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The American Craftsman Podcast Ep. 15 | Home Is Where You Hang Your Hat
40 Plays4 years ago
On Episode 15 of The American Craftsman Podcast, hosted by Greene Street Joinery, we sit down and talk about the old adage "Home is where you hang your hat."
Beer of the Week (Tennessee Brew Works Triple Star): https://www.tnbrew.com/beer/tripel-star
Tool of the Week (Titebond III): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001YS16U/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=greenestreetj-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B0001YS16U&linkId=0ec08ec8c8a38fb9eb5a999044cb45dc
Greene Street Joinery is a custom design & build shop located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. We build multigenerational furniture with an eco-friendly and sustainable mindset.
Inspired and guided by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, we believe in the use of traditional craftsmanship and simple, well-proportioned forms; sustainability and ethical practices; and importantly, taking pleasure in our work as craftsmen to create quality pieces of enduring value.
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Transcript
Foot in Boot: A Stormtrooper Moment
00:00:17
Speaker
Ain't no shame, but there's been a chain. I'm not around now. Well, hello, everybody. I'm back.
00:00:32
Speaker
My foot now is in a boot. I call it my Star War boot. It's like a stormtrooper. I was trying to get another one, but they said it costs too much money. My insurance wasn't going to allow it. Yeah, like they ran out of equipment. I'm dying to see what this is going to cost. I had to sign a piece of paper that said they were going to build my insurance company. I'm really like to see how much. Oh, yeah. I guess 2800. Yeah. Yeah, probably. It's got a it's got a regular
00:01:02
Speaker
The pump. Do you get to keep it when you're done? Yeah. Who's going to take this bag? It's going to be all ruined. You want to sign it? No, I'm not letting you sign it this time. All right.
Episode 15: Time Flies in the Podcast World
00:01:14
Speaker
Well, welcome, everybody. The 15th American Craftsman podcast. Where has the time gone? I don't know. Feels like less and more all at the same time. Yeah, that's true. Christmas is right around the corner creeping up.
00:01:29
Speaker
Yeah, we'll have our Festivus. What are we calling it? Festivus miracle. That'll be good to test Christmas cookies. Yeah. For the podcast. Yeah. Are you going to be baking this week? I might. I might. Well, I got my peg leg. You got that rolling pin over there. I'm going to take that home today too. That peg leg has not proven too successful.
00:01:55
Speaker
No, it is it is a very unsecured thing to walk around. Yeah. So kudos to those pirates of past who actually I think with that, it works because you don't have this other thing dangling off the back. Yeah, but they were on ships at sea. That's true. Yeah. How much evidence is there of like widespread peg leg use?
00:02:17
Speaker
That's true. That could be just a fairy tale. Is that a myth? What about the hook? What about the hook hand? That I think was real. All right. But did he have interchangeable parts?
00:02:31
Speaker
I think I think the peg like was definitely real. I don't know how many how many of those were. Yeah, because think about it back in the whatever 1500 you lose a leg odds are you're probably going to. Yeah, you're not going to. I mean, that's what happened. And even in the Civil War. Yeah. Even as as late as World War One, World War Two. I mean, it was not that easy to save them. Amputations usually led to death more, especially that battlefield stuff. Yeah.
00:02:58
Speaker
So yeah, I'm not wearing the peg like any who would have rolling. We all digress to the rolling card. This is a regular occurrence. I don't think it's just a podcast thing. This is how all conversations go.
New Sponsor: Cheers with Tennessee Brew Works
00:03:12
Speaker
Well, you know what? I'm pretty excited right now because we finally finally got a beer sponsor. Yeah. And they got the shirt on today. So Alex Mitchell, Alex Mitchell.
00:03:26
Speaker
Tennessee Brewery. Finally tuned. I read that because he read it for me because I couldn't see it. Tennessee Brew Works. Tennessee Brew Works. That's a Nashville staple. I was in Knoxville. That's where I was. So we're in the shop today. Rob gets a text from his wife. You know Rob's house is in front of the shop basically. Here's the net.
00:03:48
Speaker
She said, oh, there's a package on the front porch. So we're expecting a piece of glass from Virginia to replace a door for a client. And I see this other package. I see the name Alex Mitchell. And I knew it because Alex had told me that he was thinking about sending beer. So he sends us this. We got a little blurb here. Actually, I'll read the card he sent.
00:04:11
Speaker
Yeah, because it was it's more than just a four pack. Yeah. Gentlemen, thank you for a great, informative and entertaining podcast. I would like to sponsor the Beer of the Week, Nashville style. The beer is made here in Nashville and is a little high on the gravity scale. I've also enclosed a local candy. Yeah. A local candy that's been a part of our city for over 100 years. Enjoy
Beer Tasting: Triple Star Belgian Ale
00:04:34
Speaker
and have a Merry Christmas. P.S. Rich can cut the sleeves off of the shirt. You know what? I'm not going to cut the sleeves over this one because I want to keep it like this.
00:04:43
Speaker
So here's the candy he sent. Google clusters. They're good. Yeah, I had one already. I haven't had one yet, but there's one in there. I've heard the name. I haven't had them before. Peanut caramel and marshmallow nougat covered in milk chocolate. Even the picture looks good. Yeah, I put them in the fridge. Yeah. Yeah.
00:05:03
Speaker
They were delicious. I have to say that I was speechless unwrapping this box of stuff. Oh, yeah. Yeah. The you know, the kindness and generosity and from everybody, you know, it's always overwhelming. The care each bottle was wrapped up individually in bubble wrap. I mean, it.
00:05:25
Speaker
It just blew me away. I couldn't believe it. So thanks a lot. If your name is on it, your name might be imprinted on one bottle. Got a little some extra in there for him. So I'll read this little. He actually even enclosed a little blurb about the beer. Shout out to the Tennessee Brew Works.
00:05:43
Speaker
So this beer is called Triple Star. It's a Belgian style triple ABV 9% IBU 30. IBU is the international bitterness unit. So 30 is pretty low. This Tennessee born Belgian style ale is humbly brewed with inspiration from the finest Trappist traditions. Trappist monks were
00:06:03
Speaker
You know, first one's to make legendary brews. Harnessing the yeast of the legendary West Mall Abbey, we have created a traditional Belgian style triple right here in Tennessee. Notes of apricot, cinnamon, nutmeg and clove provide a complex and full flavor flavored ale. Triple star is cellared for over six months prior to release. Stronger beers such as this one need time to properly condition for an optimal drinking experience. Accordingly, we have taken care to nurture this creation. Cellar coo drink with enthusiasm. Yeah, they're absolutely right about.
00:06:34
Speaker
aging those strong beers. Uh-oh. I'm salivating. Nine percent's nothing crazy. No, it was eight. What were those others that were eight, right? Like they dip it too, and they, uh... Yeah, if you're, uh, listening, the bottles are dipped in wax. I'm gonna have to... Yeah, I mean, it's gorgeous.
Snowfall and Nostalgia: Podcast Vibes
00:07:00
Speaker
I can barely take the suspense here. Is that the heat going on? That's the heat. Yeah, if you hear that noise, that's our heat right above our heads. Yeah, we're getting our first snowfall. I mean, there's light flakes falling. Oh, yeah. Didn't it snow just a tad last week? You said it did last time. Yeah, during the podcast it flourished for about 20 minutes or so.
00:07:21
Speaker
Yeah, we're here in the Northeast. We're very close to the water. So we're hoping that we're not going to get hit too bad. But you're hoping I want some freaking snow. Let us know in your session. Rob's the only guy who doesn't have to leave the house and he doesn't want snow. That's true. I don't want to look out my door and see that damn snow on the ground. Well, this is a work to get to these are tough to open.
00:07:45
Speaker
Start chipping away at that wax. You got to clear one little edge of the cap. Yeah. I guess I'm going to wait here and be a gentleman. I like the color scheme. It's very vintage, kind of old school. Yeah, the blue with the red and the gold. Yeah. Plus, I'm rooting for the Tennessee Titans now, so. Yeah. I remember when they became a team. Yeah. What? They were the Houston Oilers, right? Yeah.
00:08:13
Speaker
See, I was a Carolina Panthers fan when I was a kid because I liked the mascot. You like the Panther? Yeah, I mean, I was a I was a Giants fan growing up. Don't don't do this. Don't cut. Don't cut towards your thumb. Cut towards your chum. Yeah, this is good. Good thing this knife is dull. Here. No, no, no. Take this. We don't need a foot and a hand injury. Yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
So what was your high school mascot? The Pirates. The Pirates. Did he have a peg leg? Green, gold and white. No, it was the old buccaneers. Yes. And then they changed it to like one that had that more like tricorner kind of hat. The Pittsburgh Pirates. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well, what about you, Rich? You really want to know my schools? I think we talked about this. It was some ridiculous, wasn't it? Peacocks. Oh, my God.
00:09:10
Speaker
And wasn't it purple? Your color's purple or something? Well, the high school, it was Marauders. Marauders, I think it was. St. Peter's Prep Marauders? I'm not sure. That's like a pirate, basically. The college was a peacocks. Ooh, boy. Don't get a peacock upset. I was a West Virginia Mountaineer. The only mascot cool enough to carry a gun. There you go.
00:09:35
Speaker
We couldn't carry a gun. He had no hands. He just had feathers. Marauder? Oh, the peacock. Yeah, I don't want an armed bird. In Arizona, I went to Greenway High School. They were the Greenway Demons. Was it the Duke logo? No, it was a take-off, a knock-off of the Arizona State Sun Devils, where I also went to school. So it's like a baby demon. Yeah, yeah. Like a Cupid. And then... Like a Kleinehammer?
00:10:02
Speaker
Yeah, in Texas we were the... I'll tell you about that Kleinerhammer. We were the China Spring Cougars. The Kleinerhammer, somebody else out there in TV land enjoyed the Kleinerhammer. Oh, some little kid? Oh, Hunter? Besides, yeah. No. Oh, Luddy? Yeah, didn't somebody pick one up?
00:10:26
Speaker
Yeah, remember you were telling me about the affiliates. Did they pick it up as a gag gift for somebody? Yeah, maybe. I can't roll that out. I'm dying to taste this beer. Yeah, come on. Cheers, Alex. Cheers. Yeah, pretty good.
00:10:48
Speaker
That's right up the middle of the street there for me. That's not bad. That tastes like 9% alcohol. That's good stuff. That's good for a snowy. You sit, you know, go outside for a beer in the snow. That's for rub. You don't have to go anywhere. You can just sit outside and drink a beer. You can drink that in the last one. That's not gonna happen. No, I don't like the snow.
00:11:11
Speaker
Should we, uh, let's talk about the secret Santa now and then we'll get to the tool of the week. All right. So, uh, as you guys probably know, we did the secret Santa this year.
Secret Santa: Gifts for Craftsmen
00:11:20
Speaker
We coordinated where, um, you know, you could sign up and you get paired with another woodworker or carpenter or whatever, and you send him a gift. So we got paired up with Jake Hasler. He's Hasler craft on Instagram. He sent us two really cool gifts. We got these, uh, what over the weekend, but yeah, I wanted to, to hold out for the podcast.
00:11:41
Speaker
So he sent us this iGaging 0-6 inch fractional dial caliper, which this is awesome. I actually own one of these. Calipers are one of those things where you want as many as you can and just scatter them all over the shop. Yes, because we're always misplacing it, as you might say. I mean, I reach for this thing constantly every day. So the cool thing about this is it's a dial caliper, but it has not only a thousandth
00:12:09
Speaker
graduation, but also fractions. Yeah. So we've talked about this before. You know, people get a little crazy with wood. It is wood. It, when you cut it and you put it together, it's going to change size. So we don't get super crazy. This is in, um, let's see, 60 16th divided by one, two, three, four divided by how many is that? You got the good eyes.
00:12:38
Speaker
I think they're 64ths. Yeah. So, you know, you can read this down to 128ths. Yeah. Which is plenty, plenty good enough for... Yeah, it's more than we're gonna ever need. For wood, yeah. Which, yeah, I mean, you just read between the lines for that. And then he got us this book by Robert Lang. We're actually just talking about him.
00:13:01
Speaker
Yeah. I was already going through that book, picking out some stuff for myself. Yeah. Great book of shop drawings for Craftsman Furniture. It's got some great illustrations in there. I didn't know there was no Craftsman Furniture. Obviously, Jake knows a little about us, so he knows that we love Craftsman Style stuff. And that's a really beautiful hardcover book. Yeah. Yeah, over in the
00:13:22
Speaker
If you can see over there under the TV, we have a bunch of books and there's some books by Robert Lang over there. Yeah. Yeah. We have several. That's why I recognize the name because I have a couple of these books. That's why I bought those two nightstands that I had for the last 15 years. So Jake knows what the deal is over here. Yeah. Thanks, Jake. So Merry Christmas, Jake. And thank you. Merry Christmas. Yes, I like that. So I don't get beer on it.
00:13:53
Speaker
So that brings us to the Tool of the Week. You want me to get it for you? Yeah, you want me to reach it? I don't know, you're having a hard time.
00:14:06
Speaker
He's struggling. That's his middle name. Oh, everybody's a comedian. It's good to be back. Yeah. I can't wait to somebody get some affliction that I could just say. Well, you really can't do that, can you?
00:14:28
Speaker
By that point, you might not be able to see her here. I really remember that I was the tool of the week. So I had to pick something real quick. So I'm picking something that we use all the time. Most of the time we're building something and that's the glue that we use.
00:14:49
Speaker
I am a particular fan of the type on three. I know there's other people in this shop. I'm not going to mention. I'm sure he's going to mention himself that still likes the old Elma glue type version. Number one. But it's and I like this is these are the handles that Jeff has made for us. And I know we're selling these on the hour. Yeah. Yeah. That's like version. That's one of the first versions. Yeah.
00:15:19
Speaker
You see there's a screw in here holding it together. Yeah, it's a 2P. This is a perfect size. It just clips right into my Calavera belt or my apron and I carry this around me most of the time. Listen, you got to have glue. What else are you going to use? What do you like about the Titebond 3?
00:15:42
Speaker
I just, for some reason it's the dark color because it'll get dark and you could see it when it gets dark, you could see it on the wood. So when you're sanding, you know you're getting all the glue off. That's what I like about that it's dark like that. I'm not worried about it being waterproof, but again, that's one of the main reasons I like it.
00:16:02
Speaker
I like that thin viscosity. The Typeon 1 and 2, for me, they're even... We might have been talking about this last week, I don't remember. They're hard to spread with your finger, because it's so thick. It almost dries out too fast. You got to have gorilla hands. Yeah, well, I got these sized medium. Are you going to be the brunt of all my jokes? Speaking of which, Jake. So, Jake, we sent him a couple things from the three of us.
00:16:31
Speaker
One of the things I sent were these DexFit gloves I like to wear. And I went on his Instagram, I'm looking, he looks like a regular sized guy. So I sent him large. I figured most people wear large. And I said, he messaged me. I said, oh, I hope the large are good. I said, you look like just a regular sized guy. He goes, I'm six foot seven. I usually wear extra large. I'm like, come on there.
00:16:54
Speaker
I'm like, man, I totally misread that one. Yeah. No, I like the type on one, but I use the type on three. The hard thing for me going back and forth is, you know, I've been using one for so long that you get it used to how much glue to use, you know, when you're trying to spread it out on a joint. So, but I'm adaptable. Who's.
00:17:17
Speaker
Okay. Oh, yeah. That's a good one. I got to turn the seat down. Yeah. Jeff tried to heat up about a degree and now it's killing us. I'm looking at his bench. There's not one type on three over there. Oh, there is it. Yeah.
00:17:37
Speaker
I'm trying to do it for him. There's one, there's one. Oh yeah, there is two over there. You have type on two, quick and thick, type on one, type on three, type on three. I used it yesterday actually, the three. Look, I have three threes and a white glue.
00:17:59
Speaker
I have a three, a three over there, a three, the molding glue and some white glue that I stole from that shop I used to. I got one of those to work at. Well, look, I got the gallon jug of original. Yeah, look, it's so faded and old. I know. Is that solidified already? No.
00:18:20
Speaker
So, but the color on that one is not really that orange color, right? Is it is like a yellow, yellow? Oh, you know, about the label. Yeah, red. That's from that's from being in the window. But it's facing this way. Yeah, probably because I've been up there for 15 years.
00:18:37
Speaker
For those of you that don't know, on our website, GreenStreetJointery.com, we sell all kinds of accessories for glue
Craft Accessories: Glue Bottle Innovations
00:18:43
Speaker
bottles. I don't think we've talked about it on the podcast. No, we haven't. So we've designed like a belt clip for these 8-ounce type-on bottles, a belt clip for the 16-ounce bottles, a clip with a cap for the quick and thick bottles, a replacement cap for the quick and thick that's tethered so you don't lose it.
00:19:02
Speaker
Have like docks where you can keep your bottle upside down with a little sponge. It keeps it clear down Got a universal cap for like just like a regular You know glue bottle you get from Hayfully or whatever What else do we have you got one for the Elmer's glue yet moody old with the orange? Cap and has a little tiny little almost makes a yellow wood glue. I know to do I've used it. I like the Elmer's putty. Yeah. Yeah. Yes Plus they have a great mascot Yeah
00:19:32
Speaker
Could we use the Elmer's? Could we use that wax kind of glue, the stick glue? What if that would hold together wood if you tried to join it together and clamp it? I don't think so.
00:19:45
Speaker
Oh, what else do we have? Oh, we also have the Gorilla Glue replacement cap. So check that stuff out. Yeah. We actually have a 25% off sale right now. Yeah, coupon code HO HO HO. One word. Is that an H-O-E or H-O? H-O, H-O, H-O. Yeah. That stuff was driven by our own needs and wants. Yeah. And I wanted an excuse to buy a 3D printer. Yeah. So there you go.
00:20:14
Speaker
All right, what's the two of the week that's rich griper the week. That's me. You're the griper. I'm the griper. I'm going to griper. You know, this was this is something that happened to me recently. And this kind of touches on some of the things we've talked about Thanksgiving. My refrigerator breaks.
00:20:35
Speaker
So it's not like I live in the outback somewhere. This is a metropolitan area. You can't throw a rock without hitting some kind of store that sells appliances. It's not that you don't look like you live in an outback.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, that's right. Let's get that straight. Let's get that straight. I am wearing my Blake Woodworks t-shirt. Yeah. Which we talked about. But, you know, let me support that logo a little bit. It was painful trying to get a refrigerator and not because of the holiday. The stores were open and doing business. Nothing's in stock.
00:21:17
Speaker
And then you go online and it's like everything shows in stock and you go to the checkout, put it in your cart. Delivery, January 23rd. Oh yeah, I got a sub gripe when you're done. Yeah, that's the gripe, right? I got a sub gripe, unless he touches on it, on his sub gripe. All right, so I'll drop it and let the gripe make its way around the table. The gripe is,
00:21:43
Speaker
As you know, everything is effing China and there's nothing here. There's nothing here sitting in the stores. It's all got to get on a boat. And it was really disgusting and discouraging that I had to wait even a week, not that we didn't make it, you know, fine. We just shopped like the old days. But the idea that
00:22:08
Speaker
There was there wasn't a refrigerator available because it's all coming from China. That really burned me. Yeah. So luckily you were able to poach the shop fridge. I took the refrigerator, we keep our beer in and put it up on the porch for my butter and half and half. So I had good, good breakfast.
00:22:31
Speaker
What's your summary? Here's my sub grave. Now, when you shop. See, I'm an online shopper because I don't like to go places. I come to the shop. I go home. So you two like peas in a pod. Yeah. Yeah. Cut from the same cloth. Mom and son. Yeah. Mistaken more than once. That's right.
00:22:49
Speaker
So when I can't find something online or I need something right away, like for example, we bought this lav mic and I need an adapter.
Modern Shopping: A Frustrating Experience?
00:22:57
Speaker
So I go online, nothing's going to get here, you know, as soon as I need it. And so I go to Google Shopping, type in what I'm looking for and go to nearby. So it lists the stores that have this thing nearby. Now, when you go on a website,
00:23:12
Speaker
Like you said, it shows everything is in stock, but it's like, yeah, available for pickup on December 28th. So no, it's not in stock. You're having it shipped to the store and I'm picking it up there. And it's it's almost every item. It gets super tricky now to try and find things locally using using like a search engine.
00:23:35
Speaker
because the way they have that set up. And if you're not paying attention, you'll click on the thing to let that sale go through. They charge your credit card right away. And if you're not looking at the little delivery date thing, it'll throw you off and then you'll have to go through the whole return process.
00:23:53
Speaker
Yeah. Well, my gripe is when we were looking at the catalog to get gifts for the Secret Santa. Lee Valley came out with the Christmas catalog. Good luck trying to find anything in that catalog that's available. Yeah, everything's out of stock.
00:24:11
Speaker
Yeah, I went online and I was like because I didn't have a physical copy And I was plugging in like what you guys were sending me all out of stock everything I was looking at that little like Veritas mallet I have everything out of stock until April, you know, what's funny is that I went to goodbye something from a car heart and Right from car heart
00:24:35
Speaker
It was out of stock and then I could get the same thing from Amazon. Amazon had that item. Well, I said a lot of the gag gifts I ordered for the Christmas party. I'm lucky if I'm going to get them before the holidays. I mean, I order stuff. But when I do work on my models, I order stuff from outside the United States. Yeah. One particular thing I ordered from Poland just recently.
00:25:00
Speaker
And the guy wrote me a letter saying, listen, I'm sending it out now, but you know how shipping in the postal can be. It's going to take some time. And I understood that. I'm glad he was up front and I say, OK, and I know it's going to happen that way. Order something from China and it takes six weeks to get get to me.
00:25:19
Speaker
It's just I guess it's because of what's going on with this this covid 19 order with the pandemic. But wake up, America. When are we going to get started back to put manufacturing back in this country? I agreed. No reason we can't be making items like refrigerators and things like which we talked about on our after show. Yeah, two weeks ago. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a sore spot and it just kind of hit home again. Yeah.
00:25:47
Speaker
You know my motto, it's F. I'm not going to say it. Well, yeah, the corporations that are shipping all jobs overseas. Yeah, yeah. Nothing against the people or anything like that. It's it's probably American companies at the root of it all. Yeah, it is. Everybody has a piece to blame in this. Yeah, that's right. So we kindly we're back to the questions now, right? Yeah, there's been a gnat in here.
00:26:14
Speaker
The last three weeks. Yeah, yeah. Five dozen of them. I'll let you read this one, Robert. All right. Here we go. Questions of the week. Who calls the shots when it comes to the shop radio? What types of music are you into individually? And in particularly, Rob, what influenced him for the music his bands wrote and played? That's from Danny.
00:26:41
Speaker
So you go first. Answer that last part before. You're just a white dude. Playing a white dude. That's playing a black dude. Whatever the music is. Well, you know, a lot of afro beat, soul, R&B,
Musical Influences: Rob's Eclectic Taste
00:26:59
Speaker
funk.
00:26:59
Speaker
It's not the only music I listened to growing up. I was, you know, I cut my teeth on a lot of 70s rock and roll bands like ACDC and Led Zeppelin. But it was just the music that moved me the most. And a lot of this stuff comes from exposure. It just so happened growing up. These were the areas I lived and these were the people I knew. And you got Western Band to blood.
00:27:31
Speaker
You know, and I just dug it. It was it just spoke to me from early on. What did his genealogy say he was part of? Western Bantu. Western Bantu. That's where it comes from. Yeah, that's where he got his soul. Yeah. And the Sicilian, you know, it's all societal influences. Yeah. And, you know, part of the Afrobeat thing that I really enjoy, same reason, like I love bands like The Clash.
00:27:58
Speaker
and the jam and things like that is like the socio-political rant thing. Rage against the machine. Rage against the machine. I mean, I love all that stuff. I always crank up the radio when it comes on because I guess if I wasn't so old, I'd be out there in the streets right now.
00:28:20
Speaker
Now you don't leave the house. That's right. All those all those street crawling days are over for me. Yeah, we just drove back from our meeting with our accountant and we're in Rob's neighborhood and he didn't recognize a lot of the area. Man, there's a lot of nice property on this. That's right around my corner. That is true. I've been here almost 20 years. Driving a blinders on.
00:28:50
Speaker
So somebody else take that take the top of my kind of music. I like what gets me with music is I have to listen to the music itself. I'm not interested in the words per se. I like a certain type of melody and a beat and and
00:29:08
Speaker
An afro beat? No, no. There's people like Coldplay. They have a certain sound. Snow Patrol has a certain sound. Bands like that. Springsteen has a certain sound. I don't listen to the words. I could be thinking of a song, for example, Born in the USA. People mistake that song as being favored to patriotic and it's not. And I've been into places. I've been in places where they play it on 4th of July.
00:29:35
Speaker
They blast it. They played it at political rallies. Yeah, so I mean this and I I mean now I know what it's all about but I like the tune so a lot of the music I listen to now it's actually the music that my two sons listen to because they played in with a lot of different bands these young bands out there and then when I'm driving with them they'll put this music on I'm saying
00:29:57
Speaker
Well, that sounds pretty good. What band is that? Like 90. And it's something like I never heard of it. It's all these young bands. Yeah, this is hip. Yeah, it's cool, man. Start tapping the peg on their foot. I could dig it, baby. This is swell, Jack. No, but I like to listen to old rock and roll. I'm not into I'm not a jazzy type music. I can get into symphony symphony. You like the chorus light of music.
00:30:26
Speaker
No, I'm not that simple. I'm really quite complicated. I'm like an onion. You have to peel all the lines. Oh, God. Is that a Shrek quote? Yeah. Yes. Well, now I'm done answering the first question. Who calls the shots? We have a Pandora station that
00:30:50
Speaker
It's, what is it, Soul Jazz Orchestra? Yeah. But that's not, I mean, it's got all kinds of stuff on it. We just add different bands that we all like. Yeah, but most of the majority of it. Isn't it all Rob's music that plays? I think it tends to go that way, probably because Rob has added more bands over the years. I'm more interactive. Well, you've been deleting things, too. If you don't like a song, you'll say don't like. We may have been thumbs down on some things. So I guess the bread is out, huh?
00:31:15
Speaker
I'll be honest, I haven't heard bread in weeks. Yeah, I guess when the guy gets taken out of the shop, all his music is deleted. So for me, I write that checkbox to write down. Oh, God. I go through phases of listening to a band like, you know, a lot. I listen to the same album over and over and over again. You know, bands that keep coming back.
00:31:43
Speaker
Co-Hit and Cambria, Tool, Steely Dan, The Deer Hunter, Circus Survive, what else, Snarky Puppy, which is a jazz fusion band. I like a lot of instrumental stuff, Animals as Leaders, Narbot, stuff like that.
00:32:03
Speaker
I listen to a lot of weird, not weird, but more progressive stuff. Yeah, I'm a big fan of progressive rock and clutch. I'm a big fan of clutch. They're not progressive, but yeah, I love clutch, too. You turn me on in that band. I like Hall and Oates. I like Loggins and Messina. No, England, Dan and John Ford Coley. No, I do like that one Kenny Loggins song. It comes on that one. I won't thumbs down.
00:32:28
Speaker
What else? I'm trying to think of what I put on in my truck. I mean, you've been listening to Steely Dan for a while now. Big on the Steely Dan. Yeah, I've been on a big Steely Dan kick for about two years, maybe a little more. I was shopping around for speakers, bookshelf speakers.
00:32:45
Speaker
And I'm looking at different ones and I come across a thing like and it says, oh, audio files all use the album Asia by Steely Dan to test out the speakers because the production quality was so high.
Discovering Steely Dan: Jeff's Musical Journey
00:32:59
Speaker
So then I'm and I had already been listening to Camp Can't Buy a Thrill, which is like the first. I don't know if it's the first, but it was the first, I guess, big album by Steely Dan. And yeah, before they really found that sound. So then I started listening to Asia. And after that, I was totally hooked on Steely Dan. Yeah.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great record. I mean, I always had the great musician Steve Gads got yeah Bernard birdie. I mean all those great saxophone players So there you have it I'm on the de facto king of the radio here Yeah, it's what he says goes There's an imminent coup No, wait, I come back
00:33:43
Speaker
And wait till I break your leg and you can't come to the shop. What kind of music did you grow up on? Old rock and roll. Yeah. Well, yeah, but I was kind of old now, not old now. No, I was into the kind of depressing music back then. The sad songs, the sad love songs. I like Brad and all that. Dan Hill.
00:34:07
Speaker
England Dan, John Ford, Coley, there was another one. But I liked, no, my first CDs I ever got, my eight tracks I ever got were- You didn't read Sylvia Plath, did you? No. Was ACDC and- I don't even know their reference.
00:34:22
Speaker
The Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin. Oh, yeah. And then I was into Black Sabbath. There you go. You're all over the gamut. I am. I am. He's a complicated fellow. He's a complicated guy. I'm like an onion. Everybody loves a parfait. And not a pearl onion. Nope. Nope. A big Vidalia. There you go.
00:34:43
Speaker
Yeah, I'm still peeling away. I don't want to see what's in the middle. Sprout. You want to read this next question from Manny? Yeah, share this from our buddy Manny. Manny's over there painting in the cold today, 54 degrees. If given the opportunity to do any project, no expenses, what would it be? Keep in mind, we don't really talk about these questions before.
00:35:06
Speaker
Yeah, these I never saw any of them until I read them to put them on the sheet, but I'm looking dumbfathered. Well, I know you want to build. Yeah. My whole thing is to build like a Morris chair and a Morris setty or couch. That would be the thing. You know, get custom cushions and big, you know, like that brown orangey leather on there.
00:35:31
Speaker
or maybe green, I don't know, but that's what I want to do. Mars Furniture. If I had an opportunity and
00:35:44
Speaker
I was still in my younger days. I would like to take every single stick of furniture out of my house and casing and molding and maybe redo the whole house in a craftsman style house. I mean old style craftsman with all the different types of jewelry and all that where I could just spend my time. Yes. And doing it and not have to worry about anything.
00:36:09
Speaker
Well, you know, that's that's really that's sweet. That's something that's almost they hit the lottery. Exactly. But those guys who go to build their homes out in the mountains, they just go every weekend and spend a little bit more time doing it. I would love to have done that and still do it, but it's.
00:36:31
Speaker
So that's what I want to do. There's still time. There is, there is. There's still time. I might start taking the walls out of my house and sort of throwing some stuff out. Yeah. There you go. We'll just start with, you finished those two side tables. And I finished that other unit with the craftsman stuff. Yeah, I mean, they came out really good.
00:36:50
Speaker
From the Lang. From the Lang book. Yeah. You had to go take that chest back from your daughter. That was too nice. Yeah. That was nice craftsman stuff. It was. It wouldn't go in my house. Oh.
00:37:01
Speaker
We should talk about what somebody wants already. Let that go for now. This is my wife. She wants to get rid of that roll top desk. She has no beat up roll top desk. You can make me a nice craftsman desk that goes with the break front that you built and all that. Yeah, I can. How about a nice piece of balsak birch? A couple of hairpin legs. That's it.
00:37:30
Speaker
see Danny make one just like that. My granddaughters. Yeah. She loved it. That's what's so great about Danny. He loved his desk too. I mean, he really did. He asked me about his bookcase. Yeah. Well, that's coming. Yeah. We need some more pictures, Danny. Yeah. I'm running out of pictures.
00:37:50
Speaker
Me I'd really like to build a table and a set of like eight chairs Chairs are one of those things where I we have clients sometimes ask us like oh, yeah you guys build like stools and chairs I say we definitely can but It's very costly because it's so time-consuming like chair building is is some of the hardest Woodworking I think yeah
00:38:14
Speaker
especially when you get into these stick chairs and Windsor chairs. Lots of little parts and everything. Yeah, it's just not the same as the kind of woodworking we do. There's so many
00:38:27
Speaker
You know, things to consider, angles of the back and of the seat and the height and proportion. And if you've ever looked at like a store bought chair, even ones that people spend good money on, you peel that cushion off and it's just a bunch of screws and corner blocks and sloppy glue. And those, I mean, we've all had the friends say, can you fix this chair for me? My aunt sat in and it broke. Yeah. Because we wouldn't be building chairs like that. That's another reason why it's
00:38:56
Speaker
These are chairs that have to endure for 50 years. Yeah, so that's that's a tall order and it's gonna be expensive So we generally steer folks away from that but so Manny, what would you do? Yeah. Yeah, let's hear Next next Yeah, I like this guy's name on it. It's from child Ducati on Instagram. Oh
00:39:21
Speaker
Ciao. Ducati. Do you think he's Italian? Well, Ducati is an Italian motorcycle. Oh, is it? Yeah, the Duodesmo motor. You think that's his real name, then? No, no. Yeah, but he's saying goodbye, Ducati. That means he doesn't like us. Well, hello, Ducati. Oh, Ciao's hello, too. Yeah. What's Bonjourno? Good morning. Good day. Really, really good day. Yeah. Isn't it Ojite? Yeah. But Bonjourno means good day. Bon Matin means good morning.
00:39:50
Speaker
Good talk. Good Morgan. Good morning. Afternoon's Pomo Regio. That sounds like a pasta dish. Next time you go out to the Italian restaurant, give me a Pomo Regio, please. Right away, sir. Come back at three o'clock. Ciao Ducati on Instagram. Can you recommend a hobbyist table saw for somebody who's in a garage with limited space?
00:40:18
Speaker
That's a good question. Not everybody's got the, I mean, as far as wood shops go, we have a small wood shop, but compared to somebody who's working in their garage, we are like the new Yankee workshop. You know, we have luxury here. Yeah. I mean, this is about the size of like a two car garage. Yeah, it is. It is. It's 24 by 36. So, um,
00:40:41
Speaker
Do you have anything to jump out? Yeah, there's a couple of different ways you can go about it. You can get one of those Bosch job site saws. It cuts. It'll cut hardwood and all that. I've used it on a job site. I have no problems with it.
00:41:01
Speaker
Or you can go towards a contractor model, which is a little bit more sturdier. I think Delta has a contractor model. Even Dewalt probably has. I think they all do. Jet makes one. Yeah. Even Sawstop. Sawstop's making
Choosing a Hobbyist Table Saw: Where to Start?
00:41:17
Speaker
one now. Well, I mean, that's where I would go if it in between. If you wanted to get, you can't go up for a Unisaw or a Powermatic. I'd go with a contractor type saw that's a little bit more beefier.
00:41:30
Speaker
Again, I like the portable ones, but that's because I do a lot of molding working around the house or I did on the side. So it was nice to be able to put that in the back of the truck and just carry it around. But for a garage.
00:41:46
Speaker
I started out in my cellar, I had a craftsman, table saw. It was heavy. Cast iron top, I couldn't move that thing. It was so tough to move that thing around. But now they've gotten so much better with the saws. So again, I'd probably stick with the contractors. You like the contractors. I mean, you know, I started with a contractor saw too, a jet. And for those that don't know, one of the big differences
00:42:13
Speaker
between a cabinet saw and a contractor saw. So I was on the contractor saw, the motor is hanging off the back and it's suspended. It's kind of held in place by the belt where the cabinet saw, the motor is mounted on this cast iron trunnion. It's sort of like these yokes that hold the motor in place. So it's a lot more stable.
00:42:38
Speaker
It's still, you know, the belts drive, it's just not suspended by those belts. This is the way I look at it. The footprint that each of these saws takes up is almost the same. That's what I was going to say. You know, and if you don't have a lot of room, just get a 30 inch, what's the small fence? Like 36 inches? 36.
00:43:02
Speaker
Because if you bought a job site saw, let's say, you're gonna need outfeed, you're gonna need something to the right of the blade probably, and it's gonna be all flimsy and wonky. Get yourself the best cabinet saw you can afford, used, because there are pennies on the dollar, and you can get them that, you can get a 220,
00:43:27
Speaker
Line, you know if you live in a home You can run your own 220 line and have an electrician come out and do it for you pretty cheaply And that's my recommendation. What do you think? Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna agree with the cabinet saw idea I was I had the thought you know a typical job site saw has like a 20 24 or 25 inch limited yeah width of rip
00:43:51
Speaker
Like the rip fence only goes 25. So if you if you wanted to make it the same size, you could always cut your if it's a Beezemeyer style fence, you could cut this tube with, you know, we have the saw stop right here. You could cut this rectangular tube to make it that small and then you have the same amount of crosscut. But yeah, like Rob said, like the footprint, I think the footprint of a job site saw is actually bigger than a cabin saw almost because they have the stand and
00:44:15
Speaker
Well, they are a pain in the ass to move around. And the one thing that don't have is the pieces that you can use for outfeed to make it longer and things like that. You don't get that. You get that. Well, if you had a contractor, so you probably could set that up and build that. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, but I'm just looking at it from a standpoint of what you can afford. Yeah. If you're going to afford a cabinet saw, then yeah, go ahead and go get it. Used cabinets for less than you'd buy a new contractor.
00:44:45
Speaker
Yeah, go on like the IRS auctions, not internal revenue service, it's industrial recovery service. Yeah. They like, let's say a furniture factory is closed and they auction off everything. We're talking paint booths that go for $50 full size paint booths that you could drive a car into. Unisauce always for 200 bucks. I mean, cheap.
00:45:05
Speaker
I mean, the table saw is the heart of the workshop, so you really want to have the best setup you can because, I mean, we spend so much time at the table saw. That's it. We have two. Yeah. I mean, hey, I'd like that three, four.
00:45:24
Speaker
So that's our recommendation. So the question also talks about being the hobbyist. Yeah. Well, still, again, yeah, a good a good table saw is going to make his work easier. He's not going to fight the tools and better. In fact, my there wasn't really a craftsman was my first table
First Table Saw: Rich's DIY Adventure
00:45:42
Speaker
saw. My first table saw was that table that you set up and you take your circular saw.
00:45:48
Speaker
You turn it upside down and you attach it to the bottom of the table with the blades sticking out and that was the first when I started getting into making pine furniture and all that crafts that was the first table saw I ever had.
00:46:03
Speaker
You know, on one last thing, you could put it on a mobile base. Let's say you need to move it to the side to bring the car in. Tuck it against the wall. Yeah. Really, really. And you're not going to lose your settings and things like that with a better built tool like a cabinet saw. You know, everything's going to stay as square as you have it set.
00:46:23
Speaker
once you start rolling it around. Yeah and if I mean if you're really not doing a lot of woodworking and you're working with like plywood and stuff mainly think about a track saw instead. Yeah that's that's a great I mean we love the track so we have a Makita and a couple of fences you know like the cross cut for 48 inches and the long one that'll cut you know through a full sheet of plywood.
00:46:49
Speaker
We use that thing all the time and and we have two nice saws in the shop. Yep. You know, all you need is a table for that. All right, cool. Yeah. And if you have specific questions, you want to give us some more info, we give you a better recommendation. Yeah. Shoot a message over. Yeah, we could even, you know, if you if you have something of mine, send it over to us. We'll give you an opinion on it. It's just our opinion. But, you know, we have plenty of experience.
00:47:19
Speaker
Next up, what we got is from our buddy Jack Thornton. Let us know how that apprenticeship is going if you started. We were asking about that. Yeah. Best method for keeping track of hours worked on each project. We're just talking about this a couple of days ago. Yeah.
00:47:37
Speaker
What do you say, Rich? I might have to wait till the end. Well, this is a big bugaboo with me, but I could understand the pros and cons as you both take drinks. The pros and cons to it. Rich brought this up to do it. Yeah. And it's not an easy thing to do, but it sometimes could be an honest value of
00:48:07
Speaker
how much time you actually spend on a job, whether you're spending too much time on a job and whether you're not spending enough time. Well, what are you spending less time on a job? The problem is with having three people working in the shop,
00:48:28
Speaker
you'd have to dedicate somebody to tracking all those hours. Plus you also have to do it, you'd have to fill out a sheet that would track those hours. And that could be a pain, that could be a pain in the ass to do that, to keep filling out those timesheets. But from an accounting standpoint, from my point of view is that I think it's kind of important to see
00:48:56
Speaker
exactly where and how long it's taken us to do a project. I mean there have been some projects in the shop that we have lost a lot of time on and it just because shit happens finishes didn't work right or this didn't work right and we had to redo it again and that didn't work right and you know what I'm talking about and this and then we had to do it over again and then it'd be curious to see how many man hours
00:49:24
Speaker
Totally. We spent on that particular project, uh, just as an eye opener, uh, per se for me to say, well, we spent Jesus, 80 hours on that job. And it was a job that we only priced out at $4,000 and wow, man, we can't make that mistake again. So let's see where our mistakes are and how we can correct it.
00:49:47
Speaker
It's not, see people sometimes, and when I first started doing this back in companies I used to work for, people have a fear that you have to account for all eight hours you're in the shop.
Time Tracking in Craftsmanship: Worth the Effort?
00:50:01
Speaker
So then you start filling out the time, at the end of the day, you're filling out the time sheet and you're feeling guilty because, Jesus Christ, I spent six hours on these two couple of jobs,
00:50:12
Speaker
Where the hell did those other two hours go? Yeah. So you don't know where to put it. Yeah. So then you write down all the shop time. So people might look at that that are looking at these times. She says, well, what would you do at the shop time? And let's face it, we all have time in the shop where there's other stuff that we work on or we take a break and we do something here that's detrimental to the shop. Well, that's not the right word. It's good for the shop, beneficial for the shop.
00:50:42
Speaker
And we're not really keeping track of it. And I think people are afraid to fill out time sheets to say, yeah, yeah, I've been here eight hours, but I did six hours of really of a work to a particular project.
00:50:58
Speaker
I'm not concerned about the two hours that you just did stuff in the shop because you're a small shop, you see what's going on. You know what people are doing. Nobody's sticking their, picking their noses or they want to work on something personal. No problems whatsoever. My factor is that I just want to see what's going on with that particular project to see where we're losing money.
00:51:27
Speaker
But I say I can argue, I can argue against the two, but right now that's, that's my, my feeling.
00:51:35
Speaker
I'm going to say I'll pick up on the fact that we're small and we basically will do one job at a time. And because we all know the economics of the job, we all know, all right, we got $10,000 of labor into this job. And then as it's going, as the job's progressing, we kind of know, because we're talking about it every day. It's like, how are we staying on schedule?
00:52:02
Speaker
To me, the way I look at it is it's close enough. I'll know if the job went well because I just know from having done the job and how much we're getting paid, all right, this job worked out and if a job's taken too long, we know that too because we're here, we're doing it. There's nowhere for that information to hide almost.
00:52:28
Speaker
If we had several things going on at the same time, then I would say there might be a stronger need for it for logging. How much time did I spend on job A and job B and then job C? But I'm not opposed to it. In general, it's for me, it's just another step.
00:52:53
Speaker
You know to to worry about doing something that and I agree with that point Yeah, it is a pain. Yes to sit there and stop what you're doing and fill out a time sheet for it for that last Oh 10 minutes. I just worked on this particular project. Well, I mean you gotta figure that out
00:53:10
Speaker
nine out of 10 or more days, there's only one job that we're doing. So it's always gonna be job A. Until job A goes out the door, then we start on job B. Yeah, I certainly see the benefit to doing it. I've worked in companies that did it. When I was a finished carpenter, I might go to five or six job sites in a day. And we had time sheets and we had job codes, you know, like job codes, task codes, where I was at. This job, I did zero, I did,
00:53:37
Speaker
400s were trim and 600s were this and zeros were cleaning. It was all broken down by that and I would fill out every week the time sheet. With us, like Rob was saying, we're kind of always working on one job at a time. And even the shop time where you're not working on a job,
00:53:58
Speaker
Somebody calls on the phone. You got to answer a question. Yeah, but I mean somebody has to pay for that Yeah, so for we're working on job a and I go in and I talked to a client Well, then really who's paying for that job? Hey because the way we're in like a unique we have a unique structure and sort of set up to this business where I
00:54:21
Speaker
Really, when we're working on your job, your job is directly paying us because of the way that we take deposits. And basically, if we're working for you, we're working with your money. We're not working with the money on the job before the job coming up. Right. You're paying us and we're physically making sawdust on the job that's paying us.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah. But like I said, I definitely see the benefit. The more data you have on anything is is better. So any information that you can glean from from anything in the shop is good. But I feel like maybe it would be better in our situation to track just like days, days and weeks is kind of how we break it up. Well, you know what? But just to argue that, how you want that? Yeah.
00:55:11
Speaker
Aren't you concerned how much time you spend on design work for a particular job that's coming up? Yeah. That's money that we probably are never going to get back unless we get the job. Exactly. That's even even if we get the job, we're probably not going to. But sometimes we we go overboard and spend too much time on doing design work and knowing that the fact that this customer is just perfect example, the table lady. I'm not going to give the name to lady.
00:55:41
Speaker
What a pain in the ass that turned out to be because we went through all this different design work and research and all that and it's still up in the air. And we really can't get that money back either. No, but you can only vet the client so much. We said, listen, okay.
00:55:59
Speaker
You want a table? The price is $15,000." She said, okay. We go back and forth on the design and never come to a conclusion. That was under the pretense that we had agreed upon the fact that we were going to build her a $15,000 table. Then it turned out to be a lot more.
00:56:16
Speaker
Well, yeah, because the design changed. We have a new client questionnaire, which I don't know if we've spoken about this before, but on our website, I had somebody call today. We sent them over there. It's a Google form. You fill it out. It's got your budget, what you're looking for, what style, what's the timeline, what are the rough dimensions. And we use that to really vet
00:56:40
Speaker
potential clients and to see if it's worth it to invest that design time. And if it's not, we really try not to. But don't you think that people are hesitant to put budget down? They definitely are. But we need that information.
00:57:00
Speaker
I understand that. But somebody could say, look at that and say, well, I'm going to put the lowest budget I can possibly put on there. But I will spend a lot more if I have to. So we get that that comes in with a low amount and we'll say, well, it's really not that in our favor to do anything with this.
00:57:21
Speaker
We still respond to them. Yeah, this is the analogy I use. Let's say you go to a nice restaurant. You're going out for your 50th anniversary. The sommelier comes to the table for those of you who don't know. That's the wine guy. The wine guy. They ain't going to be men. You say, I'm looking for a guy. We're looking for a bottle of wine. What do you like? I like red wine. I like burgundy. I like nap, whatever. Sonoma.
00:57:49
Speaker
Are you not going to tell that guy what your budget is? Because he could bring you a $20 bottle of wine or he could bring you a $25,000 bottle of wine. Oh yeah, I will tell him that. Give me a cause light and go away.
00:58:01
Speaker
Pretend that you like to drink wine. I know, I understand that. But if you're really a wine connoisseur. Yeah, but you can't serve your client unless you know what their budget is. Yeah, but I just think people are afraid to put that amount in there. That's their problem. We're a custom cabinet shop. Everything we build is one-off.
00:58:21
Speaker
And we don't know how much they're willing to spend or can afford. We can't engineer it. We can't design it. We can't do it. I'll say what if we had it on the question. I don't want to get into the police any longer than it has to be. What if you left the budget out and then once you got the questionnaire, then you say to yourself, you say next letter you send out to him says, well, I'm looking at what you want and what you want. But we're considering this is going to be X amount of dollars.
00:58:50
Speaker
And go and that's it. And right there. If they answer. Yeah, but that's exactly how we respond. Yeah. But they say like, OK, we got the one where she wanted a vanity and she said it was 500. She her budget was five hundred dollars. I responded. I said.
00:59:06
Speaker
you know, if any of that size is going to be in the range of $5,000 and the material is going to cost more than $5,000. But this is a way to... Yeah, I understand. I don't know. Maybe it's just the times we're living in now and it's just the frustration of getting jobs and getting people to hire you and all that.
00:59:27
Speaker
I don't know. It could be a lot. You want to vet our clients and we want the best clients. And when we get those clients, we treat them as if they're the best clients. There's no holes barred. We don't cut corners on anybody. It's like we're building for our friends and family. And my family, I mean the ones we like. Yeah. Well, I explain it to every client, too, because typically you don't get one of these new client questionnaires just out of the blue. Like today, I get a phone call from a guy.
00:59:58
Speaker
He says, I'm looking to have three vanities made for my house. I said, okay, go to our website, fill this out. I said, there's a, you know, whatever style budget. I said, we, you know, we asked for the budget because our design and our estimation process is very involved and we need to establish a general budget before we, we get too deep into it. I mean, I think most people when they hear that are receptive to the idea of,
01:00:27
Speaker
Right. I mean, if I'm in charge of the design and I know the parameters of the work as well as the cost, then I go into it with that mindset of designing. It's like I'll avoid things that I know cost us a lot of money to produce. And then I'll use every work around that I know to create something that's functional and beautiful and lives up to our standards.
01:00:55
Speaker
And if I don't know what the budget is, and then I come in with something that's going to take us 300 hours to build, well, then I'm not serving that client either. You know, because I'm giving them something that I dreamed up.
01:01:12
Speaker
Based on you know this unknown Money and yeah like you know you could design a vanity anywhere between 3500 and $15,000 right so if you don't have some guidance from the client
01:01:30
Speaker
We're always going to default to the one that's more expensive because we like nice things. We like to build nice things, complicated things with nice wood species and whatever. Interesting design. It's not always, and the profit's not exponential with the more expensive jobs. It's just because it costs us more to make it.
01:01:54
Speaker
Well, that's true. Every job, every customer that contacts you, one out of 10 customers, you're lucky if you get one or two jobs out of those 10 customers because a lot of them are kicking tires, too. Yes, I understand that. We had a guy who reached out, got referred by an old client, wanted a built in in his basement. So I sent him to the thing. He sends me an email.
01:02:20
Speaker
We talked about this last week? No, we kind of shied away from it. Yeah, I filled the whole thing out, except for the budget, because I think that's irrelevant. I said, well, the reason we need the budget, blah, blah, blah. I said something like that. It's going to start around 10,000. OK, sounds good. How do we move ahead? We come up with a design, a design revision, go back.
01:02:43
Speaker
Yeah, Jeff, I'm sorry. You know, I got a couple other prices are significantly lower. So unfortunately, I can't afford you. Yeah. And typically, not every time, but typically.
01:02:55
Speaker
That guy is going to take our three dimensional drawing and design. He's going to show it to some other person and go, can you build this for less than this number? And the guy's gonna go, of course I can. And, you know, obviously it won't be the same thing that we're doing because
01:03:16
Speaker
they wouldn't be able to do it for any less than we could if they were building it in the same style. Right. But as far as Rich, just to round back and wrap this one up, you know, I thought about this for years and years and years about the design work and how much time I spend on things with the great possibility it's never coming back. And I always consider that sort of like my advertising budget. Yeah.
01:03:46
Speaker
because we don't spend any money on advertising. We don't really do anything. We have our Instagram. Yeah. And these are all sort of like social media platforms. Well, unfortunately, it's kind of free now. Yeah. So I always look at that and I am always feeling a bit guarded because I know whatever I show somebody
01:04:10
Speaker
It's going to somebody else. Yeah, they're going to show it. And we do pride ourselves in and we're not, you know, breaking any molds or doing anything like that. But our design work is really our calling card. Yeah, again, with the hour situation, I could see down the road when things really get
01:04:29
Speaker
Uh, if we have some cachet, sure. Then yeah, I understand. Then it's like, yeah, you want us to investigate this possible job? Yeah. Let's, we have a certain upfront fee just for us to come up with a design. She just got back. Sorry. Yeah. Uh, but at this point in time, we're, you know, we're just trying to sell ourselves. So that's, that's it.
01:04:54
Speaker
You saying that we have to put up the work up front, basically? Yeah, that's it. You know, this is where we are in the pecking water. It's unfortunate, but so does. We face reality and we're hard workers, so we'll do it. Yeah. Again, Jack, great question. It's a good question that we debate at times. And again, I hope everything's going great for you. Yeah. Yeah. I want to hear about that. Yeah. The internship.
01:05:22
Speaker
Why don't you shoot us a little podcast of what you what's going on with you? It's just like a FaceTime thing or just a little video on Instagram. That'd be cool. Yeah. And don't forget to mention Green Street joinery. That was a shameless plug. That's G-R-E-E-N-E. No, but serious, Shaq. I hope everything's going well with you. What do you got here next? Brandon. Brandon asks, what's your favorite table saw blade?
01:05:52
Speaker
Do you ever get your blade sharpened? This is the brand that got far so you can get hired from that other job. Is it? Yeah. No, it isn't. I have no idea. That was his name. It's another very appropriate question. These questions the past couple of weeks have been like spot on to things that have been actually going on. Right. We just packed them up today. We just sent two blades out yesterday. It was yesterday? Yeah. He had a stint of good memory. I was rocking there for like almost a week.
01:06:23
Speaker
I'd say the, you know, favorite blades. We like a forest woodworker too. I don't know about you, Rich. I know Rob likes the thin curve. I'm a full curve guy myself. And the Ridge Carbide TS2000, which is a, what do they call it? ATBR. So it's got alternating top bevels and then it's got a flat tooth every third tooth. So you get a nice clean, clean cut, you know, flat bottom cut.
01:06:52
Speaker
And yes, we do send them out. We just sent out two blades to Ridge. You can send them to Ridge Carbide, to Forest, whatever manufacturer. Obviously not like the walls or something like that, but yeah.
Blade Maintenance: The Art of Sharpening
01:07:04
Speaker
Yeah. For years, we were sending them, I was sending them up to Dynamic Saw in Buffalo. Buffalo, New York, yeah. And they do a great job. I mean, they'll take a blade that you think is ready for the trash heap and they'll replace teeth, that sharpens it.
01:07:19
Speaker
We used to give our saw blades to Elmer from a guy who used to handle a place in Oakhurst, New Jersey. Yeah. I know like Builders General, which is a supply house by us, like they have a service where you can bring them your blades. They send them out to a guy and they'll send them back. They'll send them out to Ridgecaw. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, but yeah. How many times do you think we can sharpen a blade?
01:07:44
Speaker
At least a half a dozen, maybe more. That's what I was going to guess. Yeah, you got to get to the point where it gets too... Where they get small. There's only so much carbide on there. But if you look at a good blade, like even this blade that came on the saw stop is pretty nice. Yeah. Look at like a Diablo and then look at a forest or a ridge. The carbide is four times the size. Yeah. What about an Avanti? You get what you pay for. Avanti? Those are terrible. Yeah.
01:08:10
Speaker
FS tool is really nice. Even the 10 Ryu for a cheaper blade. You like a CMT? Yeah, it's okay. I've used CMT. Yeah, for the chop saw. Yeah, I think we even have, we might have sold them, but we had a couple of those arms. It was mine. I had this question. Let's say every time we had to get a blade sharpened, instead of getting it sharpened, we sold it. You think that would work out in the, like sell it on eBay. Like, all right, we got a Ridge Carbide TS2000, it's a $150 blade.
01:08:39
Speaker
Yeah, but then we- Yeah, you couldn't sell it for 130 bucks though. Exactly, yeah, you couldn't- 20, that, if you don't know, a 40 tooth blade to send to, to a rich car by 20 bucks to get sharpened. Yeah. Yeah. It'll come back like new. Yeah, yeah, yeah, money will be better. You couldn't sell it and then try to get a new blade and you're not recouping anything. No, you're not doing anything yet.
01:09:01
Speaker
I used to like to use a thin curve on my job site. Yeah, that's when I started. They have a hard time spinning up a full size size because the motor is using the contractor. So I got hooked on the thin curve. Yeah, they wobble a little too much. They do. And then I got the stable. Yeah, that's what I know what that does. That the cut is. Yeah. So I was like, you can't win with that. They had those for the chop. So yeah.
01:09:27
Speaker
So yeah, buy a good blade. Get it sharp. Recommend forest and ridge carbide, both made in New Jersey. Yeah. And get them sharpened. That's wild, right? Yeah. I think they're like right down the street from each other, too. There was like some carbide cul-de-sac. Cabal. Lynnhurst. Yeah, Lynnhurst. Yeah, that's where Ridge is. Passaic? Madison? Yeah, Lynnhurst, Passaic area.
01:09:56
Speaker
We've got next Wow enough with the beer. What's your choice of liquor? I'm a bourbon man myself Says Adam good for you Adam next question
01:10:08
Speaker
I'm not a drug. I'm not. I don't I drink. I'll drink tequila. I'll drink vodka mixed up, but I don't drink vodka. So we're not big drinkers here. Yeah. You know, we're not. Yeah, I mean, typically, I literally I'll have this beer, one beer, two beers a year on Wednesday. I don't really drink. I mean, I used to be a big drinker when I was young, but it's hard now.
01:10:36
Speaker
We do have a bottle of bourbon in the in the medicine. Yeah, that hasn't been opened in the tension tamer. It's all attention tamer. Yeah. If I'm if I am drinking liquor, I'll have I like a Negroni, which is a mixed drink. It's one part campari, one part sweet vermouth, one part gin. That's good. I like Tito's vodka. I like nice like Reposado tequila. Yeah.
01:11:05
Speaker
I like, you know, I started experimenting with bourbon a couple of years ago. You know, it's got its own subculture, as I'm sure Adam knows. And I started going to the local store, trying out some of the not the super top shelf, really expensive ones, but like the middle of the road.
01:11:24
Speaker
I don't know if this is middle or like the $50 $45 bottle of bourbon and but I would have it. I'd sit out there on the back porch like a rocks glass with a huge ice cube and you know about three quarters of one finger. Yeah, one finger and swirl it around and sip on it just.
01:11:46
Speaker
We talked about this with a client with Laurie. She said, yeah, you know, my wife is really into bourbon. And I said, yeah, you know, I really like the idea of being into bourbon way more than I actually like it. That's me,
Whiskey of the Month: Ricky's Tasting Notes
01:12:01
Speaker
too. Ricky's into into whiskies. He belonged to the Whiskey of the Month Club. He's always posting things with different whiskies that he drinks. I just I can't I can't do it.
01:12:11
Speaker
I will every now and again. I haven't done in a long time, but like Adam, if you, if I go to dinner or something or go to a bar for some, I don't even remember last time I went to a bar to drink. Maybe when we had that maker's meetup with John.
01:12:22
Speaker
No, it was the party. Oh, yeah, you're right to make his meet. I might have a bourbon like a Booker's or a Woodford Reserve or something like that. But I don't know. I really don't. It's not that I don't really like it. I'm not a super guy. I'm a chugger. Yeah. In fact, can I have that on the beer if you're not going to drink it? Yeah.
01:12:43
Speaker
Good luck opening it. I'm gonna chug that down too. There's other beer in there too. There's that embryo you want that What's the embryo that one that you got a couple weeks now that you can save that for another day put it in there We got that that that chocolate. No, I can't mix chocolate if I had the chocolate first Yeah
01:13:01
Speaker
So Adam, we probably disappointed you with that answer. Yeah. We're not, we're not drink is Adam. So we, I mean, we really enjoy this beer. We like, we like the beer sponsors.
01:13:13
Speaker
Yeah. And in the summer months, we used to sit out. We used to quit working early on Friday and we'd sit out. And we had margaritas and we'd sit out on the lawn and have beers. So we're a beer drinking crew. That's for sure. That's been there since that was full. Yeah, that's this is almost that's been kicking around at least a year. This is over a year out. So we we call it our tension tamer. You got the opener.
01:13:43
Speaker
But this is Koval single barrel bourbon whiskey distilled in Chicago. That's actually that's made for a little silver bottle shop, which is a liquor store. Yeah. Thank you. You know what? If I had a cup, where's my cup? Well, I know what we got. Put it in your beer.
01:14:06
Speaker
what you could do make yourself a hot toddy yeah a little bit of tea a little bit of that whiskey and some John Peters honey I'm gonna start drinking hot toddies that's it okay got me going now hot toddies are good
01:14:22
Speaker
Yeah, sorry, Adam. We're pretty lame. All right. You should read this next one and you should probably answer this next one.
Craftsmen Networking: Instagram Connections
01:14:30
Speaker
Here's our next one from Tim, true trade. How has networking on Instagram helped you?
01:14:37
Speaker
Aside from just the casual banter, shooting the shit with guys and having the ability to connect with other people that do the same thing as you, anytime you run into a problem and you need advice, there's always somebody to reach out to, always. I know carpenters, furniture makers, cabinet makers,
01:15:02
Speaker
I mean anybody under the sun, I mean I talk to all kinds of people. So it's really good to have that support system.
01:15:10
Speaker
Yeah. And it's really been the main driver of new business. Yeah. The short time we've been a company here, when I first started, it was, you know, it's kind of word of mouth thing.
From Yellow Pages to Social Media: Marketing Evolution
01:15:27
Speaker
And then that's right when websites became the main thing. If you're old enough, you remember things like the yellow pages.
01:15:37
Speaker
Geocities yeah, I think I even when I first started had a yellow pages ad for a couple of years and that was pre website and then I built my first website on Yahoo and
01:15:51
Speaker
I was like so far ahead of the curve as far as, you know, this industry. And that's how I got all my new business was through the website. And then that kind of became passé. A website's almost like a brochure or something that you would have to send somebody to nowadays.
01:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, now it's a It's a just a requirement. Yeah. Yeah, it's just a thing it you know and People generally don't find you on the internet from a blind search like that. Yeah, I mean if I'm looking for something like a
01:16:27
Speaker
I mean, I don't really look for trades, but like something along those lines, let's say we needed upholstery for a job. I'm looking for an upholsterer and they don't have a website. I'm going to be pretty apprehensive. That's a red flag. Yeah. Yeah. So do you have any input on this, Gramps? Me?
01:16:50
Speaker
What was the question? Website? Instagram? In fact, I had this conversation with myself the other day. It was kind of an argument. Who won? Pros and cons. Being an elderly gentleman... Not that old.
01:17:15
Speaker
Well, Rich and I come from a generation. Yeah. Well, we didn't have to try and understand. Yeah. I've had the yellow brooks, yellow book and yellow pages. Yeah. I've actually had a Felicia none that could tear the yellow pages in half. Yeah. Let's just go for another story. But I think it's, it's, it's very important for today's, uh,
01:17:38
Speaker
woodworker today's anyway anybody that's really working right now because it's so dominant sometimes I fight it because it can be confusing but I think that's because I let it be confusing and I don't know if you can understand what I'm trying to say there so I think all us old time is have to accept that it's here
01:18:05
Speaker
Have to embrace it and have to learn how to how to work with it And I think that's I think it's important because I think it's it's never going away and it's it's always going to be there and I think if you keep if you want to keep yourself in business and
01:18:21
Speaker
And be successful. I think you have to get on this bandwagon of the whole social media Instagram thing. I'm having fun with it now because I do stuff with my models and all that. And I'm I did like an hour and a half video the other day. I'm still trying to figure out how to cut it. Imagine when the telephone became.
01:18:41
Speaker
prevalence. That's true. And we had a hardware store in town and we didn't want to adapt. And we were like, yeah, no, we're not getting one of those telephones. And people had phones in their home. They wanted to find out if we had claw hammers. So they looked for us. It's like,
01:19:01
Speaker
Jones hardware doesn't have a telephone. Let's call Smith hardware. Yeah. Yeah. So so it has it has helped. It has helped. As I said, it's it's I find it frustrating because there by Tennessee's to forget how to do certain things. So when I'm on the the icons, I have to press to figure out what I have to do. And I know Jeff's laughing because
01:19:31
Speaker
Well, he'll say, well, why don't you just press this for me? Sometimes I got it. I try to remember which one I have to because I don't do it every day. If I do it every day, it's a different story like putting on your pants. And this Jeff does it all for us. Yeah. Well, maybe I put my. Yes, I spend a.
01:19:49
Speaker
Embarrassing, but it's it's part it's it's part of our lives now and it has helped it's getting a lot of jobs Yeah, I think one of the best things I mean there's a lot of dark and bad things with social media with people that are obsessed with that infinite scroll where you can just literally scroll scroll scroll and seeing you know
01:20:10
Speaker
People that are super physically fit and beautiful people and you know, it could really it can hurt a lot of people But the the best thing about social media has been everyone now has an outlet for what they're passionate about Whereas you might have been in a woodworking guild or a club back in the day Well, if you don't have time for that now you can be on Instagram and talk to Tim or while Willie or whoever and you know, you can connect with all these people that are into the same thing as you and
01:20:38
Speaker
You could be into dressing like a horse and prancing around the backyard. And you'll find people. TLC. I got a story for that one. My strange addiction or whatever it's called. You could be into eating the foam in the couch cushions. That's true. And there's probably people that do that too. Yeah, there's definitely a subreddit. Oh, man. So what's next? All right. I'll read this one. It's from Kip.
01:21:02
Speaker
How do you guys feel about these channels on YouTube with big shops and hundred thousands of dollars worth of tools? Is it needed?
YouTube Craft Channels: Flash vs. Authenticity
01:21:10
Speaker
As a hobbyist, I felt pretty intimidated when I first started. What do you guys think about that?
01:21:17
Speaker
Well, there's always going to be somebody with more tools or more experience or more work. So I wouldn't judge yourself based on that. But in terms of like these YouTube people that have all these things undeservingly. Yeah, I mean, I don't see how anyone could be for that. You know, there's a lot of people that
01:21:43
Speaker
have very little skill and they're kind of riding this personality thing or this ability to create content for layman's. I don't know. I don't want to sound too cynical, but I think it's easy to tell who's real and who's fake. And, you know, I think anyone would agree that we don't like fake people.
01:22:09
Speaker
No, you know what? My best advice is to, if you're interested in gleaning information from things like YouTube, find somebody, find some site that resonates with you and ignore the other stuff. You know, if you felt intimidated,
01:22:29
Speaker
That's understandable. Just move on and and you know, there is somebody out there There's you know, the proverbial lid for every pot out there on the world wide web, right? Yeah, this whole question stemmed from first kip He sent me a link to a YouTube video and it was this guy. I forget the name No, no doing a shop tour
01:22:55
Speaker
And he has this shop. There's not a speck of dust anywhere. He's got four shapers all lined up next to each other. There's crown molding. You should see our shop walls and window casings and everything. I said to him, I said, this guy must have retired with a lot of money because there's no way that you could do this professionally.
01:23:21
Speaker
and justify. I mean, maybe you do it on nights and weekends, but to justify the time it takes to I said the shop doesn't even look like he worked in it. No. And it was ugly. Our office desk is literally scraps of plywood screwed together into the corner. Yeah, maybe someday we'll make something nicer. But it's a business. We have to you got to get shit done sometimes serves a purpose. And that's not making us money over there. It's not a vanity project here. This is
01:23:50
Speaker
you know, we put our time and effort and, and work our love into the work that the clients bring to us. Everything else is more or less secondary. Were you gonna say something, Rich? Yeah, I think
01:24:08
Speaker
The difference between, you gotta look at the difference between what's on YouTube and what's on these so-called reality shows. And we've had this conversation before about reality shows and the people that they have on these shows that they're all good looking people and so forth and so on.
01:24:29
Speaker
But I am not talking about woodworking sense, but in a modeler's sense, I have gone on YouTube and checked out certain gentlemen on YouTube that are modelers that talk about how to finish this, how to how to weather a piece of model and how to finish it and all that. And there are some really good
01:24:54
Speaker
people out there, even young kids, that this is just one kid. He's got to be in his early 20s that he has a very popular show and he goes through the whole process of building something. But he doesn't have that gigantic shop. His shop is some little room and it's usually messy because he's working in there. So be wary of people that show you a shop tour of their shop and you don't see any work going on or you don't see any work there. Because to me that's
01:25:26
Speaker
Is it vain? I don't know. I'd rather show a shop that has a little bit of sawdust, a little bit of dust here, and then a couple of pieces of what you're working on.
01:25:37
Speaker
hanging around there. Stay away from those YouTube channels where you got these guys that are just showing up and showing you these hundred thousand dollar shops. Most of the times you can find guys on YouTube that are legit and they'll have a name for themselves. And you'll see they have a lot of good followers. Those are the ones you want to keep track of or to watch.
01:26:00
Speaker
You know, you said something that really struck me personality driven. Yeah. And that's that's kind of reality TV. And I guess a lot of these YouTube things where it's it's the which I don't want to diminish that either, because that if that's what you're in it for, then that's fine. If you're if you like to watch a guy that builds things, but you you're in it for their personality and not the actual building, then that's fine. But if you're looking for
01:26:27
Speaker
how to build something, then that's not what you're looking for. Because that makes me think of I'm sorry to use a name, but like Rachel Ray, she became, you know, very popular and her culinary skills are pretty small. They're minimal. Yeah. And her show was personality driven. So she's no Jacques Pepin. Right. As an ex chef, I would look at that show and go,
01:26:56
Speaker
Choose what? What is this? Jacques Pepin? She's no Jacques Pepin. Who the hell is he? You don't know who Jacques Pepin is? He's one of the most renowned... Jacques Pepin's wife just passed away. Yeah, French chefs on television. He was with Julia Child for a long time. I'm so sorry to hear that. She was actually a local woman.
01:27:14
Speaker
Oh, that's sad. But you know, so it's it's not to take anything away from her as a TV personality, but that's what I viewed her as a TV person. That's what those reality shows are. If somebody's looking for cooking tips and things like that, that's not the place. Yeah, I think you'll find out. You'll find that on YouTube. YouTube is a different type of
01:27:41
Speaker
outlet as far as the reality shows. YouTube, you have more of the regular guys out there. Again, you have some dickheads out there. Does anybody compose? Exactly. Yeah, it's all about what the hell was I going to say? I had a way I was going to phrase it. It's all about what you're looking to get out of it. Like if you're fuck.
01:28:05
Speaker
If you're let's say you like Rachel Ray and you like her show and you don't know how to cook at all. Well, that might be good for you. But if you're a professional woodworker, you don't want to watch the guy that's got I'm sponsored by heart tools come from Walmart. That's not your guy. Right. Yeah, you might watch that because you because you like.
01:28:23
Speaker
the person and you like the content, like I watch a guy called Marling Bates, he makes fishing lures. I don't make fishing lures, I watch it because I like the guy's personality and it's an interesting video. So I wouldn't discourage people from... But you like fishing, so you watch it for that reason too. Yeah, yeah. No, there's something in it for everybody. But if I was a pro bait maker, I probably wouldn't watch that guy because he's not... he does it just that... that's his job is he's a YouTube guy.
01:28:47
Speaker
That's what made Norm such a, you know, unique person. He was totally accessible to, you know, the beginner. He was the ultimate. He was a regular guy. Yeah. And he was a real guy in the field. Just the combination. You know, you started us all. All this old time is off. Yeah.
01:29:09
Speaker
Hey, even me. I mean, I used to watch this old house, New Yankee, before I had any inclination of doing anything with New Yankee Workshop. What's that guy's name? He always wore that hat like you like to wear. What the hell is his name? You know, the real close talker guy.
01:29:29
Speaker
He would always like, he'd be like, yeah, Rich, this thing right here, and he'd have his hands real close to the other guy all the time. The Wood, Woodwright. Yes, that's it. On the other show, yeah. Yeah, where's the news boy? He'd always be like all up in people's space. That was the only other show that was available back then, was Norm Abrams and him. Yeah, yeah. He's still on TV. He was in there one day when I went inside the house. Yeah. So Tim. The Woodwright's shop or something.
01:29:55
Speaker
Be careful what you look at. You know, you got to judge what's not him. That's Kip. So I look at the other question from Instagram. Kip, just be careful what you're looking at. Don't believe everything you say. I mean, look, talk to other people. And you could tell who the phonies are out there.
01:30:15
Speaker
So, I mean, you could trust yourself that this guy is giving you a lot of bullshit and let this other guy look at his bench and see what's going on and there's a mess there and all that because... Trust your gut. Here's a prime example. So we were talking about that video with the guy with the table saw before when John was here. Yeah.
01:30:36
Speaker
So this guy, sponsored by Grizzly, big time YouTube following Instagram, all kinds of social media. I'm sorry, this guy could build a little cabinet, but he doesn't know Jack compared to a real professional.
01:30:52
Speaker
So just be careful of where you're where you're trying to get good information, get it from the right place. When you're looking for entertainment, then go to one of these entertainers. There's some people in it for the money. That's bottom line. Yeah. You know, I've been waiting to get to this next question. The money. Yeah, it's a good one. I'm going to read it because it's too long. Sure. Thank you. Here's a question. This came in through email. All right.
01:31:18
Speaker
Can I read the butt part? I just want to say butt. Don't miss your cue. Here we go. I've been having this question rolling through my head for a few years. The terms quality work, high standards, pride in the craft and custom have been used by every person who enjoys working with their hands.
Consumer Values: Craftsmanship vs. Convenience
01:31:39
Speaker
whether it be ceramics, glassblowing, metalworks, masonry. The same principles attract a certain person to want to create something to the highest level. You guys have touched on this numerous times. But then eventually that person tries to turn that drive into a business that can sustain them. For those who do not need money, this does not apply. Those who call it a passion project. And for them, I'm happy.
01:32:09
Speaker
This is a two-pager, boy. Now I'm getting to the question from last week's podcast about the surprises and disappointments of Green Street. Rob's response to his disappointment is the downfall of customers appreciation slash value of the said principles. This is my thought.
01:32:28
Speaker
People do not keep the same job for 30 or 40 years anymore. People do not own their own home for multiple generations anymore. I acknowledge that there are huge socioeconomic reasons for this but just trying to fast forward to the end result. The phrase home is where the heart is or home is where you hang your hat is gone. Homeowners now look at their house like it's a box where they shove their stuff and kids into for about five to seven years.
01:32:57
Speaker
Which is why when you go to anyone's home, obviously not so much now, the first thing they say is, I'm so sorry about the mess. This is not a cynical rant, but more of an observation that I think trickles down to what people value. Isn't that what it comes down to? The value of said object? If people do not value where they live, then why would they value what they put in it?
01:33:23
Speaker
The work is the easy part. It's what we enjoy. That is why we got into this. Olive Garden, IKEA, Walmart, they're all doing fine. And that's from Eric. You've got the shirt on. That's right. Blake Woodwork, I'm waiting. How appropriate. Yeah.
01:33:41
Speaker
This is the one question that came in through email and Jeff read it. And boy, it just touched me. So many different thoughts ran through my head and we could all relate to this, those of us doing this.
01:34:01
Speaker
Whether it's woodwork whether it's you're an electrician and you know you spending the time routing your cables instead of just shoving them into the walls and stapling them and any which way it when you do good work. You just you know you just want a little recognition for that.
01:34:20
Speaker
You want people to appreciate it. And, you know, we do it for our for our own sanity as well. But, you know, do you want to pick up where I just left off, Jeff? Yeah, I mean, you said a lot of it right right there in the in the question. Yeah. In the lead up. Yeah. You know, it's.
01:34:43
Speaker
I don't want to say it's discouraging, but it makes you think, is this kind of business sustainable? Are we too far down the rabbit hole that we're not going to be able to recover and get back to a time where people did value these kind of things? It's a good question. Are we able to get back to that point?
01:35:06
Speaker
I mean, I certainly think that we're seeing trending in that direction of people wanting things with more longevity that are made more locally with better quality materials and parts. So I don't know. I mean, it's a lot to ponder.
01:35:24
Speaker
Rich, you thinking about anything? Oh, I'm thinking. Yeah, I mean, he's got. OK, I don't like that. The part there are a couple of humorous parts there, too, because how many times have we shown up for a first time at someone's home? And the first thing they say is sorry about the man. I say the same thing when I come to my house. I mean, it's almost every time. And.
01:35:48
Speaker
I tell you, the way he put it where folks don't look at their home as an always place anymore, it's either like a stepping stone or in some way, it's got to be linked to the fact that people don't work at a job for their whole working life anymore and retire. There's this sense of impermanence that just
01:36:14
Speaker
you know, blankets all of our lives now. And here we are coming in going, yeah, and you're going to give this to your kids and they'll give it to their kids. And it's like, oh, yeah. What?
01:36:30
Speaker
There's just such a sense of insecurity in shelter, like in terms of if you're going to stay in a place for an amount of time, in job, in economic situation. I don't think there's as much stability or even just perceived stability as there used to be. You're right. It's got to go start with the job. I suppose if you don't
01:36:52
Speaker
feel that you're going to spend your working career at, let's say, you know, 3M or something like that. So you don't know where you're going to be in three years or five years. You don't know if you're going to be able to afford this house. You don't know if you're going to be fired, let go, transferred.
01:37:09
Speaker
But I think what he's saying is that back in the old days, and this is even what my my feelings were when I first got my first job in accounting, I thought I'm going to be here for the rest of my life. This is going to be my job. You never thought you'd be fired. You never thought you were going to be let go. You always thought you had job security.
01:37:31
Speaker
Yeah. So people had that had the job security, then then they would they considered buying a house in that area and you were going to stay in that area, have a family and grow up. And that'll be your house for the rest of your life. It was like that in the olden days.
01:37:50
Speaker
It's been changing. It's changing since I started having that same philosophy where when I first lost my job, I was devastated. I'm sitting on an unemployment line and I'm there with a suit and a tie on. And all these people that are in unemployment office are all just dressed casual jeans and all that. And here I am sitting in a business suit. And I say to myself, I don't belong here. But in reality, I had to be there.
01:38:20
Speaker
Yeah. So this whole society has changed so much. It's never going to be like it was back then. And it's just funny because you listen to that guy, that comic Steve Manafusco. Oh, Sebastian Maniscalco. Yeah, that's it. I think you know what it was. He talks about that. He talks about one of the old times of having
01:38:46
Speaker
Your grandmother would set a piece of cake out and you'd have it for guests that come knock on the door. Yeah, don't touch the cake. Don't touch the cake. That's for guests. Sarah Lee pound cake. And you used to have that back then. And then you go to where it is now. I was in the neighborhood. I figured I'd stop and see the kids. Somebody knocks on the door now. You're saying, who's at the door? High behind the couch. It's just the way society has changed. And it's sad. And I agree.
01:39:16
Speaker
And that's the scary point is that, yeah, people don't want to buy something for a house that they're only going to live in for four or five years because
01:39:29
Speaker
four or five years, they might not be there. Even even the people that have a lot of money, they're losing their jobs now, too. And they don't have that.
Social Media Shift: A Necessary Pivot?
01:39:39
Speaker
They don't have that flexibility anymore. They don't have that ability to do that. And you know what? This is this is a really interesting subject. And it's it's to me, it's a scary subject. Are we at a step with society?
01:39:56
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any question about that. Absolutely. I mean, but to the point where we will become extinct like a dinosaur or are we part of some subculture and we can, you know, maintain our low profile and soldier on in spite of all of the things that are against us.
01:40:18
Speaker
I think we can soldier on, but our expectations of being and making a living out of it and surviving. Yes, we can getting to that next level. I don't think that's going to happen. There's another argument I had with myself the other day is that looking at the future of the business,
01:40:42
Speaker
I think we need to head towards more of the social media type of work, the videos, the podcasts and all that, because the other aspect of the job is starting to diminish.
01:40:59
Speaker
I mean, John Peters, sorry to cut you off, but John Peters said it the first time he was here and it really just knocked me back for a loop because it's so true. He said sometimes it's easier to sell a video than it is to sell a piece of furniture.
01:41:19
Speaker
But what happens? Let's say what happened. Let's throw. If we get this big church job, you're talking about six months worth of solid work. What do we do then? Do we still do the podcast on a limited basis? No, we break it off at the end of.
01:41:36
Speaker
When do we pursue the video thing and all that other stuff that we're trying to get into? Should we concentrate more on that aspect of the job or more aspect of society now as opposed to
01:41:56
Speaker
The old way we like to do things is to presently build something for something. I don't think they're mutually exclusive. And I think that having a really interesting job like that church job is because it's building really, really beautiful stuff. Yeah, you can videotape it and all that. You're leveraging that into all the social media because now you have all this really unique content because a lot of people don't get the opportunity to do that kind of work.
01:42:26
Speaker
I just hope you get the people that would want to watch that kind of work being done. Yeah, well it I mean the hands-on stuff is is interesting whether it's a chair or whether it's you know You know an altar Yeah, I mean I think a lot of this has to do with you know this sense of instant gratification that we have now and cheap overseas labor where
01:42:53
Speaker
The reason that, maybe not the reason, but a big reason as to why people viewed these homes as permanent and these things that they furnished them with as mainly permanent was that
01:43:08
Speaker
Hey, it was an investment and it was a long-term investment.
Instant Gratification: Impact on Craft Perception
01:43:13
Speaker
Now you go to, like you said, Walmart, Target, you get a piece of furniture for 200 bucks, 500 bucks. Like a disposable, it's a disposable razor. You spend a thousand bucks, you're spending a lot.
01:43:27
Speaker
I'm not mentioning names. So the ability to swap things out cheaply and quickly and painlessly is is too convenient for people and and they don't want to commit to something. I agree. I look at it too. It's like an investment. For example, my property that I live now, my wife has been there for it's got to be 25 years. But we recently looked up what the value of the house would be now. And it's a lot of money.
01:43:57
Speaker
So what's to stop people because we really don't have any ties here in a sense of family. Yes. But again, we're at the retirement type of age. Do we sell and we go somewhere else? It's Miami's in in Vogue.
01:44:13
Speaker
Yeah, the other thing is people just have less money now. Yeah, that's true. You know, wages have gone up. I saw a thing. I won't speak to the total validity of it, but let's say wages went up 12% over the past 20 years since year 2000. The cost of everything has gone up anywhere between 40 to 100%.
01:44:34
Speaker
wages have an increase in conjunction with the cost of living. So there's not as much money floating around that can be used on these things. People are worried about paying the gas bill, the electric bill, the cell phone bill, internet and going on vacation, mortgage. Yeah. I haven't been on vacation since my fricking honeymoon. So it's just, I don't know. People, people want to spend less money on that because they have so many basic needs that they're trying to meet.
01:44:59
Speaker
Yeah. And I think what we do for the most part, unless it's, you know, somebody like a nun who really appreciates the craft and and living amongst the pieces of furniture that we made for him. Yeah. Most people look for their their bits of what would you call it? Somebody buy something to make them feel better. You know, like you have those special gratification.
01:45:24
Speaker
Yeah. Like people do that sort of spending and it's not going to be on a cabinet or a piece of furniture. Yeah. Like a frivolous, frivolous purchase. Right. They're like, um, if it's a woman, maybe she might or had her eye on like a Gucci bag or something like that. Guy wants a new set of golf clubs or this is, this is where he's going to spend that extra $2,000. He was like a vanity, a vanity purchase. Right. Right. And we rarely ever fit that, that bill.
01:45:55
Speaker
No, and people are spending less and less time at home. Yeah, that's true. People have longer commutes. They work longer days. Except Rob. That's true. He isn't going anywhere. Rob built half the shit in his house. He's living good in there. Don't you need some new stuff in there?
01:46:11
Speaker
All the stuff I built, it was either trying to figure out how to build it or it was made out of some leftover, which limited the size. Yeah, but it's still a hundred times nicer than anything for Walmart. But it's funny because everything's about three quarters done. Yeah. You know, the market's very small. The market for this kind of stuff is very small and you get guys like, you know, let's say if you're
01:46:39
Speaker
If you like nice furniture, you know, names like Moser and stuff like that. And you're going to go to a place like that before. Yeah. You know, typically you're going to go to a place with a catalog where you can go and see the table and a set of chairs. And yeah. And oh, you know, Kim and John down in Nantucket, you know, they have this table and we liked it. And yeah.
01:47:00
Speaker
You know, the clientele that does that is is dwindling, unfortunately. And it's you got the clientele now because of the whole economic situation that it's just buy it and throw it away in a couple of years.
01:47:16
Speaker
But this is where you have to leverage the social media because now you have the ability to be in front of people that are halfway across the world.
Global Reach: Social Media's Role for Craftsmen
01:47:23
Speaker
Yes, right. Whereas if you're in the yellow pages 50 years ago, good luck getting somebody in the next town over the next or the next state over. So now we have people that follow us in Russia and I mean all of the place. So Belgium rating. We still up there. We the the ratings have been great lately, but
01:47:43
Speaker
Yeah, you know, you have the ability to put yourself in front of people. You can do targeted ads on Instagram. I could set an ad and I say I want to be people in Southern California and the ad will go only there. So I have to excuse myself. The the ability to market yourself to a broader audience is right within social media. Yeah. And you better hurry up. It's the last question.
01:48:08
Speaker
I'm gonna do one of these. Stretch. That's right, TD. TD says stretch. You know, Eric. Hopefully you don't see Rich slip in the background of the shot. Yeah, well I'm not insured.
01:48:24
Speaker
This is really provocative statement and question rolled into, you know, one thing and it creates more. It's more thought provoking than than able to be answered. You know, I don't we don't have the answer. I wish we did. But to, you know, sort of circle back around to the Instagram question and which is sort of.
01:48:51
Speaker
You know bleakly related to this topic of the changes in society. I try and look at it and put a positive spin on it where.
01:49:04
Speaker
even though society is changing maybe against a company like ours in this one way, it's changing for us or at least giving us this opportunity to be on Instagram. And I mean, I chuckle to myself all the time when I think about the podcast and the response we've been getting from our listeners, people sending us stuff, just people writing in and
01:49:31
Speaker
asking questions and saying, hey, man, I really enjoyed it. I don't think you really understand how much of a charge we get in the phone call yesterday from I'm sorry, I don't remember your name from the guy in Michigan that's a postal worker. I mean,
01:49:47
Speaker
That blew my mind. We were playing some wood on the side of the phone. Jeff fixed up the phone. Who's this? Who's this call from Michigan? Kalamazoo. If you were listening last week, was it last week we were talking about? Yeah, yeah. We were like, what is up with media mail? Yeah. Wait, do we not talk about this?
01:50:08
Speaker
No, at the beginning of the podcast. I don't think so. No, I must have forgotten. Yeah, we were like, yeah, I wanted to bring it up. Yeah. What is up with media mail? And I think so we were kind of griping about how it was so slow. We were making jokes. And I think we ended up I wasn't sure if it was me or Jeff that said, if there's somebody out there that works with a post office, get in touch with us. Let us know what's the deal with media mail. So I got a call from a USPS supervisor in the middle of
01:50:38
Speaker
filled us in on the whole situation. It's what we thought, you know, get sort of prioritized last. But I mean, it's just so cool. Yeah. It was like back to the whole networking thing like.
01:50:49
Speaker
never talking to people. I don't have friends in Michigan like now just to be able to talk to people from different places, different walks of life. I mean, it's it's cool. And the local guys we've met here. Yeah. So even somebody like John, John Peters, I was watching John on YouTube for a while before I even knew that he lived.
01:51:09
Speaker
Yeah, a couple miles away. John came by today, asked us a question, said hello and Merry Christmas. And if you don't know, if you're not a fan of John's, he has he's a beekeeper as well. And we love the first jars of honey brought here and we've been raving about him. So he brought us more honey. Yeah. You know, so this this is the upside of the changes that are going on in our society.
01:51:36
Speaker
Rich got a t-shirt. Eric's in a shirt. Dave. Blake Woodworks. I was wearing a shirt around the house so often my wife's like, what's the deal with that shirt? Are you working for them now? She says, that's a new company. We changed the name. Who's Blake? I don't know.
01:52:01
Speaker
saying that to my grandson. It's blocky, woodworking, blocky. Hey, A-Ron, woodworks.
01:52:09
Speaker
So that's, I guess, how we can wrap it up. Yeah. What do you guys think? I think it's a no. No, I think we're fighting. We're fighting a tidal wave or just get down. I'm curious to know. I'd like to sit down. Yeah. I would like to love to have like a big podcast with a bunch of no just like a round face time type of thing. Yeah. With a lot of people to discuss this. I think it's it's a pretty important thing that's that's going on right now.
01:52:39
Speaker
I think if you can hang on, you're going to be part of the new vanguard that may always be small. There's always going to be a subculture that appreciates, but I would take even more pride in being a part of it then.
01:52:54
Speaker
Rather than being fashionable, I would I love swimming against the stream anyway. So. So, Eric, next time cut your questions a little bit shorter. A lot to read you. The first part was a statement that was his credo. What was that email signature that I saw the other day? I was like, this should be Rob's. It's like I usually take two days to read my emails and then I like to take another two days to ponder the intricacies of the email.
01:53:23
Speaker
These days the fragmentation of time and expectation is not really akin to the way I live. That's right. I've pretty much always been an outsider and I like it out here and I love rubbing elbows with other outsiders. Yeah, I can agree. So there you go.
01:53:47
Speaker
Well, as it does every week, that brings us to the beer of the week, back to the beer of the week. Yeah. I love it. I love the fact that I got a shirt. The Triple Star Tennessee Brew Works. It was very good. I really liked it. I think I finished mine by like the third question. Well, it doesn't usually happen. No, not at all. It was good. I liked it. I'm not. I'm not the biggest fan of triple style beers, but I liked it. Yeah, I didn't even know that was a style. Yeah. And what's the triple in it?
01:54:17
Speaker
Usually they have like that coriander and that kind of stuff in there. What is that other thing they always use? Is it a coriander that they say all the time on a beer? They always throw coriander in there. I mean like those Belgian white style beers always have coriander and orange peel or lemon peel or you know stuff like that. You know what it says here?
01:54:37
Speaker
drink with enthusiasm. I like that. Oh, yeah. I was I was very enthusiastic. Yeah. Teller cold drink with enthusiasm. I really like it. And always look for this little label right here that says independent Brewers Association. Yeah. That means, you know, there's a lot of beer out there.
01:54:56
Speaker
Are there other? That's made by Budweiser, but yeah, they have a Killian Red is made by Budweiser. Even like Goose Island, which was a craft brewery, got bought out by AB Inbev, which is Anheuser-Busch. Oh yeah, Ziegenbach or Zellobach was a place out in Houston, was bought out by Michelob, and now it's the Michelob Dark Ale. Yep.
01:55:17
Speaker
Oh, to make a little Bach. Beware. A lot of fakers, a lot of fugazis. Yeah, I think it tasted extra special and really good because of the origin. Yeah. Not requesting, but if anybody wants to sponsor the beer of the week, feel free. You can get our address on the website. I mean, it's a cool idea.
01:55:35
Speaker
It was awesome. It really was. I mean, opening that box, your extra lodge. Rich wears extra lodge. Yeah, if you got a local favorite, a local favorite beer. Because, you know, this beer, we can't get New Jersey because if you know anything about this sort of distribution system for beer, it's difficult for small craft breweries to get distribution. Oh, shit. I was going to go to the liquor store. Remember Smokey and the Bandit? Yeah. Yeah. That was all about, you know, not being able to get the cores, right? 10-4, little buddy.
01:56:05
Speaker
It cools? Yeah, like east of the Mississippi. Oh, that's true. Yeah, because they had to ship cold. Yeah. What? Oh, yeah. The reasons would beer, of course, was never shipped warm. It had to be shipped a banquet beer. I know that, but that's what I have to do with smoking in a bandit. That's what the whole movie was about. I have no idea what that has to do with smoking in a bandit. Yeah. I thought they were smoking something else. No, it was beer. Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it was a bet.
01:56:28
Speaker
That makes the movie a little more lame than I thought. No, it's great. I like the car. Yeah. Anywho. Yeah. Tool of the week in the description, as always, go to our website, Gear Recommendations. We have a full Amazon storefront now and you can check out a bunch of stuff that we use. Don't forget the ho, ho, ho, wholesale.
01:56:46
Speaker
That's well, yeah, that's go to the shop on our website. We got the glue clips on the crap. Oh, 25 percent off. What else? Instagram, YouTube, subscribe, like all that stuff. Yeah. And our Patreon. Yeah. If you want to help support the podcast, you know, become a patron on Patreon. Helps a lot. We do a after show. So we'll sit down here to 30 minutes or so. We're going to talk about something super exciting. You see what that says right there?
01:57:14
Speaker
Uh, super, uh, oh, yeah. What's that? Chiquita banana. Yeah. We're going to be talking about Chiquita banana. Chiquita banana, baby. Just wait. It's going to blow your mind. Oh boy. It's going to blow your mind. Okay. Patreon. Yeah. We want to thank our gold tier patrons, David Murphy and Manny Sirianni. Thanks guys. Milly Grazia. Yep. All right. Till next week. Festivus miracle next week. Yes.
01:57:44
Speaker
be safe out there yeah if you're in this east coast be careful it's snowing out there buckle up yeah come on rain
01:58:12
Speaker
Ain't no shame but there's been a chain.