Bob of Small End (18 page)

“
I
thought you were in your shop and went there first. Then I saw you
here. What are you doing?”

“
I’ve
just been giving the trains a coat of paint. I normally do that in
the shop but with you coming I thought it would be better to do the
painting here. Take a seat. Would you like a mug of
tea?”

“
No,
thanks. That’s a lot of pieces, they’re for carriages for your
trains, right?”

“
Yes,
that’s right. I make twenty sets at a time. Each set has an engine
and three carriages. I make three different kinds of toys; trains,
farms and villages. I used to make and sell birds as well but I
don’t do that now. It takes too long.”

“
I’ve
seen your trains and birds in Rose’s shop. I’m surprised she sells
that many. Is someone else selling your toys as well?”

“
Oh yes,
they are now.
Home and Holiday
in Big End and
Toys and Gifts
in Twinner
. Home and
Holiday
’s been selling them since January and
Toys and Gifts
started just over a
week ago. It is hard to build all they’re asking for so I need
help. That’s why I’m looking for a young man.”

“
I
see.”

“
Is that
your lunch?” and Bob pointed to a paper bag Ken was
carrying.

“
Yes.”

“
Let me
put it in the fridge.”

Bob showed Ken
the bathroom then took him to his workshop. On the way he pointed
to the concrete pad, “I’m making a shed to keep the wood in. I need
more room in the shop, for painting and gluing now I’m making
twenty at a time. Come in.”

Ken stopped
just inside the shop’s door and looked around. “It’s nicely
laid-out. The bench’s strong, you’ve got good lighting and some
decent tools. Your shop’s much better than mine. Working conditions
interest me. You know I was the General Manager of TimberForms, the
furniture-maker in Southampton?”

“
Yes,
Jim told me. So that’s why you were interested in the layout. Well,
I’m glad you like it. Let’s hope that you still do after today! I’d
like you to try making villages. I’ll show you what I do then watch
you do it. If you’re okay, I’ll leave you to it and make the walls
for the shed. Will that be okay?”

“
Yes, of
course, and if I run into trouble I’ll see you.”

“
Right.
I usually start at eight each morning, stop for coffee about ten
and eat my lunch around twelve, but since it’s nearly ten now I
suggest we delay the coffee and lunch breaks for an
hour.”

“
Okay.
Can I see a completed village before we begin?”

Bob took one
of the village set boxes off the shelf, opened it and spread the
pieces over the bench.

“
These
are the large houses and here is a small one. This is a row of
shops. That’s the church and there’s the Community Centre and the
post office. These are hedges. If you think of any ways to improve
the design please let me know, but don’t make it too complicated. I
don’t want to spend more than six days to make twenty sets. The
farms are similar to this set; they also take about six days to
make twenty. The train sets are much easier and take just three
days.”

“
Okay.
Show me what you do.”

“
First I
shape a block long enough to make twenty houses. I do that with the
circular saw.”

Bob took down
a length of wood and started shaping it. As he worked he explained
what he was doing. “After shaping this piece of wood I cut it into
twenty houses. I do that eight times and end up with eight houses
for twenty villages. Then I make five large houses for each
village. I do the same thing again, to make twenty churches, but
there’s only one of them in each village. Then I make two rows of
shops the same way. The other things come next. The most
time-consuming part is hedges, they take over a day to make. I’ll
show you how I do that when you’re ready. See, I’ve shaped the long
block now. It’ll make twenty houses, as I said. It didn’t take
long, did it?”

“
No, but
it’s a bit rough. You sand the pieces later?”

“
Yes. I
usually do that at the end of the day to let the dust settle
overnight. I use a belt sander and some sandpaper. I tried sanding
outside recently and I might do that in future. If it’s not
raining, that is.”

“
Okay. I
understand. Can I try making a house block now?”

“
Yes, of
course.”

Ken walked to
the wood and selected one of the pieces.

“
This is
where you keep the wood to make small houses?”

“
Yes,
that’s right.”

He watched Ken
shape the wood. ‘He did it almost as quickly as I did,’ Bob
thought, ‘and its shape is just as good.’

“
That’s
great Ken. It’s very good, in fact, even though it’s the first time
you’ve done that.”

“
Thanks.
It’s been a long time since I’ve done any woodwork. When I was
about ten I made a rifle and a revolver. My friends saw them and
wanted them so I made several and sold them, making enough money to
buy sweets for several months. It was fun. You know, I think I’d
enjoy working with wood again.”

“
I hope
you do. Okay, I’ll leave you to it and work on the shed. Call if
you need me.” Bob took his plans, a tape measure, circular saw and
an extension cord from the bench and went outside. It was still
cloudy but the morning weather forecast said there shouldn’t be any
rain for the next two days.

He put his
things on the concrete and removed the plastic sheet that covered
the wood on the lawn. Checking his plans he pulled the four-by-two
lengths he needed to make the rear end wall and began cutting them
to length. Once he had finished cutting all of them he went into
the shop for the nails.

“
How’s
it going Ken?”

“
Fine.
I’ve already made all the small houses. Do they look okay to
you?”

“
They
look fine to me. At this rate you’ll probably finish twenty
villages quicker than I can!”

Bob picked up
the box of nails and went outside. He laid the four-by-twos on the
concrete floor and nailed them together. Twenty minutes later the
wall frame was made. He leaned it against the back of the shop and
checked his watch. There was enough time to make the front wall
before coffee. This one was a little more complex, for it included
the door-opening, but it was finished and nailed together by eleven
fifteen. He put his head in the shop and told Ken that he was going
to put the kettle on for coffee. “Come when you are ready.”

Over coffee
Ken told Bob how he had been made redundant when his company had
been bought. “They used their own manager. It was the right thing
to do, of course; their manager knew their machinery and their
construction methods. They gave me a reasonable redundancy package
and I started my pension. I’ve been at a bit of a loss this last
nine months. My wife thinks I should go out more, she probably
wants the house to herself during the day. Jim’s wife is like that
so he plays a lot of golf although that’s what he’s always done.
Golf doesn’t interest me so I’ve been riding my bike, walking the
paths, helping in the garden, reading books in my study, things
like that, but I’d like to do something more interesting.”

“
Working
here might be more interesting Ken but I can’t pay you
much.”

“
Let me
worry about that Bob. I’m sure we can work something out. Let’s
forget pay until I know if I want to continue, we can talk about it
then.”

“
All
right.”

“
I’ve
been looking at the hedges you’ve made and thinking how you must
have done it. I can see that it must have taken a long time. I
think there’s probably a quicker way. I don’t know for sure, but I
think so.”

“
It’ll
be nice if you could find a quicker way. Well, I’ll have to get
back to the shed.”

“
Let me
know when you are ready to fasten the walls together and I’ll give
you a hand,” said Ken, as he walked into the shop.

The long wall,
with two window openings, took over an hour to make and Bob decided
to join the walls together after lunch. He opened the door to the
shop. “I’m going to have my lunch now. Are you ready to eat?”

“
Almost,
be with you in a minute.”

Bob put the
kettle on the stove and made himself a lettuce, tomato and cheese
sandwich.

“
Ah. Hi
Ken. I’ve put your lunch bag on the counter. With all this stuff on
the table we’ll eat in the lounge. Do you feel tired?”

“
A bit.
I’ve worked harder this morning than I’ve done for several months.
It’s enjoyable. I’ve finished the conservatories and front porches
for the big houses and I’ll make the churches, shops, and post
offices this afternoon. I won’t be ready to sand any of them today
though.”

“
Yes,
that’s what I do. I make the pieces first then sand. Can you help
me fasten the shed walls together before you start?”

“
Sure.
How do you fasten the bottom plates to the concrete?”

“
I drill
through the wood and into the concrete using a carbide bit, bang a
piece of wood right down to the bottom then drive a long nail into
it. It’s a strong joint and easy to do. I fastened the workshop
walls to the floor that way twenty years ago and there’s never been
any trouble.”

Ken stood up
and pointed to the window. “There’s some dark clouds on the
horizon. It looks like it’s going to rain. We should fasten the
walls right now if you want to get them up today.”

With Ken’s
help the shed walls were up, squared, nailed both to the foundation
and to the shop in thirty minutes. “Perfect,” said Bob. “It doesn’t
matter if it does rain now. I’ll start on the trusses Ken. Might be
able to cut them before the rain starts.”

Unfortunately,
that didn’t happened. Bob felt the a few drops as he was about to
cut the first length of wood so he unplugged the saw, put it in the
shop and covered the wood pile with the plastic sheet.”

“
It
looks as if it’s going to rain for the rest of the day Ken. I’ll
give you a hand. Okay if I make the hedges?”

“
Sure.
Do you want the stool?”

“
No.”

“
What
are you going to sit on?”

“
The saw
horse. I’ll have to get another stool.”

“
I can
bring mine tomorrow.”

“
Thanks.
I’ll make another soon as I have the time.”

As soon as
they began they ran into a problem, there was only one table saw
and both couldn’t use it at the same time. “What are we going to do
about that Bob?”

“
I don’t
know. I could buy another saw but where can I put it? There isn’t
enough room.”

“
We’ll
have to plan our work better then; one of us could cut the blocks
while the other one shapes the hedges. That would work.”

“
Okay.
When you’ve finished with the saw we’ll break for tea and
afterwards I’ll cut the hedges. I’ll make a list of things to buy
while you’re using the saw.”

At Ken’s
suggestion Bob added “masks” to his shopping list. “It would be
best if we had a ducted exhaust system to use when sanding,” Ken
added, “but they cost a lot of money. We must sand outdoors
whenever we can. Breathing sawdust isn’t healthy.”

“
Yes, I
agree. I’ve never had this much to sand in the past. Okay, I’ll put
the kettle on, it’ll take about ten minutes to boil.”

As they were
drinking their tea Ken said he had thought of a way to make the
hedges quicker. “We could use three routers in a jig. Three of them
would only cost about fifty pounds if we bought second-hand ones.
Do you think it’s worth trying?”

“
How
much quicker would it be, Ken?”

“
Don’t
know until we try. It’d make hedges for twenty villages in a couple
of hours I think.”

“
It
could be that fast? That’d be marvellous.”

“
Also, I
think it would be quicker to make the houses and shops using a jig,
but that would cost money, maybe as much as a hundred pounds. The
big problem about what we’re doing, apart from the money, is room;
there’s not enough room in here. We’d have to enlarge the workshop
somehow and I don’t see how we can. So it really comes down to
this, are you sure you want to make a lot more toys?”

“
Yes I’m
sure. If we found a way to make the shop larger how long would it
take to make twenty villages, that is, if we had both of your jigs
and they worked as well as you’ve suggested?”

“
Less
than two days maybe even only one day, plus the time it takes to
paint the pieces.”

“
Twenty
sets would bring in about three hundred and fifty pounds! In two
days! Wow.”

“
I don’t
know how much money it’d make but could you sell that many if we
made them?”

“
I’m not
too worried about selling, at least, during the tourist season Ken.
There are lots of gift shops around here. I wouldn’t like working
in the shop day after day, week after week, though.”

“
Well if
you’re sure you can sell the toys I’ve a suggestion: I could make
the toys, or you could hire people to make them, and you could
concentrate on selling. What do you think?”