Shared shops WARNING: RANT

ysforge

ysforge

Joined
Jan 10, 2005
Messages
655
My best friend and I built a shop about 10 years ago, nothing fancy, but it was great for simple blacksmithing. We built the shop on his parent's property (I was only 16 when we built it) and things where good.

About 3 years ago, My friends uncle came to stay in the basement appartment in the house, no big deal, all was well, he was a welder after all, and would be a welcome adition to the shop.

Together the 3 of us added a small section to the shop to house his welder and lay-out table, at the same time, we leveled the entire shops floor, and ran 220 to the shop.

The uncle travels, and is only in town a total of maybe 6 weeks out of the year, usually half a week at a time or there abouts

Uncle came back on friday, and was pulling in about the time I was leaving the shop, I pulled back in and spent 45 minutes cleaning up so that he could get to everything he might need to.

I stopped by the shop on saturday and saw that he had re-arranged some stuff so that he could work, no reall big deal, just a little re-aranging on monday I thought.

I got to the shop this morning after going to the post office, and discovered that uncle had moved all of my stuff out of what he's decided is "His" end of the shop. he's also re-arranged "my" end of the shop for me, including:

All my precision ground stock was put outside, it's now rusted badly

All my tool steel was placed outside to make room for his new "stock rack" and his mild steel

His stock rack was made using parts I'd cut for a project, and has about 30 pieces of my 52100 welded to it to use as arms to hold his mild steel

My kaowool was used outside to cover something he brought with him. it rained

About 50 new belts of various grits where dumped on the floor, because he found where they where to be "inconvenient", he then walked on them

He also used 4 billets of damascus as supports for his stock rack

He welded on the face of one of my smaller anvils, then used an angle grinder to break the piece free.

After all that, he had the nerve to tell me that he was tired of cleanig up after me, and I needed to get rid of all the junk I had in the shop.

He also told me that it was out of the goodness of his heart that his brother even let me use the shop.

I also found my brand new set of starret digital micrometers on the bottom of the slack tub, apparently that's where they landed when he threw them.

I'm pissed, I'm out a lot of money, and I'm behind even further now.

I need a new shop badly.

:mad: :grumpy: :barf:
Tony
 
What a total A-hole. He needs to reimburse you for damages, return your stock that he is using and visit a dentist to see about fixing his teeth after you kick them in. That reminds me of the crap my older brother used to pull on me. Sorry.
 
good god i hope your joking
im betting your not so i wish you luck with the "restocking"
do you think you can cut off some of the steel he used for the rack and make it yours again
 
Sounds like this guy needs a savage beating. :mad:

Ok, so that might be extreme(but, maybe not). At the very least, you need to move your shop. Also, he needs to replace your stuff.
 
What has your buddy said? That was a real Richard move by the uncle, but sometimes family can be blinded. If your friend doesn't reimburse you, I think small claims court might be the answer. Sorry to hear about it, hope everything works out okay.
 
If someone did that to me , I would be in jail right now for bashing their head in.. I hate friggin lawyers, but you should take him to small claims just for being a douche-bag.
 
Well, I don't know about "bashing their head in" ...that sounds a little extreme, and not worth the jail time...

However, ...if a stern 'talking to' doesn't rectify the current state of affairs....
...a simple pimp-slapping lesson may be in order, along with some 'sensitivity training' in manners of interpersonal communication, combined with the proper care and treatment of other's belongings (courtesy of the offender's digit's inserted into Mr. BenchVise) ...the end result being a promise of full monetary restitution for actual damages incurred, and newfound respect for other's possessions.
(Or just a summons to small claims court.)

That doesn't sound too 'harsh' :)
 
Sounds like he did everything he could to convince you to move out of his and his brothers shop that he could.
 
damn. :eek: I'm not sure where to even start on that one. What did your friend have to say about all this?

I'd say it's time to get your money out of what was broken/used, but orders on hold (customers will understand) and try and figure out a new place to get your work done.

Oh, and find every nail you hammered in to put together the shop and pull it back out. :)
 
What a dickhead!

Pictures, take lots of pictures of the damage. If you end up in court you will need documentation. Pics and movies say alot. Also reciepts for all the stuff that he screwed up. Document it now while you still can.

Michael
 
Holy crap man! I thought my shared shop experience was bad but it's nothing compared to yours.

I think you definitely have to collect everything you own out of that shop right away including the damaged stuff and take it somewhere safe before anything else goes "missing". You'll need the damaged stuff as evidence if you sue him. Also take pics of the shop as it is now if you can to show what has been done and how your stuff was treated in the move.

Good luck to you. In the end hoefully you'll have your own shop with all your own tools that you can do whatever you want and dump your stuff where ever you want.

Sean
 
Wow, that's ROUGH. I'm really sorry to hear about your friend's uncle and the tough time he's putting you through.

I would politely ask to be reimbursed, if that doesn't work take him to small claims court. Take photos and gather receipts.

Mark, watch the lawyer comments :).

Matt
 
tell your friends father about it and ask if he wants you out?
then tell him what uncle d/h did. he owns the place he can help you the most
being brothers he may have a thing or to say to his brother. other wise my friend , it'sime to move. getting proof of your loss is giong to be hard and
if like here ,small claims cost money to file, and takes forever. :(
you said he's out most of the time? that would be a good time for you
FIX everything he did.. :) and run for the hills :footinmou :D
 
Sorry to hear of your situation Tony :( I hope you can work through it and get set up in your own place.
Scott
 
You might also want to check your local laws concerning your rights by usage. I may be wrong , but I do believe that if you have been using the place for more than seven years , it make a differance. I still vote bashing :)
 
I called my friends dad, and explained what happened, he said he'd talk to his brother and try to make things right, and that if the brother didn't repair or replace everything ruined, he'd make sure he knew he was in the wrong, and therefore no longer welcome.

I went back to the shop, and found uncle there.

I somewhat less than politely explained that he just severely damaged my livelyhood, not to mention my tools, materials and good nature.

After some disscusion, he's agreed to pay for all the things he damaged, destroyed or ruined, as well helping me get caught up on my back-log.

I've never had any problem with anybody in the family, with the exeption that the uncle is a bit anal about the shop, but this time he admits he went too far.

A for my friend, he lives in NC right now, so while I can tell him what's happening, there is little he can do about it.

Don't know how long it will take to get caught back up to where I was though.

With any luck, you guys will see a shop cleaning/ moving sale in the next few months.

Tony
 
Good to hear he is going to pay up. If I were you I'd be making every effort to get out of there ASAP. Never know when someone like that is going to throw another temper tantrum!

Sean
 
I've already got some land picked out, just got to come up with the downpayment, and something to build the shop with.

Wish me luck!

Thanks for the comments guys, I appreciate the support, my stomach sank pretty deep this morning when I got there and realized how bad everything was, I nearly punched the guy in the mouth, that was when I left to cool down before doing something I would have regretted for a long time.

Thanks again,
Tony
 
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