Hello all, i have been a union painter for over 25 years, thanks to my uncle, good guy? i went through an apprenticeship, and made foremen, not a big deal, but i had enough brains to run crews, and bring jobs in, any hoot, over the years i have had many many funny, strange, sad, happy, wasted off of epoxies,dryfall, oil, polyurethane,zinc, never lead? base products painting moments!
i am sure i ate some too many over the years, i worked with crazy Mexicans for about 12 years, some of the craziest, hard working dudes, you would ever meet,walking high pipe steel no fall protection, i did say union. for me i had to go hard/fast early, most painters where i worked would try to back stab ya to keep their jobs? i did a lot of stupid stuff, and for a friend i write these stories, i have many tricks, like most, but if you have ever used a 4 inch whizz roller over a brush to cut in the side walls, painted signs, ever sprayed 125 gallons of mek oil based black dry fall,let me know.
1987. chicago IL. i was working on higher priced, brand new homes, i had only been painting a few years, 4 things that would stick out on this tale is. first i go on a roof to paint some wood siding, i have a 5 gallon bucket, it had about 4 gallons in it, i had a pot hook on the handle, and attached it to a roof vent, as i turn with my roller, the hook falls off spilling the whole 5er, i cant find the ladder, it was placed on wet ground , i dug it in, but it sunk, so i don't know where it is, after climbing around the roof, i find it, i could feel the top, but could not see it,after a few minutes i get on the top rung, and descend down the ladder, i go tell the guy running the job, this was a brand new roof, with 5 gallons of oil base running down it, the ladder rode the wall a bit, i get down there the dude has no thinner on the job? we have no thinner? needless to say my shop ate that one,
second, this other painter was pulling a drop, and walked off the roof, about 12 feet, he landed on a wood fence, and broke his knee,
third, i was rolling exterior walls, about 15 feet with an extension pole, its a giant pole, so as i was bringing it down, i ran it through a picture window. lol
fourth, i had a nice 70 skylark, and i drove it to work, i had to move some paint, the interior of the car was dark brown, the paint was pure white, you guessed it 2 gallons open up on the front floor board, i mop up what i can, the only thinner i had was turpentine, which has that deep pine smell, i ended to using a brown oil base, because for some strange reason i didn't think at the time to remove the carpet, just painted it brown, the stuck for years.lol
first tale down more to come when and if i get back!