Help Wanted @ IF - Wanna learn how to build frames?

[SteveP]

I gots a stick and some string you can use. I also have a polka-dot handkerchief you can tie onto it to stash your belongings in should you decide to runaway to be a framebuilder.

dave

i may hallucinate about many things.
that is not one of them.

[Jonathan]

If they needed a finance guy who can sell as well as sweep floors and do prep I'd be game.

[JBS103]

Any room for a hard working summer intern up there?

[GSmith]

Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming response. V-Salon has no shortage of folks that dare to dream. Let me interject some reality to temper the enthusiasm. It's the frame building equivalent of the record company mail room, and we all know that for every David Geffen, there's thousands of Joe Go-fetch-a-lattes. Simply put, this job sucks.

It pays below what is considered necessary to live in the greater Boston area (that said, there is a genuine hobo camp by the railroad tracks behind the shop). The job is hard, and at times, mind numbing. I blasted one frame today and can't say that I enjoyed myself beyond the minimal rush that comes with any power operated tool.

Dare to dream, but think long and hard before you consider quitting the day job.

For those of you that have sent e-mails and PM's, thanks for the interest and please be patient, we'll do our best to respond as soon as we can.

[acotts]

Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming response. V-Salon has no shortage of folks that dare to dream. Let me interject some reality to temper the enthusiasm. It's the frame building equivalent of the record company mail room, and we all know that for every David Geffen, there's thousands of Joe Go-fetch-a-lattes. Simply put, this job sucks.

It pays below what is considered necessary to live in the greater Boston area (that said, there is a genuine hobo camp by the railroad tracks behind the shop). The job is hard, and at times, mind numbing. I blasted one frame today and can't say that I enjoyed myself beyond the minimal rush that comes with any power operated tool.

Dare to dream, but think long and hard before you consider quitting the day job.

For those of you that have sent e-mails and PM's, thanks for the interest and please be patient, we'll do our best to respond as soon as we can.

Im with Flux. Yer bullshitting us now.

So...anyone doing this to scorn a bike shop that rejected your suburban asses for not being hip enough?

...is this thing on?

[riceburner]

Thanks to everyone for the overwhelming response. V-Salon has no shortage of folks that dare to dream. Let me interject some reality to temper the enthusiasm. It's the frame building equivalent of the record company mail room, and we all know that for every David Geffen, there's thousands of Joe Go-fetch-a-lattes. Simply put, this job sucks.

It pays below what is considered necessary to live in the greater Boston area (that said, there is a genuine hobo camp by the railroad tracks behind the shop). The job is hard, and at times, mind numbing. I blasted one frame today and can't say that I enjoyed myself beyond the minimal rush that comes with any power operated tool.

Dare to dream, but think long and hard before you consider quitting the day job.

For those of you that have sent e-mails and PM's, thanks for the interest and please be patient, we'll do our best to respond as soon as we can.

You had me at "hobo camp"

[GSmith]

You had me at "hobo camp"

I thought that I was being a bit too subtle with "this job sucks".

[e-RICHIE]

I thought that I was being a bit too subtle with "this job sucks".

subtle?
you were being damned misleading atmo.
tell the cat who saws this one down about his day wage as a "framebuilder" atmo:

[Mr.President]

A cool opportunity. Mr. Prez...don't you have the summer off anyway?

There isn't a cat on this planet who wants to work for IF more then I do. Ask Joe!

However, my family...actually my daughter is more important to me then anything related to bikes ever! She is turning 4 this month and is going to get her first bike with training wheels. It is all she asked for from me.

I don't get enough time with her as it is, so while dreams might have come true, I can still be a huge fan of theirs, ride em when I get the chance and continue to bug Joe, Tyler, Gary, and Lloyd as much as they will tolerate it.

I have a very special one coming this month. I can hardly wait.

[boundgear]

I can afford to work the peanuts you'll offer. My wife was happy about a possible interview this week. And the possibility of painting my bike. It needs it...

I can do mind numbing. (you ever polish a copper plate and scrape off imperfections just to repolish it, wash it for the 15th time that day before drying it correctly before prepping the ink, spreading the ink and spending 25 minutes wiping the ink off before printing the damn image. only to reapply the ink, spend 25 minutes wiping the ink off etc for 15 hours 7 days a week? I'm a pro at mind numbing.) Last, who hasn't worked next door to hobos?

[corko]

This sounds like an 'on all fours reciting "Thank you sir, please may I have another"' kind of position........no?

maybe best suits youngfolk.... passing the baton on an' all that

[Lloyd Graves]

So, I'm doing this job right now plus trying to do part of my regular job. I am sort of the backup blaster and paint prep guy anyway. So here is what I did today.

9:15AM
Come in and start working on a ti frame with a failed paint job that has to come off-sucky communication error kind of thing.

Switch the big blast cabinet out to plastic media which involves pumping it out and running a shop-vac on the pressure vessel. The shop-vac builds up static electricity from the sand and shocks you. I have learned to put the vac close to the cabinet so it shoots little bolts to it instead of me.

Load in plastic and blast the frame. Then un-mask the exposed ti parts and remask. If you just leave it sand gets trapped inside and falls out later in the candy coat or something.

Go eat 3 slices of shitty pizza cause it's the fastest local spot.

Come back and sand some primed bikes with Leah. Then switch the blaster back to abrasive media and blast 3 frames. After that suit up and clear two and prime three. 9:45pm

Tomorrow will be about the same, maybe some decaling or sanding clear too.

But, a customer brought some beer and a 750ml of Buffalo Trace bourbon a few days ago and I have a sweet bike to ride home on. The people I work with are cool :D.

LG

[Scott G.]

Just send a press gang to Portland, they're overrun with framebuilders.

[disengage snarky mode], rude quotes removed.:angel:

Scott G.

[Mr.President]

So, I'm doing this job right now plus trying to do part of my regular job. I am sort of the backup blaster and paint prep guy anyway. So here is what I did today.

9:15AM
Come in and start working on a ti frame with a failed paint job that has to come off-sucky communication error kind of thing.

Switch the big blast cabinet out to plastic media which involves pumping it out and running a shop-vac on the pressure vessel. The shop-vac builds up static electricity from the sand and shocks you. I have learned to put the vac close to the cabinet so it shoots little bolts to it instead of me.

Load in plastic and blast the frame. Then un-mask the exposed ti parts and remask. If you just leave it sand gets trapped inside and falls out later in the candy coat or something.

Go eat 3 slices of shitty pizza cause it's the fastest local spot.

Come back and sand some primed bikes with Leah. Then switch the blaster back to abrasive media and blast 3 frames. After that suit up and clear two and prime three. 9:45pm

Tomorrow will be about the same, maybe some decaling or sanding clear too.

But, a customer brought some beer and a 750ml of Buffalo Trace bourbon a few days ago and I have a sweet bike to ride home on. The people I work with are cool :D.

LG

Can I bring a cot to put in the shop to sleep on?

work with Leah. sold!

[Roman]

forget it
i hired romans kids to both fish and cut bait.
im gonna go for a bike ride- as it should be.

I got all this bait. where do you want it?

[rwsaunders]

I spent 4 Summers in college and 4 years after college working in a coke (not related to the Boonen type) plant. Based upon that experience, I learned to appreciate any other job that I have had since. Decent wages, good benefits, shitty conditions and ball-busting work....my boss used to say "Pick three, you can't have it all." Maybe we should start a sticky.

Photo of RW in the green suit on top of A-1 battery in West Aliquippa circa 1976. Other photos are of the top of the coke ovens and the door side of the coke oven battery.

[niedz]

all that to make soda??

[Too Tall]

And RW pulls into the lead ;) So you've never laid in the belly of a Bucyrus Erie Dragline hand scraping grease from exploded lines in the dead of winter??? You haven't live my brother.

That IF job would be an awesome way for someone with aspirations to begin working in the trade.

Well Done G.S., bloody well done. You did not have to do this and appreciate your trust.

[54ny77]

I see stuff like this and am suddenly grateful all I do is push paper....

And RW pulls into the lead ;) So you've never laid in the belly of a Bucyrus Erie Dragline hand scraping grease from exploded lines in the dead of winter??? You haven't live my brother.

[acotts]

My best freind at School worked at the Cheerwine factory in Salsbury, NC.
He did quality control, and they paid him well.

He had a number of jobs, but one of he main jobs was to sit in a chair and inspect every bottle that passed on the conveyor belt. The hypnotic and repetative nature mixed with a constant hangover from the night before would often lull him to sleep. At least ten times he would wake up to shear CHeerwine fury, with hundreds of bottle getting jammed together and exploding that nasty cherry flavored soda all over the place. Alarms would go off, bottles would explode, and people would yell. He said it was like a veitnam movie.

To this day, if he smells cheerwine, he turns green.