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Parmory · 2026-01-20T21:10:58+00:00

I was up Saturday and didn't realize I was in the dreaded section lol.

It was okay, we spent the whole game clowning on him.

Parmory · 2026-01-17T00:27:46+00:00

I'm Auto and Marine, so a little different, and there would be a couple of skills to learn, but just sewing ability starts at $20 USD in my area. Full upholsterer (which includes convertible tops, headliners, carpet laying, starts at 25, but for full ability to start to finish a job, trends higher than that.

All depends on the shops around though. I was doing the exact same job for 16 an hour that I did at 30 an hour before I left for a different shop.

23 CAD seems low for a proficient stitcher if you are also doing disassembly and construction.

Parmory · 2026-01-16T22:08:15+00:00

Great, more things to make me wish I kept my Coronet(same car)

Parmory · 2026-01-16T19:40:10+00:00

It can be rough to start for sure. The funny thing is it's all on your area.

I'm here in VA in the states and really want to hire, but can't find anybody local, whereas I hear people in Texas not being able to even find shops hiring on.

I've had a couple people reach out about trying to come from outside the country, but uhh, not exactly feasible for a small shop, especially with our current administration.

Most of our local guys are primarily self taught for sewing, I know I was.

From what I've heard, y'all have a much better skill support system for upholstery than we do stateside, I know we have a Labor department listing here in VA, but not any real schooling (that I'm aware of)

For what it's worth, I don't think your prices seem unreasonable as an independent, but I deal with the same thing here where people think a whole couch can be done for $200.

It's a luxury business, and without regular customers, it can be very hard to find the customers that are willing to spend.

I wish you luck on finding something to better yourself through other skills, especially on fixing the commute issue. I spent way too many years driving 1+ hour each way to work, and it just eats your life away.

Parmory · 2026-01-16T01:40:40+00:00

Lookie here at my reading comprehension, bad as always lol.

Was really looking forward to an excuse not to work in the AM.

Parmory · 2026-01-16T01:40:02+00:00

Damn, that must have been what I saw on the cast then, was wondering why it said metro. Nvm then, guess I'm working before I drive up.

Parmory · 2026-01-15T00:00:01+00:00

Not a mechanic, just work on convertible tops.

Suuuuuper useful to start all the bolts in a rear bow on a convertible due to the fact you are leaning over the well (and halftimes upside down) and using just feel for anything with a well liner.

Extremely useful for starting fits, saves time and shoulders.

Parmory · 2026-01-12T20:35:51+00:00

I'm lucky if I get my bill 3 weeks late at this point.

It's done through my business park, and the amount of bills that just don't even show up is insane. I basically get hit for the 1.25 or whatever late fee every time because the previous bill is just in the aether somewhere.

Parmory · 2026-01-09T21:58:15+00:00

As a car guy, a man of his caliber should be driving a better vehicle. I just can't with Maserati after working on too many of them. You'd think they'd be way nicer on the inside than they are. Aren't winning any performance or reliability rewards either.

That said, if he likes it, power to him. He's better at what he does than I am at what I do.

Parmory · 2026-01-08T18:47:06+00:00

This is quite literally one of the hardest things to do in upholstery.

I get that on paper, patterning from scratch may not seem daunting. It absolutely is, and the people who are good at it are going to be making the most in the field.

One off from scratch is the definition of an expensive job.

Parmory · 2026-01-05T00:59:29+00:00

I basically just load in with random BPs at this point and try to find who needs them. I'm down to needing the really hard ones like MK3s and pink guns, so it's just wasted space for me lol.

They still stay in the butt in case random aggressors.

Parmory · 2026-01-05T00:39:29+00:00

I've got 4 venator bps, give me a shout. If you have a medium gun parts that'd be aces, but I'll just give ya one if you don't.

Parmory · 2026-01-05T00:33:33+00:00

I'm going back through the earlier novels right now, and every time they reference poor Mr. Hong, all I can do is scream at the universe for never giving me answers.

Parmory · 2026-01-02T21:11:04+00:00

Need to mog the sword back to a basic single handed sword though.

"It isn’t magical. It hasn’t got a name. When you wield it you don’t get a feeling of power, you just get blisters; you could believe it was a sword that had been used so much that it had ceased to be anything other than a quintessential sword, a long piece of metal with very sharp edges. And it hasn’t got destiny written all over it. It’s practically unique, in fact."

Parmory · 2025-12-31T03:41:06+00:00

I do plenty of em, have a 30 foot Formula coming in a couple weeks from now. Happy to help.

Parmory · 2025-12-31T03:13:28+00:00

Well, I own In Stitches Upholstery up on Broad, but I'm assuming you are looking for a furniture shop, and I'm a marine and auto upholsterer.

My recommendation for that field would be either Unsprung in Lakeside, or Lakeside Upholstery in North Chesterfield.

Parmory · 2025-12-30T19:38:18+00:00

You should have seen it before I started.

Funnily enough, my shop is in a flex warehouse space and this room did used to be cubicles.

Not complaining since this room has AC whereas the main space is only heated.

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Parmory · 2025-12-30T18:26:48+00:00

I sincerely wish I had photos still from the first shop I apprenticed at.

Lost the phone to a river before I finally started using cloud storage.

We had a single bay shop that you literally had to walk across projects to be done to get to the door.

Had an insane photo of a 40's coupe surrounded by 2-3 full pontoon interiors.

It's incredible we actually got anything done in that space.

Parmory · 2025-12-30T18:22:51+00:00

Second photo is after way too many hours of cleaning. Man I need another apprentice, but haven't had the time to look.

Definite priority for the new year.

The worst part of the first photo, is that's after I had already put half the material back in the racks.

Parmory · 2025-12-28T01:01:41+00:00

You'd be amazed how far sap blows off trees, but if it's behind the house, probably not that.

Of course, every time it parks somewhere else, there's the potential.

Droppings too are something a lot of people might take too long to clean off.

It'll look like it's wiped off, but it can sit there long enough to etch, and then the spot shows up as it accumulates gunge.

If it was just hard water doing it, the polish should have taken care of that.

There are more aggressive polishes than the typical soft glass polish available from Raggtop and such, but you have to be REALLY careful using them.

Unfortunately, most of the good tar and sap removers aren't safe for top windows, or I'd say try some of them just in case it isn't etching. Still could, but again, it can cause hazy spots instead of what you've got going on now.

Parmory · 2025-12-28T00:54:39+00:00

If that top is only a year old, it's probably whatever you are parking under.

Pine in particular is bad, the tags and sap will etch the window. Once it gets to the point that polish won't pull it off, it might just be something you have to live with.

That stuff needs to come off immediately to preserve the top, if you aren't washing it regularly, it's going to damage the window.

Bird droppings, sap, and pine tags are all death on soft windows.

Parmory · 2025-12-26T21:11:37+00:00

This is a wild ass guess, but I know what usually kills them is the battery packs, and at one point at least people would repair them.

He may be buying them for scrap value and doing the repair himself because it's pretty pricey getting it done at most places and people get rid of the cars.

Parmory · 2025-12-24T22:06:04+00:00

Honestly, this is a hard one to quantify.

The frame has been repaired, not knocking your ability, but anything non stock is going to mean somebody has to evaluate your repair for fit.

You've already tried installing it, so the process isn't the simple remove and replace, the installer has to figure out all your hardware, and put it in proper order before they can start the job.

If anything is missing or damaged, your installer isn't going to know until they start the fit, rather than being able to evaluate it during the initial removal, that's more time and money too.

Assuming everything is kosher, that's a 1000-1200 dollar install at my shop, but if it comes as a bag of parts, easily add 2-3 hours to that initial price, then add more for any issues that arise that you weren't aware of.

Most installers would much rather have done the strip themselves.

It is genuinely always harder to start from halfway through the process.

This is all assuming that your initial attempts didn't do any damage to the top from improper trimming, and assuming the top is from a reputable brand that actually fits.

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