Retirement 3.0
- Thread starter Intheshop
- Start date
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
I am three years into Retirement. Happy as a clam, not going back. They can fix all their
problems without me. My brother once pointed out that the graveyards are filled with
indispensable men. I was damn good at what I did, solved a lot of fun, challenging,
interesting problems, traveled to a lot of way out of the way places that I could have never
imagined that I would go to (let alone 10 times) and worked with folks from those same
strange places on projects that I could have never imagined. Interesting as heck. Don't
miss it at all. I have my guns, aircraft, cars, machine tools, woodworking tools, love to travel, read and
do. Life is good. I could have taken some of my contacts in foreign countries and worked
that into another interesting career.....decided not to do it. Financially secure, so I do what
I and the wife want to do. Every day.
I highly recommend retirement if you can make it work financially.
Bill
problems without me. My brother once pointed out that the graveyards are filled with
indispensable men. I was damn good at what I did, solved a lot of fun, challenging,
interesting problems, traveled to a lot of way out of the way places that I could have never
imagined that I would go to (let alone 10 times) and worked with folks from those same
strange places on projects that I could have never imagined. Interesting as heck. Don't
miss it at all. I have my guns, aircraft, cars, machine tools, woodworking tools, love to travel, read and
do. Life is good. I could have taken some of my contacts in foreign countries and worked
that into another interesting career.....decided not to do it. Financially secure, so I do what
I and the wife want to do. Every day.
I highly recommend retirement if you can make it work financially.
Bill
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
Not really happy with the circumstances that got me retired a couple years early but really happy NOT doing what I used to do. The stress was killing me. Busier now but I'm doing what I want to be doing, pretty much on my own terms. I can heartily recommend retirement if you can afford it.
Went hunting yesterday near some neat old,probably 1800-30 stone foundations that was a support community for a reasonable sized mill operation,upstream.
Shop is pretty durn clean for "walk throughs" with holiday visitors.Got a cpl sheet metal,dust collector related projects that need attention.Then it's back to building "stuff" for wifey N me.French doors in wifeys new suite.And then after a recent trip to Williamsburg (card carrying old house/building junkies),found a design adaptation for glass doored 18th century storage cabmets.Think silversmith display,though we saw them in several places.These are wall hung.And are especially pretty if you french them into the cavity of an interior wall,bonus points for non load bearing.But a header install is easy.
The CWF crew does "series" pcs to be used in the stores and some of the houses.Which isn't too far different from here.I can process 3 pcs in but a fraction more time than 1.Then bump that to 1/2 dz,sell 3 pays for the lot.Give the others away to family.
Shop is pretty durn clean for "walk throughs" with holiday visitors.Got a cpl sheet metal,dust collector related projects that need attention.Then it's back to building "stuff" for wifey N me.French doors in wifeys new suite.And then after a recent trip to Williamsburg (card carrying old house/building junkies),found a design adaptation for glass doored 18th century storage cabmets.Think silversmith display,though we saw them in several places.These are wall hung.And are especially pretty if you french them into the cavity of an interior wall,bonus points for non load bearing.But a header install is easy.
The CWF crew does "series" pcs to be used in the stores and some of the houses.Which isn't too far different from here.I can process 3 pcs in but a fraction more time than 1.Then bump that to 1/2 dz,sell 3 pays for the lot.Give the others away to family.
Ian
Notorious member
Do like a friend of mine who used to run a custom cabinet shop...retire, keep everything including the inventory, roll out little runs of stuff for the fair and small cash jobs to support his fishing habit, work 2-3 days a month and make the same profit he did when he had four employees working 10hrs/day.
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Ian, that sounds like a deal! Dump the headaches, keep the fun.
Keith,
I can see how your current situation would be agreeable for a person like you. You get to teach one attentive,
dedicated "student", not whoever comes in the door, and not the same thing, again and again. Having tutored
a couple of young men in math and physics for 4 years, I enjoyed it, but in retrospect, starting over, especially
without the ability to select students, and repeating the same stuff over and over would eventually wear out. I also taught
math for adults at work for 2 years, and truly enjoyed that once the shirkers found out that working was going
to be more fun than my math class where they WOULD be called on to answer questions and where they really
didn't give a darn about math. Once it was down to 6 or 7 students that really wanted to learn more math, it was fun.
Bill
Keith,
I can see how your current situation would be agreeable for a person like you. You get to teach one attentive,
dedicated "student", not whoever comes in the door, and not the same thing, again and again. Having tutored
a couple of young men in math and physics for 4 years, I enjoyed it, but in retrospect, starting over, especially
without the ability to select students, and repeating the same stuff over and over would eventually wear out. I also taught
math for adults at work for 2 years, and truly enjoyed that once the shirkers found out that working was going
to be more fun than my math class where they WOULD be called on to answer questions and where they really
didn't give a darn about math. Once it was down to 6 or 7 students that really wanted to learn more math, it was fun.
Bill
blackthorn
Active Member
It took me 4 tries before I got it right. I still take on the odd case, if it's interesting and the "client" seems to be genuine/truthful. "Client" is in quotes because I do not charge for helping, I do it more for fun and to see if I can come up with creative arguments.
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
I am retired, but.....
I still consult every so often with a small, high end travel trailer company on frame designs.
Mostly because I like the owner and her son, the shop foreman and they LISTEN to my structural advice and
have built some truly hell for stout trailer (53 ft semi).
I have designed for them for over 20 yrs, too. She told me at my last visit that she
had a Hiwy Patrolman call her to talk about an accident with one of her trailers. She was
wondering what that was about, but had to laugh when he said he had seen one of her
trailers hit broadside by a semi at about 40 mph and was really surprised at the low
damage, after seeing many trailer wrecks where it just explodes into a cloud of wreckage.
Owner drove the trailer to the factory and the had a lot of repairs on the "house"
but the frame was fine. One axle assy need replacing, too.
I enjoy the occasional engineering job, and they are good people to work with. The only
"work" I do any more, keeps me in guns. Blows out the cobwebs in the brain, too, to have
to think hard again on solving tech work.
Bill
I still consult every so often with a small, high end travel trailer company on frame designs.
Mostly because I like the owner and her son, the shop foreman and they LISTEN to my structural advice and
have built some truly hell for stout trailer (53 ft semi).
I have designed for them for over 20 yrs, too. She told me at my last visit that she
had a Hiwy Patrolman call her to talk about an accident with one of her trailers. She was
wondering what that was about, but had to laugh when he said he had seen one of her
trailers hit broadside by a semi at about 40 mph and was really surprised at the low
damage, after seeing many trailer wrecks where it just explodes into a cloud of wreckage.
Owner drove the trailer to the factory and the had a lot of repairs on the "house"
but the frame was fine. One axle assy need replacing, too.
I enjoy the occasional engineering job, and they are good people to work with. The only
"work" I do any more, keeps me in guns. Blows out the cobwebs in the brain, too, to have
to think hard again on solving tech work.
Bill
There's the trap,looking at last two examples... that approach wacked #1 AND #2 attempt.
Also tried the "soup Nazi" approach but,the customer base is so polite,so nice.And in drop dead,slackjaw property.The kind that I'm in constantly in our traveling.
The art is or has been a real potential,something that needs to be finished.Oldest is pro $$$,so marketing (getting rid of it) is slam cvrd.I'm doing technical art so often anyway?Change format and subject matter... historic houses would be fun.Print m up as stationary,which we buy a lot of and,it ain't cheap.
Also tried the "soup Nazi" approach but,the customer base is so polite,so nice.And in drop dead,slackjaw property.The kind that I'm in constantly in our traveling.
The art is or has been a real potential,something that needs to be finished.Oldest is pro $$$,so marketing (getting rid of it) is slam cvrd.I'm doing technical art so often anyway?Change format and subject matter... historic houses would be fun.Print m up as stationary,which we buy a lot of and,it ain't cheap.
F
freebullet
Guest
If you find something you truly enjoy doing & people pay you for it there is no need to retire. Maybe the reason for 3.0 its?
As one of the younger members here I found several replies very entertaining. Opened my company @ 25 years old. I quit a good paying job to do it. At 38 I have no regret. I play the game, do what's needed to build what I want & couldn't even imagine having a boss again.
I could take next month off without asking anyone, but I haven't taken a vacation in 2.5 yrs. I guess I'm addicted to pain, punishmemt, & work.
As one of the younger members here I found several replies very entertaining. Opened my company @ 25 years old. I quit a good paying job to do it. At 38 I have no regret. I play the game, do what's needed to build what I want & couldn't even imagine having a boss again.
I could take next month off without asking anyone, but I haven't taken a vacation in 2.5 yrs. I guess I'm addicted to pain, punishmemt, & work.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
My wife likes to travel. I don't travel well, I find it very stressful and physically debilitating. Very much prefer to stay home and play in shop. We have never taken a classic vacation although we did go to theme parks, zoos and such when son was younger. She finally asked me if I ever wanted to go on vacation and I said sure, love to go on an ocean going cruise ship sometime. She smiled and said "really?" and I said "sure, think of all the machinery to check out...". Smile disappeared, room temp dropped about 40 degrees, a rapid 180 spin and outta the room she went. Hasn't brought up going on vacation since.
I pulled the plug last April and ran vacation out until the middle of July. I had a great job, though I was out of town 3-4 weeks a month I set my own schedules, was well paid and the company picked up all meals and hotels. I did natural gas meter proof testing along with one other person in the utility I worked for which covered 2/3 the State of Montana. If I didn't have the part on my truck, the only other sources was my co-worker, a distributer in North Dakota or Houston. I finally got to where I couldn't stand on concrete or blacktop for 8-10 hours a day, and after a couple of foot surgeries I knew I was on borrowed time. At 63 I had enough for a decent retirement and have not had to hit SS yet. My time though has had me raising my 8 & 9 year old grandchildren in temporary custody while my daughter attempts to get her life together. She has about 6 more months until the State awards us full adoption. Good times. I recommend retirement to everyone except my Doctor and Financial Advisor, I want them around.
Holy moly.... retirement sucks,haha.
8 solid hrs today.And the only "easy" thing about being on a roof 40' in the air..... it ain't the pro scaffold party deck.Neither is it air compressor/nailgun.It isn't the 20+ trips up and down OSHA approved loooooong ladder/s.Nope,not even the fact that being up on these stations is truly a happy place.
The easiest part of today was what I charge for this sort of work!I sorta like the property owner (uuh,that would be me) so don't want to bust his wallet too hard?1500$ sounds about right,rolls right off the tongue.
I'd say we're about 20% done? on this relatively "minor" problem.That's a mean total of 5 days fiver.But,at 15 a day for five,would have to dbl that cause of hassle factor.So,the bill would be what, 3k X five days?
8 solid hrs today.And the only "easy" thing about being on a roof 40' in the air..... it ain't the pro scaffold party deck.Neither is it air compressor/nailgun.It isn't the 20+ trips up and down OSHA approved loooooong ladder/s.Nope,not even the fact that being up on these stations is truly a happy place.
The easiest part of today was what I charge for this sort of work!I sorta like the property owner (uuh,that would be me) so don't want to bust his wallet too hard?1500$ sounds about right,rolls right off the tongue.
I'd say we're about 20% done? on this relatively "minor" problem.That's a mean total of 5 days fiver.But,at 15 a day for five,would have to dbl that cause of hassle factor.So,the bill would be what, 3k X five days?
Oh,and this one is for Ian.I think you were "just" building some(you took too long) bookcase or sumthin?Take your material bill,to include any special tooling,dbl that.This is our build figure.Now,dbl that.
Generally,I try for a 3-1 ratio "IF" we're being polite.Meaning;materials cost working on your own chit.... we can sell it for 3 times that figure.The money really starts to get turbo'd when there's a hassle factor.More often than not,bookcases are easy peazy.But when they start to cause me( the industry) problems,just sayin don't short change yourself when dropping $$ on the home front.BW
Generally,I try for a 3-1 ratio "IF" we're being polite.Meaning;materials cost working on your own chit.... we can sell it for 3 times that figure.The money really starts to get turbo'd when there's a hassle factor.More often than not,bookcases are easy peazy.But when they start to cause me( the industry) problems,just sayin don't short change yourself when dropping $$ on the home front.BW
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
Been officially retired now for eight months. Last job was about 3 years ago as an engineering/machining consultant for a world-wide production/audio/video/lighting/display/recording company.
My only problem with retirement is, I have so much to do, I don't know whether to shoot up the alley or cut down the street.
My only problem with retirement is, I have so much to do, I don't know whether to shoot up the alley or cut down the street.
Ian
Notorious member
Material bill is $400, including a new Diablo multi-cut table saw blade and 5" sanding discs. All #1 yellow pine, most of it has to be straight-lined and glued up, then sanded even. You know what that means, no wide-belt, no drum, have to do it all by hand with a random DA orbital because the sap ruins the drum/belt paper in about a millisecond. Makes you really pay attention to flushing the edges when clamping up the panels. Got 35 hours in it now and the bottom half is completely done. Top half has twice the shelves but nothing has to be glued up, thank gawd. $2500 job easy when in the biz. Why yellow pine? Because it matches the 1800 square feet of beaded ceiling, exposed beams, and crown moulding of the room it's going to inhabit. I'm trying to get all this done BEFORE I retire so I can kick back instead of work all the time. Next project is to sand and oil those 22 bullnose pecan stair treads that I planed about six years ago...and get them installed.
