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The American Craftsman Podcast Ep. 42 | On The Road Again
43 Plays4 years ago
**Patreon Livestream Design Workshop: Tuesday July 13, 11am EST**
On Episode 42 of The American Craftsman Podcast, hosted by Greene Street Joinery, we come at you live from the road.
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Greene Street Joinery is a custom design & build shop located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. We build multigenerational furniture with an eco-friendly and sustainable mindset.
Inspired and guided by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, we believe in the use of traditional craftsmanship and simple, well-proportioned forms; sustainability and ethical practices; and importantly, taking pleasure in our work as craftsmen to create quality pieces of enduring value.
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Transcript
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Speaker
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00:01:05
Speaker
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On the Road to Newark
00:01:21
Speaker
Well, this episode 42 of the American Craftsman Podcast, you guys might notice something different if you're watching this online.
00:01:30
Speaker
And if you're not watching over YouTube and and see what's going on, although not that we're not going to reveal what's going on. You may notice the the audio is slightly different. That's because we are in my truck. Yeah. And we're driving.
00:01:56
Speaker
up to Newark, New Jersey for a little bit of an install and a template. We've got a mosquito in here. Uh-oh. You know he's going to be facing on one of our legs. I think I caught him. No, that's him. You'll hear the, uh, that's our power inverter kicking on. Oh, there he is.
00:02:19
Speaker
So yeah, we got a meeting with the client today to go over some samples, do a little bit of pre-installation work and templating. Bastard. Oh, there he is. I think you got him.
00:02:37
Speaker
I don't know. What I was going to say is today is the only day that the client could meet. So, you know, rather than try and rush back in the afternoon, do the podcast, we figured, you know what, let's do it in the truck. And rather than half ass it, we got because we do everything, the hard microphone sticking out of the backseat. Yeah.
00:03:04
Speaker
So, yeah, this is going to be an unscripted edition. Yeah. And actually, I forgot we did get two questions. I figure we wouldn't we wouldn't ask for questions this week because, you know, it's going to be a little bit, you know, hard to to read them. Yeah. But we do have two questions, one both from patrons, one from Jerry, one from Colin. And I'll just I'll recite those from memory here once we get into it, but
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah. Looks like there was an accident here. The after effects of an accident. Yeah. Three car pilot. So there's no beer of the week this week because it's seven fifty five in the morning and be it's illegal and driving is quite frowned upon in New Jersey.
00:04:00
Speaker
Yeah, we got our coffee. Yeah in our Al head woodco mugs I'm drinking chilled coffee this morning. I forgot that we're on camera, too So actually running OBS through my cell phone today trying that out. I Got my breakfast of champions. Yeah marshmallow cones. Oh
00:04:27
Speaker
of the
00:04:37
Speaker
Yeah, something in the road. Out at this time of day, it's pretty unusual for us. I mean, we get into the shop about 7.30 in the morning, between 7.30 and 8 o'clock, and we don't really start moving until about 8, sip on the coffee, get the AC running, you know, up to speed, and kind of formulate our thoughts, wipe out the brain fog.
Morning Routines and Commute
00:05:03
Speaker
And typically, if we're taking a drive up north, we try and leave about 9 o'clock. That way, we beat the rush hour. Not beat, but we come past the rush hour traffic. This little stretch of road that we're going to be on is a huge commuting area. All these people coming from here and even further south, going up to New York City and Jersey City.
00:05:30
Speaker
Yeah, Middletown in general is a big commuter zone. Yep. Yeah, we got a train station and...
00:05:39
Speaker
and several buses that go to the city. So this is all part of the woodworking adventure, having to go out of the shop and get out, meet clients, go to the job, template, inspect the site. Because people probably don't know, this job site's under construction, so it's evolving. It's good to get in there and see the state of things.
00:06:09
Speaker
look at that thing wow looks like some kind of english car yeah yeah this is a new construction you know residential building like 150 units or something so you know this was a hole in the ground i guess a couple months ago or maybe you know 10 months ago um
00:06:34
Speaker
So yeah, there's a lot of moving parts like they were installing stuff with the elevator last time we were there and they were doing the the spackling, taping the spackling. So we're trying to get in to do this rope wall that we've talked about. The it's getting ropes on either edge, basically, you know, set in from the edge, but down the middle is going to be a piece of storefront with glass.
00:06:59
Speaker
So we really need to get these anchors in. You know, they're going to be anchors because that basically because otherwise we'll have to work around the glass.
00:07:10
Speaker
Right, yeah. The reason we're using anchors is because they got to us too late and it was already rocked and spackled. We would have asked for blocking in there, which was in my initial bids before we actually met the client, but that's besides the point.
Unscripted Humor and Listener Q&A
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, if we get these anchors in, we'll be in good shape. It'll make the install of the ropes nice and easy.
00:07:33
Speaker
We have a template that's, you know, the width of the wall and about five, six feet long. So we'll we use it on the bottom and the top. We should get everything to match up real nice. I'm confident. You want to you got a question for the for the crew?
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah, do you have a tool of the week? Obviously you can't show it, but... Tool of the week? It's the brain. No, I told you it's going to be the left hand. That's next week. You give me a little while, I'll come up with something. Take a look back at the computer and make sure that we're still rolling. Yeah, yeah, we're still rocking and rolling.
00:08:23
Speaker
Racked with paranoid this person loves to stop like fucking six car six car lengths before the person in front of them Oh people better get used to that I'm an aggravated driver, but I'm a good driver. Yeah. Yeah, just very good driver. He drives everywhere for us and
00:08:45
Speaker
It's interesting to see all the people going to work. Yeah. A world that we're not accustomed to. We are pretty much insulated from that sort of thing. I mean, I live on site and you are literally straight down one road. Yeah, three miles. Basically in the same exact spot I am, you know. We live off the same road, coincidentally.
00:09:12
Speaker
Yeah, it actually took
Commuting Anecdotes and Observations
00:09:13
Speaker
me 11 minutes to get to the shop. What was it yesterday? I was surprised. Yeah. A lot of schools on the way. Yes. That's the bane of suburban life. It's the school bus and the parents shuttling their kid to and fro.
00:09:35
Speaker
When I was a kid, nobody's parents drove him to school. In fact... You either took a bus or you were a walker. It was kind of a mark of disgrace if your parents were taking you to school. You were a bit of a little weenie if your mom had to take you to school. I want to know what's this person's deal. Driving their Kia Soul.
00:09:59
Speaker
Probably texting, drinking coffee, trying to put on eyeliner. They're doing the texting swerve. Typically when somebody stops like way before the other cards because they're doing three other things. Yeah, I can see that head. She's looking down. She's got a eight inch diameter shamrock hanging from her rearview mirror. Yep. Oh, just flip the hair.
00:10:25
Speaker
Her hair's really gonna flip when she overturns that Kia Soul. Hopefully we're nowhere near when it happens. Yeah, yeah. She's headed for the parkway, too. You can guarantee that. Home Depot bucket free on the side of Highway 36 if anyone's interested. Mile marker... I don't know, we don't have mile markers. Where's a marker when you need one? Yeah, I don't know if they have mile markers. Oh, let's see the line at the Dunkin Donuts this morning. There it is. There's the sheep. Bah.
00:10:54
Speaker
Let me get my... gotta have my Duncan. They still use that? Is that still their tagline? I think this... I think the tag... America runs on Duncan. Yeah. That ain't saying much. Look, and there's a profile. That woman has not done any running. What is this person doing? She's like digging under the passenger seat. Give her a little hug. Come on. I like when you finally get to pass someone and you look over and you get to see their stupid face.
00:11:28
Speaker
People from outside of the tri-state are probably cringing right now because I'm used to this level of driving aggression. This is nothing. It's doggy dog out here. You better either get out of the way or don't be in the way or get out of the way. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Left lane is for passing, folks.
00:11:51
Speaker
And this really is pretty sedate as far as commuter time driving.
Landmarks and Local Jokes
00:12:00
Speaker
I got a tent going up in the Parkinson's parking lot. Yeah, get ready to sell some fireworks for 4th of July. What's going on? Price of gas, 291 at the Wawa.
00:12:16
Speaker
I swear. I'm just ready to just get on the parkway. Look at that hair. Oh my God. We're here, we're passing Fantasies, the ultimate gentleman's club. Now showing UFC matches starting Saturday, June 12th. Yeah, Fantasies. No windows on that building. I wonder why. You think they're open for lunch?
00:12:45
Speaker
I think they are and I'm pretty sure they sell food. Could you imagine the cook at fantasies? You think it's one of the dancers and they just like, they're like, hey, go back there and we're going to need two burgers. That's right. Sprinkles. Get back. We need two hamburgers and fries. What the hell? So we're just about up to the Garden State. Went through the last light, caught a yellow.
00:13:15
Speaker
Yeah, I should have just stopped and let this person get as far away from me as humanly possible. Hopefully they take Parkway South, but I doubt it. No, they're going north. They're going north. At least we can get around them on the Parkway. I'm gonna take her nice and easy. Um, should we take this time to welcome our newest patron? Yeah.
00:13:41
Speaker
Mary Beth Jones. That's right. You heard it, folks. Mary Beth Jones, our first woman patron. It's official. This is like, you know, worst merge in the world. They give the people who are trying to get onto the parkway from Highway 35. This is where Highway 35 and 36
00:14:00
Speaker
both enter the Gordon State Parkway.
Coffee Talk and Navigation
00:14:03
Speaker
They give them about six feet of a merge. Yeah. So people either stop completely. Or cut somebody off. Or they just come flying out with a complete disregard to everyone else. That's right. I mean, they don't give people much choice. You have to either be like a daredevil. Looks like she's going local.
00:14:25
Speaker
Nah, she's gonna cut all the way across. Is she gonna do a scrape? Let's see. Nope. Nope. Well, she's going local, I'm going express. Yeah, here we go.
00:14:34
Speaker
I don't know if that's, that's not a thing I've seen on, on a lot of other like highways. I mean, I've driven, not a whole lot. I mean, you've driven way more than me in the, in other states, but the parkway, we have express, express, we call it express lane, but it's really like a section. So there's, there's, what is this, four lanes? Or three right here? I think it's three. There's three right here. Three lanes that are express, so there's no exits.
00:14:58
Speaker
and three lanes over there that that are locals so those every exit there'll be an exit over here there's only an exit every like 20 miles and you have crossovers where you can cross over into into the locals yeah the next crossover over here is the Driscoll bridge
00:15:17
Speaker
which kind of like the dividing line between Central and Northern New Jersey, I'd say. Yeah, I agree. In my experience, like crossing the country, a lot of that stuff with no exits is reserved for turnpikes, like the Ohio turnpike and... PA turnpike. Yeah, where there'll be long stretches without an exit. Yeah.
00:15:43
Speaker
I can't think from memory any other state I've been in that had like a parkway. I mean, we call it the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn, but it's not really like this.
00:15:56
Speaker
We've got the Pulaski Skyway. Skyway. That's not a thing. Sounds like the Jetsons. You know when they named it, they were thinking like... No, this is just a janky bridge. Yeah. Yes. Is the Pulaski Skyway the most disappointing structure from name to actual site? When you see the Pulaski Skyway for the first time, tell me you're not disappointed.
00:16:25
Speaker
It does sound pretty like... I'll stare. We're gonna take a drive on the Pulaski Skyway. It sounds futuristic and clean and gleaming and you know... It's just like been under construction for like 25 years. It's just a rusty, janky thing that looks like an old railroad bridge. Yeah, you get to look at all the container ships.
New Jersey Highway Experiences
00:16:52
Speaker
Where, uh, what exit are we getting off, by the way? I don't know. What's the address we're going to? Do you remember? 254 Orange Street, Newark, New Jersey. 254 Orange Street. Let's see what we got here. I just need some basic direction. It's 22 miles. Uh, directions. Let's go.
00:17:16
Speaker
Express Lane, pretty, uh, clear right now. Nobody in my way. No thanks, Siri. See, I got a British gal. There you go. Might have us take the, oh, you know what's gonna have us take the oranges exit, I bet. Which is one of the worst. One of the worst exits on the whole parkway.
00:17:46
Speaker
It backs way up and then everybody goes past the line of cars and then just cuts in. They just cut in at the end. So I don't know, let us know guys what you think of this new format. I'm thinking we might even just start a whole new side podcast. Woodworkers in cars drink a coffee.
00:18:12
Speaker
That's true. How's your coffee taste this morning? Pretty good. I'm drinking that new coffee from the place down the street. Yeah, which one's it called? I want to say it was like Sola. You know, Andrea showed it to me last night. She said, you want to show Jeff this coffee and tell him which one we got? I'm like, oh, yeah, I'll tell him tomorrow. But the name flew right out of my head.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, it's organic. It's not like that, I can remember. Fair trade. Yeah, yeah. Single origin. Yeah. You know, all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, they've got some good coffee. Yeah, it's pretty good. What kind of grind size are you using on that compressor? I'm in the medium. I'm in the medium range.
00:19:03
Speaker
Yeah, I'm like a couple ticks towards fine from medium. That's what Baratza recommends for the techniform. Yes, yes. Yeah, I'm not exactly on medium. I'm slightly towards fine myself. Yeah. I did used to actually go a couple ticks towards coarse, just out of experimentation.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, it's always good to try. You know, this is so typical, you guys can't see, but this minivan, New York license plate, gets from the left lane to the middle lane, gets in front of me. Now I got my cruise control on 72. And then they slowed down. And now I'm going to be inside of their van pretty soon. Yeah.
00:19:48
Speaker
I'm driving home from the shop yesterday. Route 36. Now, in New Jersey, there's no left turns on highways. It's divided with concrete dividers, too. Yeah, there's openings where, you know, the cross-streets are, because there's obviously cross-street traffic and a stoplight. Idiot. Sorry for the navigation.
00:20:14
Speaker
So yeah, so light turns red, we all stop them in the left lane behind a car. With New York plates, who pulled out a couple lights back, went straight to the left lane. Then there was nobody on the road in front of them. It was straight to the left lane. So we get to the light, light turns red, we stop. Light turns green. They don't move. I give them a beat. They still don't move. Here's a cop.
00:20:40
Speaker
Where's it going? Oh, they don't move so they're still not moving so I'm laying on my horn like non-stop. I got it totally blasting Next thing you know left turn into oncoming, you know, there's traffic coming the other way It's a highway 50 miles an hour people are doing 60 65 miles an hour. Yeah. Yeah, very dangerous move
00:21:03
Speaker
And you know, as I'm laying on my horn, I'm like going like, you can't turn left! Complete disregard. They just, you know. Here's the question for you. Did they have their blinker on? I think they did. I couldn't see it first because I had crept up so close to them. You were trying to push them through the intersection. I was ready to get out of my car and kick their side view mirror off.
00:21:29
Speaker
I wonder if we're gonna run into the Soul Woman on the bridge here.
Tool of the Week and Design Software
00:21:35
Speaker
What Soul Woman? You know, Kia Soul Woman. Not Aretha. She's overturned six miles back with a lipstick in her hand. And an eyebrow pencil in the other. Keep left. Under garden state parkway N.
00:21:52
Speaker
We've got this fancy British navigation going. She's sexy, ain't she? So now we're going over the Driscoll Bridge, which is... I mean, this is a wide bridge. This is... It's funny that... Oh, no, that's the Route 9 bridge, I guess, right? Yeah.
00:22:09
Speaker
So this is like a 12 lane or more. We've got four here, I think four over there, maybe five or six over there. Yeah. And this goes over, I guess this is the Raunton River. Yep. I mean, a 15 lane bridge must blow people's minds if they come from, you know,
00:22:29
Speaker
I mean maybe I know Texas has these massive highways like when I went to Texas last time and I I rented a car I drove down from Dallas to my friend's house outside Waco and I was blown away by the size of the highway. Yeah some of those like what they call them spurs where all these different roads are meeting up into one. Yeah like eight lanes going the same direction
00:22:59
Speaker
Wild. Is everybody still in the left lane? I just like driving in the left. I like driving in the left. Oh god, that was funny. If you're not passing or actively trying to get past the person in front of you, get out of the left lane. Yeah.
00:23:22
Speaker
Chicago has some big highways and stuff like that too, but I don't remember them really being so expansive. You know, that's the thing out West. They had the room when they needed new highways. They really started building extra wide.
00:23:42
Speaker
But like, you know, you said you've never been to Brooklyn. When we finally do get to Brooklyn and we get on the Belt Parkway, the first thing you're gonna notice is the lanes are only about as wide as a car. Oh yeah. History lanes. Because it's a whole road. Yeah. And it was probably originally two lanes is what happened.
00:24:08
Speaker
Yeah, well, I used to work in Seaside and, uh, forget the name of the bridge. I think they just rebuilt it, but, you know, you got highway 37, um, which goes, you know, through Toms River and Manchester Toms River and then over onto the island, um, which is Seaside. And it's, I think three lanes with concrete dividers like this on, on, you know, it's got the wall of the bridge and the concrete dividers like that.
00:24:37
Speaker
And the lanes are so tight and You know, it's all idiots on that. Yeah, it's going into seaside It's all tourists going to the beach and I was just trying to get to work and I would weave in and out of those freaking people
00:24:53
Speaker
Hey, you know, I was thinking, um, I don't have a physical tool of the week, but you know, could talk a little bit about the sketch up as a tool of the week. And it might be, you know, a part of our design. I was going to say it's a good, uh, good tie-in to the.
00:25:12
Speaker
the a
00:25:28
Speaker
So this one will be on design. And if you want to get in on that, you can join the Patreon. So I have a link down there. Yeah. So at this point, if you're interested in woodworking, you've heard of SketchUp. And what it is, it's a 3D drawing program. Everybody probably knows that much too. And for those that haven't tried it, there's a free version that you can download. Well, yeah, you can't download it anymore.
00:25:57
Speaker
Oh, what do they do? It's all online based. Oh, it's all online. That's how long it's been. I was a really early adopter of SketchUp. It was back when Google owned it. They sold it to somebody named Trimble.
00:26:14
Speaker
and which kind of always surprised me you know Google's usually buying stuff up but they sold the Trimble and then Trimble has sort of expanded it well beyond the capabilities that I use and
00:26:31
Speaker
The thing that's great about SketchUp or your preferred software, which is Fusion 360, and we'll get into that on our design podcast, all the different capabilities that Fusion has, is that it allows the woodworker, like a professional woodworker who needs to make a presentation, or even
00:26:51
Speaker
a hobbyist who wants to either take a look at different design schemes or figure out how pieces are going to fit together because it's that exact thing. You could literally build it piece by piece
00:27:08
Speaker
and then fit it together. And it'll show you where you might have errors in spacing. And that's a really useful way that we employ SketchUp and Fusion. We'll take the room measurements and draw the client's space in the computer. And then when we're designing, especially when it comes to big suites of things, we could see, oh, we're going to have a half inch gap at the wall over here. Let's increase the size of this cabinet.
00:27:35
Speaker
Yeah, we're like, oh shit, there's a switch right there. Yeah, exactly. Oh, wait, there's two return events. Yeah, that happens, too. But it helps us design around those things. And it's a great presentation tool. So when you're doing custom work and somebody hires you, typically they're going to say, yeah, I want this. Let's say we'll use an entertainment center as the example.
00:28:04
Speaker
I need this thing for my TV and it's going to go right over here in this space in my house. So what's the first thing we do, Jeff, when we go over there? We say, good morning, client. Well, we check them out. We check out their space and we measure their their room, you know, so that we can recreate the space as close as possible in our computers. That gives us the foundation for the design work that we're going to do.
00:28:34
Speaker
and the confidence to now never go back to the jobs ideally. Go one time, get every single possible measurement that could be pertinent, even ones that aren't. Because you never know what's going to pop up because you may have a design change or whatever.
00:28:56
Speaker
and then just be able to build it and show up and it all works. Right, right. Now, we worked at a place that famously was unable to do that for some reason or other or for various reasons. Definitely various, yeah. Things never quite fit. Those tape measures are tricky.
00:29:16
Speaker
Or there was the cardboard template that was always... But the template's only as good as the person who's making the template. That's really what it's all about. A cardboard template could possibly work if you took great care in handling it and the edges and all that stuff.
00:29:36
Speaker
Um, but more often than not, it's, it's sort of like a thin plywood hot melt glue kind of template. I mean, that's what, uh, you know, like cat and that cabinet countertop guys, they use that forever before, uh, the computer took over.
00:29:54
Speaker
So, I forgot where I was going with this, but anyway, the next thing that the programs allow us is the presentation side of things, right? Which is really where it stands out. I mean, the ability to design in 3D and work through kinks is, I'm not trying to underplay that, but the presentation is huge.
00:30:21
Speaker
It changed everything. When I started with SketchUp, again, such a long time ago when it first came out, it's got to be at least 15 years. It changed everything for my business model.
00:30:38
Speaker
I could draw. Not only do I have like artistic ability to draw, I am a trained draftsman and know how to create measured drawings and all that stuff, blueprints, and I used to do all those things. Look at this guy in the middle lane going. Cops got somebody pulled over on the side of the road and they just like to slow down.
00:31:00
Speaker
But pencil and paper is two dimensions, 2D, and technical drawings only really show so much, you know? And it's hard for the layperson, the client, to translate all that stuff.
00:31:17
Speaker
Even the most basic drawing in Sketchup, it's got colors and the room and you can navigate through it so you're turning the model and you can walk through it. Yeah, you get those
00:31:32
Speaker
different perspectives from low, from high, different angles. Somebody has, how deep is that draw here? You pull out your little tape measure and measure it. I mean, it's fully interactive. And so what that does is it shows the person what you're proposing with no gray area. They don't have to take such a leap of faith. Right.
00:32:01
Speaker
Because I'll backtrack, what I was saying was we go there, we measure the room, they tell us a little bit about what they need, we measure maybe it's their TV, their AV equipment, we look for obstructions, and we kind of check out what the room is telling us as far as design already in the place.
00:32:24
Speaker
We try and future-proof as much as possible, and then we go back to our computers and we throw around some design ideas, the both of us.
00:32:37
Speaker
And we've pretty much come from the same school and wind up with two versions of the same thing more or less almost every time. Or we'll incorporate something and go, oh, that's a cool idea. Let's do this. Let's try that. What if we turned it that way? And then there's always the new challenge aspect of the job that we like to include.
00:33:02
Speaker
whether it's a tool, a machine, a design element, we love to throw that in. But we get to go back to the client with our computer, or most of the time we just do it electronically, now we just email it off. And they get to look at it and see what it is they're buying, almost as if it already exists.
Driving Habits and Road Challenges
00:33:23
Speaker
And that's what people are used to now, scrolling through pages and say, oh yeah, I like that, I want it.
00:33:32
Speaker
So if you're interested, yeah, this person is really a pain in the ass. They're getting over. About time. You're trying to, you know, get over into the side of another car.
00:33:45
Speaker
Um, so if you're, if you're curious, if you're interested, you ever notice that people that are problems are always kind of looking up like they're peering out over the front of the car. Hey, look at this. We got a stretch Lincoln SUV. Yeah. Wonder who's in there. Probably somebody going to Newark airport. Yeah. What do we got going on here? Look at this van trying to, trying to merge in and just, he's got traffic stopped behind him. That's safe. Yeah. Where are we exiting by the way? The, the, uh,
00:34:15
Speaker
Oranges let's see 280 yeah What there's another one driving so slow We get off at 280 east okay
00:34:48
Speaker
So you should definitely check out Sketchup. It might be a little daunting at first if you've never used it. I think Fusion, do they have a, I don't call it a free version? Yeah.
00:35:08
Speaker
The thing is, if you're doing any kind of like CNC work or anything more technical, the capabilities of Fusion pretty much outstrip that of SketchUp. I think aesthetically too, it looks better. And the controls are more or less the same. The basic controls. Going through a toll plaza. Yeah, welcome in. Welcome into my lane, Mr. Smart Car.
00:35:34
Speaker
But, uh, it's definitely worth your time, investment. Going through a toll plaza, New Jersey Landmarks, if you ever watch The Sopranos. Yeah. So we're getting off at 145. Okay. I think that, yeah, I think that was... I-280 East. Yeah, this guy wants to come in, too.
00:36:02
Speaker
I swear, the people, they look so stupid, the ones who are driving like idiots. They do. Not to be judgmental, but there does seem to be a few sandwiches missing out of the picnic basket there. How are we looking on the computer? Still recording? Yeah, yeah. There's the levels going. And there's that guy that cut in front of me, right to the left lane. Yep. And here's the sheriff. Oh my god.
00:36:31
Speaker
Oh, try and there's one of those scat vans. Oh Lord. And we're just sitting with the blinker on in the, in the second time. I wish we could turn the camera around so people could see this. There's nonsense. Let's get a look at that. You got to be kidding me.
00:36:57
Speaker
I swear, people are special this morning. This is what commuters deal with every day. Can you believe it? I wouldn't last a month. Oh, man. Oh, there's nobody in front of this scat van. It's a school vehicle. Handcapped school bus.
00:37:20
Speaker
So check out a drawing program, whether it's SketchUp, whether it's Fusion 360, I would stick to those two as far as exploring anything. Now they're getting over again. Yeah, I would implore you to try Fusion if you're gonna...
00:37:37
Speaker
if you're gonna start from scratch just because. Yeah, well you don't have to unlearn anything. Yeah, it's so much more capable that, and essentially the actions are the same. Yeah. So you could just do more with Fusion. It's got a lot more hidden menu functions on Fusion. There's all those drop down things, there's the timeline, which is really, for me, is a real critical tool
00:38:05
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, SketchUp, it's hard. Now, SketchUp just changed a lot. Yeah. So we can't speak to the newest version, but, like, SketchUp 2019, if you need to go back and change something, it's a hassle. You need to, like, literally go back. Now, in Fusion, you could just go to your timeline, find that whatever action that was. Let's say you...
00:38:31
Speaker
Let's say you drew a rectangle and you drew it two feet by two feet, and then you extruded it and turned it into this component. Well, in Fusion, you can go back and change the dimension of that, and all the other parts will move accordingly. Yeah, that's the thing where in Sketchup, you got to do everything individually because you're only able to work on that one piece. Right.
00:38:55
Speaker
So parts won't realign themselves. Yeah, and sometimes they get tied together and these that was one of the biggest things with me and in Sketchup where you know things becoming intertwined when I didn't necessarily want them to be and that's just an aptitude thing most of all but It seemed too easy to happen to me in Sketchup like it was like almost like the default where things would get tied together and
00:39:24
Speaker
Oh yeah, it does default to that. Like if you draw something and don't isolate it as a group or a component, it will automatically tie itself to the next thing you draw on it. The thing I like about Fusion is because it's like a CAD-based program, everything is built out of sketches where SketchUp
00:39:52
Speaker
The planes are a little more loose. Like in Fusion, let's say I want to build a table. So I draw a rectangle that's 30 inches wide and 72 inches long. And this is going to be the countertop. And then I extrude it to an inch and a half thick. When I extrude it, I select, you know, extrude as new component. So there's my component. There's the top.
00:40:18
Speaker
then I can actually select the bottom of the table and you go back into a 2D view of the bottom of the table and this is where I create my sketches for the legs, which start also as a 2D. So I could draw, let's say I want four legs and I want them to all splay out splay and rake at five degrees. Well, I can draw my four squares and I can extrude them and I can set those splays and rakes on the extrusion.
00:40:46
Speaker
and now I extrude those as components and now I have my light components. It's not as elegant in Sketchup to me.
00:40:55
Speaker
In SketchUp, the way I use it, I almost use it like I'm drawing, because I draw line by line, which is, for the beginner, is probably a hundred times harder. That's lower. Yes. It's taken me many, many years to go at the speed I do in SketchUp, and if I could start all over again, I'd definitely pick Fusion.
00:41:26
Speaker
Yeah. Learning your keyboard shortcuts and stuff. Yeah. Yeah. All that muscle memory.
00:41:35
Speaker
So that's our big advice for today. Check out a 3D drawing program and put it in the mix of what you're doing and you'll see how it positively impacts what you're doing, whether you're a professional. If you're a professional, I could almost guarantee it's going to make you more money.
00:41:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, like I don't know how guys are still selling jobs with just like a elevation view on You know CV or something or or just a hand-drawn
00:42:11
Speaker
I mean, if they're selling to contractors that they have relationships with, that's separate from, I mean, we deal with clients and we are doing custom stuff. So, I mean, we have to present this unique idea and some vision. But yeah, get on it. Well, where we are, we're caught in the exit lane traffic here with
00:42:37
Speaker
Yeah, me personally, you know, some days I'll just sit in this and not worry about trying to get up there and squeeze in. But yeah, you can see, you can't see, but all these people in the lane adjacent to us are trying to get in up there. Yeah, because there's nothing better than getting up about five cars up and in traffic, right? I mean, that that'll really make your day a better one.
00:43:04
Speaker
gonna let that guy in but he didn't he didn't like to spot enough no no he didn't a little further he's shooting what look at him he's going for three cars up man
00:43:17
Speaker
Then, at the end, I get spiteful. I ain't letting anybody in. He goes from generous to spiteful. That's right. You had your chance. Where's the line? Here's the line. Now, nobody's getting in. I'm going to ride this guy's ass all the way up until the exit. You want to squeeze in? Squeeze in front of somebody else. Got signs here for the newer trauma center.
00:43:47
Speaker
The big trauma center hospital in this area, you know, like if you get a medevac, that's probably where you're going.
Arriving in Newark and Work Prep
00:43:54
Speaker
I think it's a, is that a Robert Wood Johnson? I don't know. Looks like we're going to get off at first street once we get onto 280. Take exit 145 to merge onto I-280 towards Newark. Ah, you dickheads. Like people up there, they literally, they're crossing solid lines.
00:44:16
Speaker
What did Sam do? We're gonna take 280 to First Street. I'm pretty sure that's the name of the exit. This looks familiar. Oh yeah, there's a tall plaza right after this. Oh, maybe not.
00:44:47
Speaker
I swear. He's got an orange light on the top of his car. Watch out. This poor guy.
00:45:08
Speaker
You know, I was checking out all those small vans. The interior height of those really is just a little over four feet on those loads. That doesn't seem right. We'll have to get in there and check one out in person. But I came across these sites because you know, all that van living stuff, you know, there are sites that like show all the dimensions.
00:45:34
Speaker
to take exit 13 on the left onto first street towards Brochbrook Park. Cause I, my, I don't know, my Ford van, the door was four feet. And then it was, you know, had to be 54 or 58 inches on the inside. I think the old fashioned vans are much roomier. That seems like a, now I'm talking about those mini, like the pro master city.
00:46:05
Speaker
But the Metra seems like a like that seems like a regular size vein. I think the Metra is. I think but I'm talking about like the connect that little connect or whatever it's called. That I can believe. Oh, yeah, we take a left here. I remember the U-Haul.
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah. Welcome to Newark. Currently being gentrified. Newark. Poor people not welcome in Newark. Carjacking capital of the world. Do you want to get your car stolen? It's a good place to leave it. Yeah. We make good time. Yeah. Less than an hour. Habitually early.
00:47:04
Speaker
Yeah, that's us. She's got a pleasant voice, my Siri, doesn't she? Yeah, soothing. Make me want to fall asleep while I'm driving.
00:47:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah. What I want to know is there a place where we can park? That's another thing. I figure what we'll do is we'll... We can unload, do the double-block thing. Yeah.
Tool Legacy and Plywood Preferences
00:47:41
Speaker
Well, folks, we'll be signing off here in a minute. Yeah.
00:47:46
Speaker
So Tool of the Week was the brain. We had to hit that next week. Sketchup or Fusion 360, a drawing program. You guys owe it to yourselves. Oh, real quick, while we're still driving, we got those two questions, I forgot. Yeah, what were they? So Colin Beaver Badger on Instagram, one of our Patreons, he wants to know, what are we going to do with our tools when we die? Yeah, well,
00:48:13
Speaker
You know, it depends how soon that is for me. If it was something recent, like I'd have to leave mine to Jeff, then he could do whatever he needs to do with him.
00:48:28
Speaker
I'm going to use them if that's the case. That's what I mean. We're passing the building right now. So they got that gate closed up. Yeah, same thing. You know, if if it was anything, you know, I would obviously go robbed.
00:48:50
Speaker
you know if I was in a position in the future where I had you know an apprentice or somebody you know who I was working with it'd go to them maybe or my son I don't know it's that's a tough one yeah very situational and at this point obviously they go to Rob because he's gonna make the best use of them
00:49:14
Speaker
There's no real value on the marketplace for used tools. You want them to go to somebody who's going to put them to work.
Wrap-up and Future Plans
00:49:25
Speaker
That was a move. That's one thing we do in New Jersey, too. You can turn right on red.
00:49:35
Speaker
Yeah. And then Jerry, G.A. Woodshop, another patron, he wants to know, like, what kind of plywood do we like? Do we like veneer core, MDF core, combo core, and if there's any brands? Yeah. What the hell is that? Karma. Huh. Is that a Ferrari?
00:50:01
Speaker
I don't know. I never saw it. I mean, it looked similar to many cars. Yeah. Well, we tried that, uh, Orico. Is that how you say it? Orico, Orico. Yeah. Um, and John Peters has been talking about it for a long time. Oh, no, no, that is a brand of plywood, but we, we've tried Garnica. Garnica. Garnica, Garnica. I don't know. That's it. Which it is, but.
00:50:31
Speaker
This is valid parking, right? Yeah, we try and avoid MDF when it's possible. We rarely really get into it. If there's something that has to be super flat, super stable, super smooth, we'll cut it outside. Yeah, we may use it for like a jig or something.
00:50:54
Speaker
of the
00:51:12
Speaker
I mean, it didn't used to be such an issue. The quality of plywood has definitely decreased. I mean, you have to be pickier than you used to need to be. That's something I noticed. I can't remember when it was, but the first time I cut down a sheet and I got that little potato chip action from the same place I'd always gotten the plywood, I'm like,
00:51:40
Speaker
And then the next sheet, same thing. And, you know, all of a sudden there was a new grade of plywood you had to pay extra for. Yeah. Yeah. It's like everything, you know, they try and bring the quality down and then, you know, to save money and then you got to, you got to upgrade anything that's any good. Yeah. Well, so there we go. I wonder what people thought of this.
00:52:07
Speaker
Yeah, let us know. Check out the YouTube if you're just listening. You get to see some sites. You get to see. Dude, how glad in the car. Basically what I saw in the rearview mirror. Well, yes, I mean, we're parked. Oh, look, they're up in the up on that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Probably clocking the windows in. I guess we better drive up there and investigate.
00:52:32
Speaker
Yeah, we're about almost 100 yards away. Yeah, we don't want to carry that Baker. No. All that ways. Well, tune in next week, guys. I'm assuming we'll be back in the basement. We'll be back in the shop. Yeah. I mean, yeah, the studio. But yeah, thanks for tuning in. Tune in next week, episode 43. All right. Take care. Ciao.
00:53:11
Speaker
Sunday ain't no shame, but there's been a chain.