The search continues…..

For an apprentice…If you are interested please reply to me personally through my website (no I am not listing it, this  is a test)

It is going on a year since the last time I posted on this.   As I said I am in no big hurry, the fit needs to be right.  Please read my first blog entry on this.

http://bohemianbicycles.wordpress.com/2010/12/31/looking-for-an-apprentice/

The response was pretty enormous the first time.  I believe about 70 responses.  I am sure some good people got lost in the deluged but I am still looking for the right puzzle piece.

Let me add a few things.   Many different people applied.  Most were not serious, even if they did not realize that.   Some trends that I noticed.

You have to be able to relocate and stay for the term that I spoke of (2 year minimum)  I don’t want you for 3-6 months while you are in between pilgrimages and the like.  This is NOT a free frame course!  If you want personalized intense instruction take one of the frame classes.

No disrespect to my older, wiser brothers but I do not want someone who is over 60.   I am sorry but I want someone to be able to pass on the knowledge and this just can’t happen when you are older.  I also can’t bark at a senior or expect them to do truly nasty cleaning work or something so that is out.

I do not want any rich guys who are sick of their Wall Street jobs and want to rediscover themselves.   I am sorry but if you have a lot of money you will bail on me as soon as it suits you.  You will also not sweep my floors for the umpteenth time and you know it.

If I say you need to know how to use the basic functions of a computer and you send me a hand typed letter with correction fluid you failed.

So here are some cool updates.  I am moving my shop.  The new space will be much bigger and it has a really nice studio attached.   Said apprenti can rent this for a great rate and walk all of 15 feet to work.   You can bring a pet and your stuff is safe because I am there almost all the time.   It is the ultimate bro/bike hangout.

Once again, read the other blog, read this one.  If you can make the commitment please contact me.  If you think I made a big mistake last time get back to me.

Thanks!

Dave Bohm

 

Some Lug hotness on a Tuesday

Lest you think that because I am totally lame and almost never update my stuff (blog, facebook or websites) here are some goodies I have been working on.

and a sneak preview of retardedniculousness coming out the shop…

You have got to train and train some more

I think most people would take it as a given that you have to physically train to be an athlete.  One cannot get physically fit once in their lives and then hope to perform for future events without consistent training.   Another aspect we all take for granted is that one has to work on building new skills or working on the stuff that does not come naturally to them.   If a basketball player has amazing skills with layups but cannot free-throw well it makes sense that you would practice a lot more on the weak part of your game and not the strong one.

The very same is true of craft.  In this case framebuilding.    It takes practice and consistent training to grow as a craftsmen.   It is not enough to be very good at part of it and ignore your weak points.   One should study then practice new skills that will make one a better crafts-person.

Sadly though I see this very problem all too often within the framebuilding community and it is also perpetuated by the consumer themselves.

Everyone starts as a beginner, that is to be expected.   Then there is the period of learning.   You soak up everything you can read and practice.   Your muscle memory begins to develop and your work gets better by leaps and bounds.   A lot like bike racing where an athlete with talent moves up the ranks quickly and then seems to  peter  out when the going gets really tough the same thing happens to crafts-people.    I am not sure why.  Either they are not capable of more, or they feel that is good enough.    These are the types who would often say ” I have been doing it this way for X years and it is good enough for me”.   They don’t practice anymore, they don’t look for new and better solutions, they don’t seek out new skills to add to their existing repertoire.

Customers are also guilty of this.   I know it may come as a shock to some but I do not know how to do everything, I am constantly learning.   Painting  is good example of this for me.   I started the process of learning how to paint around 2006.   Many of my customers expected that two weeks of private instruction would make me a master of bicycle frame painting.   Five years later I am just to the point where I feel confident that I can tackle most anything you throw at me and even though I would be confident I could do it, I still know I have a long way to go.   I train with my painting.   By that I mean I paint more than bicycle frames that come in for service or my own work.   In order to be a good painter you have to…wait for it….PAINT!   I paint everything I can get my hands on.   My motorcycle, my car, the mailbox etc.  On weekends I practice airbrushing or mix a new color or make a panel.   How would I know what could be done unless I try it?  How will I be able to offer my customers something really neat unless I have experimented with it in the past.

So, what I am getting at here is that the time involved with building a bicycle or for that matter a guitar, chair or wonkywonderburple from Dr. Suess is not just the time you use to make it, its the time that you trained to get there.  It’s the time that you practiced and learned and read and failed.    A concert given by a violinist is not one hour at the music hall that you paid for but the thousands, maybe 10′s of thousands of hours that went into that one hour.    A great bike frame is not 300 dollars in raw materials and 16 hours like some think it is.   To me it’s the culmination of all the years that went before, all the knowledge and all the hours, dollars and setbacks. Only after all that effort,consistent training and practice will you be able to make something really great.

Alloneword…Cycling Caps

Hey, you know every once in a while you come across something so good you just have to tell people about it.

One of those this is Cycling Caps made by Mary at Alloneword.

http://www.allonewordshop.com/

The caps are great!  Super easy to deal with and comon!  personalized envelopes?  over the top but it won’t probably come as some surprise I think this…..SUPPORT your  local or semi-local crafts-persons!!

Gorgeous student made bicycle!

I just got some pictures of a student bicycle that was built here earlier in the year.  He got it built up and sent me some pictures.  Wonderful work and shows what someone can do with a little help and some determination.   The finish is electroless nickel plate and I am very proud of his finish work.  Clean brazing and great lug filing/edging.

Let the pictures speak for themselves….

The Future…

A friend of mine does these “de-motivational” based posters which are a crackup.   What is old is new again…

Recent frame students

Been working with some frame students, they all did great work!

My first female frame student and a 100% KVA stainless steel frame with lugs.

A nice commuting frame.

Framebuilding school slot open for May

I just had a cancellation for May.  If you were considering taking a framebuilding course this is the time!  Slot is May 23rd to June 8th.

 

 

Looking for an apprentice.

This opportunity will be a mix of a very traditional apprenticeship along with an education in general fabrication, engineering, design and problem solving.

Here is what I promise.   I promise to teach someone how to fabricate bicycle frames and impart other areas of knowledge that I have gained.  I promise to treat this person fairly, compensate this person for different types of work reasonably.   I promise to allow this person to follow their own path and build/paint frames for personal use within the constraints of the shop and scheduling.

Now that was pretty short.  The list of what I need will be much longer and it is in no particular order here.

This is a long-term commitment.   I want someone for at least two years, understand that.  I will not be dropping everything and teaching you over 6 months so you can split and become framebuilder of the week somewhere else.

I do not need a full-time person.  I would guess the work will average between 10-20 hours a week.  Some of the work will not be directly related to building bicycle frames.  I.e.  There will be lots of maintenance work that either supports the existing equipment here or goes into upgrades of existing/new equipment.   You will be doing lots of repetitive work.   Preparation of parts for welding or brazing, sanding, preparation for paint work, and lots of shop cleaning.

In order to help with life, I will be paying for work that is directly related to finishing paying work around here.  I pay well, I believe in a living wage for good work done.   There will be different levels of pay for different types of work. (I.e.  maintenance work,contract welding, paint preparation, errands etc. will get paid)   Direct learning applicable to framebuilding where it is not making me money by the work being completed will not be paid.   You will have access to the shop and my knowledge (or lack of it:) and if you work on your own projects you have to pay for materials (gases, paint, abrasives, filler rod etc)  This is not some sort of free ride.  If you believe 300 bills is a lot for a frame, then you won’t work out here, you are already in another dimension.   One benefit is that you will be able to purchase parts and supplies at the wholesale shop rate.

In order to make a living you are welcome to source another job for yourself.  I have many contacts though and they are always looking for good workers.   If you are not a total putz and I wouldn’t hire anyone like that I know I can secure you a job either at a local coffee shop near here or in the construction trades or in the machine trades.    I can’t help you with a living space. That is up to you.

I would like someone local or who is in a point in life where a move makes sense.   If you just graduated college and spent 125k of your parent’s money, I am not going to support that.  Use your college degree, get a real job.   Tucson is in many ways a wonderful town to live in but opportunity is scarce here.   Pay is shit; the educational level of most of the city is shit.  You will not be a framebuilder here.  I have been through a dozen framebuilders in this city and the two others that survive do so only at a subsistence level.

What do I need from the apprentice?   I need someone who can think for themselves, is sharp and can work with little supervision.  I am interested in your opinion or ideas about how to improve processes or tools around here.   If I have a problem and I have to think of every aspect of it and implement it then I might as well do it.   I need someone who has a least a shred of mechanical ability and basic knowledge in a wide variety of fields.   Bicycle knowledge and mechanics are a plus.  I want the type that can fix stuff, any stuff.  If you can fix an old Ford, change a fuel pump, put in basic electrical services, build a storage shed.  Maybe you built a radio in high school or loved rocketry, made models or sculpted you might be the right fit around here.

I can’t teach everything from scratch.   You have to know how to use a computer!!  If you don’t use a computer or you have a Mac and everything it does is just magic, it’s a no go.   If you have good design skills and know how to work with websites, graphic design software , let me say that would be a HUGE ++ that I would be willing to pay for.   You have to have been awake during basic chemistry and sciences.   If I mention how acetylene and oxygen join together to make carbon dioxide and water and you look at me with that void, stupid look, it’s all over.  You have to have basic hand/eye coordination.  If you don’t I just can’t use you.

You should have a basic interest in engineering principles and how things work.  You will have to eventually learn to use CAD software and you will have the opportunity to learn CAM/CNC work and if you wish to delve further even electronic design and assembly.

You have to like Animals….(I told you this would be a lot)  If you don’t like my dog or have an aversion to pet hair, shit or dirt in general you are better off somewhere else.

Many of the projects around here, for which you will get paid for won’t be bicycles but will have direct application to bicycles.  It will be a very “wax on-wax off” thing.   You may not be welding bicycles but maybe for instance a heat exchanger of 316 28 thou wall tubing and you will learn a ton.

So, let it be known that apprenticeships do exist; they are just rare and a little different than they used to be.   I am in no hurry, there is no rush, I am going to be picky and if it just “feels” wrong for either of us, and I am o.k. with that.   Please contact me via e-mail if you are interested in investigating this further.

All the best,

Dave Bohm

Bohemian Bicycles

Bohemian Framebuilding school

Cycle Designs

Instrument Development Corporation

Advanced atmospherics and Energy Research

My calling…

I think I finally figured out what I was to do with my life…

I want to be a “mixologist”.

Yes, it’s mixology for me, I’ve been inspired, and it’s what I want to give back to the world. So for the past little while I’ve been making all the preparations (google) and undertaking the training and what not (google) to make it all come together. Not too sure about the history of the school of knowledge, “mixology”, or it’s place amongst the other grand human endeavors — physics, anthropology, philosophy.  When I told my dad I was studying to be a mixologist (google), he looked at me as if I had expressed an interest in becoming Optimus Prime.

Yeah a “mixologist” is what I want to be.

No; not a bar tender. A MIXOLOGIST. It’s a real thing that you have to train to become (google).  I assure you, it’s definitely not some utter, utter bullshit that someone made up as a fake thing like five minutes ago, definitely not.

This is my calling my friends and yes I am available to work in your club.  I rely on my intensive training (google) in the craftsmanship and artistry of creating alcoholic beverages — beverages that only I know how to make, like a gin & tonic or a vodka & tonic.

I amass all these special concoctions on a list — a “cocktail list”, if you’ll let me throw some industry jargon at you.  Then I tailor it to the branding, image, and corporate identity of my client club.  I rename the gin and tonic to make it like a pun on your club’s name or if you don’t want a series of puns we can say something like “the signature cocktails”.

The main thing is the artistry in getting together (google, google, google) a really specific list of drinks (goooooogle) that is definitely not the same shit that everyone else has… that’s MIXOLOGY, my friends. That’s my calling…