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Any funny stories to share?

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Mike Jackson
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Any funny stories to share?

Post by Mike Jackson »

Hi all,
I am sure everyone here has at least one (or a whole bunch) of funny stories to tell about some of their experiences in the sign trade.

For example, when I was younger and hand lettering a lot, I used to have a paint rag in my back pocket. I used it to wipe of the paint from my fingers or off a drip on the sign panel. That was following a few years of just wiping the excess paint on my pants. On one of the days, I was cleaning off some paint from a piece of Plexiglass with laquer thinner and stuck the rag in my pocket as usual. Needless to say, in few minutes I started getting the tingling felling. Within a few days, I had a nice 3" blister on my butt cheek.

If you have any stories to share, please post them here!

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

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Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

I also have tons of stories and might post one IF Mike promises NOT to post a picture of his blister.
Robin Sharrard
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Post by Robin Sharrard »

When I started learning how to hand letter and pin strip I got me one of those nifty clipboards that holds a couple of dixie cups and paleting material. Worked great until I had it resting in my lap and on a panel I was working on. I got realy excitted when I had executed a pretty clean set of O's and S's and I lifted the panel up to show my wife. The 1-shot cleaned out of my paints Ok, but it took a while to get rid of the pain and the blister's from the high temp 1-shot reduce that was in the other cup...needless to say, I gave the clipboard away! Robin
Robin Sharrard
Sharrard Graphics & Signs
Fallon,Nevada
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Doug,
That sounds like a deal to me. Let's hear them!
Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
joe cieslowski
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Post by joe cieslowski »

I had been teaching a 4 hr workshop on carving at the USSC show in Atlantic City. I think it was my 5th year.

I had all the blanks and samples for the 30 class members loaded in the van along with all the materials I needed to work in the Bull Pen. On Thurs. I drove the 5 1/2 hrs to AC....unloaded and checked into my room and cleaned up. I was at the convention center when the show opened at 3 (it's open till 9). My workshop was on Fri. from 1-5.
At about 8 o'clock I realized that I had left all 30 of the knife blades I needed for the workshop back at my shop.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS!!!

Joe,

Makin Chips and Havin Fun!.....NOT that day!!!
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Oh COME ON FOLKS!
You have no stories to share? A few of us spend a lot of time trying to keep this Forum up and running, and you can't spend 5 minutes writing a little story for the rest of us to enjoy? Please excuse the rant.

No one has dropped an X-Acto into their toe?
No one has broken the key off for the shop truck while trying to open a can of paint?
No one has lost balance on a ladder and fallen back to the ground?
No one has had a customer say something funny to them while lettering a window?
No one has sliced the end of their finger while cutting across the top of a metal yardstick?
No one has lettered the wrong wall or window?
No one has spilled a quart of fire red on the carpet of a new office building?

Don't you have at least ONE story to share?

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

When Darla and I were traveling around back in 1986, one of our stops was in Fargo/Morhead MN. at Butch Anton's shop. Butch had an old beater of a truck that he used for his walls and sign deliveries. While we were there, we found an empty gallon paint can and screwed it to the top of the rear left fender. We added in a few washers between the bottom of the can and the fender and didn't completely tighten the screw, allowing the can to rock just a little. Afte that, we dripped paint down the side and onto the fender, then added an old brush to the top of the can. When it was all done, it looked like Butch had set the can of paint on the fender and forgot about it. When Butch would drive down the road, the can would teeter around. People would see the can as they passed and would either slow down or go wide. He said some people would drive up to the side of him and scream at him telling him there was a can of paint on the fender, but he said he always just kept driving as though he had no idea of what they were trying to point out.

M. Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

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Jackson Hole photography blog:
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Robin Sharrard
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Post by Robin Sharrard »

Frank Maesen and I were working on David Butler's Wall Mural at the Walldog event in Lodi California. I was given a quick 5 minute lesson on how to use the self propelled man lift that we were working in. Everything was fine as long as we were going up or down, or moving toward or away from the wall. Some of the other painters were in the sizzer lift next to us and had to move our way...my instructor had failed to tell me about the movement speed control that was set to "9" Well if you've ever operated one of these things, which I never had...when I hit the button to go left it was like we had taken a catapolt launch off an aircraft carrior. I will never forget the look in Frank's eyes, nore the few choice comments. How he grabbed the rail and didn't drop his brush or paint I'll never know. I was so surprized that he even went back up with me as we continued threw the rest of the weekend. Now if I could only find that spell check button!
Robin Sharrard
Sharrard Graphics & Signs
Fallon,Nevada
DAVE SMITH
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Location: ENGLAND

When I was an apprentice

Post by DAVE SMITH »

I had a alot of funny times as an apprentice. I worked for a company called Harmony Signs, it was a 10 man set up ,all traditional old time signwriters the oldest being 72 and the youngest apart from being me at 16 was Gordon he would of been about 50.They were all a good bunch to work with ,cracking jokes and playing the fool most of the time. I was asked to go out and accompany old man Skinner on a signwritten fascia in a city called Exeter here in Devon.I remember the shop was called Imperial dry cleaners of distinction. The customer was away on business buying machinery and he would of seen the drawings and agreed the design. Anyhow we did this job, it had a white background all ready glossed up, the colours were blue text and a light grey drop shadow. Jeff was mustard (quick) at writing ,everything was chalk line snapped and written straight from the brush.All I had to do was fill in the letters ,they would have been about 15'' high. Once that was done we did the shadows and the telephone numbers, there was a whole days work involved on this sign. from 8 in the morning till gone 6 at night . The next day the works received a phone call from this customer asking why we had'nt done the sign yet , Jeff had got the address mixed up somehow with a shop in the same street which had been painted with a white fascia all the buildings were standard Victorian highrise fascias, both buildings were about 10 shops apart , we got the wrong shop!. We had to go back and do it all again and paint the other one out too. We never did see the owner of the shop we painted . On another occasion I blocked the works toilet once but I won't go into detail about that here. I left 3 old blokes to unblock it because I was late for the gym. It was one of those toilets that Rick had at fine gold that used to block up once you had been to the loo, that was embarassing to but I managed to get away with that one. I got it in the neck the next morning, 3 old timers shouting at me! Never did it again... waited till I got to the gym. (I used to eat alot) had some good times with these chaps......... p.s anyone else here blocked Rick's toilet?
Dave
Last edited by DAVE SMITH on Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wayne Osborne
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I was an apprentice too....

Post by Wayne Osborne »

and was one day helping with a big white pvc "To Let" banner- This thing must of been 50ft x 20ft-
We cleared out the workshop- laid dustsheets on the concrete floor- and had it folded double flat on the deck.

The Boss was signwriting the massive letters in Red screen ink- and I was filling them in behind him with a big 6 inch brush.

We were both padding around in our socks- which was fine till the phone rung.

The boss (who was a trifle highly strung) suddenly forgot himself and dashed to the phone- Stepped right in a letter and then realising what he'd done- proceeded to tread the red ink round the banner.

We cleaned it up ( and cleaned him up),The old fella could'nt quite see the joke- But it was funny.
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

When I was fairly new to the sign trade, I had to letter a large 12' x 80' logo on a plastered wall. Unfortunately, it was on the second floor, so I opted to rent some scaffolding. I only rented one unit wide, and something like three units high (maybe more). We added four wheels to the assembly so we could roll it along the wall. My Grandfather used to go with me on some jobs and he was helping me this time. For most of the wall, he could kick the locks on the scaffold wheels and roll it down to the next 8' section. Without really realizing it, the far left part of the wall had a slight incline on the asphalt road. I was on top of the scaffold when he unlocked the wheels, but then it started rolling and he couldn't stop it. So, here I am at the top, unable to get off, rolling in slow motion towards the end of the building. All I knew is it was going to hurt. Luckily, just before the end of the building, one of the wheels closest to the building dropped into some sort of depression, causing the rolling scaffold to stop and letting it lean into the building. Needless to say, from that point on, I was off the scaffold when we decided to move it and we had some safety stop blocks ready in case it wanted to roll again.

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Danny Baronian
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Post by Danny Baronian »

Years ago, when I was (much) younger, I felt the need to do everything the job required: design, fabrication and installation. The more I did, the more I made. Right.

For one client we regularly cut letters from 4" foam, with letter heights ranging from 2' to 4'. The first installation of 36" letters I figured could be accomplished off an extension ladder. The walls were tilt ups, somewhere in the range of 20 - 30' high.

The first job was only 4 numerals, 36" high, but provided the first of many good lessons: Never install letters larger than 6" high from a ladder, better yet get a man lift. It was a trick just to tape down the pounce pattern. You had the choice of taping half the pattern up, climb down, move the ladder, back up, pounce and install 2 and repeat for the other 2. Or, as anyone foolish enough to have used this method - take the easy route and push the ladder away from the wall to slip the pattern underneath.

With a fresh memory of working on the extension ladder, I rented a 40' man lift on the next install, but the landscapers got there before we did, digging holes with a ditch witch for the sprinkler system. Gathering up what 2 x 12s we could find, made a path to the building.

Lessons learned:

Get there when the ground has no holes or ditches to go over.

Don't drive over planks when your 20' in the air,

Don't take a helper with you that's afraid of heights.

As my wife would say, adventures like that would be considered an E ride.
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
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John Lennig
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Post by John Lennig »

I was lettering a 140' converted Tug, working off a short extension ladder, base on a floating dock, on the Fraser river, ladder slipped down off support, bang!, i spin around in midair, end up landing,sitting,on rail, Just Missed splitting my head on post, never spilled paint, still had brush and paint cup in hand. So Close.

Another long extension ladder, set on slippery rocks, ladder against horizontal cement structure, ladder slips, drop 6", don't fall, still holding paint and brush, big splash of paint on hair,face,sweater....if it had gone another 6", i would have been decapitated! Scary! still wear that sweater, as a reminder! ha ha 9 years ago!

I put an old moniter kup in an Alder tree in parking lot of my old shop, called it the Apple Tree,(was pc, tho) stayed for couple years!

First shop i worked in, putting extension ladders in '64 Econoline vanshop truck,tight fit up against windshield "little more, little more, ok" Slam rear door, "click"....cracked the windshield.opps

moral:stay away from extension ladders! and moniter your actions!

John
"You spelled it wrong!"
Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Sorry taken so long to take you up on that offer Mikey...loved the Anton tale. Where I apprenticed many years ago the boss Harry could be a real tough old bird. All of 5ft nothing he looked like he would fall off the end of his cigar,but he was Mr. Koffman to everyone. I took it on myself to soften the old bugger up and it did take a while. In the last years I worked there, he was starting to get on (maybe 70 years) and on most Friday afternoons you could see him starting to drift off to sleep about 4pm or so. Cigar in mouth and brush in hand sitting at his bench... head nodding. This was of course the perfect time to play a prank and on this particular day I grabbed a cup of black sho-card colour and with no small amount of stealth brushed some around the receiver of his phone (one of those old black models) and called him up on the shop extension phone. Now that he's dead and gone he'll finally know the ultimate truth of everything in life and the secret of how he got the black paint circle around his ear that day will finally be revealed. It's also worth mentioning that it's no wonder he would drift off to sleep at that time....he probably only worked 15hrs a day everyday of the week except Sunday everyday of his life.
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Good one Doug. Keep 'em coming.

There is a guy named Chapman down yonder in Texas. Living in Texas, he must have a lot of stories. Heat...rattlesnakes, ticks, mosquitos, drought, armadillos, soil as hard as concrete, and so forth. Oh yeah, did I mention heat?

I went down to San Antonio for a NESA show a long time ago. After several late nights in a row, I had a very early flight out the next day. I got there early and found the right terminal gate. After finding a nice "semi-comfortable" seat, I fell asleep and missed the entire boarding process. When I woke up, the area was totally empty. I didn't have a room reserved for the next night so I ended up bumming a couch spot from Tod Swormstedt and caught the flight early the next morning. Luckily, it was in April, so it wasn't too HOT, yet.

Mike Jackson
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

Okay...that one wasn't bad...but I have to add that I've also sat on a rag soaked in laquer thinner, although I have no photos to prove it! So... Back to our same, poor unfortunate Mr.Koffman. You, of course, know how to unstick an exacto blade? You throw it on the table...thats it, right?!? This short story begins there. While working at old Harry's shop or better should I say Mr.Koffman, a cigar smoker, sometimes tyrant and general carouser, who had the habit of clipping the wet ends of his cigars off into a trash bin by means of several pairs of good sturdy shop scissors. The type that could slice through a 28"x44" card no probs in three passes... and came, I'm sure from the factory, with several years of tobbacco stains at the short end of same. On this day, another Friday most likley, I took the liberty of stripping the paper off a twist tie and tightly wrapping the wire remainders around the most inconspicuious area of a pair of these same shears left close to the trash barrel. I did have to wait for sometime before I heard the familiar tones of Bob (what can I say...a brain damaged screen printer from the cellar) in close conference with Harry saying "just throw them on the table...just throw them on the table" from the back room. I'm actually sitting here at this 'pooter screen chuckling away as I try to remember it. I think what surprises me most is that I seemed able to come up with original ideas every Friday to thwart his small pleasures and rarely get caught. There were other times I simply nailed these scissors to the table but I always look back with fondness to the days I spent in his shop. It's a wonder he could stand me ,but he went from Mr.Koffman to "Midge" (a childhood nickname), to everyone about the same time. I'm also contented to think he probably appreciated my humour as much as he was admired by me.
Steven Vigeant
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Post by Steven Vigeant »

a long time ago I needed to repaint a logo that was directly over a large tree shrub. The only way I could get to the position was to have the ladder at a very sharp angle. I was lettering along with orange One-Shot and I had just put down my brush on the can, when I heard the noise, a sliding noise. I remember leaves and branches going by and a lots of rustling. The ladder completely kicked out and I was doing a Fosberry flob into this 12 foot bush. I landed like a guy in a tangled parachute not exactly hitting the ground, but I had Orange paint in my hair and all down my back. And when all the leaves and I settled, I was still holding the can upright, and the fitch was still resting on the can undisturbed.
Tony Segale
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Post by Tony Segale »

Mass emailing, Mike?
I thought I was emailed exclusive. I'm out...I'm out here up gold creek with two lunatics.
One who won't gild nuthin, and the other won't stop chippin', etchin or gildin'.

Yeah, I had the paint thinner rag in my back pocket, once.

When I started, being self taught, I painted a lot of Christmas windows.
Had one car dealer manager come out and ask me why it was takin' me 2 hours to complete a job
that the fella last year completed in one hour and charged twice as much? huh?

The first big laugh I got was the year I left the retail meat business to be a full time sign painter.
The grocery store which had the meat market I worked in, scheduled me to paint their holiday windows.
These were large store windows, 18" lower case letters, rollers, trim brush outlines, a good four hour job.
I completed the job, received my check and all where happy with the work. About five hours later,
I received a phone call from my former boss, wanted me to come back and check out the window.
When I arrived, all the employees and managers were getting a good laugh and wondering how in the heck will I ever make it if I can't spell. Seems I had left the 'r' out of Christmas. It was a customer who noticed the error.
So, I scatched off the 'Ch' and backed in the 'Chr', and went on my way.

As a footnote, about five years later, that grocery store and meat market succumbed to the chain store competition.
I did receive a nice phone call this year from my former boss, who wanted to appreciate what we did here with the walldogs.

But, to top it off, I replied to this post in the wrong topic, first.....
and he took that golden hair and made a sweater for baby bear.
http://www.tonysegale.com
http://www.tonysegale.wordpress.com
Roderick Treece
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Post by Roderick Treece »

Keeping in the sprit of those solvent stories.
Many years ago I had a guy working with me that was coating out some 4 x 8s.He finished up and went home.I was living in my shop at the time so I when up to my loft to have lunch.Looking forward to yesterdays cold pizza ate my lunch,took a nap and was a happy lad.
I woke up awhile later feeling kind of buzzed ,gave out a big burp and all I could smell was paint thinner.
It took me awhile to figuire out that my buddy had wraped up his roller with tin foil and put it in my freezer to keep the oil paint from drying out.
The next day I spent the whole day standing as close to him as possible getting him back with booth barrels.

Roderick
www.customglasssigns.com
Patrick Mackle
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Post by Patrick Mackle »

Back in the early 80's I began my glass business in a one car garage beneath my $85.00 a month apartment. I was deeply involved with trying to learn how all the various tones and effects had been achieved in the antique acid embossed panels and bar backs that I had seen imported here from England. To hold the acid on the glass I had devised a system of using masking tape and melted parafin wax.
I incorporated a very basic yard sale hot plate to heat the wax, as the hot plate had no controls I had to continueously plug and unplug it to keep it from burning the wax.
The phone rang upstairs in my apartment and I ran upstairs to answer it. A fair way into the conversation I suddenly remembered that I had left the hot plate plugged in. I blurted out "Igotta go there's gonna be a FIRE!! and slammed the phone down. As I flew down the stairs and rounded the corner I saw as I had expected, thick dense smoke rolling out of the open garage door but surprisingly no flames. I ran straight in and grabbed the smoking pie pan of boiling wax and headed back out the door. The wax was still only smoking profusely but upon exiting the garage into fresh air the smoking wax burst into flames with a great blast of heat against my face. Luckly the only thing that burned was the hair on my arms! If the apartment had gone up, I would have lost everything and never would have begun my own etching business.

Pat
Tony Segale
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Post by Tony Segale »

Twill, almost lit up like a gawl dern christmas tree....

This happened about 12-16 months ago...
I have a bad habit of eating peanuts, out of the shell or the cocktail kind.
I was sizing some letters to gild, using the 50/50 mixture which I carry in a dixie cup
in one hand, brush in the other. Was gettin' hungry, so I stopped and filled another dixie cup
with the peanuts. As I would apply the size, I would set down the size cup, dump a few nuts from the other cup. That's right, I grabbed the wrong cup to dump in my mouth, have you ever tasted Lefranc?
I kept my mouth open, pouring the size back out and into the cup, immediately spit, rinsed, spit, brushed my teeth, spit, rinsed again and again, everything smelled and tasted like oil size.
I don't snack to much, unless I'm at the drawing board anymore.
SWM
and he took that golden hair and made a sweater for baby bear.
http://www.tonysegale.com
http://www.tonysegale.wordpress.com
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

There just HAS to be a few Electro-Pounce stories?
Hole digging stories?

Mike
Mike Jackson / co-administrator
Golden Era Studios
Vintage Ornamental Clip art
Jackson Hole, WY

Photography site:
Teton Images
Jackson Hole photography blog:
Best of the Tetons
Danny Baronian
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Post by Danny Baronian »

No electro pounce stories, tried to get a few to try it with the steel rule but no takers.

Holes.. had a half a dozen monument signs to fabricate and install all with 6 x 6 x 12' aluminum posts, signs 6: x6' x 10'. Required 5' deep, 14" holes. Called usa underground for site check for wires and utilities. Next day had a crane on site to drop the signs in and was going good until the last one. Double checked the last 2 holes only to find a pair of large, new wires missing 7" of wire that the auger had severed. The wires far enough in the hole that i could barely touch them with my fingers lying on the ground.

Off to get some wire nuts designed for buried splices. It took a long time to splice that pair back together. The next morning I discovered the wires were for a large portion of the sprinkler system for the site.

After (foolishly) installing large letters off an extension ladder, splicing wires back together in a post hole, I realized the article written by some guy from
Wyoming in Sign Craft long ago, knew something after all. In the article, he stated he had better things to do that dig post holes and haul cement., especially when the ground was frozen. For those installs he jobbed them out. I also think he found out the hard way that digging holes in frozen ground is not easy.

Shortly thereafter I found a good installer to handle that part of the job. It made for a worry free, and more profitable installation.

Peanuts Tony?
Danny Baronian
Baronian Mfg.
CNC Routing & Fabrication
http://www.baronian.com
Doug Bernhardt
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Post by Doug Bernhardt »

I'm willing to bet that Tony's teeth made for the best gild he ever had! Was there no thought of a laquer thinner chaser? Also....I can't remember which magasine but there was mention of an almost nightmare of someone about to cut a main phone cable for ITandT some years ago. As i recall the downtime costs for such an act are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars....per minute. Sure would have to sell alot of stickers to make that up. Hope someone here will remember which mag and issue.
Rick Sacks
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Albert

Post by Rick Sacks »

Albert was a slight man that received his SS check and went on a drunken binge until it ran out and then came back to City Sign Co to work. Whenever he could get some coins for alcohol, he'd disappear. I remember when I soldered a nickel onto the head of a roofing nail and pounded it into the top of one of our wooden work tables. When that coin was discovered Albert's afternoon was consumed by him slyly returning to the table for another attempt to capture the coin. Johnny and I worked real hard at holding a straight face and I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants!
Mendocino, California
"Where the redwoods meet the Sea"
Wayne Osborne
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue Jun 15, 2004 2:03 am
Location: West Sussex.England

Post by Wayne Osborne »

Hole digging stories?
I'd forgotten this one Mike.

The job was to fit up a simple 8x4 Estate Agents FOR SALE board- The development was on land that was part of a small country estate- An estate that had its own family chapel and Graveyard Years earlier.
The site had been leveled and built upon years before and those buildings demolished to make way for this smart new development.

The agent had shown me where he wanted the sign " Right up there on that big mound of earth"

Great- nice big pile of bulldozed soil- nice soft digging..Fantastic!

Until CHUNKKK!....The un-mistakable chalky white stuff at the bottom of the hole...and the even more unmistakable shape of eyesocket and bridge of nose , as a chunk of very old and very crumbly skull showed up in the digging pile.

I very quitely,,,and very gingerly/reverently..planted the posts and patted it all down gently- No ones haunted me yet, !!!
Jay Allen
Posts: 106
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2004 9:32 am

Post by Jay Allen »

Once at a Letterhead meet, I got on a motorcycle . . . .

anybody know the end of this story? It's kinda' long. Just the ride was short.

(Mineral spirit soaked butt here too)
joe cieslowski
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Post by joe cieslowski »

Funniest thing I saw at a meet was at Alan Johnsons.

Alan, Bill Riedel and I were in the upstairs lounge in Alan's shop. I look out the window and see Glen Weisgerber driving up the short steep driveway to the shop. I turn back to the conversation....... A short time later I hear car horns blowing. I look out the window and see Glen's van at the bottom of the hill with several cars backed up behind him. He ran out of gas!!!! :)

Joe,

Makin Chips and Havin Fun!
Makin Chip$ and Havin Fun!
Tony Segale
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Joined: Thu Apr 08, 2004 10:20 am

Post by Tony Segale »

Funny?
Don't you think it kinda funny Jay Allen posting only two - three sentences?

Ain't good for some folks to type to long.....
and he took that golden hair and made a sweater for baby bear.
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Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Tony, I didn't write it, but I was thinking it! That has to be a world record post for Jay!
Mike
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