Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Using Nails for Floating Dock Construction

Cancer research is a really important area of study!

Yep, and holding on to those wires while trying to get a measurement could be pretty frustrating.

I've mentioned this here several times before, but I'll toss it out there again as this topic has brought it to the forefront of my memory. Dennis was my friend and mentor, one of those rare individuals who could do nearly anything, and do it very well indeed.

Tool and die maker by profession, hot rod builder, black powder enthusiast, (real black powder, pyrodex was blasphemy), hunter, trapper, wilderness survival, blacksmith extraordinaire, top notch mechanic till the day he died, just a wealth of knowledge rolled up in an old country boy's frame.

I don't remember what we were working on the day he bestowed this little nugget upon me, but I know his advice resonates within me today as loudly as it did then.

"Son, the most important thing you have to learn is something I can't teach you. You have to learn and appreciate the meaning of good enough. Every job you take on requires you to do your best, but not every job requires your best work. There's a subtle difference there, and you need to learn how to distinguish it. It's a hard thing, and some fellows never figure it out. Don't spend a week redesigning a paper clip when the old one holds your notes together just fine."

Haven't mastered it by any means, but I'm working on it.

I think that's excellent basic advice, which I usually try to follow. After all, if I always put my 'best' work into every one of my projects, I wouldn't get very many projects done, so I generally try to prioritize how I spend my time, effort, and money.

However, I tend to be a perfectionist in many ways, so I sometimes 'gild the lily,' and I'll admit that I like attention to detail, since 'details are not always details,' especially when a multiplying factor exists that could compound small mistakes. Deck screws might be a good example, since a typical dock/deck might involve more than a thousand screws, and if every one was installed 'slightly' wrong, there might be a higher percentage of problems during installation or later on.

But I'll be the first to admit that I overdo some things. A good example was a house that we once had in a small coastal town in Maine. It was a wreck when we bought it, and we spent a lot of time and money renovating it. We paid great attention to detail, and kept adding nice features to the house until it was quite a little showplace. However, when it came time to sell it, we found that we made the mistake of improving it so far beyond the standard of the neighborhood that we had to take quite a beating on the sales price.

That said, sometimes it's kind of fun to 'over-engineer' things, just for the challenge and satisfaction involved, if nothing else. I probably over-engineered the floating dock that I just built in several respects, such as the strut connection and cross-bracing approaches that I came up with, but I had fun doing it, and I must say that it works great, but would I recommend those approaches to everyone? Probably not. Too much work and complexity to be practical for the average user, although someone might not mind putting in the extra time and effort.

Very true, there often exists a need to balance the budget, the allotted time, AND the compulsion. That's a tough one, and my experience is that a little flexibility in one or more areas is often required. After some years owning my business, I have come to the realization that my interpretation of doing the job "right", isn't always the best fit for every piece of equipment or situation.

Sometimes, good enough is exactly what the customer wants and needs. In many cases, the equipment in question has seen extended heavy use with little to no maintenance involved. When it reaches my shop and the customer informs me to "look it over and do whatever it needs", I just smile. Do they realize that I'm going to see things, components, issues, etc that they never even knew existed? Very likely not. Should I have them sign a blank check and attach it to their workorder, with the promise that I will call them when the machine is brand new again? I suppose I could, but I normally just spend a little additional time talking with them, prioritizing and getting a feel for their concerns.

By doing so, have I done my best, or my best work? I've looked the machine over, made sure it operates safely, and corrected those issues of most relevance towards the desired outcome. And I've taken pains to do my best work, while remaining within the confines of realistic practice for that particular machine and circumstance.

Now if working for oneself, and time and finances are not a hindrance, then the sky may be the limit. And I have seen some amazingly beautiful as well as top notch work come from such endeavors. But I don't believe that such outcomes automatically equate to the best, or only way to achieve perfectly acceptable results. That's what I believe Dennis is still trying to teach me, even after all these years.

So, sprkplug, what line of business are you in?

I service and repair a variety of outdoor power equipment. Nearly all of my shirts have charred holes in them from welding overhead, my daily cologne is a curious blend of fermented grass, two stroke exhaust, and stanisol. My ears ring from the near-constant assault of the blade grinder. My hands bleed from various cuts suffered while handling rewind springs worn sharp in their housings, and I have an impressive collection of metal shards pulled from various anatomical regions.

And then there are aspects which are not nearly as glamorous. The phone calls from network executives desperate to introduce me to reality television, dealing with the multitudes of women who are attracted to middle aged, balding, greasy/dirty service technicians, and the back-breaking work of hauling all that money into the bank every single day.

It's hell. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Yeah Tony; I have the same problem. It's worse when you're a card carrying Redneck Texan.

I've added ventilation to lots of shirts with welding pinholes...sometimes larger than pinholes. I have a couple of flame-resistant jackets, but they're approaching the end of their service life. I recently told myself, "time for some new threads, man," in my best late-60s jargon. Maybe my wife will buy me a new welding jacket before I go up in smoke.

I actually had a brief line or two in an old documentary TV show about Petra, Jordan, where I did a couple of seasons of excavation work, but that's about as far as I got with my delusions of a glamorous Hollywood lifestyle. Today, I find solace among my machines...my silent (except when they're running) companions who listen patiently as I mutter about the state of the world.

Not to beat a cliché to death, but I'll bet you love the smell of diesel smoke in the morning.

I'm always amazed at how my shirt can be blazing away, flames and all, while I'm completely oblivious behind the welding helmet.

BUT, let one dingelberry fall on the cloth tennis shoes you are wearing right above where your toes attach to your foot and you start doing a one foot hop while shaking the other foot rather quickly!!

From experience, I can tell you that not wearing a welding apron, when crouching like a baseball catcher, and welding something pretty thick just about eye-level, with an old red Tombstone, can have some pretty devastating and painful effects in places under the zipper of a man's front pants zipper.