Custom Furniture Building with Chuck Dodd

This is episode number 193 of The Homeowner Show. Whether you're DIY or looking to hire, we're here to help you find the best information and options for you and your home. My name is Kevin Hackett, and here with me is Craig Williams.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to The Homeowner Show. We're so glad that you could join us for another episode here at Homeowner Show Studios. How you doing, Kev?

Well, I am fantastic. Yeah, yeah, today's a good day.

Got to move into Casa de Hackett.

I got, I got keys. Keys to the house.

To the his house? And is that a thing anymore?

I don't think so.

Oh, good.

But, but yeah, we, we have keys. So we were in our house and, you know, it was, man, it felt good. Felt good to be there. Um, you were there. I was briefly. Yeah, long enough to, you know, make sure the bugs are no longer there. And, um, our guest was there. We'll talk about that in a minute anyway. Uh, but man, tomorrow—

You can't scare him like that. He thought I was coming in too early.

Exactly. So, uh, yeah, so tomorrow and the next day we're gonna be spending time with the moving truck, with getting all the stuff in.

Yeah. And, uh, dude, you got so much more room than you used to.

Yeah, just interesting. So the, the house itself is smaller.

Sure.

Um, but the living space is quite a bit larger. And but, but the rooms are smaller and those sorts of things. But the— I mean, there's 3 and a quarter acres there, so.

Well, and you've got like 3 extra storage buildings outside. I mean, like, you know, and the shop is awesome.

Yeah.

So I mean, you're gonna be set up good, man. I mean, like, that— it's okay if the house is smaller. You don't wanna be in there anyway.

Exactly. No. And, and honestly, like, I don't know. I don't need a big house.

I don't.

I, I do feel I need to, like, either apologize to your wife or forewarn you.

Okay. I'm ready.

Because your son was out walking around with me.

Mhmm.

And I asked him where he was gonna put the range.

Oh.

And he's like, what's a range?

Uh-huh.

And it's like, it's where you shoot at stuff.

Yeah.

And he's like, what would I do that for? And I was like, well, because you need a place where you can learn how to aim properly and shoot your, your bows and arrows and your guns.

Yeah.

And he's like, well, that sounds cool. I was like, it is.

It's funny because to Daddy that means golf. So, um, I'm not opposed to the other. It's just when I hear the range, I think of a golfing range.

Well, I feel like you both need to know because he might be saying, I need a spot to shoot.

It's probably— uh, she'll be fine with it.

Okay, good.

Yeah, it's time anyway. So, but yeah, so it's gonna be a busy, uh, busy few days and next week or so as we kind of try to move in. But if I don't get this stuff done before the summer hits, it's over.

You're toast.

It's over for me. So yeah, so that's the, that's the biggest thing that's going on. The other thing is, I'm gonna put a shameless plug out here for a second.

Okay.

Um, I need everyone right now, stop what you're doing, go over to the Homeowner Show. There is a post that I shared about Legoland and my son.

Yeah.

And, uh, he has been selected as a finalist in a Mini Master Builders competition. It's the first one they've ever done.

Okay.

And he's a finalist. There's 2 other kids, so there's 3 of them. And the person that gets the most likes on the picture— so you got to click the picture and then click like— uh, wins for the region. And if they win the region, then they get to compete in a national competition where there's a whole new project. So his project was a hammerhead shark, and I would tell you in the comment or in the description of his picture, you need to go watch the video. The video explains everything and it's pretty, pretty funny. Yeah, I think so.

Long and short of it, go to our Facebook page. There's a picture of a kid that belongs to you holding a Lego thing that everyone needs to go like the picture.

Like the picture.

Yeah.

Yep. So shameless plug. I, I couldn't care less what you think about me saying that. So yeah. That's fine. But go, he, he needs to win. He deserves to win.

Sure. Because does he get any money?

Uh, I don't know. Here's what I do know though. Um, at the national level, I don't really know what the, what the procedure will be at that point. Uh, probably very similar to what it is right now. You submit, uh, whatever build it is. It was this, this time it was an animal. You had to build an animal.

Okay.

So there'll be another competition, but if he wins, he will be the first ever Mini Master Builder in North America because they've this first time they've ever done this. So so it's a pretty big opportunity.

There might be some money, but mostly prestige. Yeah, prestige and and potentially down the road for like a hat if you're like the like a special hat. That's I want to know how to like identify these people.

That's what every child wants is like look at this hat I won or like a badge.

Yeah, maybe a sash, a sachet.

I don't know. I don't know. But anyway, I'm, uh, I'm a pretty proud dad. Um, I, you know, he, he built it all himself. And, uh, so it's a fun, it's a fun little thing. We, we love building, uh, building LEGO together and, and doing that whole thing. So, um, so anyway, y'all, your family's a LEGO family too?

Oh yeah, we've got buckets and buckets of it. So yeah, it's good times.

It's fantastic.

So So anyway, so speaking of shameless plugs, yep. Why don't we plug the things that, you know, pay the bills?

Alright. Let's do it. I'll go first. This episode today is brought to you by Sustained Growth Solutions. Listen. We know that all of you business owners out there need to figure out how to grow your business. It's part of it. And in doing so, you gotta figure out how are you gonna get more leads? How are you going to, uh, just exponentially change the number of people that are coming to you to earn your business? Well, that's what Sustained Growth Solutions does. They step in and say, look, we will handle the leads for you. You just let us do our thing. We'll help you with all your digital marketing, your media, everything that it takes to run your business

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That's good.

That's good.

It is.

Your turn.

Oh, well, no, I, I was actually gonna say, like, I actually get contacted by, by companies similar to Sustained Growth, like, 2 or 3 times a week.

Yeah.

And they just annoy me because they all, they all seem to have, like, the same playbook. They, you know, whereas, like, Sustained Growth has a different strategy. And, like, here's, here's the thing that bugs me is, like, when you, when you call these guys, they're going to tell you what their strategy is.

Yes.

Right? Everybody else that I talk to is very withholding. It's like, well, let's have 3 meetings and then I'll tell you the plan. And it's like, no, just tell me what you wanna do.

Right.

And then I can talk about whether or not we wanna do business. I don't have time. I don't have time for 3 or 4 meetings that are 3 hours long.

No.

Like, just what's, what's your, what's your, what is your plan of action?

Right. Yeah. And, and the other thing is the leads that you get from Sustained Growth are exclusive.

Right.

Where those other companies, they're selling that same lead to potentially 5 to 10 other contractors.

Exactly.

And you don't have a chance to close any business because someone else has gotten to it before you have. So exclusive leads, which is very, very unique. And the last time I talked to these guys, they were, like, their strategy is very much like, why don't you tell me about your business?

Yeah.

Tell me about what, what's working, what's not working. Is there something that, you know, you need that you don't feel like is getting taken care of? And so I feel like they care a little bit differently about your business than just these people that are slinging leads.

Yep.

And slinging them to as many people as they can. So anyway. Yep. Yep. That's a deal. It's good. Good.

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Yeah. It's, I mean, it is an insurance policy, but it's really kinda like a warrant— it functions kinda like a warranty.

It is a warranty. Yeah.

So it—

okay.

Then it's not an insurance policy at all. It's a warranty. But, but it— but I guess maybe it functions similar to an insurance policy. Maybe I, maybe I'll put it that way. Right?

Yeah.

So it's, it's one of those deals where it's like, you, you pay for the warranty, and if anything ever goes wrong, they're gonna fix it.

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Well, and here's the deal. Most of these companies that come out and do, termite treatments, they're not going to do it unless they treat the entire house.

Right. And, well, they're not— and they're not going to warranty it unless they treat the whole house.

Right. And, and the reality of it is, most of the time termites are not in your entire house. Most of the time they're localized in an area and they're gonna, they're gonna work their way in. So you want to get it treated, uh, but you don't necessarily have to treat the whole house. But it costs a lot of money to treat every linear foot of your house.

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And it costs a whole, like, thousands and thousands of dollars. And who's prepared for that? Some people are, but most people aren't. Most people are not. And, and it's like, look, I don't have an extra $4,000 to have this taken care of, but maybe I have $35 in my pocket.

If I did, do you think I'd be here right now? Exactly.

Nope. I don't. I actually don't.

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Perfect. Simple, simple, easy. So cool.

Who we got tonight?

All right, man. We've, we got a really cool episode. I was actually chatting with my, with my realtor, Brandy Burke. Go ahead and put her name out there. If I didn't, our guest would have. So she's awesome. She sold me a house, sold my house, and then sold me another house. I love her. And anyway, she called me one day. I was like, hey, Kevin, I've got a, I've got a guest that you need to have on the podcast. This guy, you're gonna love him. He does custom furniture. He does woodworking. Pretty much anything you need, this guy can take care of it. She was like, he built a kitchen table for us. She said he's built a couple

of things.

Wait, you built a table at Brandy's house?

Yes.

I love that table.

Cypress table.

Okay.

Yeah.

So she was like, the thing about it is everybody that comes to her house, They, you know, they're like, oh, wow, where'd you get that table?

Yeah, no, it is awesome.

So anyway, that's something that she gets compliments on all the time. She was like, you really need to have— have you ever had someone like that? I was like, no, we've never had a custom furniture builder or a woodworker on our— other than me. I do woodworking, but not full-time in any way. But anyway, so we got Chuck. From Chuck and Charlie's. And, uh, so yeah, welcome to the podcast.

Thanks for having me. Uh, thanks for Brandy for hooking us up. Yeah, it's connected.

Yep. Yeah, she's awesome.

Yeah, definitely shout out to her.

So, so let's do this. Let's start off with tell us a little bit about you and kind of the journey that you've been on to get to where you're at, because, uh, we got something— you've been doing woodworking for a long time, but some things are changing in your life, right? Right, for sure.

So, um, I started about 10 years ago, um, I built a, um, we run a yard sale and we're cruising around the golf cart and there was this big 8-foot door. I said, that's awesome, I like that. So I bought it. It was like $30 for this big 8-foot door. So I brought it home. I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. I just built like a little shop garage, um, behind the house. So, um, I'm gonna do something with it. I don't know what. Anyways, my wife says, um, let's do a coffee table out of that. I mean, a dining table.

Hmm.

Okay. I didn't know anything about woodworking, you know. I grew up on a small little ranch and, you know, built a few things just to, you know, fixing fences and that kind of stuff. My dad had a little wood shop and we built some things just out of necessity.

Yeah.

You know, birdhouses for the purple martins, you know, stuff like that. Anyways, so, uh, so I built this little table and And, uh, some friends come over and like, hey, that's cool, can you build me one? I don't know, I guess, I guess. Um, so I didn't know anything about woodworking. Like, that table was terrible, like terrible. And when we sold the house, like, they said, can we have this table too? I was like, sure, it's terrible, but okay, you can have it, it's yours. Um, that's good.

So, um, so you don't have the first original piece?

I do not.

That could be worth some money.

But I found, I found a picture though. I got on HAR and found like an old, old photos of the house when we sold it. And yeah, it's there. So terrible, terrible of them.

So you didn't like sign it and number it underneath or something?

I should have, right?

Should have.

And 001, Chuck and Charlie.

00001.

Well, that's, that's pretty ambitious.

That's 10,000. I mean, you never know. Shoot for the stars.

Well, but yeah, but rarity equals more value.

So—

Oh, oh, so you're only gonna go up to 1,000.

So I should stop here.

I'll stop here.

Then everything's worth a lot more, right?

Exactly. Yeah. I, I don't think that's the way that works, guys. I mean, maybe, maybe there's something I don't know.

Well, there's— so the, the famous, uh, artist that did the, uh, Campbell's tomato can.

Uh-huh.

What's his name?

Uh, Mr. Campbell.

No, like the painting of the Campbell Soup.

Oh, I don't know.

Anyway, whoever that guy is, like back in like the '60s and '70s, he started what was called the Art Factory. And so he like, he literally like hired a bunch of artists to come in and make art that he would then sign.

Oh.

And so like he was pumping out like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pieces. And so like today there's only like a few of his that are actually worth any money. Because there's so many of them out there.

Nice.

Even though he's a famous artist, somebody's gonna chime in and tell me who that is.

Yeah, somebody.

Not me.

No, I can't think of it right now. No, that's actually what I call brilliant though. If you're not good at something, fake it till you make it.

I've done a little bit of that.

Yeah. So sorry, you didn't number it. You didn't. So we can move on. Yeah.

So So you built your—

Just on the next one, do that.

So, uh, our good friends Megan and Greg, so I built them a table and a little outdoor bar. And how much, how much do I owe you? I don't know. I don't know what this stuff goes for. So they gave me some money and I'm like, cool, I made a little money. But, um, yeah, back then I started with $500. I had a cheap table saw, a drill, a sander, which I still have.

Okay.

Yeah, so nice. We've been through thick and thin together. Yeah, still have that sander. Yeah, uh, the drill I mean, been through several batteries, but hey, still have the drill.

It works. Those things last forever. If— well, especially— yeah, I was gonna say the Ryobi ones, but that's fine too. No, DeWalt's great. We actually love DeWalt.

Yeah, they're good tools.

We love Milwaukee really a lot. They're all good.

So I actually grew up with Makita.

Oh yeah, that was the brand I grew up with. It's still a good brand.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm, I'm actually kind of curious how the Hart brand is at Walmart. I'm curious.

So, so several of my dust collection, um, Tools I have on those Hart vacuums.

Really?

And I put them through the paces and they've held up. I've burnt one.

Okay.

Burnt one up. That's because I forgot to put the filter back in.

Well, so that's your fault.

Yeah, so no, yeah, no fault to them, but that was me. Um, but I've got 3 more and those things just chug along.

That is good to know.

Yeah. Um, I did try— I bought one of the drills the other day.

Uh-huh.

It's great.

I mean, they're so far—

we'll see how brushless tools—

I mean, they look nice. They got displayed really good in Walmart.

Yeah, they're pretty. I mean, it's not, um, you know, it's not Milwaukee, right? No, it's not gonna last.

But it's also not Milwaukee prices, right?

Let's—

yeah, let's put that out there too.

Exactly.

Yeah, tools are like one of those weird, like, status things because, like, I, like, I don't think there's anybody out there if, like, a, like, a contractor showed up with, like, HART Tools would care. But like, you're rarely around other contractors for them to shun you about your tool brand, right? You know?

Yeah, it's like all of a sudden, like, why are there 4 other plumbers here all using the same?

Or like, you're showing up to bid the same job and you're like, really, ma'am, you're gonna go with him?

Right.

I mean, he's, he's using Ryobi, right?

Or Hart.

How good could he be?

Yeah, how good could he be? He shops at Walmart. Wait a minute, I shop at Walmart. Anyway, sorry.

They got good deals on fishing stuff too.

They do. Yeah, they do. So, okay, so you know that's rare, right?

That we live in an area that Walmart actually has a hunting department.

Yeah, really. They also— our Walmart around here also has a sewing department, right? And you can buy kayaks there. So it's pretty much the best Walmart on the planet.

Yeah, but you're talking about the one in Montgomery. Yeah. Yeah, not that Okay, not the one in Conroe.

Well, both of them have all of that.

I like it. Does it have a hunting one?

And I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like going to Conroe one.

Okay, they've got, they've got ammo and stuff in there.

It's good people watching.

Good people watching. It is good people watching at the Conroe. I have to tell you a story off air because I've got a story about people watching at Walmart that I cannot share on anything public. So anyway, so we were talking about you had these just normal everyday kind of people have tools, and that's what you're working with.

That's what I had. Yeah, I started with $500, and, and now 10 years later I've got, um, Harbor Freight all the way to Festool to SawStop.

Oh, all of it.

So The cheap stuff, the expensive stuff, everything in between. Whatever works for, for that situation and that job.

So, um, man, I'm jealous right now. I need to come check out your shop because I, first of all, I, I want a SawStop really, really badly. Uh, if you don't know SawStop, are you familiar with this brand?

No idea.

Okay, so, so SawStop is, um, a lifesaver, literally. Yeah, for sure. So what, what they've done is revolutionary because If you talk to a lot of woodworkers, you're gonna find people with no fingers. You're gonna find people with like gashes all over themselves, you know, because at the end of the day, you, you can be very, very careful and stuff happens.

Right.

Something slips, something— you took your mind off something for just a moment. Um, I mean, I know a guy that his, uh, His fingers look like this because he actually got his hand caught in the chop saw. Got all of them. And so SawStop, they, they've got this— their product is if it touches anything flesh, it immediately stops. And you might, you might get like a, like a pinprick, maybe.

Really?

But like, they— their videos— go watch their videos online. They use a hot dog. And they'll put a hot dog up against the blade and it will not cut the hot dog.

Well, that doesn't inspire any trust. If you want to prove it to me, you stick your finger in there.

Get on YouTube. Uh, there are some videos. Yeah, it's— oh yeah, it's hard to watch. It's hard to watch, but it works.

So it works.

And, and I've been, I've been wanting one forever. And, uh, mainly, I mean, they are a good tool, but, but second It's safe, the technology and the safety. And I was telling my wife, it's like, so one popped up on Facebook the other day for sale, same, same one I've been wanting. It's 7-foot wide, I can put a whole sheet of plywood on there and rip it. Um, 110, I didn't have to rewire anything. Yeah, get crazy. Um, and I'm not usually trying to rip 3-inch stuff or anything like that. Yeah, I got my pistol for that.

Really?

Yeah.

Anyways, well, for— I We can talk about Festool for a while too.

And that's—

I love the track saw.

I love that one.

I mean, all their stuff is just—

The Domino. The Domino is amazing.

The Domino is really cool because it's not like most dominoes, um, they look like, uh, footballs, like little, little flat footballs.

Oval domino, basically.

Okay.

Yeah.

And, um, but the Festool one uses like little dowels.

Okay.

Little rods. And it doesn't— it, it's a lot stronger. Dowels are a lot stronger than, than biscuits, basically.

Yeah.

Um, which is what the little footballs are, biscuits.

Yeah, the biscuits are for aligning, and, and the, uh, the dominoes, a, a cheap way— or not cheap, but a cheating way to do a mortise and tenon.

Yeah.

And a lot of the purists are like, oh, that's cheating. But I'm like, hey, I'm, I'm trying to get stuff done.

Yeah, I'm trying to build some furniture. My barbecue is really good with pellets or same thing, wood, right?

It's still really, really good.

The purists are saying it's cheating, and I'm going, man, you know what, I got a lot done.

I set it and forget it.

Set it and forget it.

I've done both with, you know, barbecue and pellets.

There you go. It's good. It tastes great.

Pellets are a lot easier and it tastes great.

They are exactly the same thing.

Do you feel the same way about smoking though?

What do you mean?

Like, people will use like a propane smoker versus like a smoke box with actual wood.

Well, that, that's kind of what I'm talking about here is like pellet smoking versus—

Pellet smoking. Okay.

Wood smoking, like propane smoking or, or like, uh, electric smoking. I, I don't like it as well. It still can do a great job, but I don't like it as well. But the pellets, I don't know, they do a really good— they, they do a great job of controlling the smoke really, really well, especially some of the really nice Traeger and that kind of stuff. They do a really, really good job of controlling it. And so you can literally put a brisket on it at night and go to bed.

Midnight.

Yeah, go to bed and you're great.

Easy bake oven.

Exactly. So, you know, we're way off topic. It's all good, but it's because you started talking about tools. I know, man. I don't know, whenever it comes to tools and it comes to woodworking tools, I could spend so much money. And I'll tell you, we got a friend, um, who, uh, runs the booth up at our church that does woodworking. And, um, he's ready to get rid of a bunch of his stuff. And he was like, whenever you—

Call me.

Yeah. He's like, whenever you're ready. He was like, I'll give it to you at a really, really good price. And I'm like, man, the problem is he doesn't wanna get rid of his table saw. Cause that's— but then again, I'm like, man, your table saw is so nice. But then I'm like, okay, I need a SawStop. If I'm gonna spend money, I need to buy a SawStop. Anyway, the, the point is you have good tools now, right?

Both. I mean, I've got—

you got all of it.

Super expensive tools, and I've got Harbor Freight tools.

And Harbor Freight's good.

It is.

It—

those— I've got probably 6 or 8 grinders. I don't even change the disc on them. Hey, this disc, this disc, this disc. Yeah, if I need this one, I just go get it. I don't even change the disc.

Nice.

They're like $9.

Yeah, so nice.

Time is money.

Time is— there's no doubt about that.

So Yeah. Um, so yeah, so built the first table, our first paid table. And, um, so back before like Facebook Marketplace, put some stuff on, on Craigslist. You know, you get the scams, right? They always scam. Hey, uh, can you ship it to somewhere in China? Like, no, no, we don't have UPS.

Yeah.

So anyways, uh, um, anyways, but I got a lot of clients off there and So that— so, so I never like learned woodworking. Like, I never enjoyed it as like a, uh, as a hobby, right?

Yeah.

Like, I'll go fishing every day— lake, river, ocean, creek, anywhere there's water, I'll go fishing. But like, I never like sat down and like learned woodworking and all the stuff. Like, I had to figure it out along the way.

Yeah.

Hey, can you build this? Of course. Yeah, I lied, you know. I don't know how to build that, but I'll figure it out. I'll get on YouTube 101 and and figure it out. So, and that's how I learned 99% of my stuff, man. And, uh, so are you, are you, are you mainly making tables, or you—

have you kind of branched out and done some other stuff now?

So mainly tables, furniture, but, you know, some built-ins. I'm working on this, uh, 10-foot island that's been kicking my butt for the last 2 months. I'll work on a few hours and I'll go work on something else, come back to it, but it's gonna be super cool. Uh, I think I put up a couple pictures of work in progress on Facebook, but okay, um, we'll link that up. I got about 10 more hours on it and it's gonna be— it's gonna be good. So it's going to Louisiana, so—

Oh nice.

I kind of want to take it to Louisiana just so I can like, you know, a little combo deal. Hey, let's go fishing while I'm here, you know.

So why not?

Hey, I should pass it over with the wife. Yeah, so anyways, um, but I can get some good pictures and, um, we'll see. So 10 more hours, I'll be like—

It's 10-foot islands, so you're gonna have to take it in pieces, I guess.

I wish.

You wish. Oh gosh.

So I'm gonna build a crate pallet that I can jack it all the way up, slide the trailer under, and figure out how to load it up. But it's all one piece metal top. It's got like a big 10-foot floating walnut slab. So it's like super industrial, kind of modern looking. It's got like solid walnut drawer fronts. Um, some pop-up electrical outlets from Amazon.

Those are sweet. No, but those are sweet.

Oh yeah, you just push the button, it's like, yep, yep, plug in whatever you need. Oh yeah, yeah, plug in the blender, iPhone, whatever you got.

So yes, the blender and the iPhone while you've got your Festool going, that's all.

So are you gonna have to install that thing, or are they, are they letting like the, the builder Well, so it's a, um, so down the line it's my brother's wife's sister's friend's, uh, boyfriend. Anyways, so it's just, you know, word of mouth, right? I mean, the best marketing, right? Word of mouth. So anyways, I built the table for his girlfriend, a table and a buffet. But he's like, hey, I'm building this apartment building in Louisiana. Hey, can you do, can you do this? Yeah, I can do it. I wasn't exactly sure, but we'll figure it out. So Anyways, it's coming together nice, and, uh, we'll see.

But you know what, I find that— so as, as someone who's done woodworking as well, I find that a lot of the things that you build, it's because you build it— it was, it was in your head first. It was in your head, or someone said, hey, I need this, and you're like, well, that's an out-of-the-box thing. It's out of the box because I, I— if I could put it in a box, I would have bought it. in a box, right? But I can't.

From IKEA.

Yeah, exactly. Uh, but I want something better quality. I want something that's gonna be sturdy. I want to, you know, maybe a piece that's going to be around for a legacy piece, that type of thing. Um, and so most of that stuff you're building from scratch, and there's no plans out there for it, which you can buy plans for woodworking, but honestly, that takes the fun out of figuring it out. Figuring it out. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think that a lot of times everything you build winds up being new and different. And oh yeah, you know, the wood, even, even the wood, it's shaped different, it feels— it cuts different, the grains are different. I mean, all those types of

things wind up being unique. And so I, I think that, I think that the repetitive stuff winds up being just, I don't know, monotonous. Just, it's monotonous. And I don't know, I don't, I don't think I would enjoy it as much. So the custom, I, I like the, the custom route you're going.

Which I've built a lot of the same trestle-style farmhouse tables. I've built bunches of them. Yeah, 50, 60, 80 of— I don't need— I can't even count. But, um, but, but they're all a little bit different, right? All the grain's a little bit different, or they're different color or different size, or stained or painted. Stained, painted.

Yeah.

Um, this, this sheen, or this, you know, shiny gloss satin flat. Yeah, you know, everything's a little bit different.

Um, So I learned something. Okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna take us off. You, you mentioned paint just now, so we're, we're working on— we're gonna do some painting in our house.

I thought of the artist's name, by the way.

Okay, throw it out.

Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol?

Yes.

I've heard that name before.

Yeah.

That— sorry, fraud. That's what they say about him. Uh, anyway, so, uh, I, I went to Sherwin-Williams today and I was like, look, we're gonna, we're gonna paint my kids' rooms. And he's like, all right, do you know what you're like, what kind of sheen you want or whatever? And I was like, honestly, like, I, I'm not a— I really just like satin or eggshell on, on walls. That's my, that's my thing. My brother likes semi-gloss. I, I think we've had this conversation.

We have.

And, and I hate him for it. But, um, I don't like semi-gloss on, on walls. So, but the, but the guy was like—

As much as I want to agree with your brother just to be against you, You agree? He's wrong.

No, he's definitely, definitely wrong.

What do you like?

Me?

Almost always eggshell or like satin or even like just like a flat matte. Yeah, I mean, like, I'm—

So I'm, I'm, I'm definitely a matte on the ceiling and I'm a satin or eggshell. Satin or eggshell are almost the very same thing. I mean, they're almost exactly the same thing. And then, you know, semi-gloss. So here's what he told me. This, this guy was very, very helpful. His name was Benjamin because I remember thinking, isn't it ironic that a person named Benjamin is working on a Sherman? But really super cool guy. But he told me something very interesting. He said, as you go up in quality of paint, Mm-hmm. So the, the more expensive, basically, you wind up paying for, more money you pay for paint, you can go down in sheen and still get the same washability, durability look, he said.

But if you buy a lower grade paint, you need to go up in sheen in order to get the same sort of protection.

Okay.

From it. So he said, he said, if I were you, I would do one of two things. I would either buy a higher quality eggshell or satin, or I would buy a lower quality semi-gloss. And what I wound up— and he said, honestly, it's not going to be that much different. They're going to look very similar. He said that the semi-gloss may be a little bit more shiny, but not like if you were to buy high-quality paint and looked at the difference between an eggshell and a semi-gloss. It would be very, very different. So I found that to be very interesting. I wound up going with a little bit of both because he convinced me that going with lower, like spending less money and using semi-gloss because it's a

kid's room, would be a smarter thing to do. But then he only had 1 gallon of it. And so I wound up getting a higher quality with a lower sheen for the other one. Anyway, very interesting. So this might— that might be helpful information for you too. I don't know if you've heard that before, but—

It all makes sense, right?

I guess. I mean, he, he explained it in a way that it made sense to me, but, um—

What I got from that was your brother's a cheapskate.

Uh, you are not wrong. You're not wrong.

So I was in Sherwin-Williams the other day and, uh, talking to this guy. I was getting a paint for a piece I was doing, and he's like, do you have a business by account? Uh, business? I'm like, yeah, kinda-ish, you know, you know, here in a couple weeks, yeah. Do you want to set up a, a business account? I was like, sure, sounds great. Uh, you can save a lot of money.

I'm like, what?

Why didn't we do this 10 years ago?

Right.

So, so the paint I was getting was like $86 a gallon.

Uh-huh.

And they said, well, with your business account, you get it for $47.

What?

I'm like, oh yeah, should have did that 10 years ago.

Right.

This, this—

yeah, right.

I could have saved like $5,000.

Wow.

So yeah, so like almost half the price.

Wow. Which, fun fact, you know, you can either just pocket that money or just pass that savings on to your— either way, it's a win for somebody. For, well, for probably for everybody.

Yeah.

You know, so interesting. So get a business account. That's the—

except for the $5,000 you ain't getting back from Sherwin, right?

Yeah. Yeah. You know, 10 years later.

Yeah. Okay. So live and learn, right? So, all right. So You've built all kinds of things, but you're— you just mentioned like you're kind of in some way you're starting out 6 days. 6 days.

So I've been part-time for the last 10 years working nights, weekends. Yeah, you name it. Anytime I get a chance out there to, to work on a project, and I'm so far behind right now, but I've got June covered.

Good.

First backlog, so Um, if you're listening, I'm gonna get taken— get you taken care of in June. So, but, uh, yeah, so in 6 days I'll be full-time. Okay, I'll finally have 40, 50 hours a week to—

wow—

to dedicate it, which I might have to like rethink how I, uh, time things, you know. How long— somebody says, how long can you— how long does it take you to do it? Well, like 2 weeks, but that's like 2 hours a day, 3 hours a day. Sometimes I don't work on a Wednesday, you know, or whatever, right?

Right.

Like, well, now I can, I can, I can get to you pretty quick now.

Yeah.

So, but, you know, 8, 10 hours a day. So, uh, definitely looking forward to that. And, um, it took like 3 or 4 years, maybe 5, to convince my wife to, uh, to let me do it and jump out there. And super nervous, super excited to do it.

Yeah.

Um, but yeah, so thanks to her for believing in you. Yeah, yeah, let me take the venture and Well, try it out, right?

No, it's a huge deal.

Yeah, huge.

Yeah, yeah, because it's not— I mean, like, you're not supplementing anymore.

No, this is it.

Yeah, like sink or swim. That's it, you got to do it.

So let me ask you this, Craig. So, um, if, if I were to approach you and say, hey, um, do you think that someone with a custom woodworking furniture building type of business in this area who was good at what they do would be successful, you would say?

Yes.

That's exactly what I said.

I like that.

I— that's exactly what I said. Why would you say that?

Uh, because like, I think most people when they think about like woodworking, they go— there's like, there's storefronts that you can go to.

Sure.

Right, where like the, the— that stuff exists. And so like, it might fit in your house, it might not. But when you start talking about like custom stuff, like this is something that's built for like, for me and my family, for what we need, it's going to be perfectly sized for my house. house. Like, those, those concerns go away. And I think most people who are looking for something like that don't mind paying more for getting exactly what they want.

Yeah. Um, because at the end of the day, there's so many things that you buy that you have for a period of time until you get tired of it.

Yeah.

Or until you go, this should— it never worked the way I wanted it to. Right. But I compromised. But if you're willing to not compromise up front, you might pay a little bit more just because it's custom, but you're going to get a better quality. It's going to be exactly what you want. You're going to like it for a very, very long time. You may not wind up spending money on it again, right? So that's kind of my thought. But I, I also think that we live in a, in a, in a day and age where, um, so many things are manufactured disposable. Yes. And I think people are getting tired of it.

I think they are too. I actually had a conversation with a furniture gal not too long ago. And the thing I walked away from that conversation was what she said is nobody buys a heritage piece from IKEA.

Right.

You know, they just like— no one hands anything down from something that you buy. But like, so many people buy cheap crap from there just to get by. Whereas when you're getting something, you know, like if somebody walks in your house and they see something that they like and they ask you about it, I think for them, it's, it's way more fun for them to say, well, I got that from Chuck and Charlie. He built it for me.

Right.

Rather than I found it at whatever honky-tonk store that was selling, you know, bare wood or whatever. Like, you know, it, it, there's, there's more of like, for them, it's fun to talk about because it's a piece in their house that they actually have a personal connection to the person that made it.

Right.

You know, it's, it's just a different experience.

Yeah, and the whole, uh, process to me is fun. The customer comes over, we talk in the shop, hey, I want this, this, and this. We kind of sketch it out and what size and what kind of wood, what, what color. The whole process is cool. And just going from a bunch of big pieces of wood, cut them down to small pieces of wood, and then make something big again, right? Just, it's just the whole process is fun and I think the customers kind of enjoy that. I try to send them, uh, you know, updated pictures along the way.

And yeah. I just— I think there's something really, really cool about going, I thought in my head I need this, I couldn't find it anywhere, and even if I did, it wasn't going to really be what I wanted. So I found someone who could build it, and I got exactly what I wanted. I got to pick out this, I got to pick out that, and And it's, it's a showpiece. It really, really is. Um, I, I'm talking about like heirloom pieces. Like, there again, you're also talking about quality, which I want to ask you about here in just a second. But I think about, I think about my table.

You've helped move my table.

I hate your table.

Yeah, not the, not the top. The top's fine. It's the base.

It comes as a package, so I hate the whole thing.

We have to move them both.

That's right, they do. separate, but you hate it because it's just a massive piece of metal.

Yeah.

And it's a, it's a crank table, so it's got a crank on it, can raise, it can lower. Um, but that thing—

Right where it was at.

Yeah, well, it almost did just because it weighs— how much do you think that base weighs? It's like 300 pounds, probably, at least. That's so heavy. Um, But it's gonna last forever. Nothing's gonna hurt it.

Right.

It's gonna last forever. And so, uh, I guess the next to that point though, Chuck, is I, I, I guess the question is, is about quality, but what do you think if, if, if you were telling a customer, this is why you should use me versus doing something else, like, what do you think you, your process provides them? What's that, what's that extra? Or what are they, what are they paying you for rather than paying anybody else, really? What, why would they choose you?

I knew you was gonna ask me that.

Did you?

I knew.

So that means you're perfectly prepared.

And I didn't know, and I didn't even rehearse it in my head. I'm like, I, I don't know. But, um, I think just like I said earlier, the whole process of coming over and looking at this, this species or this species, you know, if it's pecan or walnut or or if you just want to go with the farmhouse, the pine route, right? Which works too. But just the whole process of, um, just designing it from scratch, um, picking out the color, or even just like, okay, I want a bench, right? What do you want the bench to be? The full length? Do you want to sit between the legs? Do you want to slide under? Do you not? Do you have enough room it doesn't have to slide? And, you know, just the whole process of

picking out all the, uh, specifics of it. So, um, well, I'll tell you this, and catering to, to what you want and what's going to fit your space.

Yeah, so, uh, you were over at my house earlier, right? We kind of mentioned that, we foreshadowed. Um, and so you were over there, and the reason I had you come over is because we've got this really cool space in our living room that needs a built-in. It, it's like begging. to be— to have a built-in piece of something there.

It's a perfect spot. It's a perfect 8-foot tall, 8-foot wide big hole ready for something.

It's just, it's just begging to have something there. It's probably what we meant, what, 20 inches deep? Yeah, probably. Yeah, it's, it's a huge massive space. And, and I'm going, I've done, I've done a lot of thinking about what I want this to look like and what I want it— how I want it to function. But today was one of the first days that I've been able to stand there for any length of time and visualize some stuff. Because first of all, uh, the seller's furniture was in the house, and it was her house still. So I wasn't standing in her house going, how can I change this? Because I'm not a jerk like my buyer was.

I'll listen to that podcast.

That was, uh, that lady was a piece of work.

Yeah, if you haven't listened to it, Definitely. It's a, uh, it's a hoot.

Yeah, and if you know her, share it with her. Um, but anyway, um, this, this lady was awesome, dude. She left us like a note with goodies inside of it.

What?

Yes, I need to explain later, but cool. Anyway, so, uh, I wanted you to come over and, and just kind of look at it and try to get a feel for it. But one of the things I really appreciated, and I haven't told you this, but one of the things I really appreciated was I was like, well, here's what I'm thinking. And, and you were kind of like, okay, well, would you want to do that or would you want to do this? And I was like, actually, that's a great idea. Um, I, I think I do want to do that instead. Um, and, uh, you know, we're sitting there and, and it was like I had a lot of fun just kind of dreaming.

Oh, for sure, man.

Together with you. And because I— collaborating is always better on that kind of stuff. My wife was there and she was like, yes, I do want to know what we're going to do with this space.

Oh, she's great.

She is, yeah. Um, but I, I think that is something that you also get with, with the custom builders. You get someone who's like, okay, I'm— I hear your idea, but I also know how this is going to get built even before I've built it. And so I've kind of got some ideas of what I think might work better or might not work. and maybe I can even plus it for you somehow and make it even better. And so that process was really cool. So I would say that a lot of times whenever you find someone who's really good at what they do, which I think you are, then you're gonna get some special treatment as far as that goes. And that's worth something. That's valuable.

Appreciate it. Yeah, that's awesome.

That's my opinion.

Is the island that you've got that you're working on, is that the weirdest thing that you've, that you've done that you think? Or is— what, what can you think of that might be, if, if you have done anything that's a little bit weirder than that?

That's definitely the biggest, right? It's the biggest. This is definitely the heaviest because I'm not really sure how I'm gonna get out of my shop. We're gonna figure it out here in about a week or two.

You have an engine hoist?

I don't, I don't even know if that would do it. This thing is heavy. I don't need— I don't know how much— 8 sheets of plywood, a metal top, uh, 10-foot by 20-inch walnut slab. I mean, I don't know.

I bet you if you wrapped it right, you could get— I think you got a couple of buddies with engine hoists. I bet you 2 engine hoists, you know, with some towels.

Yeah.

You just don't want to break it. That's the thing.

Yeah.

So you're—

yeah, you're moving something that's kind of, you know—

Sorry.

There should be some touch-up, but some touch-up paint for sure.

Yeah.

Uh, but yeah, that's definitely the biggest. And one of the coolest pieces— the other, the other cool piece was a, uh, I'll have to show you a picture. Um, but it's a, uh, they used it as a bar, liquor bar, but it's a— I put a TV lift. So basically it's a box inside of a box, but the TV lift picks it up.

Mm-hmm.

Like it comes out of the top. It just looks like a cabinet, right? But the top comes up and yeah, it's almost like the, you know, the TVs that pop up out of the countertops, right? Right. But it's a box inside of a cabinet that lifts up and shelves and lights and That's, uh, they used this liquor, but you hidden gun cabinet or, um, Monopoly game, you put whatever you wanted to in there. But, um, that's super cool.

It's awesome.

Have y'all seen that, um, that, uh, secret gun room that that guy did that was connected to his Alexa?

Yes.

Yeah. So, so it's that, it's basically that.

Okay.

And so it lifts up, but it's not on Alexa. I couldn't, I couldn't figure it out.

You couldn't figure it out?

Yeah, I couldn't figure it out yet.

Yeah, you'll figure it out.

But if you need one, let me know.

I'll tell you, I can help you with that.

Oh yeah, you're smart.

Don't tell him that.

Tell me that.

It's lies. Lies in the studio.

No, I'm just good at faking. No, but we can figure that out.

His phone turns on his sprinklers. Well, that is true.

If that, you know, speaking of foreshadowing.

Yeah, we got to talk about that one soon.

We will.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. I will tell you, like, going back to, like, what you were just talking about, like, this is how amazing things happen, though. Like, you're like, oh, the Alexa. Oh, this. Oh, this. Oh, the pop-it. Oh, oh, I hadn't thought about any of those things. Like, one of the things that I was— I mean, we're— what we're gonna build in for me is a place for TV and speakers and all that kind of stuff. But the electronics need air. And I was like, well, maybe we could do this or this. And he was like, well, we could probably put a fan here and do this, and you'll never hear it because it's a, you know, like a computer fan or something. Um, I was like,

it's brilliant. And you, you wind up figuring those things out. Um, I'll tell you though that there has got to be a way to combine woodworking with technology like Alexa to make some amazing things happen.

Isn't that like a CNC machine? I mean, like that—

Well, do you have a CNC machine?

I wish.

Oh, you— I guarantee you will before long. You will have a CNC machine.

I do want one.

Because, because the reality of it is, whenever you have a CNC machine— so if you don't know what a CNC machine is, you can literally put, uh—

And that's what that is, right? It's like a computer programmable woodworking—

But you can't say, Alexa, turn my CNC machine on to build a table.

I bet you can.

I'll be back in 2 hours.

Right, exactly. But so CNC machine, it basically does custom lots of things. You can use it for etching, you can use it for cutting, all different types of things. But the cool thing about it—

wasn't that done like on the CNC?

Yeah, that was done. The, the homeowner show, let's see, it's over, over his shoulder there. Yeah, it was. Um, so you can put a file into a computer and say cut this or do this, and the machine will do it, and it winds up being perfect.

Oh yeah.

I mean, it's perfect.

Yeah.

So they're really, really cool.

Yeah.

Um, you know, I—

What are they going for, do you know?

Oh, it depends.

You can get them— I mean, I know you can get like little ones, shoebox to 8 by 4.

Yeah. So like, what about like the big ones?

$10,000 for a big one. That's not terrible.

No, I mean, for like what you're getting, it's not—

I mean, as long as the wife says it's okay. Sure. Yeah, yeah, we'll, we'll get you there. Yeah, I'm getting there. I got a SawStop a couple weeks ago, so we're getting there. That was $3,000.

That's true.

I meant, I meant one.

Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

$1. $1.

It was actually free. They delivered it and everything. Uh, yeah, but, but again, you really, you really get what you pay for. Yeah, I mean, whenever it comes to tools, we don't— we harp on this. You get what you pay for. Absolutely. Um, I mean, you can go buy a a handsaw, or you can buy a SawStop, and both of them are going to get the job done eventually.

Well, I know, I know, like, one of the people we've talked about having on the show is that, um, that barn place that they have all the tools there.

Oh yeah.

Um, it's like at 1488 and Fish Creek and all like that, but, um, it's like a craft barn or something.

It's like a subscription, like you pay a subscription. Like a monthly gym.

Yeah, like a Makerspace type deal?

Yes.

Oh, sweet.

So yeah, you can go and they've got all the tools that you need.

Cool.

Um, and you can use any of it. The only problem that a lot of people find is you cannot store your things there.

Oh, like what you're making?

Right, whatever you're making. They don't have like what would make that—

They need like lockers.

They need like lockers. Like they need to have another storage space with like dollies, right?

Premium membership. Exactly.

This is James' stuff. He was working here Monday. He'll be back on Wednesday.

Right.

Yeah, I mean, if you could, if you could couple one of those warehouses that has all of the machines in it with a warehouse that you store your stuff in, that is a great model. Let's do it. Anybody wanna—

well, I know we could probably talk to them and see like what, you know, maybe why they don't do it. But I mean, like, we just never, we just never reached out to them.

So no, I mean, I'm sure, I'm sure there's a reason and it's probably because— Have you been to one of them?

No, I've never been either.

There's one in College Station I know, or College Station Bryan. But yeah, it sounds, it sounds awesome. If you don't have the space or— right, uh, the tools, yeah, go make— check your honey-do list off, right?

Yeah.

My wife wants a coffee table. Okay, I'll go make you one.

Yeah, yeah.

Or, or like, let's say that there's something you are trying to build, but to be quite honest, I need the precision of a drill press and I don't have a drill press, so I'm gonna walk into a place that has a drill press Because I don't have a friend that has a drill press and I can get it done.

Only need it for 10 minutes. There's no sense of spending $500 on a drill press when I just need it for one small project.

Yeah, exactly. We need to reach back out to them probably. I don't think we've ever reached out to them.

Okay, well, let's do it the first time.

Okay, let me know how that goes.

Yeah, because it sounds like a really, really cool model to do things.

There are things happening in the barn out there. Yeah.

There's some— There's fights breaking out. Children. And I, I walked— I have to tell you this. So I, I, I pulled in and your son's sitting. He was like, hey, Mr. Kevin, how are you? I was like, well, I'm kinda hungry. I hadn't eaten anything. He goes, it's okay. I haven't eaten anything either. And I go, and I go, really? You didn't eat any dinner? And he goes, no, I didn't eat any dinner. And I was like, why not? And he goes, I don't know. That was the end of the conversation. Sounds about right, doesn't it?

No, he had dinner. He just doesn't remember eating dinner. It's the burnt memory of a fruit fly.

Oh my goodness, that kid.

So you, you, you said you— something about College Station. I think you said there was like a maker barn up there.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't remember the name of it, but yeah.

Well, this is what triggered in my brain.

There's a—

there is a lumber company that we reached out to. I think like Tecton.

Tecton. Yeah.

Have you been there?

No, but I follow them and I'm definitely gonna make a trip there.

Are you?

Yeah. They've got cool stuff, dude. Yeah.

So, and I was gonna— because I was gonna ask you, like, when you need something like that, where do you go? I mean, because you can't, you can't pick stuff like that up at like Lowe's and Home Depot, right?

Um, okay, so I— yeah, I'm curious, where is your favorite woodworking store? Because there's a few good ones around here.

So I go to, uh, Houston Hardwoods. Mainly.

So yeah, that's, that's for that. I mean, that's where you're gonna get your, your wood, right, from, which is great, but it's, it's a long way down there, but it's worth it.

It's a trip.

But if you need, if you need like tools, sandpaper, that kind of stuff, where do you like to go?

Woodcraft. Yeah, yeah, it's right there off 1960. It's easy to get to.

And yeah, do you ever, do you ever venture over to Rockler?

Yeah, it's just a little further down, but yeah, Rockler's got some cool stuff too. They do. A lot of their, like, their Rockler brand. Yeah, templates, jigs, that kind of stuff. Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

Yeah, I, I actually bought a, um, a routing, a routing jig set for, uh, just— they're a bunch of squares, right, with different, different edges on it. And, um, bought some other things there, and I was like, man, the quality of this stuff, really, really good. But Woodcraft's great too, right? Really, really good. And, and The other thing I like about going to those places is the, the typically men— there's women there too— that they really know what they're doing.

Oh yeah, yeah.

They're really, really good. And they do like master classes and other things you can go in and learn. I mean, if you really want to learn how to do woodworking but have no— and maybe you don't want to learn on YouTube, you want to do hands-on.

Oh yeah.

Both of those places offer classes. It's a great way to do that.

Something to do on a Saturday evening, you know. Yeah, take a $100 course and learn how to turn a bowl or exactly whatever.

If you're, if you're a wife and you're thinking about something to do for your Father's Day, maybe you got children. Hopefully that's what Father's Day is for.

Um, and you're trying to have children typically.

Yes, most of the time. Uh, you're looking for a gift. I'm digging a hole. Uh, you're looking for a gift for Father's Day, give them some woodworking lessons.

That's not a bad idea.

That's a great idea. That's the best idea I've had today.

That's awesome. Yeah, I love it.

Why not? I mean, because it's really not that expensive. Like you said, like $100. I mean, yeah, not bad at all. Yeah, so that would be a fun— that would be a fun Saturday afternoon.

So they also prefer the axe throwing though.

Oh my gosh, that was so much fun. Oh hey, I got really good too. Yeah, I think— well, we all did once you figure out the mechanics.

Yeah.

Is it a little axe or a big one?

We did—

we threw full size, but you can do a little— like, can you do like a little hatchet?

Okay.

Or you can do like a full-length like axe.

Axe.

Paul Bunyan.

Yes.

Gotcha.

And that's really what we did for 2 hours, and, uh, my shoulders were sore the next day because it's—

yeah, it's two-handed over the head.

Yeah. And that—

my man, I was a little bit sore the next day, but it's fun. That was super fun.

Different kind of woodworking though.

Yeah, that's a good point.

I need to set one of those up at the house.

Interestingly enough, you might find this interesting, um, because I asked the question, I'm like, what kind of wood? Only someone likes to do woodworking would— what kind of wood are you working with there? What am I chunking these axes into? Uh, cottonwood. They use cottonwood. They said the reason is it's, um, it's soft enough to stick, to stick, but it's hard enough to last— stick and to last, right? So they can, they can use it over and over and over. But I, I would have never, ever, ever— if you would have asked me, I would have never even thought of cottonwood, pretty much because I hate cottonwood and I try to block it out of my brain.

Really?

I hate cottonwood.

Why?

Because I grew up on, on, uh, a golf course. That— I was gonna say that, but I was like, that's exactly what I mean. I grew up on a golf course, uh, that was full of cottonwoods, and there were moments in the year where I couldn't find my golf ball because there was cottonwood flakes everywhere. Oh, and it was awful. In West Texas, does it drop like a white kind of— okay, it's like snow. I mean, it really is like snow, but it'll, it'll— if there's enough of them, it'll just blanket the— and it's that kind of stuff. It's like, it's like a dogwood tree.

It is.

Very, very much. And it's just, it's annoying. That's what it is.

What is your favorite?

My favorite type of wood? Or to work with?

Work with? Prettiest?

Oh man, that's a great question. I love walnut. It's what, probably one of my favorites.

Yeah, same. So walnut for sure.

Yeah.

If you want something darker. Something lighter, I like pecan.

Yeah.

Super hard, super pain to work with, but It's pretty.

Yeah, pecan's really very, very hard. It's the way it is. Yeah, but it's pretty. It's good to smoke things with too.

Hey, hey, you say that, so like a lot of my cutoffs that I can't— I don't like doing cutting boards. I'll do cutting boards. Yeah, like Christmas time. Yeah, buddy and I, we did about, uh, I don't know, 40 or 50 of them. Yeah, um, just because Gifts, right? It's perfect for gifts.

Yeah.

Um, but people— I'll make cutting boards with the cutoffs, and the cutoffs of my cutting boards, I'll just smoke with them. Yeah, pecan or maple.

Well, I mean, growing up where I grew up, um, we would do mesquite mostly. Yeah, West Texas.

Pretty too.

But you can get, you can get pecan around there as well, and, uh, that's good.

Or pecan. Pecan or pecan. What do y'all say?

It's pecan.

I will tell you one that I thought that would be really good to smoke with.

Okay.

That was terrible.

Okay.

Cherry.

Cherry? Really? You didn't like it? I hated it. Here, okay, so here's the thing. If I'm gonna use cherry, it's gonna be mixed with something else.

Yeah.

When I'm smoking meat.

Yeah.

I typically, if, well, that's true with any fruit wood. Any fruit wood, it's gonna be mixed with something when I'm smoking, but it's great for like ham. That kind of thing.

Yeah, I tried it with a brisket. It just tasted metallic-y and nasty. So I do want to try apple though.

Yeah, again, forewarning, not that it's bad. It's— I mean, it's smoked meat. It's not bad.

But it's anytime you use only fruit wood, you got to mix it with something.

Yeah, my personal opinion.

I smoked something the other day and it had that metallic-y taste. I'm like, what Did I do? Yeah, like I wasn't sure if it was a seasoning or it was like too smoky, but yeah, it had that same taste. It was not great. Could have been cherry or the propane or the glue I forgot to cut out, or the glue I forgot to cut out of the cutting board.

That's what it was. Whatever it was, that stuff just burns up anyway.

That's fine.

Yeah, no big deal. Oh man. Well, okay, let me ask you this. So We've talked about quite a few things. Uh, what is it that you would want someone to know about what you do that we haven't talked about, if there's anything?

Um, that's a good one.

Thanks.

I didn't think about that question either.

Well, let me ask you this then. So we've got tables, built-ins, cutting boards, benches. These are the things I've heard so far that you, you make.

Mudroom type things, like like hall tree or—

Okay.

Place to hang the coats, jackets, boots, you know, that kind of stuff.

Nice.

I don't know, um, I'm up for anything. If you got an idea, let's, let's do it.

Could you do like the mural in the—

Oh, you showed him the mural?

Yeah, he went through the house. Oh, you got to see all the craziness, dude.

You—

a lot of, a lot of guests don't get to see the house and the craziness.

This place is amazing. Yeah, like, it's just got so much character. It's awesome.

Yeah.

That mural is cool though. Yeah, I have to send you a video. There's a guy on TikTok, he does like something similar but like picture size, like our window size.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But he used all these different species of wood.

Oh, to get the different colors and to get them different tones and colors.

And he makes this interesting, you know, picture of whatever it is, and it's wicked awesome.

Huh. So nice.

Let's check it out.

But I mean, you— so you showed him the, the sun as well on the ceiling?

Yeah, yeah.

Well, and I don't know that I pointed out the one in the kitchen.

That's the one I was talking about.

Yeah, no, just the one on the entryway when you walk in that the lights are amazing.

Yeah, the 2 and a half story kitchen, that's, that's—

it's unique.

That's unique.

That's awesome.

See, I'm glad that like someone else said that because like if you walk in, you look at it, you're like, oh, it's on the second and a half story.

Yeah, like it's just like up there on a pedestal. Like it's just there. It's cool.

And like I'm glad that you're like testifying to it because I think there's a lot of people that listen to us and like, he's just full of it.

No, it really is a second and a half floor.

It's true.

But it actually, it fits. I mean, it works.

It does.

Yeah, I mean, obviously I mean, if it didn't—

nobody in my house has gone hungry yet.

Except maybe your son.

I do.

Yeah, I forgot he had dinner. Okay, so, uh, do you have a shaper? No. So, uh, I haven't quite figured out the— Okay, why, why you need a shaper?

Well, that— okay, that, or like, are you moving it or is it moving itself?

That's the trick of the deal.

I'm trying Yeah, I've watched a lot of YouTube videos on it.

I'm like, how does this thing work?

How would I use it first? Like, is it worth the price tag? Yeah, which is several thousand.

They're high.

Yeah. Or, or, and how does it move?

Yeah, so, uh, my buddy that I was talking about earlier, he's got a shaper and he's gonna be getting rid of it. At first he was like, I'm not gonna get rid of the shaper, but then he's like, I think I am gonna get rid of it. Um, and it's very intriguing to me because, uh, so do you know what a shaper is?

No idea.

Okay, so basically, you want to explain it?

No, no, because I'm still confused.

Okay, so, so, uh, a shaper basically allows you to—

it's kind of like a CNC.

It's a CNC machine, but it's a—

it's more manual, handheld, right?

Yeah, it's more manual. Um, but so you can do things like— and this is one of the things I was going to ask you, um, you can do things like rocking chairs.

Okay.

So I was gonna ask, have you ever built something like a rocking chair?

You could put like curvature to the wood?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, because you can shape all kinds of things. So you can, you can do it for, um, things like a rocking chair if you want to, if you want to, you know, shape something perfectly to, to rock. Or if there's a certain design that you want to build, um, and you don't want to use just a saw or a router or whatever, Um, it's, it's basically like a manual CNC machine in many, many ways.

So you put like a tape, it's like a, uh, almost like dominoes, like black and white tape down, and I guess that's how it reads where it's at. I, I'm still confused.

Yeah, his, his is actually a table. It's actually not handheld. His is a table. Oh yeah, it's different, but it's really, really cool. So He's also got a planer, and I really don't have one of those yet. I've got a small one of those.

I need to upgrade mine to a helical head.

What's your, uh, what's— is it a 13-inch or—

Yeah, it's just a DeWalt 13-inch.

Those are too— but those—

It runs like a champ. I mean, it works every time you turn it on. It works. It's, it's great.

Um, so what's your, uh, what's your favorite tool to use? Like, what's your thing that you find yourself going back to over and over and over? If you could— oh, let me ask you this question. Similar question. Yeah. Okay, if you could use one tool to build a piece of furniture with, and you could only use one tool, what would you use?

I would use the Festool Domino.

What?

Yeah, really? Yeah. Like, okay, instead of mortise and tenons or pocket holes or a router or however you're cutting your joinery, the, the Festool Domino is it's a, it's a game changer. It's faster, it's, it's strong. All my table bases are— I use with that. So most of my tables have zero screws. The only screws hold is the, the top to the base. That's it. Um, but yeah, so I love that.

Well, I would probably say router just because you can cut with it, you can— true, you can trim with it, you can, um join with it if you want to. You can use it as a joiner.

Definitely the most versatile.

It's the most versatile. That's the only reason I said that, but I like your answer better.

I like yours better. I've watched hours of router videos and tips and tricks, and you know, every time I'm like, whoa, that's cool.

Have you seen—

save me lots of time.

Have you seen anyone use a router to, um, take a, a just a a rough-cut slab and make it perfectly, perfectly flat?

Many, many hours. I'm— that's my next—

I want to do it so bad, and I'm a little bit frustrated at my mother-in-law because she had a massive, uh, slab that was about 4 inches thick. I don't even know what it was made out of, but it was probably— it was big enough for a dining room table, right? It was massive. And she gave it away. And she was like, I don't know what I would have ever done with it. It's all rough on the top and everything. I was like, oh my goodness, like, perfect. It's my perfect opportunity to do the thing that I'm like, I want everybody to walk in and be like, see how smooth and flat that is? Yeah,

that's because I did that, you know.

So I rearranged my shop a couple months ago, uh, and it worked, but now it doesn't work, um, which I'm sure every woodworker's rearranged their shop 6,000 times.

Oh yeah.

But I gotta make room for a slab flattening jig.

Okay.

Which I haven't made yet, so, um, that's soon.

Yeah.

So, um, but yeah, just, I mean, just flattening tabletops, even if it's not a slab, just a tabletop that you've made so you can run over real quick and—

Yep.

And skip planing it and it's ready to go.

Router, baby.

Yeah, for sure.

That's where it's at.

Your answer was better.

No, it was, it was an answer, right? I, I think, I don't know, I think that's again the cool thing about woodworking is people do things differently and they work.

And there's so many types of woodworking, like these guys that make these guitars, like I got mad respect for those because I'm not good with small finesse type stuff. Like everything's got to be exactly— yep, you know, I can build a 8-foot table, and it's close, but it's not exact.

It's a good reason to have a shaper if you're building guitars.

I'll have to watch some more videos and learn about it.

I mean, I've never built a guitar, but I would think that— or a guitar, as my mom says, buy a guitar. Um, I don't know, that one over there would be fun to make.

That's pretty.

Which one?

Not the Taylor, the other one.

The electric?

The—

yeah, that one.

Semi— the semi-hollow body?

Yeah, that, that is a cool guitar.

I love that guitar.

It's beautiful.

Yeah, guitar. Anyway, get fiddle.

I tried to learn guitar in college, but yeah, it didn't work out.

Didn't work out.

I can't carry a tune in a bucket.

Guitars are the only reason I even know different types of wood.

Oh, see? Oh, that's interesting.

That's the only reason I know any of them.

Huh, is it maple?

Uh, so that one is— the acoustic is— I don't know what that one is. I have no idea. I assume it's ash.

Cottonwood.

Is that poplar over there?

They do make some guitars out of poplar.

Sure they do.

Yeah. Um, but, uh, maple, ash, um, brain fart on it. It'll probably be like the painter that I'll think of later on.

So that's true.

A lot of people hate on Poplar, but I love Poplar.

I love it too.

You get the purples and the greens and the reds, but I'm colorblind. Oh, you are? So I can see those colors, but sometimes they're confusing. But anyway, so interesting, long story. But, um, so some people are like, hey, can you stain my color— my table this color?