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David Reeves writes:
Groop,
On Friday of this past week I had the honor and pleasure
of visiting with a grand groop friend, Alan Noel
and his cohort, Brian Webster (WEB of Atlanta).
I spent part of the morning rummaging around in his
relatively clean shop and could not resist the urge
to photograph the czar's place of work.
The following are pictures of his small, but nicely set up
shop (and air conditioned I might add!!)
The entrance to the shop is difficult to find,
the main tenant is a florist shop, on the top floor,
which makes me wonder how Alan can get away
with not bringing the lovely Sharon flowers every day?
No excuses here Alan.
Here is the immaculate spray booth with all the
colors of the rainbow sprayed on the walls.
Alan's view is if God had wanted his walls to be white
he would not have created spray guns and stains.
To the right of the picture is his cans full of Asphaltum.
The spray booth has an exit door for those close calls
and has a sprinkler system and explosion proof restuarant lights.
Nice set up, Hey Brian, how about painting those walls?
These photos are looking at the shop from the front door area.
Nice clean work benches
(he really does put away his tools every day,
made me come home and clean up my shop)
To the right are two table benches where most of the
repair work takes place, as well as staining, french polishing etc.
The large pine "linen Press" is from Mrs. Bartkowski,
wife of the quaraterback of the Falcons.
Note the neat and orderly desk work area,
where all invoices are paid in full,
and where all seminal thoughts originate
for his articles in PR magazine.
Conveniently placed behind the two work tables is
a very neatly organized work bench with his vintage
Mohawk touch up powders kit and an assortment of small tools
and colorants within easy reach of anyone at the tables.
Nice delta lathe and plywood storage case for his stash of veneers.
Alan and Brian make a great team, Kind of like Laurel and Hardy,
Dean and Jerry, Abbot and Costello, and Astair and Rogers
His stripping work place is in a shed outside the main building.
This elimnates any of the hazards and smells of stripping within the shop.
Chuck is Alan's helper and resident watchmen (see archives for story).
Chuck is a character and his being there at the shop
really reveals the heart of Alan Noel.
Genuine and good natured.
All sanding is done in this small corner of the shop that is
equipped wth a fan that blows a good bit of the dust into
a collector bag and keeps most of the dust out of the shop.
Except when he uses the belt sander,
then Chuck serves as his dust collector.
(still laughing about this one).
Upon returning from the exhibit, I was in for a surprise as we
opened up his plywood veneer holder and was the recipient
of several dozen pieces of prize veneer (dominican mahogany,
carpathian elm, book matched elm, etc.) wonderful stuff.
Alan is in the enviable position that I look forward to achieving
in the years to come. A great customer base, quality work
that is sought out by customers (no advertising here folks,
not even a sign) and a passion for the art of what we do.
The visit was, as always, a tremendous time,
a chance to Groop and learn some new ideas and techniques
and just plain have fun talking about what we all love to do --
make money doing what we love.
Alan is a gem of a guy, thanks for a great time.
David Reeves
Knoxville, TN