Crawling From The Wreckage: Failure to Frieze

Monday, August 5, 2013

Failure to Frieze - Work Smart

In New York, great players are not remembered for how good they were. They're remembered for how many championships they won.

Years ago Steve Jacobson, a Newsday sportswriter and one of my favorite writers of all time, wrote a scathing article about Patrick Ewing. He skewered the Knick great, by all accounts a decent human being with great athletic skills and an impeccable work ethic, for not being a good leader and not (I'm paraphrasing) having the heart of a champion. Mr. Jacobson also noted that, with regards to Ewing and his puritan work ethic, "hard work is overrated".

This section of the 1976 Yankee Stadium concrete Frieze is on display at Macombs Dam Park across the street from the new Stadium. The original was made of copper.

It's with that thought that I have decided to work smart instead of hard when it comes to, "The Frieze". Don't get me wrong. I will finish this project; it's just that at this point it's apparent to me that the way this will look once completed, will be far different from what I had initially intended it to look like.

My ambition knows no bounds. However, in reality...

The reason? Well, making the Frieze is incredibly hard and as I've pointed out many times, I'm not a carpenter. Now, I'm not one to back down from a challenge but as my man Clint Eastwood pointed out succinctly in Dirty Harry, "A Man's Got to know His Limitations". I know what I can do and more importantly, what I can't. With the resources (tools) available to me, making this is hard work with limited upside. I "can't" do this with a hand held jig saw. Sorry. I'm not about to drop money on a band saw or what ever else it is I would need to finish this.

This is not going well.

So, I've decided to do use the trashed moulding from the bathroom remodel as a "Frieze". Of sorts. It will look nice. Will it be a Frieze? Sure will! Most importantly, this is working smart!