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Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:09 pm
by DOXIN
nik,

I would not go so far to call metal forming a "dying art". Here in Canada our trade schools still have apprenticeships in the metal trades


I am a Voc Ed teacher, our school closed our metal shop last year. Admin is not looking for a teacher for the program. My partner and I are retiring in June from the Auto shop. 34 years for my partner, 15 years for me. I promised ten years to teaching, I would like to continue but I ive been looking forward to retirement for 15 years when I closed my Auto shop. I can only hope!

Marc

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2018 8:41 pm
by nikkinutshop
My daughter is Red Seal Journeyman mechanic. She returned to trade school and The university of BC to get her teachers certification. She is into the finals of the practicum then she will be teaching what we call shop trades
She is in high demand and is being "Head Hunted" by many school districts. Very few shop teachers have hands on experience in a trade.
The Province of British Columbia has determined that we are almost into a crisis from a lack of trades training in the schools. The biggest high school in this city tore out all of the new shop machinery and tuned every available space into computer labs. Going into a trade was used as a threat to try and get persons like my son to get serious about school. On one of the visits with the school counselor assigned to my son, the POS counselor tried to take a strip off me in defence of her perceived self importance and the need for students to become trained in computer science. She was so disconnected from her job, she was not aware that my son had been doing computer problem solving for the school for several years. Almost every kid knows computer. I jacked her up on the trade threat thing. I asked her who fixes her import car, who made her desk that she hides behind, who built this school building and who maintains the transit bus the students take to school every day.
I went to my Union's office and had a meeting with the executive and explained the situation of trades being treated like punishment by school counselors.
My union and other trades unions became involved in Job Fairs so they could educate students on the importance of trades and trades training. There is a big push on to revive the trade shops and capture the minds of students inclined toward the trades.
A school shop teacher who knows their job will have a starting wage of $75,000 to $85,000. The wages for teaching shop in the far north starts over $100,000.
When I went into high school in 1960 the trades were being taught. Completion of the high school shop program was considered to be the equivalent of the first year in trade school. Something was lost and regained in the last nearly 60 years.
In 2018 and beyond, computers and mechanics will forever be joined.

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:05 pm
by cornbinder89
Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs fame) has a lot to say about it, and puts his money where his mouth is. He make many of the same points that you did. One of his main points is: if a student graduates into the job market with more debt than he can ever work himself (or herself) out of, it doesn't matter what the salary outlook of the profession is. He points to welders that in a few short years are debt free and making a good living, and since they will not be paying off student debt for the fore seeable future, they are better off even if their yearly income is less that a collage grad's eventual prospects.
I am not anti collage, not at all, my grandfather was a prof, my father a PHd. It just not for everyone, and some (myself included) would be happier working with my hands than trying to force myself into a profession I am not suited to.

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2018 4:18 am
by DOXIN
nikkinutshop wrote: ...... Lignum vitae. This wood is so dense it will not float on water.


When I made the steering tube for my KB it was a heavier gauge then OEM. I couldn't use the crappy OEM bearing. I used Lignum V for the upper bearing. My reason being, it's worked for over 40 years as a prop shaft bearing in my sailboat, why not? That prop shaft spins and spins, never leaks (once it gets wet). If it's good enough for the first nuclear powered submarine (Nautilus)......

M

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 6:40 am
by Badbill
Good on you doxin, keep doing exactly what your doing, making bits and pieces, just goes to prove that theirs still a few of us about still, the wingers are the ones who can't make things, you are a very clever man,I guess I'm a cheap (sob) too then, ha, ha ha,

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Sun Nov 25, 2018 3:51 pm
by nikkinutshop
WINGER:
an attacking player on the wing in soccer, hockey, and other sports.
Winger must be a local colloquialism with a different meaning.

Re: I need a hug. Any "Cheap SOBs" here?

PostPosted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 7:00 am
by Badbill
Your just old school never stop doing what you do,.