David Here - Back Again

Kitchen Knife Forums

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

DWSmith

Still Plays With Blocks
Joined
Feb 28, 2011
Messages
578
Reaction score
1
Hello everyone. I have been absent for a few months now so I thought I would update the community on just how I have been keeping busy.

First, closing the business after selling to John in Dallas took a while. After three and a half years in the location a lot of crud accumulated, much more than I expected, and the cleaning to get the building back to a rentable condition took longer than I thought. The auction of the equipment was easier than I expected even though I had two buyers back out on their bids and leave me hanging. I did travel to Dallas and worked with John for a week and found him to be even more accommodating in person than on the phone. I sometimes fly off the handle and John seems to be more even tempered than I am so his attitude will work well for the name.

Speaking of John, I can say after being associated with him now or 5 months, he is a craftsman and a gentleman. The decision to sell the name to him was a smart move on my part and one that will benefit a lot of people around the world.

On the home front, the family health issues continue. I won't bore the readers with any details but watching a vibrant person sink like I have witnessed in the past four years is disheartening and depressing. The old saying about having your health is spot on. Value the good times and prepare for the bad and keep good memories in the forefront.

Retirement has been boring. I really enjoyed working and expected to continue on until I could not lift a foot anymore or until I died at the shop in the middle of a build. Since neither of those eventualities will happen like I envisioned, I will just stay as busy as I can with whatever I can find.

A project I have been working on for the past 13 months is finally 95% complete. Back in my second childhood when I was about 30 or so, I became involved with the 4WD movement and participated in many 4WD club races in NC, SC and VA. That was my Walter Mitty experience and I had a ball. I had a 1971 Toyota Land Cruiser that I bought used in 1972 and abused it badly for the next 8 years. I eventually sold it and regretted it almost instantly. When I saw one on a used car lot, a very rare experience, I made a low ball offer and the dealer took it. So here is what it looked like when I bought it last year with all the rust areas covered by diamond plate.

70 TLC.jpg

And here it is 13 months later, almost finished.

DWS_1178.jpg

Next year I add the power steering and that should complete the build. I have done a lot myself, when I have the time and farmed some of the work out to a local hot rod shop that is known for their first class work. They haven't let me down.

That is about it. Thanks for your acceptance of John and I know he appreciates it as well.
 
David,

So glad to have you back! I'm sorry to hear that the health issues continue, your wife was a pleasure to meet and seemed to be a kind soul, my prayers are with you and your family.

On another note the 4 wheeler looks awesome, I'm glad to see you are having some fun - you have earned it!!!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top