I had to shovel snow from my driveway yesterday, just a few inches worth, However it still needed to be done.
My active and fertile mind landed in the snow bank of our trade, "thats off to one side next to the discarded maul sticks"-- so here it is. A story about shovels or is it about paint?
My father and my grandfather before him used a shovel/*paint* from the leading shovel/*paint* manufacturer. When ever you needed a Snow Shovel/*paint* you could count on that Manufacturer to have just what was required to get the job done. Now I go in and buy a new shovel*paint* and when I go to use it, it doesn't feel right, the Handle is missing. I talk to the Head Man at the Shovel*paint* plant and he says "well we had problems with the wooden handles, they weathered and then people could get splinters in their hands so we took the Handles out" " Well the nice piece of metal can scoop up snow, but is not what Dad and Gramps used" I replied. The Shovel*paint * guy was very nice and suggested I buy a pipe at the hardware store, and a pole, "attach the pipe to the Shovel you bought from us, then slide the pole into the pipe and attach that also. It will be just about like the OLD SHOVEL*PAINT* that you were used too"
Now here is my point, we wouldn't put up with that from a shovel maker, and yet most of us still do just that from our Paint makers.
I am a novice in the lettering and pinstriping world, with just 30+ years in the business, 2 years ago you would not have found a stronger advocate for the Enamel paints that helped feed and clothe my family. Then I just got fed up with adding "this and that additive" stop doing what I had done for 30 years and now have to Doctor my paint to keep it from failing and it still failed more often then not.
July of 2007 I tried a brand new product and after 4 days of using it, I boxed all my enamel products and GAVE them away, I have not skipped a beat in my trade, everything that I was doing before I now do using new technology, a better Paint. I don't want to bash any old Shovel*paint* companies, but a slab of metal does not a shovel MAKE, nor does a bunch of pigments and resin make Paint if you as the end user have to add components to make it usable.
If you want to know what I switched to, feel free to E-Mail me DeWayne
[ March 03, 2009, 04:17 PM: Message edited by: DeWayne Connot ]
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
Like you I have only used the RIGHT kind of shovels to get snow cleared off the porch and walkway. Like me...you may be makin' yer own shovels these days. Not that I do much movin' of snow but who says new styles of shovels or shovelin' works like it should. THAT IS unless some one ain't never seen a real shovel or used it.
Jack
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
WHATS A SNOW SHOVEL?????))))))))))))))))))
Posted by Bill Biggs (Member # 18) on :
Is this a Kicker, or what LOL I use a snow blower or a lawnmower. Bill
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
Having been in these shoes and also in that part of the country I have found that the system one must have is more than one. My system today is about the same as yesterday without having to succumb to the failures of change. At 65 I should have enough to last a lifetime Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
DeWayne, I believe that part of the problem is that the demand is no longer as great as it used to be before computers and vinyl. The paint is a victim of the new technology and the blessed EPA. I am still waiting for documentation of a child eating paint off of a sign or truck door. Bill
Posted by DeWayne Connot (Member # 4417) on :
Well said Bill,
I have always said " if a pre-school child is 40 feet up on a billboard chewing on paint, then that Kid has bigger issues then lead in his diet"
That said then the Companies that supply the trade should have seen the trends and acted, by producing inferior product they forced more craftsmen to use Vinyl because the Paint was junk. Then the market drops and they say "no money for R&D" and more demand drops off.
I was more than patient, and even got pretty good at TAP-DANCING with angry/fustrated customers who's sign/stripe failed after 6 months/2 years. Now I count the days for all my old jobs done in Enamel to get past my 4 YEAR WARRANTY because I stand behind my product even though the Enamel Manufacturers don't.
I started painting signs when I was in Highschool, and you know I had forgotten how nice it was to crack open a can of paint and dip your brush in and just slide the paint down in a crisp stroke.
This stuff is pretty dog gone close. I am in love with the craft again.
[ March 04, 2009, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: DeWayne Connot ]
Posted by Dan Beach (Member # 9850) on :
Its more politics then anything else.
The same thing happened with autos in the late 70s, early 80s. The government came in with strict emissions regulations and the manufacturers came out with compliant, but really crappy cars until they could figure out how to do it.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)