Kidder Blaisdell Woodworks

This blog has moved

2010-04-05T17:07:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://kidderblaisdell.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://kidderblaisdell.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

what makes a good staff meeting

2010-03-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

we had a very good staff meeting this week. there was lots of feed back and even some new ideas. I think now I have a team that will turn into a very effective work group, that is after all what I am trying to achieve. In addition to creating woodwork, being a part of an effective work group is a very rewarding experience on a personal level. Apart from the monetary gains that the members can achieve there is the shared experience of great accomplishment and the satisfaction of working together with other people for a common goal. It brings meaning and purpose to work other than the work. I have four main ideas that I continue to teach to create an effective work group.
1. having a sense of dependency among team members.
2. having a structure and order in what we do.
3. creating a sense of inclusion among team members.
4. having constructive conflict among team members.
why do I do this. because an effective work group will out perform an ineffective work group in any market at any time. The largest most improtant value of KBWC is longevity, I want to leave behind me a woodworking company. to do that we need to be able to compete in good markets and bad markets. Creating exceptional woodwork is one thing, creating a living for myself and employees through making wooden products is another. one thing that I have chosen to do is create a company culture that promotes people working together.

where do we get good ideas

2010-03-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

one of the things that I need to do is continually improve our product in the eyes of the end user. How do I do that? By listening to my customers. I turn to my customers for any creativity in the cabinets, I let them drive the creative process. For that reason it is why I go out and do the installs myself, i want to see first hand how the cabinets are being used and what customers want. One of my side projects is a line of cabinetry called "hungry coyote". It is a bi-product of the economic climate, meaning the highest level of value added engineered cabinets. leaps and bounds more expensive then Ikea but also leaps and bounds higher quality. We have been building this type of cabinet for several years. Recently at a high level meeting with a client an improvement over how we deal with the light molding was suggested during a brainstorm session by a homeowner that I hadn't thought of. I continued to think this idea over because it just made so much sense. We are going to be implementing this new idea right away and probably be using this new way moving forward. this adds value to our clients. Collectively my clients are smarter than I, it's by actually listening to them and thinking over their ideas that we will become a more customer centered business.

interior shutter series 2

2010-03-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

in "this is how we do it" below you will see photo 1 of the shutter series. in photo 2 just below this post the same pile of lumber has been processed once again to it's final dimension(it is deceiving to me, it looks like much more lumber). We also keep the lumber piled up separated for air circulation to prevent further warping. Since we did machine all four sides again today it is important to let all four sides breath equally. At this point all of the styles and rails plus some extra's have been milled on all four sides and are now ready to be mortised.

photo 2 shutter series

2010-03-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

milling rought lumber

2010-03-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

there is a photo that I hope will post here. It is a picture of wood half way through being milled. I was making shutters for a house interior, really nice shutters with solid 6/4 maple rails and styles with balsa wood louvers, I will try to find a picture of the finish product. The photo shows the 6/4 maple stacked up with sticks in between each layer. The reason for this is to let the wood dry out some more. I smoothed out three sides of each board and the next step is to rip these parts to near their finished dimension. before I rip them it is a good time to let them dry out for at least 24 hours. When I smooth out the sides I am exposing new wood cells to the air, when that happens the new cells absorb moisture and that can cause the wood to change shape again. Never try to mill stock like this all at once, if you do it will move slightly. Also when I rip these parts they will again move because of the changing tension within the board. So I will rip these parts in larger than what i need and we will mill them again to their finished sizes. this is one of the area where you can't rush the process, wood is an organic material and it requires patience when working with it.

this is how we do it

2010-03-08T03:47:00.000-08:00

variety

2010-03-03T15:46:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention that you can also see some mahogany doors to the right in that same photo. Door makers is another market that stands on it's own that we compete in. So I have just identified three totally separate markets that we can effectively compete in. These different markets utilize the same asset base and very similar operation processes. This is how I perceive KBWC a woodworking shop that serves the cause of woodworking in many different markets so we will therefore survive any economic climate. It is the goal of this company to get a market share in each of these markets.

variety

2010-03-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

this photo below is one thing that we are striving for here at KBWC, this one way that we continue to challenge ourselves, by doing a variety of things. The wooden counter top is actually a whole other market that we compete in other than cabinets. The black kitchen panel is not only an unusual finish but also another market that we compete in, that being kitchen cabinets and kitchen designers.

variety

2010-03-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

A mahgany top and an oak island panel with jet black finish

panel cutting on table saw

2010-02-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

here is the jig and set up that Gagan and Esteban used to make the raised panels for the cherry doors that I spoke aboubt recently. As you can see it is pretty intense and required resourceful on the floor thinking. But that is the job of a cabinet benchman, to use the tools and resources avaialable to make wood products. Sure it may be easier with the latest cnc machines available on the market but then we would be machine programmers and not woodworkers. One thing that this shop great is our wide variety of skills. We make all types of wooden products, the products are always changing and so is the process. the table saw panel had some advantages down the line in production.

pieces of art

2010-02-23T17:54:00.000-08:00

that is what our client called each one of her doors. She said "each one of these is like a piece of art." she is referring to her cabinet doors. the pictures of what she is talking about is the cherry doors in the previous post. the pictures of the unfinished doors shows all of them together roughly 41 pieces. all solid cherry, a nice raised panel and an applied molding. We cut the the panel mold on the table saw, which actually worked out really well, Gagan said that we didn't have any burns, which we usually get when we make such a large cut in cherry. Also it expedited the sanding of the raise because we could use flat sanding block. the only complication is the applied molding needs an extra cut in it so it beds tight and evenly. you can see the applied molding in the second picture, it is really nice. The finish on these doors is top notch. it is very smooth and very consistent, it looks great in place, and the grain of the paneling is very active and has so much character, it is no wonder that the client thinks they are pieces of art. All the credit for these doors goes to Gagan, and Esteban, they made them and they finished them, and they are beautiful, nice work guys, Kidder Blaisdell would be no where with out you guys.

cherry panels

2010-02-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

2010-02-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

more meetings, better focus

2010-02-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

we are now having brief staff meetings everyday. I think it will help us stay focused on the priorities. The once a week is good, but everyday is better. our priorities are in a constant state of change. Why? because job site conditions are in a constant state of change. our install is dependent on job site conditions. the everyday meeting gives me a chance to take stock on where the priorities stand and make adjustments.
Many of my clients have been telling me that my business model doesn't work. I can't blame them because we are late on some projects, not all but some. at times I think that my model doesn't work. Fact is my model as it is being executed doesn't work, but that is because we aren't executing it the way it needs too in order to work. It isn't working because we are over loaded with work right now and in a state of catch-up. I really need to hire another installer to help me with the install. the system that I am developing for my wood shop is going to work and will be the model for all other modern wood shops. it isn't complicated it is modeled after a restaurant basically. I need to extract myself from such a intense installation role. And spend more time actually running the company.

plumb bob

2010-02-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

here I am setting a door frame. Many comments come out from the guys near by when they see a plumb bob. One guy said to me "I haven't seen a plumb bob out on a job site in years". I don't know what to say, but this is how I learned to hang a door when I was 18 years old, that was 20 years ago. scary but true. I find this technique to be fool proof, the pieace that you see at the bottom of the jamb is temporary, it come outs at the end, but it is exactly the same size in width as the top piece, and cut exactly square. The plumb bob needs to fall on the center and the edge of the bottom board to ensure plumbness and keep the door frame coplaner.

trying to keep up

2010-01-18T16:50:00.000-08:00

We have been so busy that I haven't had time to write any post in the blog since 12-29-09. It is a good time to busy given the economy, I think I might have sold some jobs at artificially low prices to make sure I had work that now we are to jammed out with out the ability to hire additional personal. Although some clients don't want to here that I have hired additional personal, they want me to do the install regardless. That is a compliment to my ability but really unnecessary, I have to respect the wishes of my clients. I don't think that I am all that good at install, maybe I am just immune to it and don't see it for what it is, perhaps I am really good at it and it just seems easy to me. we have hired some help for our install needs, his name is Paul Ferrier out of Stoughton, he is really good and comes in only on a part time basis, 2 or 3 days a week. He runs his own company as a cabinet builder and installer I would recommend him to anyone.

who helps us

2009-12-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

eagle woodworking is where we buy our drawers, that is Patrick sitting at the desk in the photo below, I guess he counting the money or something. no just kidding Patrick we love you here at KBWC. never, ever have I gotten a drawer the wrong size from Eagle. There is something happening at Eagle in the quality assurance department. if they even have departments at Eagle, they are a progressive manufacturing facility so they may not have departments, but either way all the drawers are made to order and always in the time frame the say. Which is a huge help to me, I can order drawers and know when they will be ready, and I can rely on the quality. In this photo you see the front office and also where I pick the drawers up. most folks get the drawers sent to them, but me I like to pick them up. I like to talk to Patrick about production issues, and general economic issues, and just see how they are doing. Behind this office is a huge wood shop that makes only drawers and drawer inserts, I marvel at their success in building just one thing.

drawers

2009-12-15T19:40:00.001-08:00

here is where i get my drawers. they are the only thing we out source. this business is called eagle woodworking, it was founder is still involved with the business. it is one of my favorite place to go. It is a true wood shop manufacturing facility. right hear in Massachusetts. That is Patrick in the photo he is the general manager of the business. In over ten years of buying drawers I have never returned a drawer for any reason.

eagle woodworking

2009-12-15T19:40:00.000-08:00

2009-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

2009-12-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

good protection

2009-11-22T17:06:00.000-08:00

I was on one of my jobs today and came across this. I really like seeing this kind of protcetion of the cabinets post installtion. This is one of MacArthur construction's sites, they are a very good builder. They have really good subs and a well run job, and still they go the extra mile to protect the cabinets after installation from accidental damage.

how we do it

2009-11-16T18:44:00.000-08:00

the bottom photo's are of a library that we started installing this week. If you look at the picture of the panel laying flat you will see how I trim the panels to the correct length on the job using a festool skill saw. The tricky part is that the panel molding protrudes beyond the face of the panel so you can see how I used pads that the track of the skill saw ride on. then you can see how they look when they are attached to the wall. this is a mahogany frame with a African cherry burl veneer, it also has a red mahogany stain.

the next picture is of a tool box that I use for high rise condo jobs, where getting tools in and out of the job is very time consuming. So I leave my tools on site in a locked file cabinet that I have converted into a tool box. the whole thing is on casters so it can easily be moved around the site in and out of peoples way. it becomes sort of my site office, and it has many supplies that help not only me but anybody who may need them.

the top pictures are of a kitchen job. the point here is a technique that I am using for leveling the cabinets. You can see the leg levers under the cabinets. I can set the whole bank of lower cabinets that have the skirts applied at a height higher than they are going to go, I can then scribe them as a whole to an unleveled floor. I then take off the levelers and then screw on the plywood skids that the cabinet will ultimately sit on. the height of the shims is equal to the amount that I set the scribes too. it has worked very well.

2009-11-16T18:42:00.000-08:00