George Williams Shop Mystery

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
All~

For awhile now, George Williams has been sending me photos - with the understanding that I would post them on his behalf, and with full attribution - usually on the What's on your Work Bench post-of-the-month. You may have seen the trio of his sweet Broadie-Beaks I put up on Work Bench for him yesterday.

So, it was with not a little alarm that I opened his e-mail just now.... A desperate cry for help?? Should I be alerting authorities???

George claims that at least one of these depicts his work bench AFTER a thorough cleaning.

And, somehow I don't think that mourning Dove will ease into that drawer, no matter how hard George pushes on it.....

View attachment GW Shop 03.jpg

I'm thinking that Drake Redhead must've gotten wet and shrunk.....

View attachment GW Shop 01.jpg

That Brant seems to be fleeing the scene.....

View attachment GW Shop 02.jpg

Did a White Tornado or other natural disaster sweep on through?

View attachment GW Shop 04.jpg

That empty stool and abandoned drill are worrisome - I can only conclude that George had to evacuate the premises with little advance warning.

So, I guess the best thing would be to send me envelopes stuffed with small unmarked bills - for the George Williams Disaster Relief Fund, of course.....

All the best,

SJS




 
How about starting a "go funding" page to get a cleaning person(notice my political correctness) for George? I should talk; my "clean shop" doesn't look much better!
 
Please, I can still see the floor. I already inquired about the dove. For a decoy shop it's darn near Spic & Span.

Check old photo's of the Ward Bros, and many other notable maker/carvers.

George fits in that upper category, as far as I'm concerned. So ya everything looks OK.

I tip my hat to you DecoyMonsterMachine. Salude!
 
Steve,
Question: is this shop in George's basement or in a building above ground?

I love the idea that all this "organized splatter" might be in George's basement.

If so I shall show it to my bride as an example of a truly useful basement.

But of course, such action might come with the threat of divorce proceedings.

:)

Larry
 
Larry and John-
The dungeon, as most folks have called it over the years, has had 43 years of effort put into it. Prior to taking up decoy making, I was an abstract painter-Yeah, that does account for most of my painting techniques, as well as the speed at which I work. Still using an old Craftsman bandsaw, which I bought around 1978. That and Foredom are basically my only tools. Gave up the hand stuff because it was just too slow for me.
I have always used the basement as my workshop, but most of the garage is now utilized for wood and cork storage, as well as for myriad cork and balsa dekes, which were and are still being used by my gunning partners and myself.
There is also a shed out back that contains about 40 or so oldies-stuff made from bsc, after I realized that things had to be easier than making solid wood stool.
Let your spouses know that working in the basement, she will always know where you are, besides, it's a lot more efficient than a shed--Bathroom readily available!!!
The only day she might still complain is Saturday--I have become an opera buff over the years.
 
Looks fine to me except all the light mayonnaise jars. Life is too short to eat anything but real mayo.

Mike
 
And I bet George knows exactly where to find everything he wants to lay his hands on in there. Deceased fellows shop I use to deer hunt with maintained his the exact same way although his other passion was gunsmithing . You or I couldn,t find a thing in it but he knew exactly where things were. When he passed and it came time to organize items for an auction it was amazing the items we found buried.
 
Michael, all of the jars you see are usually filled with various hues of paint-each for a different part of a specific species. Most of the puddle duck stuff is on the table to the right of the chair, divers are on the longer table, more puddlers on the back of my bench, then another area contains paint for the oddies, like speckled teal.
I would prefer the real stuff, BUT, both the boss and I have been doing Weightwatchers for quite a while, and really do not miss the fat part. At onset, I was close to 250, now 178. I am wearing jeans now that I used to wear back in 1958--Not that they are the same jeans, mind you.
Many of the jars were donations from folks we know--The old peanut butter jars date back to the mid nineties or before.
Nice thing about Golden Matte Acrylics, if you give the contents of the jars a schpritz occasionally, the paint stays fresh. Those jars also contain mother paint. I take a glob out, put on the palette, and mix more of the same until my eye is happy that the piles match. What is not used is replaced into the jars. Kind of like sourdough bread for paint![;)]
Vince, could be the soil down this way. There is some radon north of the canal, but not down here. Thank God!
 
One thing I can't stand is a tidy decoy shop. After I clean mine, I can't find a thing.....
 
Jim, what I have discovered is after I remove all of the unusable detritus, what is left goes back in its usual place. That way, I still know where everything is. For me, cleaning the shop usually means filling a trash bag with totally useless material-things I have not touched in a number of years, for the most part. Then, there is room to create more controlled chaos[w00t]
 
I feel of a bit of kinship with George, bench status-wise, even though mine is a fly tyer's bench:
6oixBZt.jpg


Gary
 
Bet you can lay your hands on everything within minutes, too. Man, you are inundated with smalls. Luckily, they fit in nice boxes and drawers[smile]
 
george w said:
Bet you can lay your hands on everything within minutes, too. Man, you are inundated with smalls. Luckily, they fit in nice boxes and drawers[smile]
Click to expand...

You are right, George, I can find anything I need quickly! My tying bench is kind of like my office desk back in my working days (I was executive director of the American Museum of Fly Fishing when I quit the rat race); people would just shake their heads when they saw it, but if they asked for something, I was able to hand it to them in moments.

Gary
 
Yeah it’s a struggle with me because I carve ducks and other stuff I also do fly tying and then there is the taxidermy. All those odds and ends that I work on... like taking a kids 1/16 tractor mower and adding motors to it so it can actually work and cut grass and I like model rocketry, metal working.... I think I need a bigger shop
 

Gary

Very impressive!

Now that is my kinda organized. There is still some open bench in front of the bobbin...[smile]


Two of my favorite indoor places to visit with friends, are their decoy shops, and fly tying shops.

Kindred souls, where obsession and passion rule supreme. Creativity within reach, and no idle hands.
 
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