Photos of our workshops
Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:10 pm
It seems that, when looking at photos of builder's most recent ski creations, I often catch myself looking past the actual image of the new ski, into the space of the shop where the ski was born. I love workshops and I love tools. People go on house tours and on garden tours, but I've never heard of a 'workshop tour'... so, I'm starting one here. I was looking at www.happymonkeysnowboards.com earlier today, and was struck by how tidy Mike's shop was. It seems that my shop always looks like 100 elves worked the night shift, and when the sun came up, they immediately stopped what they were doing and walked out the door.
A dear friend of mine passed away about 15 years ago at 85 years old. He was an amazing guy... early days Indy 500 car designer, mechanic and racer. He was a certified steam engine engineer. He watched Lassen Peak erupt back in 1915 while riding with his dad in the car pictured below. Anyway, the shop that I now use was his when he was alive. Although, he was about 45 years older than I, we loved spending time together, especially in the shop. We built tons of things, including a VW that was steam powered and one that ran off of wood smoke. They're still sitting out back of the shop. My friend was a very active guy and died quite suddenly. After his death, his shop sat idle, just as he had left it on the last day he worked there, until about a year and a half ago when his wife heard that I was thinking about building skis. She said, "Bert would be so happy to know that you were doing something creative in his shop". So, here it is in all of it's glory. Sometimes when I run up against some problem in the shop that I just can't seem to find an answer for, I almost swear I here Berts voice saying, "Think boy, think"...like he so often did... and the answer then almost always comes. I hadn't planned on doing this post, so these photos are from awhile back.
C'mon... let's see some shop pics!
A dear friend of mine passed away about 15 years ago at 85 years old. He was an amazing guy... early days Indy 500 car designer, mechanic and racer. He was a certified steam engine engineer. He watched Lassen Peak erupt back in 1915 while riding with his dad in the car pictured below. Anyway, the shop that I now use was his when he was alive. Although, he was about 45 years older than I, we loved spending time together, especially in the shop. We built tons of things, including a VW that was steam powered and one that ran off of wood smoke. They're still sitting out back of the shop. My friend was a very active guy and died quite suddenly. After his death, his shop sat idle, just as he had left it on the last day he worked there, until about a year and a half ago when his wife heard that I was thinking about building skis. She said, "Bert would be so happy to know that you were doing something creative in his shop". So, here it is in all of it's glory. Sometimes when I run up against some problem in the shop that I just can't seem to find an answer for, I almost swear I here Berts voice saying, "Think boy, think"...like he so often did... and the answer then almost always comes. I hadn't planned on doing this post, so these photos are from awhile back.
C'mon... let's see some shop pics!
actually, there's no reason other than we got the suits for a good deal from the Helly Hansen outlet. so, what do you wear (in addition to safety glasses, a respirator, and proper ear protection) when working on skis?
it basically consists of a single car garage and a workshop in my basement. not near enough room but with with a little bit of moving stuff around it works.
