Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Art and Recipes with Jon.
44 Plays2 years ago
This week we sit down with our good buddy Jon Peters.
What will be the newest machine in the Greene Street Joinery shop? Tune in to find out.
E-Mail Us Your Questions: TheAmericanCraftsmanPodcast@gmail.com
Affiliate Links:
Visit Hafele at www.hafele.com
10% off of Vesting USA finishing products:
Use AMERICANCRAFTSMAN at www.VestingUSA.com
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
Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-american-craftsman-podcast/donations
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Special Guest John Peters
00:00:53
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the show. Here we are. Yeah, we have another guest this week. Special guest, I'd say. Yeah, I think our only guest to appear three times. Maybe, yeah. Actually, probably the only guest to appear two times, right? I know. Keith from 2Bit was on twice.
00:01:14
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yeah, right. No, wait a second. He was was he on twice? He was on twice. This is my third time. Yeah. Yeah. Keith was on twice. He was on once with the three of us. We were still around. And then once after. He was there on a green screen episode, which this is the green screen.
John Peters' Video Project Discussion
00:01:36
Speaker
So I don't even know if we said who's here, it's John Peters. Yeah, welcome John Peters. Yeah, we just shot an addendum, well not even an addendum, I guess the final part of a video that we started what, two, three months ago? Yeah, I think it was like maybe the final week that you were in the old shop. Yeah, so that was mid-December.
Sponsor Mention: Hayfla and Ransomware Incident
00:01:59
Speaker
But before we get into anything, let's thank our sponsor, Hayfla. Hayfla offers a wide range of products and solutions for the woodworking and furniture making industries, from hinges and drawer slides to connectors and dowels, sandpaper, wood glue, shop carts, and everything in between. Exclusive product lines such as looks LED lighting and Slido door hardware ensure that every project you create is built to last. Learn more at hayfla.com.
00:02:22
Speaker
which is back up. I was going to ask you, can we go to Hayfla.com? Yes. Um, I don't think you can order yet, uh, but you can look at the catalog for sure.
Hayfla Hardware: Hobbyist vs. Commercial Use
00:02:33
Speaker
And, uh, yeah, hopefully it's back up and running soon. So Hayfla had a big data breach, not a data breach. They had like a ransomware attack in Germany and the headquarters. Yeah. So they shut everything down for a couple of weeks.
00:02:46
Speaker
Well, Hayfla, is that how you say it? Yeah. Now, are you only using their hardware now? You're not using Bloom any longer? Actually, we were talking today with the hinges. We might switch back to Bloom for the hinges. All right.
00:03:01
Speaker
I don't know, we're having some weird issues with the hardware. I think it's just a lack of experience probably. But like, you know, we know how to use the bloom hinges, so I got no problem just going back. Sure, sure. To use it. Now can a homeowner or some of the hobbyists use Go to Hay Flow as well? Or is that mainly for big commercial operations like yourself? You may need like an EIN. Okay. But I'm not positive.
00:03:29
Speaker
I don't remember, you know, you have to fill out an application to get an account, but I don't remember if they ask you for an EIN. There's a lot of Hayfla resellers
Trestle Table Design and Collaboration
00:03:39
Speaker
online that you can access though, you know, where they sell Hayfla products, but it's like, I think like build.com, you know, you can find some stuff on there. So cool. Yeah.
00:03:51
Speaker
I don't use that much hardware. It's funny, sometimes I do and then a lot of times I don't. But again, I'm usually making just a few pieces a year and they're one-offs. Like this thing that I'm building now has taken me... The table? Yeah, it's taken me probably four to six weeks. It's just because I'm working on other things and... You got to film and document it all. Well, that's the thing. I've got so much editing to do.
00:04:17
Speaker
I started to look at the footage yesterday and I'm like, okay, I can do this. And Brian Benham, he does the designs for me or he makes the plans. So what I do is I do very rudimentary drawings and then I make videos for him with holding my tape measure and he's really talented.
Woodworking Techniques and Glue Choices
00:04:35
Speaker
So that's a nice way to communicate with somebody. And the thing too is Brian is such a good woodworker and seasoned woodworker
00:04:44
Speaker
that he, you know, we have the same vocabulary. So it's not like I'm trying to explain something to him. He gets it, you know, probably before he even say it. Yeah, he could probably fill in any little blank, you know, anywhere there where there's a blank of information, he could fill it in.
00:05:00
Speaker
Yeah, he does a great job. He's awesome. So that's like, uh, I do some drawings for while Willie. Yeah. And, um, he'll send me like a napkin sketch and I'm like, I have to make a lot of assumptions a lot of times, but you know, luckily same thing. It's like, we're both woodworkers. So, you know, we, I understand what he doesn't, what information he doesn't put in there.
00:05:22
Speaker
If you need them to, it probably would be pretty easy for them to just send like a very condensed video message. So what I do is I shoot everything with my phone and then just edit it on my iPhone and put it on an unlisted link and send Brian the link.
00:05:39
Speaker
So the last project, I think it was like a four and a half minute video. And then today I had to make a change because I decided to cut the braces. I feel like with this piece, I'm pushing what the table can do a little bit because it's a trestle table. And so the main trestles or the main legs, let's call them, are seven and a half at their widest and six and a half at one taper down.
00:06:08
Speaker
They've got a two and a half inch deep lap joint into eight quarter. I've been watching. OK, so then I've got that inch and a quarter dowel. And then then there's like a seven and a half inch trestle that goes over it. Yeah. And the table is 36 inches. It was 40. I decided 36 would be better. So I cut the braces down from 35 to 32. That was like a change I just made this morning. I kind of woke up. I'm like,
00:06:35
Speaker
I don't know if that's good. So like seven o'clock this morning, I'm out there cross cutting the braces a little bit. But I don't know, then I am going to use the lag. So I'll go through the trestle and into the leg, probably six or eight inches, but that's still a lot of force, don't you think?
00:06:53
Speaker
Like a cantilever kind of force? Yeah, I think it all, you know, will transfer back down to the, you know, to the bottom trestle. You have like a mirrored kind of thing. No, no, there's no trestle in the bottom. So I'm not worried about that.
00:07:07
Speaker
I'm worried about what just, if you take any like a crowbar and you're just way out here and you put a lot of weight on it, won't it eventually. So you think if somebody leans on the edge of the table? I don't think so, but that's just me being paranoid about like last minute things. So you have a dowel connecting the vertical to the trestle part. Is that what you said?
00:07:29
Speaker
Now so the the trussle will fit into the legs with a two and a half inch deep lap joint on the leg on the top of the leg and a four inch lap joint on the trussle and then
00:07:41
Speaker
There's an inch and a quarter dowel that goes through the leg just under the lab joint so I'm not lagging into end grain. Hit that cross grain and get some more pulling power. So there's a question I was going to ask you guys about glue. So gluing the tabletop up, sometimes I really like to use thixo because it gives me so much working time.
00:08:06
Speaker
I mean, have you ever used it? I never did. No, you gave us some and then we just, we had never found a use for it. So I've had no problem with, with it, uh, with anything coming apart and I've built outdoor tables, the working time, you have hours of working time, probably like two, easily two hours.
00:08:28
Speaker
But then the following day it is cured because it's, it's a total commercial here. Because it's thickened, it doesn't spill all over the place. So underneath it, you'll just see like little waves and you can cut them off. I like to cut them off with a flush cut bit in the router and kind of cut them off that way.
00:08:48
Speaker
What about like where, you know, like when you get some on the surface of the table, you know, like you have to like really sand it down so that the finish doesn't look so I don't like with wood glue. I'll, uh, I'll wipe it off with a wet rag generally. And this is quarter sawn white Oak.
00:09:06
Speaker
So it does have a deep grain in areas. If I use the thick so I'm not going to wipe it off. I'll let it dry and then I'll use a flush cut bit in the router and just kind of clean it off with that. Now you can get a little bit of tear out, right? Because it's going to tear out that epoxy and it might tear out some of the wood grain.
00:09:25
Speaker
I did have that with the Sapylie tabletop I built this summer, but I was able to get rid of it with the sanding. So I'm just thinking, okay, so that's the one question. What about, what typeon would you use? Two or three or tabletop glue up?
00:09:42
Speaker
I like three for everything. You do. Yeah. I'll put a caveat on that. I like using one, like when we're building bankettes and stuff like that, stuff that's going to be upholstered. That's just like, you know, where you're moving fast, just like nailing crap together kind of thing that makes it sound. I hope Jim's not listening. He's like, man, these guys get paid what? Fastening the bank at caucuses together.
00:10:11
Speaker
You know, because there's a lot of vertical gluing on that, where you're putting glue on ribs and then stapling plywood to it. So with the three, if you put glue up here, you turn around, it's all the way down at the bottom. It's dripping off everything. So one is nice because it's thick. OK. And it kind of, you know, has more of like a gap filling property. So, you know, you're building a lot of things out of plywood.
00:10:37
Speaker
you know, these ribbed backs with them and like sheeting it basically, you know, if one of those ribs is a little bit off or something, you know, it'll fill that that gap a little better.
00:10:49
Speaker
So then, so then for two, you just don't use it? Yeah. I mean, you know, two, one, they're kind of a similar viscosity. But the one is white, right? No, it's yellow. Oh, it is yellow. Yeah. It's actually, I feel like it's a little more yellow than two, right? Yeah. Yeah. Two seems almost beige. I mean, three seems almost beige to me. Three is like a light brown almost.
00:11:15
Speaker
I find three harder to clean up with water than two yeah well it's yeah it's waterproof they call it a thing there's a little controversy on that where some people will say they don't use water because just going to smear it into the grain yeah i tend to scrape it off you do yeah i
00:11:34
Speaker
I tend to use water a lot actually, and in tight spots I use like a little artist brush and get into like, especially with a lap joint. But I do like the idea of letting, clamping it up, let it skim over for about an hour, and then it's still kind of just kind of skinned over. And then you can get a nice sharp chisel, you can usually get that off. So I'll do both. But some people will say, never do you, and I just think that's kind of
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah, we do. I mean, I do it and I haven't had any. I've never had a problem. We like to use like a, I don't know what kind of, it's like a paint scraper, you know, has like a little handle. The thing is, like you were saying with white oak, I don't like to let it,
00:12:18
Speaker
You can let it skin over, but if you wait too long, you end up tearing out a lot of grain. Yeah. And then it's like you defeated the whole purpose of it overnight. Yeah. Or even like sometimes you go like like two hours. It's too long. So then you're using the wet rag. Yeah. And you know, you want to just try and not get as much squeeze out.
Learning from Woodworking Mistakes
00:12:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:42
Speaker
I used to only use one until I met Jeff. Really? Yeah. I feel like one has a working time of like two minutes. It took me a lot, not a long time, but it took me a while to get acclimated to three because it's so much thinner. When you did the boxes, the thousand boxes, was that three? Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. I feel like with one, it'd be real hard to get those joints together because it's so viscous.
00:13:12
Speaker
Oh, that brings me to another question. It's all about me and my project here. You're the guest. They've heard enough from us. So I put something on Instagram where I showed the leg is a two and a half inch tenon. So the tenon measures an inch and a half by five and a half inches. It's an eight quarter leg.
00:13:34
Speaker
And so then it's going into a matching mortise. And Bliss, Rob Bliss said, he goes, I hope you're going to pin that. Or maybe he didn't say it like that. Maybe he said, are you going to pin that like the Shakers? But I don't know if I want to do that. You think I need to do that on a 10 and that big?
00:13:57
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, well, think about it. Strength wise, the leg is 29 inches by three and a half inches wide by three inches. And then the mortise is two and a half inches. You think the pins are actually going to add that much more strength? You know, the shakers knew what they were doing. At least they say that when they were inventing the circular saw. I don't know.
00:14:27
Speaker
I mean, I was just wondering because I'm thinking like.
00:14:33
Speaker
I'll probably have to turn those pins. I don't know where I'm going to get white or pins. You have one of those. What do you call the thing? Oh yeah. I could turn a pin pretty easily though on the little, I got that little lady, the same thing you guys have. Um, it is one of those things, I guess, you know, like, uh, repeated like racking of the table or something. The pin will help. I'm going to use a pin. I'm going to do two. I would think it'll keep the, you know, it'll keep it from pulling out if the glue ever fails. Okay.
00:15:04
Speaker
But you know, you got to think, you know, you can't build everything to last 250 years, you know what I mean? Like 100 years, it has to be good enough sometimes. Yeah. No, I just I was just thinking that just because I really respect Rob as a furniture builder and.
00:15:22
Speaker
A lot of times I just need like the extra kick in the ass to do the extra step. Like it's funny. I put a slight curve at the bottom of the trestle. And I was like, I just didn't feel like doing it because I knew that it meant that I had to make a pattern.
00:15:38
Speaker
and then use the, you know, and then cut it with the band saw and then the flush cut bit. But once I get it, yeah, and then sand it and all that stuff. But it's one of those things that makes all the difference, you know, it's those little things. And even, you know, now, now, especially after talking to you guys, I'm going to do the pins. And I know that in the end, I'll be happy to see those pins there. And I don't know if I'm going to go all the way through, though. Maybe I'll only go
00:16:04
Speaker
I was going to say, yeah, if you don't want to see them, just do them from the inside and just go, you know, like a half inch shy. Yeah. Yeah. And then just type on type on three. Don't don't don't put too much glue in there. So I have a big gap. Yeah.
00:16:21
Speaker
All right, so that's my next thing. You get the best of all four worlds. Put a couple of drywall screws and put a plug over it. Six inch drywall screw. Good enough. Shout out to Ed Johns, the king of the drywall screw.
00:16:36
Speaker
Oh man. Yeah. That was like the, the shop table that I made today. You know, I had all these thoughts of shaping those trestles with, you know, longer tapers. And it's like, I just gotta get this done. You know, it's, it's, I don't need to impress anybody with this shop table. It looks nice though. Just those little, little 45s you put on the end, make a difference. Yeah. I had to do something. Yeah. Um, but yeah, that came, it came together pretty quick.
00:17:04
Speaker
That could have been a big YouTube project. Yeah. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Yeah. That's a lot. That would have taken three days. That's right. Yeah. Now my angle now is just I do a couple reels at the beginning of the month, cash in my reels bonus. How did you do in reels this month?
00:17:27
Speaker
Uh, not bad. I mean, you know, the bonus is like you get up to a hundred dollars and it's just stops. Like, you know, you have to get a lot of views, like, like in the millions to get, to get anything more than that. You know?
00:17:41
Speaker
So here's my real story. Last month, I did something like cutting a window out with a router. And I, you know, I probably would always use a saw saw from now on, but I just wanted to do that. Anyway, it blew up. It's like 27 million views.
Social Media Strategies and Viral Content
00:17:58
Speaker
And that combined with some other things turned out to be like $2,700 on Instagram real. So I thought, oh, that's cool.
00:18:05
Speaker
And that's a motivator to like, hey, let's make some reels, you know? To do something controversial. Yeah, well that's a thing. Get that hate rolling. That's right. When you get the hate rolling, you know it's good. So then I did a video of this bike rack I made, and it got 40 million views. Wow.
00:18:25
Speaker
And I actually deleted it because I just deleted it today because I put up something similar. But I deleted it because this month, that video, 40 million views and a couple others only equaled $170. So I'm like, there's no rhyme or reason to this. And so the time that that router video was blowing up, I would check my bonuses like twice a day and it would just go up in increments. And I was like, wow, this is great.
00:18:55
Speaker
And then the same thing here. The video is just blowing up and, you know, tons of comments, nasty comments and all kinds of stuff. So I'm like, oh, this is going to be great. And it just didn't move. It didn't move at all. So I put up something similar today because I've got a YouTube shorts video that's blowing up right now. It's at like 19 million or something. Oh, is that with the bike rack? Yeah.
00:19:22
Speaker
What was the thing about the tie and the air out? Yeah. So the funny thing is like, so this is an E mountain bike for anybody who doesn't know Jeff and Rob know I bought an E mountain bike. Now it's pedal assist, meaning it doesn't have a throttle and it's only going to assist you to 19 miles an hour. It's a class a or class one bike, but they're heavy because it's got a Bosch motor in it and it's got a big battery in it.
00:19:49
Speaker
And it's 56 pounds. And so the idea of lifting it onto any kind of rack is like not great. Lifting it into the back of the truck is like, wow, this is awkward and heavy. So I'd been thinking about a rack for a while and it just hit me like if I could make like a friction fit on the front tire.
00:20:08
Speaker
then that would be a great way to hold it. And then I thought, okay, well, what happens if the tire goes flat? So then I drilled a hole in it and put a little pin in there. And then I thought, okay, this is definitely gonna work. So when I put the original video up on YouTube, up on Instagram with just like a quarter inch dial just to test it, that's the video that blew up that didn't pay out for whatever reason.
00:20:31
Speaker
And a few comments were, or a lot of comments were like, what do you need that stick for and all this sort of stuff or what happens if the tire goes flat. So then I made a little bit nicer of a rack with a half inch dowel and I made a video and put it on YouTube that didn't really do anything until just a couple of days ago.
00:20:54
Speaker
and you see the bike get put into the rack and it's a friction fit and then I put in the dowel and then I let the air out.
00:21:04
Speaker
And it's just, there's hundreds and hundreds of comments. And a lot of them are really like, you know, WTF, why are you letting the air out of the tire? Great idea. Now you got to inflate the tire every time you go for a ride. Just all these sort of things. You were doing it to demonstrate that it would hold it if the tire went flat. Yeah. And so that the demonstration and that combined with the title of bike rack, what happens if the tire goes flat?
00:21:32
Speaker
Would lead me to believe that somebody might read that before they wrote some of these people will write a paragraph and i'm like, holy cow like Imagine having the time i'm out of touch like because you know Everything you're talking about i've seen And I know you and we're friends and i'm still not motivated to like write something like what the hell is that? Yeah, it's crazy. It's just I just watch it and enjoy it and I I don't get the whole
00:22:00
Speaker
It's great getting comments though because that way you know and you just have to be like you just have to laugh at it Yeah, you know, so most of my responses on the on the the nice comments are heart. Yeah, and then the most of the Usually try not to respond to the nasty comments
00:22:17
Speaker
Um, but if I do it just sort of that emoji with the guy with his hand over his face because that's usually My go-to emoji when something's just stupid Yeah, because you know me you you get my comments. They're they're one word max, you know, I mean, uh, sweet awesome Yeah
00:22:35
Speaker
Our buddy Chris from full steam design. I don't know if you met him at maker camp, but he gets he posts a lot of these, you know, purposely controversial kind of things and a lot on Facebook to, you know, where he puts like a lawnmower blade on a grinder, like something like that. But then he posts a lot of like just like regular stuff and he gets.
00:22:56
Speaker
all these people that like these, you know, I've been a contractor for 40 years. And if you showed up to my job site like that, I'd kick you off, you know? Like, dude, what is wrong with these people? Yeah, it's you're just touching the nerve. And I guess some of these people, maybe they're sitting in a waiting room or they're in a cubicle. And, you know, that'll, you know, I don't know. I don't have the time. I try to leave like if I see something I like, I try to leave a nice comment just because that's a nice thing to get. Like, especially if you
00:23:25
Speaker
if you put something up there that you're really kind of happy with or whatever and somebody, especially somebody you respect is like, Hey, that looks great. So I try to do that as much as I can, but at the same time, I try not to go on Instagram as much. I try to go on mostly just a post because it's, I don't know. I feel like these phones are kind of ruining everybody's lives to some extent. It could get, when you get that screen report on Sunday, I'm like,
00:23:51
Speaker
How, how, how was on my, how was I on my phone that much? Yeah. I try to go on like around five o'clock in the morning, you know, and I scroll through and I see the five or six people that I follow and you know, try and be supportive at that time. You know what I mean? But other than that, I just don't have the time to really interact with it.
00:24:15
Speaker
No, and it's a lot of time. And I mean, it's interesting to see what's happening with this whole generation.
Impact of Social Media on Younger Generations
00:24:21
Speaker
My daughter's 14 now. She doesn't watch Instagram at all. So she didn't have a phone until about a year ago. Wow. But now she's like, you know, it's a full send on the phone because they're all on the phone. They're all talking on the phone. So like, I gotta even be careful, like, you know, what I say in the house sometimes because she could be on the phone with three people.
00:24:44
Speaker
You can end up on TikTok. Yeah. Like, I don't know what's going on. I'm like, who are you talking to? So I know her friends, you know, just because I've driven them around. Yeah. So Olivia will be like, say hi to, you know, and I'm like, oh, Olivia, turn that phone off. But she's it. But that's what it is. It's TikTok. Oh, yeah. So that's the thing now. I'm hoping that they ban TikTok.
00:25:06
Speaker
Well, it just seems like I mean, Instagram is basically TikTok now. So I don't know how much of a difference it'll make. What is TikTok? I mean, I only know by name, like, you know, Reels, Instagram Reels. It's basically just that. But it's, you know, but they invented it. It's a Chinese company and they're, you know, some, you know, nefarious.
00:25:26
Speaker
Characters behind it apparently data Mining and stuff like that. I think there could be some controversy here though because I think there there's an argument that That one of the big pushes to get rid of tick-tock is really coming from the tech industry In Silicon Valley because they don't want they want to make a vacuum so they don't want competition Yeah, and that makes sense to me too because let's face it tick-tock
00:25:53
Speaker
is eating Instagram and Facebook's lunch. And I'm not on TikTok, but I should be on TikTok from what I hear. Everybody says you should go on TikTok, whatever. It's one more thing. But I think anybody under the age of 15 is probably on TikTok and not on Instagram or Facebook. So if you're Instagram or Facebook,
00:26:15
Speaker
I would probably be lobbying to get TikTok fans. What's the purpose of TikTok? The same thing. It's just social media. It's just voyeurism. It's just looking at stuff. I was listening to Steve Ramsey. He has a good podcast with Chad from, I forget Chad's channel, but he has a cleaning channel. Anyway, the analogy with TikTok is if you go on TikTok,
00:26:44
Speaker
and you spend half an hour there, you've watched a half an hour of TikTok. If you go on to YouTube, well, you might watch like 15 minutes of like a history channel. You might do a deep dive on some car. There's all these different things that you might do where you're actually learning something and seeing something where with TikTok, it's just all a blur. Yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
which is very similar to instagram if you instagram is also just can just be a blur yeah instagram you know you sit there and it's a guy pulling the glue brush yeah the glue and then some girl in a bikini dancing and then some guy on a light pole gets electrocuted and you know it's just a bunch of bullshit but if you go on youtube so i was watching um i was watching some kind of uh
00:27:35
Speaker
I was watching a documentary about Jamestown, you know, the basically how this country was settled. So that was something. And then so then I watched that. I thought, well, I should really watch more of this. But then I went on TikTok. But you can see how that's actually a learning thing. And that's
00:27:59
Speaker
I think we live in this time where you can learn so much, but it's also there's so, so many distractions, distractions of things that are really not
YouTube vs. TikTok: Learning and Content Depth
00:28:08
Speaker
worth any time at all. Yeah. And I think it's like anything, you know, it's so like I out.
00:28:14
Speaker
I scroll through reels, but I also, I'm a YouTube guy. When I go home and we put my son to bed, I put on YouTube, I don't put on TV, and I watch all kinds of weird stuff. I watch a guy who eats crazy fruit. I was watching last night these police interrogation videos. They have all of these clinical psychologists and stuff, and they show the
00:28:40
Speaker
The police interrogation and they give like their takes on like, you know The people who commit these heinous crimes like, you know what about how the interrogation is happening and that's pretty cool Yeah, that there's so much fascinating. I like youtube too. I I like watch like rick beato. Oh, yeah, he's great um And then it you know on that sidebar it'll have like the suggestions and stewart copeland's always been one of my favorite drummers and so
00:29:09
Speaker
Popped up and so now here's this Uh, it's not an interview. It's stuart copeland himself. Uh What would you call is making a video? Yeah talking about his history and everything like that and like a vlog Right in it. So it's current day, you know, he's an older guy and he's so he's reminiscing a little bit and he's talking about it now he explained how he his dad was a diplomat and he grew up in the middle east and this
00:29:38
Speaker
sense of timing and rhythm is just a common element of music from that region of the world. And it just made so much sense all of a sudden. It's like... Well, now that you're saying that, I mean, I can hear it. Yeah. You can hear that influence.
00:29:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was great. You know, that's the thing I like about YouTube. It's the it does open up this whole world of like people like that, that are, you know, sort of like experts, if you call it that, creating this this first person narrative form of video.
00:30:16
Speaker
You're more likely to stumble upon something on YouTube, I feel like. Whereas like Instagram, it only feeds you what it already knows that you like. Right. I noticed that. Yeah. Like whereas YouTube likes, I know it does the same thing, but like sometimes the suggestions come out of left field. Yeah. And it's not like Instagram will just keep pushing the same accounts. Whereas I think YouTube, they want you to to watch more accounts.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, I can see that I can see that on on that page that comes up It's it's interesting to see what YouTube is doing with YouTube shorts now because I do find myself going down rabbit holes with shorts Which I never up until about a month ago or so. I didn't do that But so now YouTube is paying money. So this video
00:31:05
Speaker
this one that's blown up now is made like almost $300. So, you know, it's interesting. It's just interesting. It's like gambling. It's like, oh, I'll do this. It's gambling without any real negative side effects. Yeah, as long as you don't invest too much time in making the video then. But that's the funny thing, like the YouTube shorts. So if you look at YouTube on your phone,
00:31:29
Speaker
If you looked at shorts last, that's what's going to come up on your phone, at least in my phone. And then you have to hit the home button to get back to like YouTube, because that's usually like my routine at lunch is to like take 10 minutes and eat lunch and watch something on YouTube. And I went into a binge on the New Yankee Workshop lately because they opened up, I guess they bought, they imported all the old shows to the channel.
00:31:59
Speaker
And it's cool to see Norm doing that. That was how I learned how to do everything. Like when I needed a router, my very first router, it's like, okay, I see Norm's got that router. Well, if he can use it, then it's gotta be good enough for me. Well, the funny thing is I was working, that was at like 85 maybe. So I was working at a cabinet shop that made custom furniture. So the business changed.
00:32:28
Speaker
I did an interview with my old boss maybe five years ago and he explained how the business changed. So he was making a lot of custom furniture, tables, end tables, all kinds of stuff, furniture, not cabinets. And within maybe the four years that I was working there, like into the 90s, because I kind of dabbled, I went in there and then I worked construction, went back
00:32:55
Speaker
It went to mostly built-ins and then
Evolution of Woodworking Skills and Community Growth
00:32:58
Speaker
into kitchens and that's what he was doing the majority of and it's funny because the built-ins would be gigantic like 35 inches deep for these huge TVs. So you'd have a huge cabinet in the center that might be 35 inches deep and 60 inches wide and then you'd have like these little offshoots that were pushed back a little bit and that would give you
00:33:21
Speaker
the ability to have nice crown molding details and stuff. But my point with the new Yankee Workshop is I was always impressed with Norm, but my boss I felt was
00:33:36
Speaker
as good, easily as good, and artistically better. That's how I felt. What he was making compared to what we were making in the shop was probably geared down to more of the homeowner. Yeah, he was like the everyman's woodworker.
00:33:58
Speaker
But not to, and I would never take anything away from Norm, just saying like, it's like anybody. So even, even if you go back in YouTube 10 years ago, you think, oh, this guy's a good woodworker, or I used to think I'm a good woodworker. And next thing you know, I'm like, holy cow, there's a lot of guys out there that are way better than me. Yes. Because like I was saying to you guys, or you, Rob, I think before,
00:34:19
Speaker
I sort of feel my way through a project where I know just from following Jeff for years before we really met, I see Jeff as a mechanic, a creative mechanic, but I have so much respect for mechanics because for me, I can do it. I would never say I can do it like Jeff does, but I can do it, but it takes tremendous amount of discipline for me to do that. I really have to say to myself,
00:34:50
Speaker
do this today. You're an artist. That's what I'd love to do. If I could do anything, I would just paint and make, make art type things. Like I don't mind building stuff when it's kind of related to art because it's not as much.
Artistic vs. Mechanical Woodworking Approaches
00:35:05
Speaker
But with this table, if you're going to make a decision that has to be cut into this piece of wood and shaped, it's not that you just go ahead and make this cut now. You have to do whatever it takes. Make the jigs, set up the saw, change the blade.
00:35:25
Speaker
Although think about how it's gonna affect every other step that you had already planned to do so that's all discipline It's like digging a hole. It's like okay. You have to do this work to work out. So when the Like people will say what's your favorite part of the job for me? It's like delivering it collecting the final payment Worked
00:35:46
Speaker
It were all these decisions worked and I'm proud of that piece of furniture. And there's, there's little triumphs throughout the day that you have, but, um, I'm not like, Oh, I can't wait to make this cut with the flush cut bit on the router. I'm that's not me at all. I just do it because it has to get done. I'm more like that. I, I like the beginning of the job most.
00:36:12
Speaker
You know, it's fresh, you know, you hit it with a full head of steam and then you get into the, it's a reverse bell curve of enthusiasm. You know, in the beginning you got all this enthusiasm and then in the middle you're like, I fucking hate this job. And then at the end, you know, I'm going to explode. And then, you know, in the middle you run into all the problems that you didn't foresee, all the design issues that you didn't foresee.
00:36:38
Speaker
all the mistakes you made at the beginning start to catch up to you. And that's the funny thing. It's, there's, there's always mistakes, always like some, yeah.
Logistical Challenges in Furniture Delivery
00:36:47
Speaker
Those doors on the cat on that big cabinet. I got a set hanging in the rack over there. Cause I made these beautiful doors. But when I measured the, um, for the rails, I didn't subtract the half inch.
00:37:03
Speaker
for the tenants. And so I'm laying these doors in like a proud Papa. I'm like, what the hell? It's an inch. They're an inch too big. Oh, and so you can say, you know what? I like the way that this rail looks a half inch smaller on this. So it was like, put them up. But it was like,
00:37:24
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's shit happens. And it's the funny thing. Like I've I've done things where I'm going to cut something. I'll bring that chop saw down and I'll just stop for a second. And sometimes I get lucky and I catch myself and sometimes I'm like, what the hell is that for? Yeah, it's completely wrong. Yeah. Um.
00:37:47
Speaker
There's always mistakes though. That's just how it is. Yeah. It can be a, it can be gut wrenching at all. I mean, there's so much work went into making those doors. I bet. Cause they're big. It's not like that's a big cabinet, you know, they're like seven feet tall. They're bigger than, they're more than seven. I think they're 89 inches or, Oh no. The piece is 89 inches. No, it's 90. It's 95 I think.
00:38:12
Speaker
Okay, I want to say that doesn't five inch rail at the bottom and two or three at the time Well, anyway, those doors like seven feet tall. When are you delivering that? If we can fit it we'll take with us on Monday and Somebody give you a hand. There's our crew there There was last time over there. So hopefully they'll be that thing is heavy. I was gonna say it's real heavy I was gonna say and it's not only is it going upstairs? I
00:38:37
Speaker
No, it's going right inside the front door. I don't think the wallpaper will be done So it'll probably have to I will have to talk to the PM and see if we should even bring it because The next trip we're going back is just that big one the countertop. Okay, and that maple countertop So that thing's gonna be in the way when we if we bring it on Monday I'm sure yeah unless they have a room that's done and painted and they can stick it in there
00:39:00
Speaker
Now, years ago, you used to have all your furniture picked up. Yeah. You don't do that anymore. You're delivering things. Yeah. Well, Tommy Mover stopped, I think he stopped working in New Jersey altogether, right? Yeah. I had a guy from early on because, you know, I worked by myself. So it just was impractical to try and move everything.
00:39:23
Speaker
And he was called the man with a van. And I met him when he was literally just one guy with a van. And then he grew to this size where he had like two or three helpers and then finally he didn't do any moving at all. He just send his helpers and they had these big trucks and then do a lot of interstate like Jersey to Florida. He got into racing cars and he wasn't around. Wow. So that was a good business.
00:39:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He, he was a real hustler too. I know a guy he, I know an art mover. I don't know if he's would move furniture, but I'll give you his number. Really nice guy. Really nice guy used to move art. He might, he might not want to move furniture because moving art is you're not dealing with the weight. Yeah. And his truck was sort of set up. He worked with a lot of galleries in New York. We build them heavy too.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah. Like when Tommy did it, he wrapped everything completely in blankets and little by little, the price was going up and the service was going down. Yeah. The confessionals were the last thing that they moved. Yeah. And they didn't, they just took them and put them in the truck. Jeez. Jeez. That's a little nerve wracking. Yeah. So that we have the van. It's like, we got to go there anyway. So really it's just put it in, you know, so.
00:40:46
Speaker
No, I was just curious because it is a big piece of furniture. Yeah. So I mean, have you tried lifting it to two of you to move it? Yeah. Well, it was like on its back when it got painted and then we stood it up. Those two wall units in the office are gone, too. So those are. Are they getting more finish on them?
00:41:09
Speaker
No, they're finished. The ends are on. They go wall to wall. Okay. Um, those are two pieces right in the center. Yeah, those. Okay. So those are two wall units and then they get floating shelves above. You know, there's a big fireplace in the center. That's a great client made that. Yeah. Fireplace around. We made an amazing house. Yeah. It's brand new in bridge Hampton.
00:41:29
Speaker
How I have a friend out in bridge what uh, what size house is that uh, what is it like? 3,500 5,000 square feet maybe in that in that range It looks very modest when you pull up and it's it it's uh
00:41:45
Speaker
I mean, I wouldn't say it's modest, but it's very tasteful. It's not gaudy or overly done. But you pull up and it looks very small from the front, but it really opens up when you get inside 12 foot ceilings. Great room, has a cathedral ceiling with faux trusses. It's nice. Nice big central stair. It's open. Like a switchback.
00:42:08
Speaker
This must be a client has a place in New York City and a place out in the Hamptons. They actually, I shouldn't give too much information, but they live down South Jersey in a beach town. Oh, nice. And like raise their kids there and everything. And now their kids are old, grown, they're out to the Hamptons. Good for them. Yeah. That's nice. I mean, I like South Jersey too, but the Hamptons are beautiful. I don't get out there. I've only been there, you know, a handful of times, but it is like a different world. That was the first time I had ever been out there. It's nice.
00:42:38
Speaker
It's really in the water out there is crystal clear. Really? It's amazing. I did a couple of summers there when I was this girl's dad used to have this big house like we the kind where, you know, you have your own beach and everything like that. Wow. It was it was pretty spectacular. Well, that was where that's where all the artists in the fifties like. Well, that's where Pollock was. I think Pollock got there.
00:43:06
Speaker
He ended up, you know, you know the story of Pollock, how he died? No, I remember that movie with the... Ed Harris. Yeah, Ed Harris. So the quick story with Jackson Pollock is all these artists in the 50s, these abstract expressionists, they basically got paid to the Works Progress Association.
Legacy and Tragedy of Famous Artists
00:43:28
Speaker
That's how they kind of got started. And then a couple have got picked by Peggy Guggenheim and
00:43:36
Speaker
Pollock and de Kooning anyway a handful of them so Pollock and his wife Lee Kresner moved out there now Pollock was an alcoholic a raging alcoholic and He eventually pissed off his wife enough where I think he like had a girlfriend like right in front of her But anyway
00:44:00
Speaker
He ended up buying a big Cadillac when he got sold a couple of paintings and his girlfriend came out and the girlfriend came with a friend who didn't really want to be there and they went to some party and then Pollock being like a mad drunk wanted to go somewhere else. The girlfriend said, let's go. The girlfriend friend didn't want to go.
00:44:25
Speaker
but of course they all went and a couple miles down the road he went off the road and he was killed and The friend was killed but not the girlfriend she's and there's a rock out there You know where he hit the rock or whatever, but you can go see his old studio And so like I look at a lot of artists and I think these guys are real assholes like Pollock wasn't just a total asshole so was so was
00:44:52
Speaker
Pablo Picasso. I mean, if you look read any history on Picasso, what a jerk he was. Yeah, it was. I was watching something on like Van Gogh and he I mean, he got like real wacky and did a lot of weird stuff. Well, Van Gogh died very early. So he I don't I don't have like an anger towards Van Gogh like I do with he got shot, right? He shot himself. He shot himself in the stomach.
00:45:17
Speaker
That well, that's what he said. But the thing I was watching was like this whole story about how he had this run in with somebody and I shouldn't say too much because I don't remember exactly. But yeah, he was like out in this field and somebody accused him of something and he but he didn't want it to become a thing. So he just said that he shot himself.
00:45:36
Speaker
You know, I have a foggy memory of hearing a similar story, but all my life I thought that he shot himself in the stomach until like very recently I heard something like that. I'm not sure where I heard that. It was like a YouTube thing that I was watching. I think he died in his 30s or mid 30s. He sold one painting I think to his brother for like 80 bucks.
00:45:58
Speaker
His brother Theo was a dealer and he died shortly after him. Some people say it was a broken heart, I guess, but I think he also had syphilis. A lot of people had syphilis background. That's the same thing. He was a madman. He cut his ear off because he was hearing voices.
00:46:21
Speaker
You know, but you know, the funny thing is you look at you look at a vanco painting and it's pretty amazing. Right. And like art today and I don't want to come down on art, but so much of it is just mass produced. And like one of the highest paid living artists of our time right now is Jeff Koons, who doesn't touch a brush or anything.
Art Market and Perceived Value
00:46:47
Speaker
Everything is made by assistance. Yeah, it just seems like a total sham, you know, you know, so they're saying, you know, there's a there's a big argument or discussion at least that that
00:47:04
Speaker
art is created by the market and it's basically like let's say like we were all millionaires or whatever we could go and find some artist and I could go and buy one of his paintings for like $50,000 and then Rob can go and then I then like maybe a couple months later I'd put it up for auction and Rob would go and and buy it for $200,000 now my collection is more it's like the stock market the pump and dump you know yeah if we have all this money and we start buying
00:47:31
Speaker
Dogecoin, well, Dogecoin, the price goes up because we're all buying it. You know, people say, oh, man, John, Jeff and Robert buying Dogecoin, we better get on this train. And then they start to buy it and the price goes up and then we just cut and run. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think that'll happen with.
00:47:48
Speaker
with some of these big artists because there's so much money tied into it. So that's like, there was Damien Hirst, you know, he did, he's famous for polka dot paintings and they're just polka dots that he doesn't paint. They sell for like, you know, millions and millions of dollars. I didn't get it. It's like I could come up with the concept of a painting, but I wouldn't call myself an artist unless I could actually
00:48:15
Speaker
Create the painting myself. It's it's a weird thing. Like so I love design So like the house that you're you're talking about I can imagine one of these polka dot paintings looking really cool in that house but at the same time You know somebody else could make it but the person who you know I think these types of paintings are just collected like trophies. It's like hey, you know, i've got i've got this, you know i've got this trophy so this is
00:48:42
Speaker
You know, you know, I've arrived kind of thing. It's like the Chippendale thing. You know, Chippendale designed a lot of furniture and he had a lot of people making furniture, but they still call it a Chippendale. They don't call it a, you know, it was John Smith who actually made it. Right. And all those books, you know, I mean, he made those patterns for people that are not patterns, but he created those drawings for people to reproduce his work.
00:49:05
Speaker
But see, for furniture, it kind of makes sense because it's almost analogous to an architect, right? So you're going to have the same respect. Like I have a lot of respect for Frank Lloyd Wright, even though a lot of his houses were structurally, you know, but he was pushing the limit and he had a great eye. So he was invested in it where, I think,
00:49:28
Speaker
I think that a lot of the art that is being, some of this questionable art that I'm talking about is being conceived of on the internet, not on the internet, but on the computer, through collage, through borrowing from photographs, through all kinds of stuff, right? And then you're getting craftsmen then to put it all together, like really high-end craftsmen.
00:49:53
Speaker
I'm never going to buy one of those paintings. I just have an opinion where if you are looking at a Van Gogh, Van Gogh painted that. If you're looking at a Jeff Koons, he probably never touched it or even knew that was made because there's factories, there's just factories making his stuff.
Authenticity in Classic vs. Modern Art
00:50:14
Speaker
Well, I mean, didn't the classic artists have? Sure. But I still think that they were. So the classic artists, when you're you're you're going back into like what they. The Renaissance. And so I think that they did work with assistance, but they're I don't think their hand was as far removed as it is today because of technology. Yeah.
00:50:39
Speaker
You know, so some artists could argue the point that, well, I can do the work, so why do I have to do the work? And there's some truth to that. But at the same time, do you need to just produce and produce and produce just for the sake of creating more stuff to sell? Yeah, it waters down, you know, the whole optic of the whole thing, you know? Yeah, I don't know how it's going to shake out. I mean, as a young, when I was a young artist, the whole thing would go to
00:51:10
Speaker
You go and you make a body of work and you get photographs of your work on slides and you try to get it into a gallery. I would never advise a young artist to try to do that today. It sounds like a total waste of time. So that's what they would say in school. They would say, okay, come up with a cohesive body of work.
00:51:28
Speaker
photograph it, and then go around and try to get into a gallery. That's insane. First of all, it was impossible to do back then, and today, who even cares? You don't know somebody you're not getting in anyway. No, it's right. It reminds me of the music business.
Digital Age Opportunities for Artists
00:51:43
Speaker
So similar, all that. We used to come up with some demos and just send out mail-out cassette tapes.
00:51:50
Speaker
But today because of YouTube, you can actually do something and catch fire. Oh, yeah. Fascinating. There's no. So I think it's all going to change because you don't have the gatekeepers. Creative people don't have the gatekeepers.
00:52:07
Speaker
that were around 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Now, if you're creative, you just have to have the energy and focus to do the work, which is pretty cool, I think.
00:52:25
Speaker
wonder what I would have been able to do had I had access to this sort of technology. Because not only do we have, as you say, the gatekeepers aren't there, but things cost so much money to create back then.
00:52:42
Speaker
I mean, it might as well have been a million dollars to try and create art or music that was presentable to build up your repertoire, so to speak.
00:52:58
Speaker
Exactly. If you can get traction, then all you need is your little groundswell. You might not need anything else. Especially if you know how to merchandise it and things like that.
00:53:17
Speaker
it makes me doubt the old system. Is this art that is, when I say millions, I mean millions, like hundreds of millions of dollars for paintings that can, I don't know if the value is still there anymore. So it's interesting to me, because a lot of these paintings, the artist isn't really even touching. So I don't know how it'll shake out.
00:53:47
Speaker
But you know, so you would think, OK, the music industry is going to get really exciting, right?
Changes in Music and Media Industries
00:53:51
Speaker
But it is if you're tuned into it, like my kids know a lot of good music and I learn about music from them. But what do we hear most about? And music. Yeah. Yeah. It's like mostly what you hear about is.
00:54:05
Speaker
like Taylor Swift or something, which I don't even know if I could know one of her songs, but I know she's super popular. Yeah, I know she's killing homeless people. There's still, there's still control. It's just, it's just, I got this comment and we've talked about it a couple of times on the podcast. Yeah, where, yeah, apparently she's in the Illuminati and she kills homeless people. Oh my God. Yeah. And she likes to watch other people kill homeless people. Wow. Well, no, that's how, that's how she was initiated.
00:54:34
Speaker
First, you got to watch somebody kill a homeless person, then you got to kill a homeless person. I'm not going to, I'm not going to comment on any of this. She's rich and powerful. She's in the Illuminati, of course. And then Matthew Serio. He's good. He was good. He sent in a question because we've been doing these question episodes every like whatever, once a month. It was, if, if Taylor Swift had to kill a homeless person with a piece of Shaker furniture, what would it be?
00:55:06
Speaker
Am I supposed to answer that? It doesn't have to be an entire piece of furniture, just a piece of a shaker, something shaker. I'm going to say a rolling pin. I'm sure of shakers made rolling pins. We said like a turned leg, you know. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Candle table. Yeah. Candlestick, a whole candlestick table. It went dark. I had a question about your coffee because, um,
00:55:37
Speaker
I'm interested in that. So what are you as into coffee as? Oh, yeah. So let me hear your routine, then I'll hear Rob's routine or vice versa. So I I I don't do it the best way just out of sheer convenience. But so I have a Technivore mocha master, which is like it's a drip coffee maker, but it's like probably the best drip coffee maker that you could buy.
Daily Coffee Habits and Preferences
00:55:59
Speaker
They're made somewhere in the Netherlands, a single factory where they make all the parts and do everything there. So I grind the beans at night beforehand, put them in the thing, and then I have it on it. It doesn't have a timer because that's how neurotic they are where they're like, you shouldn't make the coffee the night before. How much coffee for how much water? So I use a cup of beans.
00:56:27
Speaker
maybe like just slightly less than a cup. And it's a 10 cup coffee maker, so it must be like 40 ounces. So just a cup of beans before their ground? Before their ground, yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, a cup. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. Yeah. It's based on like 60 grams or something per cup, something like that. I actually, my wife buys the coffee at Aldi and it's like single origin fair trade, organic coffee. What town is that in?
00:56:57
Speaker
There's one in Haslett. There's one in West Long Branch. It's like a discount. It's like a imagine Trader Joe's. Yeah, it's it's like the same company, but it's like more basic. Okay. Oh, yeah, I know. Okay. It's like that that blue place. Yeah. Yeah. It's very interesting kind of architecture. I think Pathmark used to be there. Okay. What the hell else is in the wine? There's like a wine store in there.
00:57:28
Speaker
Yeah, wine soup. It used to be across the street, and then they moved it to the other side of the highway. So it's on 35 south, I guess. There's two, actually. I think there's one further north that's down by the lows. Oh, that's a Lidl. That's Lidl. So that is very similar. It's the same deal, basically. It's just a different company.
00:57:46
Speaker
So, yeah, it's it's it's pretty good coffee and it's really cheap because I drink so much coffee. Like it would be really expensive for me to drink it black. OK, I know. I know Matt. This is the same way. Yeah. If you're going to drink it, like I like I like coffee with milk and sugar, but I don't eat sugar. So, you know, and then milk, it's like it's just another thing I got to keep around. But I like it black. But yeah, if I was to drink like
00:58:13
Speaker
Jersey Shore coffee roasters, like $18 a pound, $15 a pound. I've spent a lot of money on coffee. Yeah. So this stuff is like four bucks for a 12 ounce bag, which is pretty cheap. Yeah, that is inexpensive.
00:58:26
Speaker
What about you, Rob? Well, when I lived down in San Francisco, I started drinking Pete's coffee. And you couldn't get it here. So for the past 24 years, I've had four pounds of Pete's delivered once a month. All beans. Now they sell the supermarket. Nice.
00:58:54
Speaker
a little bit of a creature of habit. I'll say also the nostalgia probably. Yeah. Yeah. Mind you of like probably being in San Francisco. Well, you know, I just like it and every, and then it is expensive because you know, you have to pay the air freight and it's, it is like $18 a pound of, you know, so my wife sometimes
00:59:18
Speaker
Every now and again, she was like, listen, I don't do anything. I don't, I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't go out. I don't spend any money. Give me $20 and ask me if I need money three weeks later. It's still in my pocket.
00:59:36
Speaker
I just want the coffee. I think you have to treat yourself to certain things. It's still mocha Java. Yeah. Yeah. The wife was like, you know, all right, you've been having a drink in Arabia, mocha Java for like 20 years. You think we could have a different blend? And I said, all right. So I picked out a couple others and then she said, you know, the mocha Java is better.
01:00:02
Speaker
Yeah. My wife doesn't use my coffee maker because one time she had like some kind of flavor coffee. I had to put the kibosh on the whole thing. I'm not putting that in my coffee maker. That's the worst, like a hazelnut or something. I don't like any of that. So I grind it in the morning and then brew it. Um, but I like no sugar with cream. I love milk. I love cream and all coffee's almost an excuse for me to have cream.
01:00:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's not I I am a milk and sugar I do a little bit of sugar, but I I'm not even gonna tell you what I drink for coffee because it's embarrassing No
01:00:45
Speaker
What kind of coffee maker though? Oh, I got everything's bad. Like a Mr. Coffee? Yeah, it's all bad. Start with a good coffee maker. Walter's like, you guys gotta up your coffee game. Walter reminds me of Jeff because he's very into like tools, what the brands are and same thing with coffee and you know, he's just
01:01:09
Speaker
he's just he I'm sure that he'll probably live at the house for a year or two just to save money up but I bet he can't wait to like have his own house and just be like okay I'm doing things my own way yeah yeah we gotta have him on he was saying he's got to stop by yeah he's going to he's yeah he's great he's really enjoying it over there in timber it's uh
01:01:29
Speaker
It's such a great job because there's so much variety. He's doing a lot of different things all the time and I think that's got to be really nice. Yeah, it helps, you know, because there's always going to be mundane things that you have to do and things that you don't want to do. But if the projects are always changing, then it makes it easier because you don't have to do it all the time.
01:01:50
Speaker
Yeah, and it's nice because he's got he's definitely has a mind mechanics mind and to get the opportunity to do the you know the work with the CNC and then also do the carpentry work or the you know the cabinet making work and then do some photography work it's sort of like
01:02:10
Speaker
You know, that's an exciting thing because I remember when I worked in a cabinet shop, it was great when you were changing jobs, but when you got on a gigantic job, that was just going to be drawer after drawer after drawer. It's like, whoa, I know what I'm doing Monday through Friday.
01:02:26
Speaker
that's like the boxes you know we're getting ready to make 500 more boxes that's exciting we tell you how fast they sold i couldn't believe i watched your story yeah you know you know it's so funny two minutes 485 sold in the first two minutes that's awesome that's awesome the funny thing is that video
01:02:43
Speaker
has done really well. I think it's like 350,000 views, which is a lot for me. And I think a lot of people enjoyed the video and I also did like a kind of a clickbaity title, like $100,000 or something. And so one or two people were like, you know, just some snide comment for, you know, $100 for a box, just whatever they said.
01:03:09
Speaker
So the last comment happened right around when I saw in your story that they sold out. Somebody said something and it came up on my phone. I said, oh, you're too late. They just sold out. You know what I mean? Sometimes I'll respond to them.
01:03:27
Speaker
Usually I don't, but I was just like, this guy, you know, it's funny because the first comment that comes out of my mouth is F you. And then I don't ever say that. Yeah. People are like, who would, who would spend a hundred dollars on a box? Like, well, 1500 people have so far. Yeah.
01:03:43
Speaker
and no kid hungry. When we do the run in the fall, it'll be $50,000 that's been donated. That's awesome. Yeah. You know what? I think probably as much as mundane as it may be of a job, it might be a really nice mental break to just sit back and be like, okay, this is what we're doing. I'm going to listen to a podcast or whatever and just go through the motions.
01:04:07
Speaker
Yeah. And it's an opportunity to try and, you know, refine a process. Sure. That's, that's how I look at it too. It's like, how, how do I get better after doing a thousand? How do I get better now doing 500? Yeah. They turned out great.
01:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we know all the little things that we want to fix and make better and everything like that. There was a couple, you know, people who had complaints about very unrealistic expectations as to what a wood box can even be like, you know, I mean, like tolerances can only be so tight if you want this thing to open and close. Yeah. You know, and it's a handmade. It's not a lot of money. No, I mean, it's like that's the funny thing, like
01:04:51
Speaker
There's two camps. There's a hundred dollars is a lot of money and they're like out of their mind about it. And then there's the people like us who are like, that's nothing because we know what it takes to make even with the laser. It takes so much time. That's why I would never like try to make a wooden spoon or cutting board because I'm like.
01:05:08
Speaker
I don't think anybody's going to pay $500 for this wooden spoon. That's what we say about the cutting board stuff. It's like all these people making them and selling them for decent amounts, but it takes so much time to make these things. It's a lot. It's a good, it's a great use for cutoffs. I mean, that's a nice thing about it. And I'll make a cutting board, like we get to the holidays, I'll make a few for friends or whatever.
01:05:32
Speaker
But my problem is I like a really big cutting board. So like usually the cutoffs are too small. Yeah. Like I want like a 24 minimum. 24 by what? 18, 20. Juice groove? Nah. You don't need one. I don't cut meat on wooden cutting boards. You wouldn't cut meat on it. I mean, no, I would avoid it. What are you going to cut meat on? A plastic cutting board. Okay. Yeah. So that brings me to my next question.
01:05:59
Speaker
You don't have to give me two, but one. Two would be great, but it could just be one. Go to recipes. Something that's good. Because I know you guys are both food guys. Yeah.
Cooking Routines and Simple Recipes
01:06:10
Speaker
Something that's good. Something that's like, you know, three to five ingredients could be a pasta. You don't have to count the pasta for the ingredient.
01:06:18
Speaker
I'm going to be listening to this later. Yeah. I find myself doing like appetizers a lot because, you know, like, you know, you cook at home and it's kind of just like you got to get it done. Right. Yeah. But like when you go like go someplace, like give me one of the things that you've got to get done. You know, the family's got to eat. Yeah. Um, but that you like, you know, that Hunter likes.
01:06:41
Speaker
I don't know. You go first. What do you got? Um, you know what I like? Cause I don't cook very often anymore. You know, my wife does all the cooking and she's not really a great cook or anything, but she knows that she knows how to make like six things that I kind of helped her refine. You know, she, she didn't really know how to like use utensils and pans and heat and everything like that. So,
01:07:08
Speaker
But I'm the kind of guy where I never complain. I'm happy because I tell, listen, comes to the table hot. You clean up this. You're never going to hear a peep from me. I'm completely thankful that I have a wife that does that. Sure.
01:07:24
Speaker
But every now and again, I like to cook. Something I really like a lot that I don't make is polenta. You ever have polenta? Yeah. I like a creamy polenta and I like to top it with
01:07:43
Speaker
Uh, like a nice kind of strong cheese, like a, you know, so you make the creamy polenta it's in a, in a pan, you throw it in the broiler with, um, like a strong cheese, like Gorgonzola or something like that crumble on the top, just to melt it and brown it. And you know what else is good is like some sauteed like mushrooms, like, you know, a mixture oyster should talk you, whatever you have something like that cut and sauteed.
01:08:14
Speaker
Sprinkled on the top. I like something like that. Nice. And it's easy. What, what nationality would you consider that? That's Italian. Okay. Sounds good. It's going to be that time. I'm drawing a blank. Really? Yeah. I can't believe you're like, I'm super off the cuff.
01:08:35
Speaker
Jeff's always cooking something, too. I know. That's what I mean. Yeah, it's like whatever's around. There's one restaurant, guys. I made a pork shoulder on Saturday. Saturday? Sunday? Tell me about that, then. So that was just, honestly, it was just the pork shoulder. I seasoned it, you know, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, paprika, mustard powder.
01:08:57
Speaker
I put it in, you know, covered it with foil in a pan. I put it in the oven at 250. That was like 7 a.m. We left, we went to Brooklyn, picked up the dust collector, about 130.
01:09:12
Speaker
got home and I was surprised it was done like literally like you press it with a fork and it's just like shreds yeah so then I put some like a little bit of barbecue sauce in there apple cider vinegar and some more seasoning you know just to taste and shred it all up that was good. Can you eat it like a sandwich?
01:09:33
Speaker
Yeah whatever you can put it in like a tortilla or yeah like a pulled pork sandwich. If you're doing pulled pork you're gonna do coleslaw. I like coleslaw with it yeah. Me too. I got two simple recipes and I'll have to look at my phone for them.
01:09:54
Speaker
So the first one I learned from my friend Max in Aruba. My wife and I, before we had kids, like maybe six months before we, like now maybe a year before Jack was born, we went on a windsurfing trip to Aruba and I met my friend Max Nudy.
01:10:11
Speaker
I didn't know him at the time, but he turned out that he lived right up the road from us in New York City. And so after windsurfing, we'd hang out and drink piña coladas on the beach. It was awesome. You know, it's just like one of those, like one of my only vacations I can remember. Anyway, we, well, last night we were staying in these little fishing huts.
01:10:33
Speaker
He came to our place, and it was just him, and it was my wife and I, and he went through our pantry or whatever we had, and he pulled out some bacon, like a half an onion, some garlic, some olive oil, and made a sauce. So it's just a half a pound of bacon diced, and then you skim off maybe two tablespoons of the bacon fat, so you're not having all the fat, but you want some of the fat, of course.
01:11:02
Speaker
throwing some olive oil, some maybe five or six cloves of garlic sliced, the diced onion, and then two cans or a can of diced tomatoes and a can of crushed tomatoes and have that with linguine. So that's really good. It's something that it's like a go-to for me if
01:11:24
Speaker
If my wife's a really good cook, so she's not around or if she's taking a break or whatever, I'll just make that. It's easy. Because again, it's like four. Yeah. Ingredients. It reminds me. It's almost like a mocha enchana, no? Yes, exactly. Except you use pancetta. Yeah. So what is pancetta? Is that like a? It's an Italian bacon. Yeah. So yeah. So the bacon is kind of a substitute for. What is that kind of ham that you put on sandwiches?
01:11:53
Speaker
I forget it's a popular. Prosciutto? Yeah, it's like kind of a substitute for prosciutto. Yeah, pancetta is like it's rolled, right? Yeah, it's got quite a nice ring of fat in there. I think it's cured, but it's not smoked. Yeah. Yeah, it's not smoked. Yeah, that sounds good. Yeah. So that's kind of probably a substitute. Yeah. And Max is Italian. He could speak Italian. We're still friends with him today. So it's kind of funny. I met him in a robe and
01:12:22
Speaker
You know, it's one of the guys who I'll talk to once every year or two, but you kind of catch right up. Yeah. And then the other one really simple is Puntaneska. You probably would. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you know what that's all about. Yeah, the horse dinner, right? Yeah. Yeah. My dad told me that. The horse dinner. Because she just takes whatever she's got in the cupboard and throws it together. So.
01:12:46
Speaker
They call for anchovies. But I usually don't have anchovies, because I just don't have them in the cupboard. But you can get away with just the garlic, the capers, the olive oil, and some good olives. What's the name of those olives? Kalamata. Yeah. Kalamata, is that what you said? Yeah. That, and then have that over penne?
01:13:14
Speaker
And then in that case, I use diced tomatoes, not crushed tomatoes. So I like it to be a little bit more. So those are two like real simple ones. And of course, you've got all the lemon chickens. Those are jumbota is a good one. That's easy. You know, you take whatever you could do sausage jumbota, chicken jumbota.
01:13:31
Speaker
Thighs, legs, whatever. Potatoes, peppers, onions, olive oil, garlic, and your meat. So I can listen to this and make it. Mix it all together, put it in the oven, cook it until it's done. Chicken in the oven. You know the recipe chicken in the oven, right?
01:13:51
Speaker
For some reason, that's what Italian American families call chicken. We like lemon and garlic and potatoes and chicken in the oven. That's what my wife makes. That's great. I love that. It's funny though, that's a lot of chicken fat. I end up eating some of it.
01:14:12
Speaker
You know, probably not supposed to. Oh, there's nothing like a nice chicken skin, nice crispy chicken skin. I know. Like some chicken thighs. Like when you get a chicken thigh with that crispy skin, you peel, you could just peel that whole skin off like a potato chip. Now will you eat that? Oh yeah. But you seem like you're really tuned into what you're eating. Like I know that you're not eating sugar. You don't eat carbohydrates, right? No.
01:14:38
Speaker
Oh, so are you into that fat? What is that? The, um, Keto. Is that what you're doing? Yeah. Oh yeah. For over five years now. Really? How does that work exactly?
01:14:48
Speaker
Um, so it's like, it's all based on ratios. It's supposed to be like 70% fat, 20% protein, 10% carbohydrates, but your carbohydrates have to come from like, you know, green leafy vegetables can't be like flat, you know, wheat or anything like that. So I don't eat any wheat, no beans, no, uh, rice, no, nothing
Personal Diet Habits and Food Routines
01:15:12
Speaker
like that. No sugar. Do you eat lunch here?
01:15:15
Speaker
Um, I'll have like some peanuts and stuff sometimes, but when I'm doing it the way that I really should, it's no breakfast, no lunch, just dinner. Wow. Yeah. I'm the opposite of keto. I eat like, like this morning I had a croissant with my coffee. Then for lunch I had, uh, typically lunch is a can of soup. So are you still on the soup diet?
01:15:40
Speaker
I'm on the soup diet. In fact, I got to go to the dentist in about 10 minutes. Um, so yeah, on the soup diet, then I'll go home. I'll have another can of soup probably. Uh, but this time I'll mix in like macaroni, like Orzo. That's just because of the dentist. Eventually you're going to get off. I'll get my chop today. He's going to check my gum, see if I'm ready to get a couple of choppers back. No pastina though. Yeah, no pastina. I want to know what happened to the pastina.
01:16:10
Speaker
They got rid of it. You know, Pastina? No, they're a little tiny little stars. Oh yeah, I know. Maybe like an eighth of an inch. Yeah. They got rid of them. Oh really? Yeah. But they got rid of them like you can't buy them? Yeah. Wow. I wouldn't have bought them anyway. I don't know. I've never, I've only had them in like soups in a can or something. Oh, it's the, they call it Italian penicillin. Really? Just with butter. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
01:16:35
Speaker
See, that's a good one. Back in the old days, when, uh, when your mother would make dinner and you know, you had to eat it or else, you know, once in a while, if I wind loud enough, I would get what we call macaroni with butter or a little pastina, you know, they had boil it up, throw a couple of pats of butter in there. And so good. It's so dense because, you know, there's less space between them that you just get a spoonful of like,
01:17:05
Speaker
Good. Solid pasta. Yeah. Who would make that? Was that like Barilla or somebody? Ronzoni, right? They just don't make it any longer. Yeah, for some reason they stop making it. Wow. Yeah. And now I'll have like ice cream for dessert. Like I'll almost always have ice cream dessert.
01:17:22
Speaker
I eat a lot too. So I had probably a good, maybe a six inch long piece of bread like from a Italian baguette and some juice for breakfast. I like to have like just like a half a cup, half a coffee cup of juice to get some of that sugar.
01:17:39
Speaker
And then at lunch, it's like leftovers, but I eat a lot like two chicken cutlets and another like big piece of bread. And I eat a lot of volume. I just don't eat the carbohydrates. When you sit down tonight, you'll eat a lot, but you haven't eaten anything yet today. I had some peanuts at lunch. I would be fading away.
01:17:59
Speaker
I actually have way more energy like this. See, maybe I would then. If I woke up and ate a piece of bread, I'd be done. I'd be done for the whole day. But it's funny, I'll say that to myself. If I'm doing a major yard project on a weekend, I'll make a big taylor ham sandwich and just be like, I'm fueling up. I can't eat too much at one time. Otherwise, I'll get real with logic.
01:18:29
Speaker
I kind of muscle through it like and I'll say that it's like a game I play with myself. I'm like, okay I'm gonna be really tired now for about 20 minutes, but then I'm gonna just like work through it Yeah, I never overcome it. You know, I have to pace myself. Yeah now yeah now like if I eat Something I'm not supposed to eat. I'm like down for the count Yeah, you were saying that at the woodworking show. I was like, wow, that's yeah. I mean it takes a lot of discipline. That's impressive.
Impact of Alcohol on Diet and Energy
01:18:55
Speaker
So now like so since the new year I've been on the straight and narrow and then so we're going on this fishing trip in April and then like I'll let myself go for those couple days but it'll be that you don't drink either well yeah I'll drink then but like and it's not that I don't drink it's just that I just don't really drink you know like like I don't go home and have a beer because the carbs and everything messing me anyway but the alcohol too like I had a um
01:18:58
Speaker
I
01:19:21
Speaker
It was like a white claw vodka something seltzer kind of thing they make and like the next day like I just felt terrible. I only had one. I like to drink. I like it too. I just don't like the not a lot. I just like to have a like I like to have a beer. I like to have a glass of wine. I love beer. Like I love drinking beer. Well, that's how the show in the beginning of the show is the beer of the week. Yeah.
Wrap-Up and Future Recipe Promises
01:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, that totally messed with the keto thing. Yeah.
01:19:51
Speaker
It was like, well, just one beer on Fridays. And then, you know, the fallout is like a multi day. Yeah. Well, I'm going to have to sign off here, boys, because I got to go to the dentist. Yeah. So let's we'll close the show out. So thanks for coming on. Oh, it's been a blast. Yeah. It's great catching up with you guys. Yeah. We'd love to have you on again. Yeah, definitely. I was hoping to get some really good recipes that I could. So next time I want to hear like, I'm going to have to think of some.
01:20:20
Speaker
You like lasagna? I do, but my wife makes a great lasagna. Does she make it with fried eggplant? No, now that sounds awesome. So get that one. I want to hear that. That does sound good. I love fried eggplant. Oh, if you love fried eggplant, then... Eggplant pizza? You ever have eggplant pizza? No. Oh, it's really good. I like just fried eggplant on a plate. Yeah. With some salt on it.
01:20:40
Speaker
Yeah Skin off of course, you know, you ever eat like those at that bogus place and they like don't take that's the worst No Anyway, yeah fried eggplant a couple of layers in the lasagna. That's all right eggplant roll a teeny Yeah, yeah fry it roll it up with some whatever inside maybe goat cheese or something I'm kind of was hoping for something really simple like I like I
01:21:07
Speaker
I like, I'll never make the eggplant roll lasagna. Yeah, it's too much for me. For me, it's just like roasted chicken thighs and like asparagus or something like that. Yeah, okay. Simple as that. I'm always just thinking like, what can I make that I'll get? Well, because I have four kids.
01:21:24
Speaker
So if Laura wasn't around, I had, you know, like she was somewhere last week and I was cooking for Walter and Olivia and I was like pulling my recipes out. But she usually sets me up. She was she went to Las Vegas last week. She had to go for business. So you know what I love, but macaroni with white beans and escarole.
01:21:47
Speaker
I've never had it. It's good. It can't get any simpler. That sounds good. Make beans drop from dry beans. No. Okay. We'll have to talk then. Well folks, thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Next week we have another guest. We got Brian from RT machinery.
01:22:13
Speaker
All right. Take care everybody. See you guys. As always, Rob and I thank you for tuning in and we'll see you next week. If you want to help support the podcast, you can leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. You can join our Patreon or you can use one of our affiliate links in the podcast description for vesting finishes. Again, we appreciate your support. Thanks for tuning in.
01:22:51
Speaker
Ain't no shame but there's been a change