Focusing Your Attention Where?

[SHOWCAR FINISH]

that's true but that would be overthinking it. It's true in every walk of life and I hate it when I do that. I think the point is just be mindful of what you're doing, but yeah, there's a thin line between focusing and focusing to the point where it messes you up.

[Len]

Knowing WHERE to focus is most of the battle. There are usually many things happening at the same time and if you focus on the wrong thing you could make the same mistakes over and over while all the time the solution is right under your nose.

It's like using a spray gun where you're focused on holding the gun at 8" from the surface but you keep getting runs because your focused on the 8" rather than what is happening on the surface. Once you focus on the proper area of the surface you jump from novice to semi-proficient quickly because you see what changes need to take place to get what you want.

[SHOWCAR FINISH]

I think that would fall into learning from your mistakes. No matter what someone shows you you're still gonna have to go thru the trial and error. The good techs are the ones that learn quickly and the mediocre ones, like you said, may take a while before they even realize what they're doing wrong.

[Kustomdog]

for you.! Im in Jackson NJ.I know i can learn a lot from you.regards Mike

[gazza]

I sometimes find myself floating above the car in an out of body experience.

That way I can watch what Mooch is doing .

Lets not make it rocket science fellas. Were talking about doing body filler and it isn't hard to do . I will agree you need the proper tools but after that ,the only thing you really need is patience .

No disrespect ZEN MASTER LEN.


Mooch

ROTFL, Thats called Chroming, good buddy.

[RGJZ06]

Great write up Len and I enjoyed the heck out of it. I'm new here and have been just looking around to see what you guys are doing. I never knew a site like this was out there. This is just my second or third day and I feel like I'm home. This sticky puts everything into perspective at least it does for me.

My wife coined the word "touch" for the skill it takes to do this work correctly. The word correctly is very important in this case. We have all seen the hacks at work or see the work they have done or had to fix it. Yes they get paid to do that kind of work and give a rats about the quality they produce. The real body/paint guys do it for the pride they have inside at least in the custom world. Everything you talked about is touch. That's what it takes and the guy who stated that it isn't rocket science is correct. It isn't. Most rocket scientists can't do this work. They are calculator guys and really not hands on. I work in the field so have experienced it first hand.

When I first started doing body and paint I did it in my home garage. One of my fellow home owners was a Phd and a professor at a very large University you have all heard of. He would sit in front of his patio door and eat breakfast every morning and watch me work on cars. I worked night shift and would wake up early to make extra money doing body and paint work in my home shop. I had lived in my house for over two years and had never spoken too this guy. One Saturday morning while I was sanding away on a car in my own little world I see a pair of shoes standing beside of me. It's this guy that lives next door. I shut off the sander and look up at him, (I'm on the floor sanding a rocker) knowing he's here to complain about me making a lot of noise. He said I just stopped by to tell you something. Oh yea, what's that, (getting all defensive) I say. I just wanted to tell you I wish I could do something like you are doing with my hands. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, (I say to myself)? Why, what do you mean? I see all of the work that you can do with your hands and how beautiful everything turns out and I'm really at a lost as to how you do something like that. He goes on to tell me about all of the work he does at the University but he has never felt fulfilled in his field. He had never turned out anything tangible in his life. I really felt sorry for him. He was a calculator guy and when you use a calculator everyday all you have to show for it is numbers, (allot like the video games the kids and some adults play now) (you won the game but you really haven't done anything). I hope this makes sense to everyone.

So I guess I'm saying, don't discount the skill you have. You may not know you have a skill but if you love the work you are doing then you have it. And if you love it then you have the "touch".

RGJ

[joedirt216]

RGJZ06, I am also a fairley new member to this site, and I just wanted to say WELCOME, the people on here have a wealth of info and have helped me out tremendously, it doesn't matter what question you ask, someone on here has an answer, and sometimes you get many answers, and different opinions, and that really helps to solve many issues that come up. New guys and old guys alike, comparing knowledge and experiance, you just can't pay for that kind of info, and there isnt a book to cover it all. So CHEERS and Welcome, and share some info

[RGJZ06]

Thanks for the welcome Joe. I plan to spend a lot of time here and I always have questions. I'm pretty much an old school guy so some of the things I may put out there may reflect that thought process.

RGJ

[Len]

Welcome aboard RGJ, I hope we can help you and you can help others. Be sure to check out the other areas of the site including the Home/info part and the store linked at the top of the forum. Let me/us know if you need anything.

[RyanBayles]

Great write up Len and I enjoyed the heck out of it. I'm new here and have been just looking around to see what you guys are doing. I never knew a site like this was out there. This is just my second or third day and I feel like I'm home. This sticky puts everything into perspective at least it does for me.

My wife coined the word "touch" for the skill it takes to do this work correctly. The word correctly is very important in this case. We have all seen the hacks at work or see the work they have done or had to fix it. Yes they get paid to do that kind of work and give a rats about the quality they produce. The real body/paint guys do it for the pride they have inside at least in the custom world. Everything you talked about is touch. That's what it takes and the guy who stated that it isn't rocket science is correct. It isn't. Most rocket scientists can't do this work. They are calculator guys and really not hands on. I work in the field so have experienced it first hand.

When I first started doing body and paint I did it in my home garage. One of my fellow home owners was a Phd and a professor at a very large University you have all heard of. He would sit in front of his patio door and eat breakfast every morning and watch me work on cars. I worked night shift and would wake up early to make extra money doing body and paint work in my home shop. I had lived in my house for over two years and had never spoken too this guy. One Saturday morning while I was sanding away on a car in my own little world I see a pair of shoes standing beside of me. It's this guy that lives next door. I shut off the sander and look up at him, (I'm on the floor sanding a rocker) knowing he's here to complain about me making a lot of noise. He said I just stopped by to tell you something. Oh yea, what's that, (getting all defensive) I say. I just wanted to tell you I wish I could do something like you are doing with my hands. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, (I say to myself)? Why, what do you mean? I see all of the work that you can do with your hands and how beautiful everything turns out and I'm really at a lost as to how you do something like that. He goes on to tell me about all of the work he does at the University but he has never felt fulfilled in his field. He had never turned out anything tangible in his life. I really felt sorry for him. He was a calculator guy and when you use a calculator everyday all you have to show for it is numbers, (allot like the video games the kids and some adults play now) (you won the game but you really haven't done anything). I hope this makes sense to everyone.

So I guess I'm saying, don't discount the skill you have. You may not know you have a skill but if you love the work you are doing then you have it. And if you love it then you have the "touch".

Great Read, You should be a inspirational speaker!

[neonglo]

funny how we forget why we start doing these things, and its also funny how a thread like this makes sense of it.

I started out my project with patience, excitement, pride, and FOCUS, the first couple of months went perfect with every bit and piece working together, from the "feel" of the block and paper cutting through the filler to a perfect contour,welding of panels to a clean finish, all the way down to the sanding of the body to a perfect smooth feel. I had the "touch".

Then the anxiety, impatience, and lack of focus started working in. Instead of looking at the work at hand my mind drifted to the bigger picture, all the "what if's" came into play. Now im in the situation where all that I have feard has come to pass. All because of the "lack of focus". Its true what Len says, focus on the work at hand systematically and the bigger picture will eventually be fulfilled. Hope I get up tommorrow morning with this same feeling.

[RGJZ06]

funny how we forget why we start doing these things, and its also funny how a thread like this makes sense of it.

I started out my project with patience, excitement, pride, and FOCUS, the first couple of months went perfect with every bit and piece working together, from the "feel" of the block and paper cutting through the filler to a perfect contour,welding of panels to a clean finish, all the way down to the sanding of the body to a perfect smooth feel. I had the "touch".

Then the anxiety, impatience, and lack of focus started working in. Instead of looking at the work at hand my mind drifted to the bigger picture, all the "what if's" came into play. Now im in the situation where all that I have feard has come to pass. All because of the "lack of focus". Its true what Len says, focus on the work at hand systematically and the bigger picture will eventually be fulfilled. Hope I get up tommorrow morning with this same feeling.

Hope everything is back on track for your project. We all lose our way from time to time. It's easy to get overwhelmed by looking at the whole project at once. Knock off one thing at a time and that's all you will need to focus on. Just that one section. Pretty soon the project will be done.

Good Luck,

RGJ

[joedirt216]

I think that happens to most of us, i know when i painted my 1st truck 72' ford high boy 4x4, VIper Blue Metalic, I spent months doing the body work, and when it came time to finally spray the color, i was literally "SHAKING", my whole body was shaking then i painted a 92 ford Mustang for myself and wasn't too worried if I messed up a little, and it turned out "almost"perfect.
A persons mind gets to working too much and that can be a bad thing...

[RGJZ06]

I think that happens to most of us, i know when i painted my 1st truck 72' ford high boy 4x4, VIper Blue Metalic, I spent months doing the body work, and when it came time to finally spray the color, i was literally "SHAKING", my whole body was shaking then i painted a 92 ford Mustang for myself and wasn't too worried if I messed up a little, and it turned out "almost"perfect.
A persons mind gets to working too much and that can be a bad thing...

Joe, thanks for sharing this with us. I think we have all been their at one time or another. I was just a kid when I started doing this and think I was too dumb to be scared. I wanted everything to turn out perfect and of course it didn't. I painted a really nice 65 Chevelle for a guy and it looked like an orange when I was finished. I had to block it back down and spray it again. I learned a lot doing that car. It came out fine the second time I sprayed it. It was a big hump to get over but I'm glad it happened. I did the car for free but I was paid big time in experience. It was well worth the effort.

RGJ

[joedirt216]

RGJZ06, Cheers to everyone doing this and I find every time I do another car or bike or whatever I just get better, I haven't produced a "show car" finish yet but it's comming some day.............