True "Craft" people

[LWJ]

As I type, I have my Cousin's Boyfriend over. He is installing a tile floor and shower in our bathroom.

He is a total pro. It is such a pleasure to see the work of a true craftsman/woman. The best part of my home is the upstairs bath that he installed a few years prior.

These skills are in the decline I suspect.

[herr_oberst]

Yup. Hard to find, hard to hold onto unless it's a family deal or part of a business arrangement.

I had a guy for a while, but he's booked solid now.

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by LWJ

As I type, I have my Cousin's Boyfriend over. He is installing a tile floor and shower in our bathroom.

He is a total pro. It is such a pleasure to see the work of a true craftsman/woman. The best part of my home is the upstairs bath that he installed a few years prior.

These skills are in the decline I suspect.

Tile setting is not on the decline by any means. The part of the craft that is dyeing is old school wet beds. They are rarely used any longer. In the late eighties I worked for him setting tile.

My cousin owns arguably one of the largest and maybe the premiere stone business on the East Coast. The craftsmanship that comes out of his plant is amazing.

[javadog]

If that’s a house, it’s a hell of an entryway…

[masraum]

Originally Posted by javadog

If that’s a house, it’s a hell of an entryway…

About tree-fiddy worth.

[drcoastline]

It's a house, Palm Beach.

His website

http://marblecrafters.com/index.php?/contact/

[javadog]

That’s really cool. I hope we never lose the ability to build places like that, I remember touring through the houses in Newport, Rhode Island, some incredible workmanship in those.

[drcoastline]

The beauty is Bobby is completely self-made. He bought a van hired a guy with experience and started laying tile in the Philadelphia suburbs. At the time I worked for him he had ten or so crews setting tile, I got paired with his original employee, the guy who taught him. Marble Crafters had just been started in a small warehouse in West Chester Pennsylvania. Today the facility is some ten acres by the Philadelphia Airport. Bobby travels the world hand selecting the stone.

[javadog]

That is not a very forgiving craft.

The good news is that the machines they use have come along by leaps and bounds.

[drcoastline]

Originally Posted by javadog

That is not a very forgiving craft.

The good news is that the machines they use have come along by leaps and bounds.

It is not, there is no fixing a mistake. GPS and computers help as well. When we used to patter rooms or counters we would glue together wood strips. Now it is all done by a GPS plotter.

Most of the stonework in my house was oopsies from jobs. They couldn't do anything with it so it would go sit out in a yard.

The kitchen countertop in the house I just sold was to have been a desk in some executive's office in Manhattan. In the center was a cutout for a computer monitor that laid in the desktop and was to be covered by glass. The layout guy didn't put the cutout in the right spot it was about 1/4" from center as I recall. It was a thirty-thousand-dollar mistake.

I went there to have him make me a countertop. In the yard I saw the piece. I asked him about it, he said if you can use it, you can have it. I took measurements and saw I could make it work. They cut about six feet off one end, enlarged the hole from the computer monitor so I could slide my stove in the opening.

I paid two of his guys to stay after work one night to cut and polish.

[gregpark]

IMO you can teach someone a trade or skill but you can't teach someone to be a craftsman. You're either born a true craftsman or not. A simple handy man who has no training for a specific trade but is imaginative, curious, inventive and passionately dedicated to his work is a truer craftsman than most of the journeymen in the trades out there (IMO)

[vash]

i dont know if i want to own a house where i get to say, "hey, meet you down in the Foyer!"

that is a beauty!! but i dont think i could furnish such a place. i'd put a fooseball table in there. a nice one.

[berettafan]

Wow. Pretty rare to see tasteful marble like that. Very, very nice.

[GH85Carrera]

When we moved into our house the front door was secure, but an ugly steel door. Mrs Carrera decided it had to go. So we found a local lubber yard that still makes custom doors. She picked out the style she wanted, I said yes dear, and it was ordered.

I am not even remotely a carpenter, just a wood butcher. The door place gave us the name of an installer. He showed up with the door, the frame and a new storm door that all matched. He took down the old door, put in large lag bolts for the door frame, drilled out the lock hole and the put it all back up and never had to back up and start a step over. His first step was to throw away the instructions. It was cool watching a true craftsman just do it right the first time.

Over a decade later that door still opens and closes like a new one. No need to ever jiggle the handle, or lift or tug. Just turn the handle, and it opens, and closes with a solid feel. It is just done right. I would still be cussing at it if I tried to do it.

[Seahawk]

In my rural part of Maryland, there is a significant number of young folks going into the trades and crafts...the gamut, really, not just the cool stuff in the OP.

Me?

I am just happy there is a significant number of young folks going into the trades and crafts.

Hate is not too strong a word I reserve for "craftsman", btw: It is witchcraft layered in darkness surrounded by Denis's goats.

[gregpark]

Ha ha, that's because a craftsman is really an artist.
Around these parts most of the white kids don't want to learn a trade or even work for that matter. It's the young Latinos who are the up and coming talent. They pay attention, ask questions and sort of run when asked to gopher something

[ckelly78z]

I can truly appreciate the craftsmanship, but I can't say I'm a fan of marble....awfully cold/impersonal looking for my taste !

[john70t]

Something like the above used to be reserved for main places of worship, government buildings, or the abodes of rulers.
Workers were numbered in the many thousands.

[SCadaddle]

Wow. I don't know that I'd want to be in that house below the stairs if I heard the owner shout
"Say hello to my LITTLE FRIEND!"

[carambola]

Probably a bit on an echo, but a decent defensive position without much penetration.
All in all, i'll give it a thumbs up.