Sandwiches

SIGNS THAT OUR NEIGHBORHOODS DON'T SUCK: THIS MURAL AT 10TH AND KALAMATH

It's on the outskirts of Baker but we're still claiming this for the neighborhood: a fine mural in a distinct style, in the alley between Santa Fe and Kalamath and 9th and 10th. Plus, that pink man is Dexter's strawberry twin, no doubt. To see it via drive-by, look east just past the Operating Engineers Local 9 building on the corner of 10th and Kalamath.

J.R. MONTOYA

J.R. Montoya, working the press brake. For a totally unnecessary video animation of the brake in motion, check this.

DESKADILLO (PART 2)

A detailed look at the hybrid beast known (for now) as the Deskadillo; for more about its rhyme and reason see the post below.

DESKADILLO

He's part Armadillo coffee table—pumped up to giant size—with a bit of Turtle diner in his end brackets. The secret to his strength comes partly from the folded 7-gauge steel components and partly from the concealed tubing beams connecting the ends. He's bomber, to be sure. The walnut box suspended underneath contains two hanging-file-folder drawers, two wider, shallow drawers for office miscellany, plus a compartment for a CPU tower. The desk is meant for use by an office receptionist, so that angled walnut panel was designed for privacy and to be used as a transaction counter. It and a second steel panel hide the receptionist and her treasures while supporting the cable management. We have to admit we were reluctant to leave it at first; it was so fine we wanted it for ourselves.

CLOSE UP LOOK AT THE DB BRAND ON A FLOUR TORTILLA

We thought it was worth another look since as it turns out this is what our brand was made for. We may need to get into the burrito business.

MILLARD TILLMAN'S DOUBLEBUTTER BURRITOS

The Tillman brothers came by the shop recently armed with chorizo, tortillas, jalapenos, anaheims, eggs, tomatoes, onions—all the fixings for Millard Tillman's famous breakfast burritos. Clovis broke out the camera (as is his style, just stop-motion stills) and of course the boys got the DB brand involved (turns out it makes a solid salsa masher and leaves a wicked fine mark on a flour tortilla). Delicious, especially when set to a fresh Mulatu Astatke track. Enjoy the video on Vimeo.

FENCES BY ARTISTS WE KNOW: PATRICK MAROLD

Patrick Marold is mostly a sculptor, though occasionally he makes fences, sometimes photography, sometimes the-hard-to-classify. This bit here we're putting in the fences category—the best fence in Denver if you ask us. Sure, call it sculpture if you insist. But ask yourself, why you want to get all hoity-toity on us? We think you should call a fence a fence, no matter how lovely. Patrick's forms the barrier between City Park and the Denver Zoo on the Park's northwest end, near that bit of lake that's overrun by cormorants for much of the year. More photos after the jump and more of Patrick's diverse body of work on his site.

SHOP TOOLS: BRIAN ELLIS

This is the first in a series of posts about the tools in our shop so we figured we'd start with one of our favorites: our steel-cutting bandsaw, Brian Ellis. True, a human name, and like all of our tools we do think of him that way, sort of. Brian Ellis is named in honor of our friend Brian Ellis, who lives just down the alley. He signed the saw with the sweet heart over the "i". Fitting, since we love our Brian Ellis: he's dressed dapperly; he handles well when we wheel him out of the shop every morning; he's accurate and makes a clean cut; he's whisper-quiet; and unlike most metal-cutting bandsaws, he requires none of the weird white cutting lube that makes his competitors such a mess to operate. We have no idea why he needs no lube but that's just the way he is. Made in Verona, Wisconsin by the Ellis Mfg. Company.