Jim Miller; Wood Butcher

“Wood Butchers from the Past” – Known and unknown where are they now?

Jim and I met in Anaheim, California in the earlier nineties, at one of So Cal’s larger cabinet and millwork companies. Once we began working together we were destined to become friends. First and foremost I must say that Jim is one of the best millwork engineers I have ever met. Having spent the better part of the past two decades working together, whereby we collaborated on projects or on behalf of clients, we understand where each of us is coming from because of where we have been.

THE EARLY YEARS, IN DAD’S SHOP…

Growing up in Southern California and working in his father’s cabinet shop, Jim started by sweeping floors and cleaning the machinery and dust collectors after school. While the other kids had their bicycle paper route (for the elders reading this), he was out in the garage working on actual projects with his dad. Truth be told, Jim has confessed to me that “wood shop” was his best subject in school, with drafting as his favorite class. It should come at no surprise then that immediately after starting his first full-time job, he excelled in the shop.

Working in the shop alongside his dad, he learned many of the “old world” ways of doing things. When he looks back on those years, he takes pride in the quality of their work together, and a particularly valuable lesson he learned from his dad – “If you’re working too hard, you’re not doing it right”. If you know Jim, than it would make perfect sense that years later this would become his own personal mantra!

LEARNING TO DRAFT (WITH A MOUSE AND KEYBOARD)…

Twenty-five years ago, Jim began the transition to the front office. He decided the first step was a year long course at an IT Training Center to learn AutoCAD. Combined with his thirty years around the shop, his draftsman training and a great deal of “old world” knowledge, he would excel quickly where many others had failed.

Writer’s side note; in my experience only a slim few of the shop and field personnel who try to (or are asked to) join the front office have successfully made the transition. There are a number of reasons for this, but this is not the place for a discussion.

I’d like to share Jim’s first impression of that AutoCAD class, as they are very telling of his character. “AutoCAD = Computer Aided Drafting”, sure, he understood that. What was foreign to him, however, was the concept that the students in the class (most of whom had little or no drafting experience) were only taught to draft for a single week!

To Jim, therein lies one of the major industry-wide problems today. He’s been known to ask, “if you can only draw a pretty picture, how will the shop know what you want them to build?” He looked back at his two years of learning to draft in school (from the old days, when this was all done by hand), and recognized how essential those years truly were. For anyone with limited knowledge of drafting, or for that matter, any “real” time in the shop (cutting, milling, assembling parts, etc), the transition to an engineer in the front office is quite difficult.

Equipped with a strong background in drafting by hand (with a scale rule and a builder’s calculator) and now AutoCAD, he was not concerned about making the move out of the shop; he knew he would be a great asset for any engineering and lay-out department. He could see every part that he had once made, so it would be easy to put parts and units on paper.  When he was finished with his CAD plans for layout, the shop would know what he wanted and how to build what has been approved.

Despite the big shops wanting to modernize (Jim’s inspiration for learning AutoCAD in the first place), he’ll still tell you that for him its sometimes easier to see a finished product with pencil and paper instead of a mouse and keyboard.

DRAFTING AS QUALITY CONTROL…

However, he goes on to say drafting in any format is still drafting – certain things do not change. We have all heard the expression “garbage in is garbage out.” Through the years, he had to work the hardest when he was correcting the mistakes of the draftsman (who gave him the work to prepare for production). Work that may have been poorly drafted initially, and then hardly looked at for red-lining by a project manager for correction. Jim knows this. The review process itself is the checks and balances that are required – where quality control begins, and where a mistake or a small detail that lacks accuracy can drastically affect the bottom line of a project.

Having overseen the work of a number of draftsman and project managers simultaneously, it was his job to find the mistakes and clean them up. Additionally, he would teach proficient CAD operators, often a newcomer straight from school, what is actually required to build an element before the work goes to the shop. His thoughts on these new guys, the ones coming in without drafting or hands on experience, simply is they need to be trained specifically for what it is we actually build.

SHOP MEETS FIELD; QUALITY MEETS CONTROL…

Jim was a shop guy and I was a field guy – we recognized each other’s strengths, all the while learning of each other’s similar backgrounds. We both started in the industry when we were teenagers, and we both had worked with our dads while growing up. As two old wood butchers in the industry today, we respect each other’s knowledge of both the wood itself and the industry and products we build to install. Jim is a true second generation cabinetmaker, millwright and old school craftsman – from the table saw, planer/jointer and shaper era to eventually re-tooling himself for the CNC.

When we worked together, Jim was my last line of defense for any mistakes in the drawings that, if missed and sent forward, would eventually be reflected in costly production over runs. For example – if I needed 142 matched architectural panels verified to walk around a lobby, I would have Jim review and check the drawing and panel schedule. He would check all the details, including the math, to insure the plan was ready for fabrication.

For custom or premium grade projects he would jump into the shop, have all of the panels stood up and then tell the project manager which were acceptable and, more importantly, which were not. Whether by the specific grain or by the matched nature of a specific design and pattern, if they are not right then, he would say they are not right. He has been the first step towards quality control, the checks and balances if you will, on many successful projects.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Now retired and still a close friend, his knowledge and experience is made available for others to help improve their drafting departments.  Jim likes to call himself “semi-retired”, staying available to teach others. Will he be heading back to a bench in the shop, or spending 40, 50 or 60 hours a week in the office getting the lay-out ready and finished on schedule? Certainly not, however he does enjoy his life as an industry elder and part time consultant with individuals or companies.

I often wonder, as Jim does, what his dad would think about his current role in the woodworking industry… Proud? Certainly. Times changing? No stopping it. At the end of the day though, Jim and I will agree – the beauty of the finished wood itself is still the major attraction for each of us.

Whether this article becomes a quarterly or annual series is yet to be determined, but by now it should be clear why I picked Jim Miller as the first to be featured… Not because of the essential role he’s played with each and every client we’ve helped to date, or the engineering contributions to our recently featured project, “Mr. C’s Beverly Hills Hotel”, but because at the end of the day he is not just an old wood butcher with saw dust in his blood, he is also my dear friend.

Sincerely,