Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The American Craftsman Podcast Ep. 30 | Cult of Festool
58 Plays4 years ago
On Episode 30 of The American Craftsman Podcast, hosted by Greene Street Joinery, we address our membership in the cult of Festool.
Beer of the Week (Kona Longboard): https://konabrewingco.com/our-beers
Tool of the Week: (Miller Dowels) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001I9R27Q/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=greenestreetj-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B001I9R27Q&linkId=00c57b91fd7327746fa830e11330b02f
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.
Follow us!
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greene_st_joinery Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greenestreetjoinery
Support us on Patreon!
https://www.patreon.com/Greene_st_joinery
Visit Us at https://www.greenestreetjoinery.com/
And be sure to Subscribe to our channel for more videos like this one!
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-american-craftsman-podcast/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Recommended
Transcript
Easter Traditions and Personal Stories
00:00:17
Speaker
Ain't no shame, but there's been a chain. Well, here we are, episode 30. Yeah, wow. Time flies. The American Craftsman podcast. This is the last day of March, right? Yeah. This is officially our Easter podcast. Yeah, it's our Hoppy Easter podcast. You know the best thing about Easter?
00:00:40
Speaker
The candy. You read my mind. Well, not just any old candy. Easter candy. The Reese's eggs. Oh, yeah. And the Cadbury eggs. Yeah. Yeah. And the chocolate bunnies and the peeps. Not that we didn't well spend our fair amount of time going to church. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For those who are.
00:01:06
Speaker
I don't want to say actually religious. I don't know how to put that actively religious. Yeah. Yeah. Like the people that are like my wife go. She's she goes. Yeah. Like for real real Catholics and and those are the Christian faith. Like Easter is the big deal. It's Christmas is not as Easter is the actual big kind of holiday.
00:01:26
Speaker
That's very, very true. And I was very active in our local Catholic Church for a long time. And Easter's the biggie of the holidays. Yeah. So we got our palms in there because my wife, you know, she picked up the baton and she goes.
00:01:44
Speaker
say the mascot for the holidays. I don't know, a little questionable. Yeah. Compared to Christmas. But yeah, we call it. We used to call them the A&P Catholics, ashes and palms.
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, it always did sort of signal the springtime, you know, where it's like you go to church for Palm Sunday and it's actually warm. Yeah. So here we are. Yeah, here we are. We ain't at church today.
Beer of the Week and Merchandise Plug
00:02:12
Speaker
We're not going either, but we're here for the beer of the week. Yeah. You know, I picked this out.
00:02:22
Speaker
from the grocery store next door. Oh yeah, I've had this before. And I like the label and I like that it was made in Hawaii and I thought that was kind of cool. You gonna tell people what we got? Yeah, we got Kona Brewing Company Longboard Island Lager.
00:02:42
Speaker
It looks like a simple kind of you know that that what was that that other red labeled beer we just had the Smittix Smittix yeah reminded me of Smittix and I was hoping that it might taste something like that because of the redness it may have just thrown me off I hate to break it for break it to you though yeah this ain't brewed in Hawaii
00:03:05
Speaker
Oh, I'm very disappointed now. Kona Brewing Company dot com. Well, is this from Hackensack again? No, Fort Collins, Colorado. Oh, I see. Brewed and bottled by Kona Brewing Company, Fort Collins, Colorado, for Kona Brewing Company, Kona, Hawaii. Fort Collins isn't where they make Coors Light, is it? God, I hope not.
00:03:30
Speaker
Oh, man. But it's got a it's got a kind of a nice little bottle sort of old fashioned. Yeah, it's it's it almost looks like a soda bottle. Right. Right. Liquid Aloha. And it's got a little little embossed.
00:03:47
Speaker
Hawaii on there. We gotta use a key spot opener. Yeah. We shipped out a couple more glasses this week. If you guys are interested, we're drinking out of the official glass of the American Craftsman podcast, which you can find on our website. That way you can have a beer along with us. This is pretty light. Yeah, look at that. It almost looks unnatural, that color. Yeah.
00:04:17
Speaker
We usually don't have anything that looks like that on the show. Longboard Island Lager. Smells good. Smells like a Corona. Yeah, it smells a little bit standard, I'll say. Clear as day. Here you are. Cheers. Cheers. Cheers to you guys. It's just you're good every day.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, kind of beer. Just a sitting on the porch kind of beer. Got the ball game on the radio. Yeah.
00:04:53
Speaker
yelling at the kids going by. I'm not sure. I had my second vaccine yesterday and was wiped out all morning so I'm sure drinking beer is not supposed to be on. It may get you through. My father-in-law had his on Monday and he was laid up yesterday with a fever and everything. He was feeling pretty crappy. So all in all I survived pretty well.
00:05:22
Speaker
Well, you know, I forgot to do is grab the tool of the week. Oh, go ahead. I got it over there. Go grab it.
Craftsmanship Tools and Techniques
00:05:28
Speaker
I'll keep the folks entertained. Jeff's going to get the tool of the week, which is something we actually used on a little bit of a side project this week. We have the shop filled with
00:05:42
Speaker
finished and nearly finished jobs as we're waiting for the delivery times to kind of uh coincide with our free time and some of these are not in the area and uh we both built ourselves these little uh little couch arm tables i guess yeah yeah little tray whole trays for the side of the couch yeah
00:06:07
Speaker
And so we use the, uh, the tool of the week. And we said, we forgot how handy these things are. Yeah. So tool of the week this week is, so this is not, if you're watching, this is not what it comes in. This is a telentee container. Yeah. So this is, uh, what's known as a Miller dowel. Yeah.
00:06:32
Speaker
It it almost looks like a golf tee. Yeah. So this is a. What is that? Step two and three quarter inches, three inch, about a two and three quarter, three inch long dowel. And it's actually stepped. So it goes from like an eighth to three sixteenths to a quarter inch to three eighths. Yeah. And it has it's not like it's it's not tapered. It's actually stepped. Yeah. Big difference. And there's a step drill bit that goes with it. So you buy
00:07:02
Speaker
by your dowels and the bit, I think they, they, do they have two different sizes? Three, I think. Three? Yeah, there's a tinier one and there's a larger one. Yeah, so this is, um... Miller Dow... One... X... G? One X. I think that's how they... One X, two X, three X kind of thing? I think that's how they do it. Clearly we don't know that much about them. No, we use it. We just use them. Yeah. Uh, so this is, it's a nice bit...
00:07:32
Speaker
It has that nice bevel cut into the spiral that you see on the good bits and it has the countersink portion that the top goes into. So what you do is you clamp your pieces up or what I did is I actually glued them up.
00:07:50
Speaker
So it was it was a face to edge grain joint. It was glued up. You know, I let it sit for about an hour, pulled it out of the clamps, and then you drill your holes with the step bit and put some glue on your dial and in the hole and you can pound these in. And it's a super solid connection. They're really strong. I don't know if you remember that.
00:08:13
Speaker
Remember, you know, the chairs and the ambo and everything I made for that church 100 years ago with all the odd shapes. I use miller dowels for that whole thing. Now they're rock solid. Yeah. Yeah. This second to last section two has little glue groove. Yeah. Excuse me. Glue grooves. And it's an exposed dowel at the end. Yeah.
00:08:39
Speaker
They come in different species. We have maple here and we used up all the walnut ones yesterday, but they come in, you know, a variety of species. Yeah, so you can match or complement. Yeah. Yeah. So yesterday I did sapele with walnut and I think you did maple. Yeah. Sapele with maple dows.
00:09:00
Speaker
It's a good way to do joinery fast, like you can do a butt joint and just use some Miller Dows to get some, even if it's like an end grain to face grain, you can get some good glue surface with the Dow gives you that pegged look and it's easy. So check them
Experiences with Customer Service
00:09:18
Speaker
out. They're cheap.
00:09:19
Speaker
yeah I'd say one thing to be careful of is not to put too much glue in the joint because they won't go all the way in yeah won't go all the way in and you'll try smacking it in there and it'll just crack the wood yeah yeah like you don't want to put him too close to the end I brought him in three inches from the end yeah because I've done that before I did it down I think I used miller dials on that
00:09:40
Speaker
the box that the Sanders sitting on and I blew the end out because it was too close. Yeah, probably not good for like anything. I'd say seven ace with this size. Yeah, I go seven ace or better. Yeah, use the smaller one. Yeah.
00:09:59
Speaker
Uh, so that's pretty cool. I, I would say a lot of people haven't used the Miller dial system. Yeah. Actually, uh, Sal carpenter, Sal, Sal, the carpenter rather, sorry, on Instagram, uh, Sal Donato, he's up in North Jersey. Um, he was saying he uses them and the first place he saw him was on this old house. They were using them to fix a squeaky stare. Oh, that's a pretty good, pretty good application.
00:10:25
Speaker
Like it. So they definitely come in maple walnut. I got to assume they come in oak. Oh yeah, they do come in oak. That's the one I use for the church. Cherry, I think. And maybe mahogany. I, I think. I don't know. I think there's some sort of like, I'll call it exotic. Like maybe it's ebony or, or something of that nature. I don't remember.
00:10:50
Speaker
Let's see, I got the computer here. Yeah, yeah. Check it out. Miller Dow Company, wood joinery, wooden dowels. Let's say since 2002, that's it. Hmm. So it must have only been about 98 years ago that I did that. Yeah. Not 100.
00:11:07
Speaker
One X for attaching wood pieces up to one and one eighth inch thick. Two X for wood pieces up to one and five ace inches thick. Mini X for joining wood half inch stock with a max of three quarter. One XSR for commercial cabinet and furniture production. What's the SR?
00:11:26
Speaker
Super ridiculous. Miller Dows are available in four species for interior projects. The Dows are available in red oak, black walnut, birch and cherry. Oh, I guess those are birch. Not maple. Okay, yeah. It's hard to tell. Yeah. So they're in Wilmette, Illinois. Oh.
00:11:49
Speaker
about us. Tell you a little bit about the, uh, while we're here. They're American made, I guess. Yeah. Cool. It all began when Mike Miller, a third generation inventor, cut his hand on an exposed nail head on a dock. This experience turned his investor's mind, his inventor's mind. Sorry, this is small print.
00:12:10
Speaker
Turned his inventor's mind to solving the problem of nail pops. In doing so, he asked the question, could the strength of wooden golf tees be combined with a step design to solve the problem? What are the odds?
00:12:22
Speaker
Indeed, they could. And in 2001, the Miller Dow company was founded after Mike Miller was awarded a patent for his design of the Miller Dow. It's funny how they say he was awarded a patent. No, he applied for a patent and he gave it to him. That's a good point about them. They don't open up those joints. Oh, yeah. They're like self-clamping. At the end of 2002, International Woodworking Fair, the company introduced the first Miller Dow and the true fit drill bit and the business has been growing ever since.
00:12:51
Speaker
I won't bore you with any more of this, but, um, looks like, yeah, a nice, nice little story there about how he came up with them and, uh, I'm looking to see anywhere where it says, um, American-made. I'm assuming that they are. Excuse me. I, uh, I swept up the shop and there is dust in the air. Yeah.
00:13:17
Speaker
Doesn't say Maine, USA, but I can only assume that they are. We don't have the packaging here. Obviously, it's in a ice cream container, but. Love that ice cream. Yeah. So, yeah, check it out. We'll have that down in the description as always. It's a good way to do. A simple exposed, you know, Dow. Yeah. And.
00:13:43
Speaker
You don't have to use a downlink. It's just with a hand drill. Yeah. Strong joint. All right. So the gripe of the week is up next on our itinerary, but we've been talking about putting it to bed for a little while. You know, this is, we've been doing this about six months now and you know, a change of scenery is always good and
00:14:05
Speaker
I think today is a good time to sort of turn the gripe of the week on its head. And I'm going to say it's I'm going to have a commendation of the week. And that is related to my my covid shot. I got it at CVS Pharmacy. I don't know if CVS like a nation nationwide. Yeah, probably international.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah. So this is basically a corner drug store that they turn the stock room into a place where there's two stations giving out the vaccine. If our government or any doctor's office was run with this kind of precision and timeliness, we'd be in much better shape. I mean, it's it's amazing. I was there twice to the same place.
00:14:58
Speaker
You drive into the parking lot. They send you a text on your phone. You check in by just clicking on a link. You go in. They have your name. They have your appointment. There's only at the very most two people in line. You go in there. Everything's six feet apart and super polite. It's, it's, it was an amazing operation.
00:15:23
Speaker
Yeah, now I went to the state run where actually I guess the one I went to was federally run. Yeah, at the base. Or was that Rowan? It was at Rowan University. So that's being run by the Army and by FEMA. And same thing, it was like clockwork. It's all Army dudes in camo checking you in and obviously not giving you the shot.
00:15:47
Speaker
Very fast moving and matter of fact, it just went smoothly. My second shot, I was in and out in like 15 minutes. Yeah, me too. Me too. I probably waited about a minute to two minutes. Then you have to sit for 15. They make sure that nothing goes haywire. You don't keel over in the observation area. That's right.
00:16:13
Speaker
But kudos to CVS Pharmacy for pulling this all together and all the people that were doing the work there. I mean, super nice. And it's got to be kind of a stressful job. I mean, you're seeing people all day in and out like that and so much riding on it.
00:16:32
Speaker
The nurses too, the nurses that, the first and the second that gave me the shot, like, so nice, like, you know, they could have just been like, how are you doing? I'll just shoot you with the thing, I'll get out of here. I mean, very friendly and like, oh, you know, do you have any reactions to the first one? And, you know, it was just,
00:16:53
Speaker
It was a good experience overall. Yeah, yeah. Yes, I'm probably hitting immunity. That's right. Now, like now or maybe next week, they say two to three weeks after the second shot. So I'm ready to go out and party, huh? No, that's the trouble. You have a social obligation on May 1st. I'm trying to think of ways to get out of it. Yeah. Yeah. That's the thing. We have to be responsible so we can all get a handle on this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I just don't want to
00:17:24
Speaker
That's true, too. But anyway, we won't we won't go down that. I had I had a bit of a great but so. Well, come on, let's hear it. Let's hear it. The fucking guy at Lowe's yesterday. Yeah, yeah.
00:17:42
Speaker
So I'm at Lowe's yesterday buying light bulbs. I needed some LED light bulbs. We should say though that you and I are really not suited for the outside work. No, no. We work here. You live two minutes away. I live here. I now live three miles from the shop and I used to live two. So I'm in the light bulb aisle and I'm buying the
00:18:04
Speaker
100 watt equivalent, 5K Kelvin bulbs, LED dimmable bulbs. So I need what I need, seven.
00:18:16
Speaker
So they had two packs. Wait, seven? Yeah, because there was one outstanding. Yeah, they had three two packs. I grabbed those and I would have just grabbed another two, but they didn't have any. So I pulled out, you know, it's in like a little box. So I pulled it out and I kept them in there because I was just going to carry the box. I stick my head in and there's one, a single bulb way in the back. So I reached my arm in to grab it and I knocked over.
00:18:42
Speaker
the box that had the three packs in it and someone's walking by me I see as it happens and they just keep walking.
00:18:49
Speaker
And so I pull out the one ball of my turn and it's a guy that works at Lowe's. Offer up that that customer service. He didn't stop to help me pick him up or to say, you know, thinking to himself, oh, man, this guy's got his he's up to his shoulder in this thing and trying to reach for some. Can I help you with some? Are you looking for something? No, nothing. He just kept walking some old man. And then I had to run in with him again as I'm getting to the self checkout.
00:19:19
Speaker
where he was just like waving his fingers around pointing people to go places and he wasn't speaking. Yeah. He finally said something. I said, oh, your your voice works now. Yeah. He was a real dick. This guy. Yeah. You know, there's something about the difference that that could make in your experience, right?
00:19:37
Speaker
You could have gone there and if somebody could have helped you led you to a ball or done any small thing would have been completely different. But instead this guy was really just sharking his responsibilities. Yeah. You know the assistant like somebody dropped something and you don't. Yeah. It's it's just common courtesy. Yeah. Yeah. Even if you weren't even if I wasn't
00:20:04
Speaker
If I was in Lowe's and somebody, I was walking down an aisle and someone in front of me dropped something, I would fucking pick it up and say, here you go. I wouldn't just keep walking. Yeah. I'll tell you, one time I was at the Home Depot and this was a long time ago before Lowe's was built.
00:20:23
Speaker
And there was some guy trying to put two pieces of sheetrock on the top of his little car. And I'm parked next to him. I had this big truck for, you know, four door, eight foot bed. Huge. The biggest kind of pickup truck, you know, as far as length and everything that they made at the time. And I'm saying to myself, do I ask this guy, you know, he's never going to make it home with these things on his roof.
00:20:51
Speaker
So I said, all right, you know, don't don't stand on the sidelines. So I go to the guy, come on, you know, let me put this in my truck and I'll follow you to your house. He's like, this guy's trying to rob me. That that was he couldn't believe it. And it turns out he just lived a couple of blocks away, which I sort of figured anyway, since, you know, it's a neighborhood store.
00:21:16
Speaker
And, uh, he was so happy, tried to give me money and I wouldn't take it. And then one of the next times I was in the store, I was trying to grab something really heavy and some guy just came out a customer out of his way. He said, here, let me help you with that. I said, yeah, look at that karma.
00:21:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I've like given people ratchet straps before, like in the parking lot, like see somebody in like a car trying to like, I'm like, just take it. Like, I mean, they don't they cost next to nothing. So hopefully that do get some karma. Yeah. Yeah. Like you dick me around. I'm gonna tell you, go fuck yourself. But if I see you struggling in the parking lot, I'm going to help you or you drop something. I'm going to help you. Yeah.
00:21:56
Speaker
I mean, I think people should be more like that. Like you got to call out the people that are being not good people. Exactly. And but be a good person at the same time. It's always easy to lead by example. Yeah. So that was that you had me cracking up. Yes. Oh, I was here because I and I didn't have anybody to tell. Yeah. Because I was off getting my shot. Yeah. So when you got back, I had to unload.
Patreon Engagement and Business Insights
00:22:22
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:22:24
Speaker
So this is a nice little thing coming up. Oh, yeah. I want to mention. So we talked about it. We talked about it last week. We may have. We may have as we were signing off. Yeah. So we spoke last week about doing a Zoom meeting.
00:22:42
Speaker
About our whole process basically from the time a client contacts us All the way up to the point of fabrication not fabrication itself, but everything up to that point Using our spreadsheet for pricing or scope of work letter all that
00:22:59
Speaker
So this is going to be for Patreon patrons only. If you're a patron, we'll be, you know, setting the date. And if you'd like to get involved and, you know, be a part of the meeting, you can go check out our Patreon. You can, you know, you can cancel after if you want to check it out, join for a month and then you can cancel.
00:23:22
Speaker
You know, maybe you'll stick around. It's something we've been asked about quite a bit. Yeah. I mean, it's something we really we really want to do it for the patrons. So, you know, sorry, we can't offer it to everyone, but just trying to do something special for them. Yeah. It's not everybody understands the process of how to price things, how to interact with a client, how to develop a proposal, develop a design.
00:23:46
Speaker
Yeah, and how to do things in a profitable way, you know, how to how to streamline this process so that it's not like you're I mean, it's not a second job. The bidding part. Some guys spend days on bids. Yeah, that you're not making money when you do a bid. So you need to be able to just spit, get this thing to spit out a number and then you can send it off and.
00:24:08
Speaker
one that's going to be accurate, allow you to get the job and allow you to profit with the job. Yeah. And focus on the focus that time on the design, you know, and working out your kinks there. Yeah. So, yeah, stay tuned. You can.
00:24:25
Speaker
I guess. I think I can put a post on the Patreon. That's a public one. So even if you're not a patron, you'll be able to see it. We're ironing out dates and times because I want it to be accessible for everyone. So yeah, we'll keep you guys patrons. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It could be a live question and answer. Yeah. Yeah. So people can you know, we'll like we'll we'll send everybody the files prior.
00:24:52
Speaker
So you can sit, have them open. We can go through, plug in some numbers and see how things develop. So I think it should be pretty cool. It's something that we'd like to do maybe quarterly or every few months, every month. Some sort of little, I guess, clash you would call it. Yeah, almost like a short lecture series. Yeah. I mean, we could even get into like hands on stuff in the shop. Yeah.
00:25:18
Speaker
So we have that ability. Yeah. We've made a couple of things. Set the camera. Yeah. Yeah. We made a few things. Yes. One or two.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah, we were joking in Clubhouse. We were talking about woodpeckers. Yes. And Johnny, Johnny, I don't know if you're listening to the podcast, but he was saying he has ten thousand dollars worth of woodpeckers tools. I said, well, we've got forty thousand dollars worth of furniture in the shop right now waiting to be delivered. And I think all of our layout and measuring tools may be equal five hundred bucks.
00:26:03
Speaker
And that includes our $250 star. Yeah. And the two dozen tape measures and the expensive pencils. That's right. $30 pencils. Yeah, exactly. I mean, for laying out the lumber, like when we were doing the rough cutting, I use a plastic
00:26:23
Speaker
Square I don't even go that far. I just use a tick mark. Yeah. Yeah, I like using that plastic one. Yeah With a lumber crayon and stuff. I get a nice straight line on it But yeah, there's no need for anything fancy there Well, we got some good questions this week might as well yeah, we'll get into those Our first one's coming in from black thorn concepts on Instagram and
00:26:52
Speaker
This is a good one. What tool? Oh, sorry. What's a tool you don't need but won't give up? Well, I thought about this. Don't need is that's a slippery thing because we kind of need them all. It's funny. Johnny just messaged me on Instagram. What are the it's what a coincidence.
00:27:16
Speaker
And I'll say that things I don't need right now, probably my framing chisels. And my favorite one of those is my bar one and a half inch framing chisel. Like there's other ways to do that work now. I don't necessarily need a one and a half inch chisel to make furniture.
00:27:36
Speaker
Especially with a hand, like a long handle like that. Really, it's like a slick. It is. It was for making timber frame joints. But so I don't need it, but I won't let go of that. I'm trying to think. What is something that I want, but I don't need?
00:28:00
Speaker
Well, I have like that Lee Nielsen dovetail saw, the tapered dovetail saw. I mean, we don't hand cut dovetails. Not enough money in the job. No.
00:28:14
Speaker
So I don't need that, but I like to have it up there. I break it out for random little cuts and stuff. I have a slew of Japanese saws as well, which are usually more apt at what I'm doing, but I don't know. I just like it. I like the look of it, the feel of it. It's my only Western saw.
00:28:33
Speaker
part of the enjoyment of having our own little shop and our own little space and because as we've said before, we put a lot of emphasis on the quality of our life.
00:28:47
Speaker
There's a hundred more lucrative ways to make a living. Yeah, if this was all about money, I said this in a group chat I'm in the other day. If it's all about money, I'd be here slinging euro cabinets. We'd be busting out boxes and doors. We'd be buying the doors. We could easily do. But it's not about money. No.
00:29:06
Speaker
we want to make a living yeah and we yeah we have no choice but to make a living yes so we we have to have a balance of enjoyment and and paying the bills it's certainly not a hobby but we're not cutting corners for the sake of profit right.
00:29:25
Speaker
Wow, this is a long question. You had fun typing this next one up. Yeah. And it's probably for me. I see a few weeks ago you made Lee Nielsen 60 and a half rabbit block plane your tool of the week. My question is, if I don't yet have a block plane and want to buy a good one, will the rabbeting plane do everything a regular block plane will do? Are there some tasks where you don't want a blade that goes all the way to the edge of the plane?
00:29:53
Speaker
I would love the rabbiting plane to be good solution for not having to buy both a block plane and a shoulder plane, but not sure if I'm on the right track. Thanks. And thanks for inviting us into your business and shop. Wow. So regularly. You're very, very welcome. That's from Adam podcast. One of our patrons. Thanks Adam. So yeah, that was, that was my plane. And I'm not mistaken. I can't think of anything that it, that limits,
00:30:23
Speaker
Yeah. So there's one thing that the rabbeting plane does that a shoulder plane doesn't. The rabbeting plane has those knickers or like scoring blades on it. So you can actually start in the middle of a board and cut a rabbit or a day or even a dado, I guess it would be a full. What is that? Inch and three quarter wide or something. Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:46
Speaker
I will say that the advantage to a shoulder plane is that it has that really tall square reference surface. So the entire side of the plane is flat. And it's I have the medium over there, which is I don't know, it's got to be two, two and a half inches tall. Yeah, I was a little bit smaller one. I think it's just over three quarter wide.
00:31:09
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But the side, I'm saying. So you can butt that up against your shoulder if you're doing, if you have a big tall big shoulder on there. When you're playing in the cheek. The rabbiting plane, you know, it's not quite so tall. So I'd say that's a disadvantage and the knickers are an advantage. But it'll do everything that a block plane will do.
00:31:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think that was probably I'm not sure but I was think he was worried that it wouldn't do everything a block plane would do I mean I think it does everything that both will do you just get a little less reference, but there's yeah There's plenty on there. Yeah, I mean that that side is is yeah It's a little short in the front, but then it goes on that little hump shape. I love that plane I
00:31:58
Speaker
It's the right size for me. I use it all the time. It's my main play now. Lee Nielsen stuff. We've said it a hundred times. It's to rip off. The opposite. That stuff is so good. Yeah. It's a pleasure to own and a pleasure to use. Oh yeah. And when you think about it and when you see it and use it, you'll you'll say
00:32:25
Speaker
Wow, this is actually inexpensive. They should be charging more for the cost of producing this. Yeah, which is like we'll get into that on the. The second to last question about the cult. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I would say pull a trigger on that. Yeah, that's a great choice. Oh, I love it. Won't be disappointed.
00:32:51
Speaker
No, no, definitely not. I can't say that there's any Lee Nielsen tool that will be disappointed. Even the card scrapers are badass. And as you get more and more tools, you wind up having tools that will cross over and do things that another tool has. But it's a good place to start. You know, you won't be sorry there.
00:33:16
Speaker
Oh, this next question is pretty interesting. This comes in from St. John's Woodworks on Instagram. How regimented are you guys with keeping shop hours? We're very regimented, actually. Yeah, I mean, this is a job and, you know, we have to be here to work. So eight to four thirty Monday to Friday. We're both here early, just about every single day. Yeah. You know, there's days where
00:33:46
Speaker
It's four o'clock or three thirty or three o'clock and there's nothing to do or the worst dictates. You know, we've finished something. We don't want to raise any dust. Right. You have a small shop. Yeah. Or where, you know, the next task is not something that takes a half hour or it's, you know, the next task is going to take six hours. Well, you don't start it at three o'clock. We want to be fresh. Right.
00:34:12
Speaker
So, yeah, I mean, we're we're very regimented. That's you know, that's something that we might even expand on as far as. Like what it takes to run a business, a small business, because there are a lot of guys that ask us, how can I transition from a hobbyist to a what would you call it? A professional, for lack of a better word, somebody who's going to earn their living at doing this.
00:34:39
Speaker
And taking the work hours seriously is part of it. A lot of people always say, I could never do that. I could never go to work and keep myself honest, so to speak, with the hours. And I think that if you're not able to do that and respect the job, even when we work by ourselves, we're here on time.
00:35:05
Speaker
but we have each other. And so I think there's the respect for each other. We're just like that. We're wired up that way where we would never take advantage. I was laying down before with the effects of my vaccine. I came out here, Jeff had swept the entire shop, set up the podcast thing, because that's who he is.
00:35:33
Speaker
And if you're not able to do that, it kind of it's a it's a signal that either you're not cut out to be your own boss or anything of that ilk. Yeah. And I think working too much is almost just as bad. Right. There's guys that start their own business and they work 80 hours a week or 100 hours a week. It's just not. Hey, it's OK. Life isn't about working.
00:36:03
Speaker
My life revolves around working because I love what I do and it's part of my identity, but
00:36:12
Speaker
I don't work 80 hours a week or 100 hours a week. I work 50, 60, if you count all the outside stuff outside of the shop. But you have to give yourself time outside of work because the work is going to suffer. And it's not, you know, it's not fair to the client. Yeah. Yeah.
00:36:35
Speaker
Back in the old days when i was here by myself there would be those days where i would make a mistake whether it be like marking something or you know you. You're gonna assemble a joint incorrectly and then you get the feeling this day is not gonna go that well where.
00:36:53
Speaker
I would stop leave the shop and pick up some other task to do maybe there because you know there's always something you can do outside the shop whether it's you know filing your papers or organizing. And that's a way to keep your head in the business.
00:37:11
Speaker
and not push yourself past, you know, something that might be dangerous. Yeah. Yeah. Straighten up. Yeah. Just pick up a broom and start sweeping. Yeah. Do something that's not that doesn't require so much mental acuity. Yeah. Like that's a good word. You know, if you have to move some lumber around or take the garbage out to the dumpster or whatever.
00:37:32
Speaker
Because we do it all. We do it all here. Yeah. We don't have a bathroom. We have to go to the house or around the side. Otherwise, we'd be scrubbing the toilets, too. Yeah. We're a two man show. And, you know, I'll just close on that. If if if you're if you're doing this for yourself and you find you're not able to maintain the hours
00:38:01
Speaker
Think about like maybe time to either retire, find something else to do. Some people need go get a job. Yeah. An overseer of some sort. Yeah. It's not for everybody because it's it's a lot of work to do this. Yeah. And I mean, if you're not regimented in the shop, you're probably not going to be afloat for very long because it's hard enough when you are regimented. Yeah. Yeah. Unless you're some kind of phenom. That's right. Making money somehow and not really working
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'll add one other little quick thing. The other thing we like to be regimented on is like safety protocols. We don't have anybody to answer to here, so we could do whatever it is that we wanted, but we're very careful. We got two guys. We had to get the sauce off. We got two guys. Some inside joke there.
00:38:55
Speaker
But yeah, we have a saw stop. I mean, we paid for it. It's a great tool, great machine, and it has some added safety, but we don't go willy-nilly like it. So there you have it. That's a good question, Adam. You want to read the next one? Yeah.
00:39:14
Speaker
It's from Andy C, one of our patrons Andy C makes on Instagram. Wax. What do you guys use on your machine tops? Butchers wax, paste wax or bow shield or something entirely different. Also, do you wear gloves when applying? Personally, I use butchers and wear a glove. I hate having wax on my hands.
00:39:32
Speaker
Huh. We use paste wax, Johnson's paste. Actually, we have Minwax up there. Minwax finishing wax, I guess it's called, which is paste wax. We use a hard wax with solvent. Yeah. Which is not what we use on furniture. Obviously, we use caranuba wax, but
00:39:54
Speaker
Yeah. So we use paste wax and I wear a glove. Definitely. I typically won't wear
Woodworking Discussions and Definitions
00:39:59
Speaker
a glove. No, no. I don't like the feeling of wax on my hand. I don't like finisher anything on my hands, really. Yeah. You could see I hardly ever wear gloves. When I was laying down today, I could, I could smell Rubio all over me. I hit the couch just and I knew, Oh yeah. Last thing I did was put on some Rubio. Yeah.
00:40:20
Speaker
Yeah, so you could mention briefly why you wax the machine top. Maybe everybody doesn't even know. Yeah, I mean, it's a protection thing. It's a anti-friction thing. So the tops of all these machines, I won't. Most of them. Yeah, most of them. The planer, the jointer, the table saws, the band saw, the shaper.
00:40:46
Speaker
Well, yeah, so pretty much all the tools, they have a cast iron top and the cast iron is not finished. There's no lack or anything on there. So it needs to be protected from moisture. And wax obviously is hydro, hydrophobic. So it repels water. So you wax them to keep them protected from rust and it also makes things, you know, slide through real nice. Yeah.
00:41:14
Speaker
That's exactly it. Because they will rust. Oh, yeah. Even in here where we're pretty much. Yeah, I mean, there's some rust, right? That's I think that's from running on wet pieces through that actually I don't know what that is. It's not my coffee.
00:41:32
Speaker
I was like, roast. Yeah. So, yeah, we use just an inexpensive. Yeah. Yeah. I've put Cara Nuba wax on there before. I mean, we use what's handy typically. Yeah. I've heard about Cara Nuba wax being bad for like the finishes. Like if you run a piece through and you get the wax transferred on, it could. But nothing's really going through a machine and going straight to finish here. No.
00:42:02
Speaker
Not these yeah, you're right So I'm looking I was saying John woodworks that was asking about regiment. Oh, yeah. Sorry about that
00:42:14
Speaker
So that was good. That was another good question. I mean, these are all very helpful, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Next question is, do you have a tip for knowing when your sandpaper is spent? Yeah. And ready for the trash. I find that I tend to keep mine in use for too long. That's David Shoemaker, one of our patrons. We're just. Excuse my yarn. We're just talking about this like the day before David sent in the question.
00:42:43
Speaker
I do the same thing a lot of times where I wait too long to change it, not because I'm trying to save it or anything, it just kind of slips my mind. The way I can tell is if I'm sanding multiple parts.
00:42:59
Speaker
you'll notice it starts to take longer to do like, okay, the edge on this one took me 30 seconds, but now this one's taking me a minute. So that's when you know. The sandpaper we use, this Merka Nova Star, it doesn't really, the feeling doesn't change so much. Right, the effectiveness does. Yeah, it doesn't get loaded up with dust like some other papers. It looks the same, it feels the same, but it does start to cut slower.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, if I suspect my papers losing ground, I'll start going like pencil marks, you know, like pencil marks, and then that'll give me a real visual aid to see how long it's taken to go through those things. Yep. That's
00:43:42
Speaker
Well, handy tip. Yeah. The other way is like if you're if the finish surface, let's say you're saying 120, if the finish surface feels like 150, then it's not it's not 120 anymore. So isn't that the way you get the higher grade? Yeah. Yeah. We know a guy that does that. Yeah. You when you use up 120, you just put it with the one fifties. Yeah. There you go. And you move, you know, you move it up from there. Eventually, you get like 400. Yeah. Thousand. And it's a scotch break.
00:44:13
Speaker
So that's how we know we're not we don't really have any other secrets or anything like that. But that's a good question every like when we would have young kids and stuff like that in here helping out through the years they would have no idea when to stop using they would keep they would be afraid to change the paper and they would go forever.
00:44:36
Speaker
Well, I'll say to that's if you're talking about an orbital, if you're talking about hand sandpaper visually, that's how I know, you know, that piece I fold mine in three in I cut it into quarters and then fold those like a try a trifold. Yeah. You know, once those two sides are spent and then you bring that third one out, you can just tell by looking at it there, they get very visually spent. Yeah, that's a good, good point. All right. One from our good friend Manny.
00:45:05
Speaker
Oh, Manny Sirianni. Should an employee be forced to operate a machine in a way that makes them uncomfortable, he's asking. Especially when there are other ways to accomplish the same task. I know we all need to learn the tricks of the trade, but shouldn't that come with time?
00:45:23
Speaker
That's a serious question. Yeah. Well, with time, you know, you should learn how to operate your machine safely so that, you know, no one has to feel uncomfortable. I definitely don't think anyone should operate a machine if they do feel uncomfortable, because that's, you know, when accidents tend to happen. Yeah.
00:45:46
Speaker
I'll say that accomplishing the same task, you should always do it in the safest way possible, even if it takes a little bit longer, because, you know, all it takes is one millisecond of a mistake where not only is the, you know, the piece of work potentially going to be shot, but you could be in the hospital and be out for even if it's just a day.
00:46:11
Speaker
An injury from a machine is it's not over once that scar heals up. Yeah.
00:46:20
Speaker
You know, should an employee be forced to operate a machine in a way that makes them uncomfortable? Hell no. No, an employee shouldn't be forced to do anything. Yeah, I would say that some of that has to be on the boss who is in most instances the instructor as well. So as the boss, it's your responsibility to teach
00:46:49
Speaker
Your employees how to safely and you know accurately use the machines and the the trick so to speak. That's something we may be taking for granted that we develop in time of years and years.
00:47:09
Speaker
Um, to never push somebody into that. Yeah. Like if, if you're uncomfortable because you're inexperienced, then. And you're being forced to do something. Well, it means you're not ready to do it. So you certainly shouldn't be forced to do it in that situation. Um, if you, if you're uncomfortable because it's unsafe, then no, you shouldn't be forced to do it because it's unsafe. So I just don't see a time. I mean, if,
00:47:36
Speaker
if it is safe and it you are capable and then well that's a different story but right yeah I mean there's no reason that you should be forced to do anything if you're if you work for someone they need to have enough trust in you that you're gonna do things the right way and like I said if you're not at that point
00:47:57
Speaker
And you're not at that point and they shouldn't be forcing you. But if you are capable of building a cabinet, let's say, then you build it however the fuck you want. Right. Just make sure that you're doing it right. Right. Make sure the measurements are correct. If you want it stapled, that you're stapling it. If you want it screwed, you're screwing it and all the other things. But this is probably comes in the question more of like cutting operations. Right. You know, on these big machines with blades spinning. Oh, yeah.
00:48:27
Speaker
Yeah, like you want to raise the blade up through a piece of plywood instead of plunging the piece through a spinning blade. OK, that that's your choice. That's the way I like to do it. I don't like dropping it onto the blade.
00:48:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I've done it both ways. It depends on what the cut is. Yeah. I mean, we run a riving knife so we don't have the option of plunging it down. Right. But if you're the employee, those take the same amount of time. Really? Yeah. What is it? 10 seconds longer to raise the blade? Yeah. I hired you. I'm putting some trust in you. You do what you feel is right and safe for you.
00:49:06
Speaker
You know that not a lot of people have that ability to let go. That's probably a separate issue. Now, should it matter if I asked Manny to build a cabinet with specific dimensions and I want the sides to overlap the top and the bottom.
00:49:27
Speaker
and the back to be rabbetted in, a half inch, let's say, you know, give them all the critical dimensions so that each cabinet looks the same as the other that are built by other people, because that's part of it, right? We have to have that uniformity.
00:49:44
Speaker
shouldn't I allow him to do it? Now, if I if I expect that a reasonable time to make the cabinets an hour and it's taking him two hours, well, then maybe there's some some teaching that has to come down on my end. Right. Yeah. I'm not going to stand there and watch you hand cut the plywood with a handsaw. Right. Then it's time for another another job. Maybe you're not cut out for building cabinets. That's right.
00:50:13
Speaker
An exacto knife. Yeah. But, you know, I'm not going to ask you to run a bandsaw with no, no doors on it. Right. Right. Yeah. So those wheels are flying and your shirt gets pulled in. You know, the other side of the blade is exposed. Oh, so those are good. That's the points. You know, you could see people are curious. They're concerned about shop safety and all that other stuff. So.
00:50:44
Speaker
Do we get everything? We know we need to learn the tricks, but shouldn't that come with time? Yeah. Yeah. I think we covered it all. Yeah. Yeah. You don't want to get in over your head on something that's less than safe. This next question as I'm reading, it's kind of loaded. Yeah. Yeah. We've had this question or similar questions before. This is from Brown's custom craft on Instagram. I see guys using CNCs and calling themselves woodworkers. Your thoughts?
00:51:13
Speaker
Yeah. Um, it's not just CNCs. It's other things. I mean, a CNC is a tool like anything else. Um, and that's a slippery slope, right? Do we, we're using table saws. We're using a big wide belt sander. Uh, we're not hand planing our boards flat. Where is that line? Um,
00:51:41
Speaker
And after you answer it, you know, I think I'd like to even talk about other things like something that a lot of folks like us feel strongly about is the invasion of the kind of crafty woodworker that does epoxy and live edge and stuff. We feel like probably we want some delineation between
00:52:09
Speaker
that group ourselves where we're meeting different standards and have, you know, developed skills over, you know, most of our lives rather than just, you know, watching a couple of how tos and then jumping in. Yeah, you know, it's
00:52:27
Speaker
there is no line like how do you put a definition on these things like guys that run just CNCs and really don't do anything else like no you're not a woodworker right because you're not actually working any of the wood it's all being
00:52:42
Speaker
You might be an assembler of sorts. Yeah and like don't tell me that the drawing on the computer is woodworking because it's not. We do that too. I don't consider that part of the woodworking. Anything that we draw can be translated to CNC because we do everything in Fusion and Sketchup.
00:53:00
Speaker
So no, if you're just cutting out parts on a CNC and putting them together, maybe the putting together part is some woodworking. It would depend probably on how technical I would say. Yeah. Things are. But if you're just otherwise, you're essentially getting a flat pack, you know, and IKEA. Would you call yourself a woodworker if you bought something at IKEA or any?
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah, because those are ready to assemble. And that's essentially what the CNC is creating, a ready to assemble piece. Yeah. Got to check out for a second. Yeah. And like like Rob was saying with, you know, people that are doing these very uninvolved sort of projects where it's just, you know, you're sanding a slab and putting legs on it and stuff.
00:53:56
Speaker
Is it woodwork technically? Yes. Are you a full blown woodworker if you if that's all you do? Well, it's hard to say. I mean, it's it's not the same thing. So.
00:54:13
Speaker
Is it do we need to label everything and have a name for every, you know, I'm a woodworker level one. I'm a woodworker level two. You know, we can't really put labels on things like that. But there is definitely a difference between, you know, like what we do where you're literally designing and building things from nothing and, you know, people that.
00:54:39
Speaker
you know, are just assembling things off the CNC or doing these super simple projects. And maybe it's a little, not egotistical, but a little petty to care about these labels. But, you know, it can it can be frustrating to see, you know, people calling themselves woodworkers who are just, you know, sanding a piece of wood that they bought. And
00:55:05
Speaker
And calling it woodworking, you know, it just it feels a little. What's the word?
00:55:14
Speaker
Well, it's sort of an imitation of what we do. It's like when people say, oh, you're a carpenter. Yeah. No, we're not carpenters. And that's a legitimate trade. Yeah. I mean, there are carpenters out there that will blow your mind with their skill and ability. Yeah. So it's not a diminished carpentry. It's just that's not what we do. Right.
00:55:41
Speaker
And the were you talking about epoxy and stuff like that at all? Yeah, yeah, kind of. Yeah, that that's a slippery slope as well. And we never want to be. And we don't want to diminish any. Yeah, we're not trying to push anyone out to the. To the margins, you know what I mean?
00:56:03
Speaker
We just but we do want to be given our props, I guess is the hallway. Yeah, I was saying like, you know, do we really have to have all these labels where it's like I'm a woodworker level one and no, but but it at times it does feel like people are misrepresenting themselves. Yeah. Yeah. I used to get in some knockdown dragouts with my wife when she would say I'm an auto mechanic. Oh, we do. I do oil changes. Yes.
00:56:32
Speaker
She would say, so-and-so son, he makes custom kitchens. Like, no, he doesn't.
00:56:40
Speaker
He buys them by size and then sells them to a client. And then installs them. He's not making custom kitchens. So that's another one of our little sore points. And we went over that early on, I think, to work custom and all that stuff. And we want to be careful not to alienate anybody. We just, again, we just would like to
00:57:06
Speaker
be clear about who we are. Yeah. Well, it muddies the definition and it. It diminishes what we do because what the hell else we call ourselves furniture makers and woodworkers. All these people start calling themselves that when they do something completely different than us. Well, it makes it difficult for us to represent ourselves. The Coke delivery truck just drove by with the back of his goddamn truck open.
00:57:30
Speaker
Maybe when he turns that corner, there's gonna be a bunch of cases of coke rolling out onto Wilson Avenue. All right, should we move on? Yeah, we won't beat that dead horse any longer. All right, uh, glued up a panel and the two boards are pretty different level of darkness. Any way to darken part to try a match without staining? Or should I just lean into this mismatch? That's from Al about it on Instagram. What do you think? Well,
00:58:01
Speaker
I don't really think there's a way. I mean, if it's cherry, you can like cover one side and and put the other one in the sun. That's the only thing I could think of, too. Yeah. And there I guess there are some other woods that darken with the UV light. I know maple changes a little bit, but that's the obvious one. Yeah, yeah.
00:58:21
Speaker
It you know, if this is a book match and they're different, there's not really, you know, it's all about refraction and how, you know, like a piece of maple, you resaw the two sides, they look different. Creno talks about it in his book. So there's nothing you can really do there. So I just say lean into it.
00:58:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's kind of our philosophy too. Worst case, you got to make a new pound. Yeah. In one respect, Alan, this is something you should have kind of come to a decision before it's glues coming out of the bottle. Yep.
00:58:59
Speaker
Yeah, hindsight's always 20-20. But, you know, those times do a car where it's like, oh, hell, I was busy, I wasn't paying attention, or sometimes the boards will get mixed up even though we label everything 100 times. We put A1 with C1 instead of A2, and it doesn't match. Or even just put the back where the front, you know? Yeah, yeah. Because every board's got a better side just about. Yeah.
00:59:25
Speaker
Yeah, like they say, I was an ounce of prevention is where the pound of cure. Yeah. Yeah. So lean into it. Yeah. That's all you can do. Just claim it was intentional. Yeah. The worst part is when it's the it's only the one piece that, you know, doesn't fit. Then it sticks out. Yeah, really sticks out. And finishing, refinishing or whatever you would call it.
00:59:54
Speaker
to that degree is a real art in and of itself. Just applying a stain is not going to really do it. Not on the amateur level. You need somebody that can really shade it. That is really the only way would be to do it in the finishing. Right, like Al could probably do it. You'd have to darken the wand to get it
01:00:18
Speaker
close to what the other one is and then take into account also how the second finish is going to affect it. And so it's it's certainly not easy. Wish we had more advice on that one, but no, we know some people that could work some magic. Yeah, as far as finishes go, but hit up bespoke finishing on Instagram. He might be able to help. Well, second page already. Yeah, we got one here from Barry Conrad on Instagram.
01:00:48
Speaker
How are you advertising? Seems projects are spread throughout the states. Well, I mean, we're pretty local right now. We have most of our jobs are in New Jersey. We have one in Pennsylvania. Did get an email about a job in California, but the budget was 600 bucks. And I'm like, it didn't even say what the hell it was. I'm thinking to myself, well, freight is going to be at least 600. And why don't you turn that down?
01:01:18
Speaker
I actually have to email them back. We don't advertise. This is our advertisement, Instagram is our advertisement, YouTube. Our last job is probably our, you know, most active advertisement. You know, which one? No, I mean, like the job. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. Our job will lead to the next job. Right. Depend on word of mouth. Yeah.
01:01:45
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I mean, we've, we've did a job up in Nantucket recently that came in, you know, through a designer that we work with. So, um, the, the best situation is that you don't have to advertise.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, we never really advertise and even in my long prehistory, I didn't really advertise either. I just had the web presence. That's back when a website was everything and then websites kind of became passe and it's social media is really where it's all at.
01:02:19
Speaker
This is where people look for things, whether it's Pinterest or Instagram. And how else do we get? We were lucky enough to meet a designer that we could really get along with.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah. You're only supposed to advertise when you're slow. Or, you know, if you're trying to expand the business in some, you know, large fashion, that's a different story. But I throw an Instagram ad up every now and then, every couple months, 50 bucks or something, or two, three days. But that's it.
01:02:55
Speaker
Yeah. And, you know, we stay in touch with our older clients when the holidays come around. Sometimes we'll make a cutting board or something like that and say, yeah, you know, so and so we haven't heard from them in like two years. We did that nice job. Let's see if you can get back in front of their mind. Yep. And a lot of times those things turn into jobs. People going, yeah, you know, I was thinking about doing something in the living room. I'm glad you guys called.
01:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, people are busy. They don't have time. They want things, but they don't have the time sometimes to really think it through and reach out. So it's social media like Instagram. What do we do, Jeff? Do we do anything special? No, and I'm not even very good at those. You know what I mean? I haven't even posted on social media and I couldn't even tell you how long. But it is really what drives our business.
01:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's kind of self-sustaining at this point with designers and word of mouth. Right. Which is pretty good. We've only been together for, you know, a little over a year, year and a half. Yep. Almost a year and a half. Yeah, no, year and a half now.
01:04:15
Speaker
In the old days, I used to say to myself, if I could make it through the first five years, I would make it as a business because by that time, you know, my original clients would start coming back around again. Uh, and we've done better than that. So, uh, that's, that's all there is to it. No tricks. Yeah. We've got another one here from St. John woodworks. Okay.
01:04:44
Speaker
He must not be watching too closely. You guys don't seem to be a part of the Cult of Festool.
Tool Quality and Community Reflections
01:04:49
Speaker
Is that by choice or due to the cost? Well, we got quite a bit of Festool in the shop. Yeah, we have a lot of Festool tools. We're not, I would say the Cult of Festool is the key phrase there because we're not really fanboys of
01:05:07
Speaker
No, I mean they're great tools. There's not much more to say about it than that. I don't need to Go out espousing my love for festival all the time, you know, like some people do I think like maybe like woodpecker there are people who are collectors and in Certain brands. Yeah, we're talking about identity before it's part of their identity, right? I'm a festival guy, right? We would peckers guy
01:05:34
Speaker
We usually pick up a tool when we need it. We work it into a job, the cost of it, or sometimes we just have to bust out the credit card and buy something that we absolutely need. Like when two of our Sanders gave up the ghost, we went out and we bought another one.
01:05:55
Speaker
And Dust Festool is the best value because they last the longest, the ease of use and all the other things. Yeah, the Dust Collection. I mean, we have two Festool Vax. We have Domino Jigsaw, four, what do you got, four Sanders now? Four Sanders. Four Sanders. I think that's it. Got the OF-1010 router. Oh yeah, the router.
01:06:23
Speaker
And I've had a bunch of Festool that I've, you know, sold over the years. The track saw. Track saw. I had another CG26. I had a Domino that I sold. I mean, Festool is, it's great. They're great. They make great tools. You know, I run Makita 18 volt stuff for the job site. Yeah. Oh, I have that Festool. What do they call that? CXS. Yeah. The drill. Yeah. That's in the house. That's relegated to house duty. That's kind of cool because it stands up. Yeah.
01:06:52
Speaker
It's a it's not a high powered tool and we're used to impacts more than anything in here. But I like that that little set. If Tom Silva uses it must be good. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. So yeah we're not in the festival cult. You're not going to catch me with an MFT table or something like that because it's stuff like that. I don't really see the need for like a six hundred dollar work table. But yeah no festival makes great tools.
01:07:20
Speaker
Yeah, we like them. We like them and want them. Yeah. When we need a tool, there's certainly big consideration. Right. They make it. That Delta shaped sander. Yeah. I'd like a big router. Yeah. So we'll be signing up. We'll be drinking the Kool-Aid soon. That's been drunk.
01:07:45
Speaker
Oh man, this next question is, uh, that's just pretty broad. It's from black 10 and furniture on Instagram. What should some necessities be for a new shop built from the ground up? 24 by 24. That's kind of like a two car garage size.
01:08:02
Speaker
Yeah, just slightly bigger than what we have. I mean, small. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Two thirds of this. Yeah. So I figured this would be a good closer. And it's hard to say without knowing what you do. I mean, it's black tenant furniture. So I'm going to just do it as if we were setting up a new shop.
01:08:26
Speaker
So yeah, I mean, necessities, you need a planer. We'll start. You need a chop saw to break down your rough lumber. 10 inch, 12 inch. Doesn't really matter. Then you need a jointer. I'd go 12 or better. 12 inch or better. I wish we had a 12 inch jointer. I wish we had a 16. Because we have some of these sapeleon walnut boards that are 14, 15 inches wide.
01:08:52
Speaker
They need a planer, 20 inch planer, or better. A table saw or two, three horsepower, 220. You could probably get by without a band saw if you weren't going to resaw stuff, you know. Yeah. He's talking about necessities. I mean, I consider it a necessity. Yeah, I mean, if you're building furniture and you're, you know, any type of casework with doors, you're going to need a band saw. Yeah.
01:09:22
Speaker
And you know, our necessities might not be the same as everyone else's. But and what about some really good dust collection? Yeah, you're going to need a good dust collector, a big cyclone collector, five horsepower. It'd be nice to have some sort of sander, a drum sander or wide belt sander. This is the talking about machines here, not not hand power tools. Shaper or router table.
01:09:50
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You need that stuff. Drill press. Yeah. I was about to say that. I mean, what are the ancillary things that not talking about machines or tools, but nice bench place to work and assemble. Yeah. Something with good work holding. That's something that's overlooked, I think, by a lot of people. They're worried about just a bench, but you need to have good vices, bench dogs, hold downs or hold fast stuff like that.
01:10:20
Speaker
And you know what they say about clamps. Yeah. You always need one more than you got. Right. You can never have too many clamps. Get good ones. Don't don't waste your money on stuff that you say, well, I'm going to replace this because that's just that's lost money. Yeah. Then, you know, you said the random orbit Sanders. There's routers.
01:10:50
Speaker
hand tools, marking, measuring, laying out. Yeah, I mean, there's a ton of stuff packed into this shop. Yeah. I mean, there's not really much we can get rid of in here.
01:11:07
Speaker
It's we have an amazing amount of tools in this little space. Yeah. I mean, just the machinery alone is we have big, big machines and a lot of them. Yeah. For such a small shop. I mean, the shop is 800 square feet and. I'd say 300 of that is filled with machinery, right? Well, maybe a little bit less than that, but.
01:11:31
Speaker
We have about a 12-foot square open space in the center of the shop. That's if there's nothing else in the shop. Right now we don't have that. We're gonna pan this camera around.
01:11:49
Speaker
Pretty tight. It's not too much floor space. No, I mean we have four chase lounges in here, two wall units, and the crazy thing that just doesn't want to go away. Just waiting. Yeah, waiting for some hinges.
01:12:04
Speaker
So, um, I'm curious if, uh, black tenant is, is going to be starting from scratch and a lot of, um, people like to stick with one brand of tool. Um, I don't know if that makes sense. We, we don't know. I mean, no company makes the best of everything. Right. The best value. Um,
01:12:32
Speaker
for like intermediate size places, Grizzly gets a lot of that business because they can be a one stop shop. And there's generally some good value in those machines if you know what you're looking for. Yeah, if you've got the time, look around for you stuff. And if you're looking for something more specific than what the hell we're talking about, just let us know. We can either hitch in the DMs or Instagram or talk about it next week.
01:13:01
Speaker
But I would reemphasize good dust collection and thinking before you buy machines about shop layout and how you're going to do things. One of the I don't know if I'll say smartest or luckiest things I did when we put the shop up was add a little room on the outside of the shop to put the cyclone in. Yeah. Don't put your dust collector in the shop.
01:13:31
Speaker
It's so much quieter and we stick the compressor out there too. A lot of times if the machine's on, we don't even know the dust collectors. We got a little remote control. It's like, is it on? Yeah, I wait to see the lights flicker. Yeah, I turn it on. So I think that answers everything. Yeah. Let's thank our patrons.
01:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, we have to talk about Beer of the Week. I got to add that stuff back to the end. Oh, yeah, because we never forget about it. Yeah. Beer of the Week. Um, you know, just like a regular beer. Yeah. Yeah.
01:14:10
Speaker
I was a little disappointed. This is like, uh, if you want to make it look like you're not just like a regular Joe. Yeah. But you really are. This is what you drink. You're like, yeah, look, I'm like, I'm cool. I'm drinking a craft beer. This didn't taste like it at all. This made my cores light and just put a different sticker on it. Yeah, I was thoroughly disappointed.
01:14:31
Speaker
Yeah, it really lacked any flavor or anything of interest. Yeah. Yeah. So this is like you're like it's like a Chili's. Like, yeah, we're a restaurant. Well, the Chili's of what Chili's is to Mexican food. This is to beer. Yeah. The craft. It's like Chili's is really just McDonald's with stuff on the wall. Yeah. So. Not a home run there.
01:15:00
Speaker
No, it tastes like rice and corn. Yeah. It has that sweet. You know, you smell it. It's sickeningly sweet. Yeah, it kind of tastes like a like a paps blue ribbon. I thought it was going to be something completely different. I mean, I would drink another one, but. Yeah. Same way I'd eat like a, you know, a cheeseburger from McDonald's. Yeah.
01:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. So there you go. We're not really enthusiastically endorsing the Longboard Island Lager. No, they have a and they have a couple of different beers. The Smittix was. That was that was the stuff for me.
01:15:43
Speaker
Well, uh, don't forget we had the beer glasses over on the website, green street, joinery.com. Uh, be on the lookout for that zoom meeting on Patreon. Yeah. Folks got to kind of write into us in some form or fashion, let us know what would be a good date. Cause that way we can pick something that most people can be available.
01:16:06
Speaker
Yeah, well, it's on Patreon. So if you're if you're not a patron, don't bother sending me a message about when you're available because you can't watch it anyway. Sorry about that. But the patrons, there's a thing on the Patreon now where you can let us know when when's a good time. You know, we'll try and do it whatever's best for most people. Obviously, it's not going to work for everybody, but we'll we'll record it as well. That way you can watch it.
01:16:32
Speaker
I think that's all
Gratitude and Future Plans for Patreon Members
01:16:33
Speaker
I had. We want to thank our gold tier patrons, Jerry Green and David Murphy, Manny Sirianni, Dustin Fair, Adam Pothast and David Shoemaker. We appreciate you guys a lot. Yeah. The Patreon is growing a little bit. It's nice. Yeah. Helps offset the cost of doing the podcast. It's a, you know, it's wonderful. It's an entire man day every week. So.
01:16:55
Speaker
And it also makes us feel good as far as people investing in us with their time and a little bit of their money. Yeah. And if you don't know on our Patreon, so right after the show, we'll do the bonus show where we sit down for anywhere between a half hour to an hour. I think we've gone over an hour on some of them, but
01:17:20
Speaker
Especially when we have a guest. Yeah. And we talk about all kinds of stuff, woodworking, with dish on some stuff that we can't talk about on air. So, yeah, if you join the Patreon, you get access to all those bonus shows we got. Yeah. About 20 of them now. So every week we do it's like in an extra podcast every week.
01:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, and we're going to try and, um, uh, add those educational zoom, zoom things. Yeah. Cause I, I think, um, I think that's a great idea. Yeah.
Listener Engagement and Episode Wrap-Up
01:17:54
Speaker
They got any ideas about like what they want to see. And that's what I figured after this first one, we can, uh, you know, we'll, uh, what do they call it? Age? We'll gauge the room. We'll see what people want to want to hear about.
01:18:08
Speaker
I'm running out of steam. You know, it was up all night last night. Yeah. You're gonna have to have another beer.
01:18:15
Speaker
That will completely put me out. So thank you, everybody. Yeah, we'll see you guys next week for episode 31. Yeah, it'll be or we'll be in the second quarter of the year. Yeah. Right. Sales and use tax coming up. Yeah. That's right. April 20th. Yeah. Those dates are ground into my mind.
01:18:43
Speaker
Well, thanks, everybody. See you next week.