Leather "Vocabulary"

[HARVEY]

Just came in from the garage/workshop, p-ssed off at myself! I was working in a hurry, dripped the gum tragacanth over the project, knocked/rolled a few things off the work bench, ticked off at myself, the economy, the state of the world, my first girlfriend (way back in the last century) and the jerk service/repairman that kept me waiting 45 minutes today. I was using profanity as it is meant to be used; a release mechanism.

Didn't work.

You pros out there -- Bruce, Bob Parks, Clay, Johanna and a bunch of others I'm not mentioning -- you guys ever get mad while working on a project?? Do you just take it in stride? Or (like me) does the blood pressure approach 4 figures?

Aarghhh! I'm STILL aggravated !#&*!

(Thanks, Guys, for letting me rant!!)

Harvey

[ArtS]

LOL I can laugh with you - not at you - because I have been there so many times.

Art

[TexasJack]

Well, I'm not a pro, but I did know a guy that had his boss's picture printed on some golf balls. Whenever he had a frustrating day, he'd take a few down to the nearby driving range and whack 'em. He claimed it lowered his blood pressure by 50%.

[bruce johnson]

Harvey,

I mostly get mad when I am bleeding. String bleeder sticking in my foot, draw gauge hanging off my knuckle, or the end of my finger gone from flicking that little skiving scrap that was hung up on the edge of the splitter blade.

Otherwise, I enjoy the shop time. Once in a while, I'll leave out a letter or realize that something isn't centered. I just cut the piece up into smithereens in the name of "knife practice". By the time I have shredded to offending piece of leather with probably more force than necessary, stropped my knife again, and get ready to cut the new one, I'm over it. That is the luxury of leatherwork. I am not allowed to shred things in my day job.

[Johanna]

Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.

Mark Twain

I have to admit there are times that I have used language not appropriate for children, but it's usually over some computer issue. I have learned to walk away and calm down before I break something I can't fix, too. Playing my guitar or banging on something in the shop helps. Or, I'll be cutting the grass when all of a sudden the answer just becomes clear. I don't know why, because I'm not even thinking of the problem at the time.

My first husband had a foul mouth, and I knew when something wasn't going well in the shop. In fact, loud long strings of expletives is what inspired me to pick up a brush and start doing his dye work, then his lacing, and so on. I won't ever forget the day we came home and discovered that one of our Rottweilers had mistaken his favorite mallet for a doggie-lollipop, and the whole thing was soggy and ruined. Oh boy.

We all have our bad days and mistakes. Show me a leatherworker without a scrap box, and I'll show you one who doesn't do too much work. The best we can do is not say that stuff in front of the kids. Besides repeating it, they want to know exactly what a blanketedy blank is- don't ask me how I know this.

Johanna

[Go2Tex]

It is exactly the "professional" part that produces the pressure to perform within time and cost constraints, which in turn causes stress. It is a well established fact that humans generally do not perform as well under stress. It has a compounding effect. The more stress you're under, the more likely you will mess up which in turn causes even more stress.

When the inevitable screw-up occurs, not only have you wasted your time, but you have also wasted material, which affects your bottom line. So yeah, leather "vocabulary" gets spoken in my shop on occasion. It's also why I build really strong work benches so that when I go to hammering out my sress with whatever the offending tool is most handy at the time of breaking point.......well, you get the drift.

It's also why I keep a good supply of liquid libation on hand and I start singing that Jimmy Buffet song about...."it's 5 o'clock somewhere". ....... It's great to be your own boss. Quitin' time is whenever you want it to be.

[barra]

Oooooooo Yeah. I have been known to make the script from Deadwood sound like rank amatuers in the expletive department. I can't say I have ever given a tool a flying lesson. The stuff up has never been the tool but always the operator.

In my Office at work we have a large block of foam with a metal pipe next to it. This is known as the whacking foam. It gets laid into when the Troops give us the irrits. That whacking foam has been getting a flogging lately.

Barra

[Wyvern]

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt, done wore it out!

[Shorts]

Harvey, I'm definitely a long way from Pro but I know this stress of which you speak. These days, things get hammered on the anvil if I'm really ticked. Luckily (I don't keep a baby sledge inside), and it's only been some line 24 snaps on straps that soon became scrap....and my cheapo airbrush...which come to think of it, I don't think was the problem as I had initially assumed

Anyhow, under that much tension if I sit and work, I can't think straight, my hands start shaking as I get angrier and angrier and I have to step away from the leather. Sure, time is crucial, but so are materials and quality of work. I've found it's best for me to walk away for a bit, even an hour or so. I clear my head, slow down, relax, and then go back with a renewed sense. Not only do I finish the item timely, but it is finished well.

I think we all have ways to blow off steam - its wise to use them constructively if we can. If not for our benefit, at least to reduce collateral damage.

[ClayB]

Hey Harvey,

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says "The worst day at the leather bench is better than the best day at work" ? Ok, it actually said "The worst day fishing....... but I dont fish.

I've ruined a lot of leather in the past 30 years. I actually get more excited when something turns out as I imagined it in my head than when I mess a project up. Carving leather is what I do when I want a break from the frustration of work, kids, life in general. Yesterday at work, it was snowing, blowing, visibility was close to zero a couple times, windchill was below zero. You can dress for cold, but it's still not fun climbing around on a roof setting rafters or dragging sheets of plywood around in conditions like that. So it's gonna take a lot to make me cuss when I'm on the ground, in a nice warm room, pounding on a piece of leather, no matter how many mistakes I might make.

When you mess up, just go buy another piece of leather. Call it your civic duty, doing your part to help improve the economy.

I hope things go better for you today!

[jbird]

Ok sounds like a regular party in your shops I am not much of swearing man but I have lost my tongue a time of too thats when i apply the old

thomas jefferson saying if your mad count to ten before talking, if you really mad count to one hundred. lol

Josh

[HARVEY]

Aah, what can I say but a hearty THANK YOU, one and all, for affirming for me I'm not the only one who educates the neighbors' kids (I doubt my words are on their SAT tests), does isometric and other energy-type exercising by see how much tensil (sp?)l strength is in certain objects when subjected to anger, plus going back into the house for immediate gratification (in my case: comfort food). Today I was working on a 5x7 notepad holder, and made too many damn mistakes along the way (dripping Barge, cutting 3/32" too short, dirtying the leather with my own fingers, plus a few more), and have resolved to scrap the damn thing and do it over again. Unless, that is, somebody'll lend me THEIR maker stamp.

Thanks everybody for the support. Nice to know I ain't the Lone Ranger.

Harvey

[TwinOaks]

If you've got room on the walls, take some of the things you've messed up and hang them in plain view.....with a price tag on it reflecting the total cost you've put into it. Just like it was for sale. Before you start tooling and/or cutting, take a look around the shop and remember what you messed up, and why, and maybe how you can fix it. Then check the price tags and the money just hanging on the wall. Now, take a deep breath, a swig of restorative tonic, slow down and PLAN your work.

I keep resolving to do this, and my last project (phone case for me) was the tipping point. From now on, I'm writing out my assembly steps.

Edited December 5, 2008 by TwinOaks