After the dust finally settled from our weekend (and there was certainly enough of it - we produced enough sawdust to make larger-than-life replicas of Jared and Jimbo*), we were left with the shattered remains of what was once a fully functioning vise, a pile of medium-to-very ruined tarpaulin, a few bruised fingertips,** and a heapin' helpin' of some friggin' progress.
Yessir - with an actual end (finally) in sight for our renovations, we realized that we should probably start doing all that stuff on the list entitled "Things To Do Eventually."*** And Do Things we did! We emerged from our weekend a little sore, a little sweaty, and a lot covered with paint, but we're better off for it: we're now much more well versed in the ways of the wood shop (Jared no longer refers to every tool he sees as a "joist," which it turns out isn't even a tool at all), we've got opinions about lumber (we're in favor of it), and we're one hell of a lot closer to being "actually prepared" for that fateful day when we can fire up the kettles and make you some damn beer already!
In the spirit of preparedness, cabinets may come in handy, particularly since these cabinets support the bar top.
Regular readers of this ol' blog may remember our foray into furniture restoration a few weeks back, and this time around Jimbo returned to finish the job! (creating, in the process, the largest cloud of paint and swearing on the east coast) Things still look pretty similar ("like chairs"), so you'll just have to take our word on it that this is a major improvement, but it really is! Check out how good everything looks!
"That was my father's best tarp. He got married on that tarp."
What's more, after some missteps, a couple hiccups, and a tribulation or two, we've started some real-ass production on our tap handles! Each one of these beauties is hand-made (much thanks to Sam Carr for joisting the flanges on the blank handles) and hand-branded**** with our logo (much thanks to Gearheart Industry for making a fantastic branding iron and then being patient with us as we repeatedly failed to use it correctly). So once we unleash our delicious drinkables on this fair city (it'll happen eventually!) keep an eye out for these handsome hunks of wood at your local!
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| Where the magic happens, also known as "that milk crate table in our basement." | Look at them. LOOK AT THEM. |
As an added treat (assuming you think this is as cool as we do, which might not be possible now that I think about it) we got to work on/visit our bar! We unfortunately didn't get to drink beers at it, due largely to the fact that we had to hold it in place as we sat at it, but still! This ol' bar is getting very close to being a real thing that exists, and that's partly***** due to our efforts.
The proud proprietors, prepared to party.
T-Bone: builder of bars, keeper of the wood shop, master of argyle sweaters.
Oh, and One More Thing! We got the opportunity to answer some hilarious questions with the Boston Beer Examiner, and our interview went to press (do you even call it that on the Internet?) this weekend! Normally we'd stretch this nugget o' news out into a whole darned blog post, but Things Actually Happened this week. Either way, you should check it out here. Enjoy!
*Unfortunately, we were unable to successfully build said replicas. Mostly we just got a bunch of sawdust in our shoes/lungs.
**Lesson we probably didn't need to learn the hard way #22: if you've got a chunk of wood that's spinning at 200 RPM, you shouldn't grab it with your bare hands, even if it is "totally spinning in the right direction."
***Subtitled "Let Future Jared & Jimbo Worry About This."
****It's our belief that things can/should look handmade (since they are), but they shouldn't look too handmade. So if you're looking for a tap handle with an unused design concept or some imperfect branding work, we may be able to work something out. And if you're looking for scrap wood with our logo inexpertly branded into it, we've definitely got you covered.
*****Realistically, T-Bone did all the work and we showed up at the next-to-last minute for the photo-op, but we still feel like we accomplished Something Big.
**Lesson we probably didn't need to learn the hard way #22: if you've got a chunk of wood that's spinning at 200 RPM, you shouldn't grab it with your bare hands, even if it is "totally spinning in the right direction."
***Subtitled "Let Future Jared & Jimbo Worry About This."
****It's our belief that things can/should look handmade (since they are), but they shouldn't look too handmade. So if you're looking for a tap handle with an unused design concept or some imperfect branding work, we may be able to work something out. And if you're looking for scrap wood with our logo inexpertly branded into it, we've definitely got you covered.
*****Realistically, T-Bone did all the work and we showed up at the next-to-last minute for the photo-op, but we still feel like we accomplished Something Big.
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