6.50am - beauty, right on time.
Morning John, how's it going? Morning Michael, how are you? Not too bad.
Michael, I'll get you working on Qantas this morning.
I'll get you to router out some shelves,to do some laminating.
Get yourself set up and I'll come and see how you're
going in a minute. Alright, will do. Thank you.
To enable me to get my trade certificate, I'm doing four years of my apprenticeship in
cabinet making at a commercial interiors company, with frequent visits back to TAFE.
This design requires a difficult curve cut - might have to go and ask someone about this.
G'day Pat, how's it going? Yeah, not bad. I've got to make a mirror image of what you've done. Do I have to sand it or route it to start with?
Nah, set a router up on the tremmel??, swing a perfect arc, get a
thickness of 6mm MDF, bend that around with glue, pins and screws. And screws, yep!
Sand that a little bit to get rid of the screw holes. Then once
you've done that, route it all flush, belt sand it and it's done.
Our clients include hospitals, banks, hair salons - we built a
big wine-tasting bar out of actual wine barrels by breaking
them up, grinding them back, and turning them inside-out so
you can actually see the red-wine stain. Pretty spun out.
I did seven months' work experience before my apprenticeship, which gave me a good
chance to try out all sorts of companies and realise that I like commercial work best.
Here, it's flexible with the hours and you get to travel around the state doing jobs.
The hours are long in summer, but I don't mind - I'd be bored sitting at home anyway.
Well, I've been given this job of ironing on the edging - I'll be here a while.
Occasionally, I'm sent out to take away the rubbish or deliver and install a product.
I have the knowledge to start my own business, but I prefer
working in the factory because I'm busy all the time.
There's a great sense of teamwork: if there's a job under
the pump, everyone can pitch in and it's completed on time.
When installing something, you've got to be aware of things like plumbing,
electrical and painting requirements and make sure you do your
job properly, otherwise you'll be called back to fix it up.
Ah, knock-off time. Now I can go home and work on my pergola.