpenter... gave me a sense of pride and independence. I read a couple of books that had a profound effect on my way of thinking.
I started planning my future, feeling like I had the power to make it happen.

[Rmarsh]

[QUOTE=I started planning my future, feeling like I had the power to make it happen.[/QUOTE]


First thing... was to save as much money as I could. My new friend and co-worker, Mike, advised me that...."working just forty hours a week is never going to be enough to get ahead." You should figure on trying to match your weekly take home pay by doing side jobs for cash." and that he had a lot of side work and needed help with them on nights and weekends. So I started leaving my regular job at 4:30 after my eight hours...grabbing something to eat..then go work on his side hustle jobs until at least 8:30 pm.
He was right.....doing that and working saturdays as well...basically doubled my regular pay....and it "all" went into my savings account.
Watching my account balance grow was encouraging and I had a plan for what to do with that money.
It was when I proposed to my girlfriend, that I told her I would be building a house for us.

[Rmarsh]

My original plan was to buy 20 acres up in New Hampshire and start a homestead......I new a guy from fall river who did it...built a small cabin......no electric or plumbing for the first year he and his wife were up there. Anyway my girl told me there was no way she would move that far away from her family.
So I started looking locally for a piece of land to build upon. My boss at the time was a developer/builder and he offered me a one acre lot in his subdivision for $5,500. But I knew about the high water table there and wet basements all to well......and that there wasnt going to be enough privacy for my liking......so I kept looking.

I informed her parents and mine...they were happy to hear the news....but understandably skeptical when I said I would be building our house by myself. I was 19 years old.

[Rmarsh]

My search for the right place to build led me to a really beautiful acre and a half lot, "high and dry" as they use to say, and it abutted conservation land. It wasnt in a subdivision where everybody knows everybody elses business and that was a plus to me......i like my privacy.
So I made the decision to buy it from the private seller who was building a house next lot over. I had saved as much money as I could but it wasnt enough......so I would have to get a loan for the balance to make the purchase.
That proved to be tougher than expected. I went to the bank manager where I had a savings account with half of the money I needed and asked to borrow the rest, my passbook showed weekly deposits of whole paychecks. He turned me down..... saying "we dont like doing loans for vacant land. Went to another bank and they said I needed a co-signer. No way would I ask my parents to do that. I was determined to do this myself. I kept looking....my boss suggested trying with his bank and with his recommendation I was approved.

[Rmarsh]

So it was in the fall of '75 I became the proud owner of a beautiful piece of land with giant pine trees and a clean running stream just beyond the back lot line in the state forest. I wasnt going to build on it just yet... our wedding date was set for summer of '77....so had to stay focused....get the loan payed off....apply for another loan to build and decide on what type and size house we could afford.
At my job we were building one house after another....they were different from each other but similar in so many ways....I was really catching on to the whole process and completely devoted to learning every aspect. After a while I felt well prepared to taking this project on.

[Rmarsh]

After the land transaction was complete, the weekend came, and I went out there, pitched a tent and spent the night. Next would be some tree cutting and land clearing.... I had no money for a new chainsaw.....so I brought an old axe. That turned out to be less than ideal....the next weekend I rented a chainsaw.

[Rmarsh]

Working an average of about sixty hours a week...I managed to pay off the land loan in exactly a year to the day.... took the day off and after the trip to the bank went out there....laid down in a sunny spot and fell asleep.

I came to the conclusion that a modest, small starter home would be the way to go. It would be a 26' x 36' Cape cod style home....I had already framed a bunch of these so I knew it would be easy. I designed it with one bedroom on the first floor...and a full dormer on the second.. left unfinished to be completed later on.

[afterhours]

^^^^^^^^
I love your story! Hard work and a good head on your shoulders at an early age, sounds like you were raised well.

[Rmarsh]

Originally Posted by afterhours

^^^^^^^^
I love your story! Hard work and a good head on your shoulders at an early age, sounds like you were raised well.

Thanks....I think about my deceased parents every day....how hard they struggled to raise eight of us....instilling values....and in the case of my dad....fear!....my mom would ask ..."what got into you?...when she saw what I was attempting to do.
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