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The staple-gun gunslinger

Contributed by: Kevin Hamm/YourHub.com on 4/21/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Denver page, where YourHub.com staff and readers will introduce you to more people who make this part of the metro area what it is.

Ron Safe is out of staples. He reaches onto the workbench behind him, grabs another clip and jams it into the butt of the pneumatic staple gun like it's a pistol. Pop-pop-pop-pop, he's back at it, stapling fabric to a half-finished chair.

"I almost feel like I'm in the police department," he says.

Safe is a furniture upholsterer, and the staple gun - along with a staple puller, naturally - are the tools of the trade. So is the pair of very sharp scissors he slides in and out of a holster on his waist in a move so practiced you'd think he's been doing it for 28 years.

He has, in fact, been doing it for 28 years, and all with the same company - Great Western Furniture Manufacturing in Denver.

With a country music station playing on the radio, Safe does a Texas Two-Step around the chair, pulling fabric taut here, trimming excess fabric there. It's detailed work, and that appeals to the perfectionist in him.

"That gets me in trouble," he says. "Sometimes I try to make it too perfect."

Meticulous doesn't mean slow, however. One year Safe counted the number of pieces of furniture he upholstered: 1,261.

Safe, 47, learned furniture upholstery at Warren Tech in Lakewood. He was born and raised in the Denver area, and now lives in Aurora with his wife and miniature dachshund.

He was hired by Great Western right out of school, and while upholstery is his specialty, he has picked up other skills on the job. With the economy down, Great Western has trimmed its staff from 14 to 4, so Safe is doing some sewing and frame-building, too - anything to help out.

He arrives at work at 7:15 a.m. and is greeted by a queue of wood-framed furniture, all ready to be turned into comfortable chairs and sofas. He gets the template for whichever piece he's working on and uses it to cut the thick foam for the seat, back and arms. He then staples the foam into place and takes the upholstery that's been cut for him and forms it to the chair, stapling it in place around the foam.

Even though he works quickly with power tools and long, sharp scissors, Safe has managed to avoid injuries in his 28 years on the job, except for "occasionally being stupid and shooting yourself with a staple gun," he says.

Safe says furniture upholstery is a dying art - Great Western is having a hard time finding another upholsterer to help him out - but he enjoys the creative aspect of it.

"It's nice being able to take a frame and make a piece of furniture out of it," he says.


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