Transcribe your podcast
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Hi, everyone, my name is Justin McElroy. I play Justin on my brother, my brother and me. I'm Travis MacWhite. I play the part of Travis on my brother, my brother and me.

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Our youngest brother has been blessed with a another child and as such is unavailable to record our comedy podcast, My Brother, My Brother, me.

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But poor planning on his part, I would say very rude, shortsighted. Good news, though.

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We have something kind of special for you. Back in.

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What year was it, Trav? I think it's twenty. Eighteen, twenty eighteen. Travis and I film our oh gosh.

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What would you call it.

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Sort of an experimental show about woodworking or. Well I mean the intent was for HDTV didn't get a pick up. Yeah, that's true.

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Well yeah. Our producer came to us, producer Stan came to us and said, I love what you guys do with the podcast.

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Do you think you could bring that kind of energy to a TV show? And we said, well, we have Stan. Oh, but yeah. Emailed it didn't pan out. And Stan said, well, maybe the problem is three is just too many.

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Yeah.

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So he kind of convinced me and Travis to to to dial in. Yeah.

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Get rid of some of the chaff if you will, focus on the wheat and really make a show about the fine art of woodworking.

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Right. Right, right. Something that Justin and I are both very passionate about. Yes.

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And something that Griffin maybe is less so. He likes electronics and stuff.

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Yeah, well, Griffin lacks passion and basically I've never seen him happy. Yeah, not once. Yeah. Maybe hopefully this new baby will finally maybe maybe that will be them is it. Yeah. So anyway to let out what we thought. What no one wanted it. No.

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Even though we tried our best which doesn't seem fair. Yeah. Right way.

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It's just fun and we really wanted it to let me be clear, we tried our best and we wanted it and still they wouldn't give it to us.

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Yeah. Which doesn't seem fair but we did, didn't want it to go to waste. So what we've got for you is a really special treat.

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It is the audio. Just the audio. Yeah. Of course we can't show you the the the the video sort of half of this.

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Yeah. Both for copyright reasons and we don't know how to do that through podcasting, broadcasting.

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It doesn't make sense. So we just want to share that with you and we hope you enjoy it. You know, try not to be too sad about things. What might have been.

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Yeah, obviously, you know, just enjoy what is you know, what it means to enjoy it is what was just this one wasn't in the cards, but at least you get to enjoy the new Appalachian workshop featuring the McElroy brothers, but not Griffin.

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And without further ado, let's let's take it away. Another day, another brother shop, someone with one another. There's still some. So it's time to give it all to Justin. A travesty of. To kind of, yeah, to come up and put it back together again in November at your workshop featuring the McElroy brothers, Chris. And so I say, Joyner, no, that's a planer, it's a completely different cool guy, right? I love it.

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Hi, everybody. Oh, hi. My name is Justin McElroy and welcome to the New Appalachia Workshop. This is my brother, Travis MacAvoy. Hi, folks. So glad you could join us. Hey, most of you probably know us from the wild world of podcasting where we've had limited success in a variety of fields. Maybe you know us from our best selling graphic novels are our role playing games, but our real passion is the art of wood.

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Oh, yes, it's something I'd spoken to him for quite some time now. My brother, a recent convert, but strict, devout, I would say. And we're coming at this from a couple of different standpoints, folks. You know, just it is more of like the furniture guy, more of like the practical one, the shirt, the sexy one. I'm a bit more of the bad boy of woodworking coming at this from a carving perspective, as well as doing some Senik work in the theater.

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Now, I was back when you were treading the boards. You were also a licensed contractor. That is true. Yeah, I was a master carpenter, technical director and became a licensed contractor. And I had to learn how building codes worked sort of before we get into the show proper. I did want to show you something I've been working on. Oh yeah. Yeah. What do you think? Oh, my God, Justin. Yeah, that's incredible.

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Yeah. Thank you, Trav. I have been working on it for about six weeks now. I'm real proud of it. It is sort of the first step of a wooden toilet. Yeah. No, I'm, I'm loving. Can I just say the sea so smooth. I was worried about that. That was a concern. It's crucial. It's also shaped exactly to my specific but type. When I sit on this, I can't actually feel it.

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Oh really. Because you've reached. But negative is what we call that. Yeah, but neutral. Hugely disconcerting. Now can you guess the would take a look at the grain. I haven't stained it. So you're getting just the natural. Thank you. Guess the wood I've used for this project. Let me smell it. Hmmm, is that cherry, you got it, cherry is a cherry toilet. Great choice. That's a great can I just say a great choice now are you going to do the whole thing and cherry the bowl, the reservoir, the pipes, the flanges, everything.

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Yeah. I have to figure out a point at which the woodcraft stops because you could seal things up all day long, but you are going to get some expansion and contraction once would once water enters the picture. Now have you thought about using sawdust in place of water? Now, that's interesting. Kind of a dry toilet, a dry toilet, if you will, that maybe using IV. That reminds me of an old woodworking joke. Oh. Have you heard this one probably.

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I know you're kind of the master of woodworking jokes, so I know that you you heard that what I said about playing earlier, right? Reminder now remind us where someone said, is that a planer? And I said, are they said, is that a joiner? And I said, Joyner. Oh, yes. OK, my joke I want to tell you was did you hear about the guy who mixed up sandpaper and toilet paper? You know, his woodworking look like, oh, I love a little blue, a little blue from a little blue.

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We are we made our living and sort of got our notoriety in the past with an advice show and tell. Our producer, Stan Tomalski thought that it would be great if we did. People not only mention produce or something. Well, it's a fun thing. They did it on like I think Regis and Kathie Lee, the the whole character. Jarvis. Yeah, I remember Jarvis on there. Yeah. So this is an advice segment, but it's focused on would you would you know, your our listeners from our old podcast that we used to do my my brother me send in their woodworking questions and we want to answer it here on the new Appalachia workshop featuring McElderry brothers, Bhanot Griffin.

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And let's be clear, folks, in some of our previous incarnations, we've been somewhat jokesters. Right. But there's nothing joking about. Wood does not interest us at all. Like, well, carving carpentry, you know, working with heavy machinery can be very dangerous, folks. So this is going to be straight down the middle. Yeah, pretty serious stuff. So let's get to that first question. Obvious disclaimer to safety does come first. You shouldn't trust anything we say.

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No, absolutely not. Dear brothers, I have recently started a laser engraving wood business. Nice. I mostly just engrave on cheap plywood and to make anything 3D, I use several different types of glue, all of which have awful repercussions. The wood glue that's the safest takes the longest to dry messy. Yeah. I've been told the white paint on my pants makes it look like. Is this about to get live or TV, these films made just make these diseases?

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Yeah, looks like I made disease, OK. And the quick drying glue, I swear it's just repackaged twice as expensive superglue and also can be difficult to use in your expertise. What's the best solution to gluing wood? How can I stop it from being a mess? Machines. That's sincerely suspicious stains in San Antonio. What do you what's your glue? Well, my I like a gorilla would glue, frankly, gorilla meat here in Cincinnati, Queen City.

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I enjoy it. But let me just say right off the bat, friend, get yourself an apron. Don't wipe your working apron. That's great. Get yourself an apron. Get yourself a neighbor, or get genes that are the same color as the jerseys. And then I use gym shorts and old tee shirts that made me look like I'm about to go to soul cycle class. Oh, what I'm really doing is, is, is doing wood.

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And that's that's the trick. The wood, not a lot of people will tell you that, but like the wood will see you and it will relax because it's like, oh, he's not going to be drawing into us today. He's going to soul cycle class. Oh, wait, what's that? He's drilling screws into us, but they're so relaxed it doesn't split. Right. That's something that they don't tell you at woodworking school. You just got to find that out out here on the streets.

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But yeah, I think it sounds like if you're weiping enough on your pants to look like juss, you might just be using too much glue. It's getting all over your hands. That might be the issue there. I have a big pile of rags that I'm using to wipe away excess. Yeah, but you know what? If you do have access, sometimes the smartest thing to do is just let it dry a little bit, let it back up and then scrape it off there with a scraper.

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I love shopping. I love that. Now I'm a tight bond too, man. Oh, OK. I like tight bond too. More than I actually use type until more than three. Now the differences can be to the amateur can be a little bit tough to discern. Type on three is waterproof while type on two is water resistant. So tight on three but also type on three. And this is, this is a personal thing for just the way I like to work.

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Type three has a longer open time, about ten minutes and so you can set up type on to in about five minutes and I like to work fast. Yeah. I'm not doing a bunch of complicated glue ups. I like it to start tacking up so I could move on with my life now and then. I'm not just yeah I'm sorry, just jump in here. But sometimes that drying time, that set up time give you a chance to step back and sip some mint tea.

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Look at your handiwork. Think about how you know, how much you've done, how far you've come, how in the act of creation, it is like unto a God. Do you ever just step back and think about how only God can make a chair and you just the two of you, just me and God making chairs? No, Travis, I've never taken time for reflection. Like, Oh, you have to. Oh, you have to.

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That's my favorite part. Sometimes I'll get a hunk of wood. I'll see what exists within it that I can bring out. And then that's what I'll carve out and say I carve out a little piggy. Right. And I think I've created life, you know what I mean? This is kind of my act of creation and and in that way, a bit of an act of defiance against God, you know what I mean? And then I'll set my mint, which I have here in the mug cart uniform, and just think about my sheer power.

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Oh, goodness, you're talking about oh, God, it's words out the window. Oh, my goodness. God up. I'm sorry to have I talked to the producers about it and told them I didn't want to do what about. I told them I didn't want to do with the woodchuck who wants to eat all our products for the kids. And it's triadic. Haywood's out. True. What good thing you guys were complaining about anything involving. Well, it's always involving wood wood, so it's a woodworking show, and as you can see here, Justin has created a beautiful cherry toilet seat designed to fit his body.

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Now, WoodSmoke, what's out? Leave it all star. OK, but don't make me activate the electronic belt. So the sun just made me have a soul in the brain. I know what's up. OK or Lonzo Lonzo back in the crate. All right. All right. What's a great movie. It's made out of metal. We plan to headwinds. You can't be released into the wild. The genetic modifications. If that got spread throughout the woodchuck community it would be the end of us.

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Travel with, though, back in his mental crate. Would you like another question? Well, actually, Justin, I want to I want to take you over here. Join me over here. OK, that's right, it's woodworking legends, it's also Legends Corner. Now, Justin, I want to show you can stand can we pull up that image? Yes. OK, so folks at home, you are seeing now an image of the miracle steps of the Loredo church.

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Look here, steps, wow, those things, look at them, folks, oh, goodness, I'm so glad you're all seeing this because you wouldn't believe it if I described it to you. Oh, Hachi. Now, that's true. If I could say that's craftsmanship. That's craftsmanship right there. Just and it is a seven 20 spiral staircase with no center column and no supports. How on earth? Did they get that done? Well, it's not only that, Justin, supposedly legend says no nails were used, just wooden pegs and glue.

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Hot glue. Yeah. When was it made? Well, eighteen hundreds. But here's the real thing, Justin. That's not the real miracle. I'm already on cloud nine over this staircase to get up there. Now, here's the part of the story that this is believed. So I figure stand well, but it's kind of the person who designed this church. This chapel didn't design stairs into it originally. So you had the second floor choir area and it was unreachable when the church was done, according to legend.

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Wow. That was very impressive. Yeah, must have been a real problem. Oh, there's your problem kind of thing. You know what they say. And so the nuns there, well, they prayed, prayed to the patron saint of woodworking. And then a lot of listen, a lot of carpenters, let's just call them what they were carpenters came in and said nothing could be done about it. That's just unusable space now. Maybe a ladder.

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They say big dust dust collector. Yeah. And the nun said, Alattar, no, we're nuns. That would be embarrassing. Can you imagine what that would look like? Nuns going up and down a ladder all day. So they prayed. And then an unnamed carpenter arrived, built these steps, left without payment or giving his name, and he was never seen again. Now, that sounds noble, but I've been woodworking for long enough to know that what probably happened is he finished.

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He's like, I have no idea. He was terrified. I'm actually going to just go ahead and book. And to be fair, the railing was added later by the nuns. So there was no railing on this bad boy. And I guarantee that guy really didn't like me. I don't know. Oh, this is just a weird dream I had and there's no guarantee I should go. I think while it's still dark and no one's here, what now?

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Where are these? This is in Santa Fe at the Laredo church, the miracle staircase. Well, I got to get over there. I got to get over there and check it out. That'll be the first trip I take here in just a couple whenever I'm traveling again, if I'm worth it. Can you imagine walking up and down those babies? Well, they let you. Do they make you? I think I think it actually is three dollars per person, if I remember correctly.

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OK, that's a stat to steal them. Yeah. Here's another question from our our our viewers. I'm a would be keen amateur woodworker, but I don't know where to get any wood to work. I don't want a heap of lumber big enough to build a house with just a handful. Do I just have to steal it? Why help me please. Why is that where you go to Whitehall on Help Me Please Longing for Lumber and Lady Wood.

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I like that. The two options are to this person order like a huge stack of house amount, lumber or steel. Yeah, I mean when you start in any craft, every question seems unanswerable. Yeah. Where do you get even get wood. Right. It is comical now to us seasoned pros. Yeah but it is a fair question. Where do you get wood. Well friend let me tell you what dollar. It's everywhere. It's look over there.

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See that. That's your neighbor's fence. That's what you can use that. Well no you shouldn't take people. No I'm not saying you should. I'm just saying you could. I'll tell you one great source if you want to start fucking around, you know, keep an eye out for Palate's. Oh, yeah. Wood is very on brand right now. Now, you got to be careful to make sure that it's not hasn't been chemically treated to where it would be dangerous.

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You can look there's like charts. You can look up that tell you what the different stampings on the pallet wood are. And usually they're going to be put together a lot with nails. So you want to make sure you have, like, Wunderbar Crowbar or something that's going to be pry those apart. But once you do and you clean them and you fix them all up, you give them a little sand brewski that could be subquality, would have a lot of character, and it's going to be something that you can just mess around with gratis.

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Let me tell you my trick, Justin. OK, look for restorers. Look for we got one here in Cincinnati. And it's where people bring you know, if they've if they've done some demo to old buildings, they'll bring, like, old doors. They're an old, you know, pieces of like woodwork and some trim and stuff like that. And sometimes you can find some good. Quality already well seasoned aged wood there, and the deeper trick is sometimes it's already made into something and then you can just buy that and say you made it.

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Now, you won't get the satisfaction out of let me do that, I don't agree with that, but you will get compliments. Yeah, I guess that's true. I would be careful if you're driving around and you're looking for I mean, you can look around for furniture that people are throwing out to try to find some wood to mess up there. But be careful because like a lot of the stuff that's been made in the past, however many years, 10, 20 years, a lot of it's going to be made out of like particleboard and MDF, which is a medium density fibreboard.

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And that's I don't really think that's worth reclaiming. You're not going to be able to strip that make it look look nice. It's just going to be junk. So I would I wouldn't mess around with that. And I'll use MDF in a project, but not I mean, something for the shop. I'll tell you another secret, folks. This is from Travis, the theater pro.. If you got an idea near you, oftentimes they will have a section that is just like, hey, here's a bunch of loose parts that are either from returns are like incomplete boxes or damage for models.

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And you can find some pretty good like butcher block tabletops in there sometimes. And then you just build a table under that. You use that butcher block for the top. Now, you got yourself a little cutting station to use in the kitchen or for kids to do crafts on top of oh, my gosh, what a great what a great tip. Thank you. You're welcome. I appreciate it. Hey, that'll be five dollars, please. Hey, I got I got some more woodworking jokes.

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Oh, please. Yeah. You know, woodworking is really serious, but we like to have a little bit of fun from time to time. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I wanted to sort of take a second to you're funny. Just, you know, how are these jokes like drilling into a board without pre drilling. How they crack me up. That's actually extremely good. Travis, thank you. I wish you'd had the courage to wait to say that after I did the joke.

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Oh, right. I get what have hit a lot better, but I'll add it out in post. We'll get it in post. Hey. Hey, Trav. Yeah, Justin. Hey, Travis, what's a woodworkers favorite band? Oh, I give up Staind. That's pretty good. That's pretty good. That's a pretty good stands over there. Losing it. He said Staind not stand. Hey, here's another one. What is Japan's favorite cereal.

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Oh boy. Oh, I give up. I know you think it's Pinocchio's. That's what I was going to say. But yeah. Listen, you got it. This one's a thinker and less and not as much a joke. OK, I know you think it's Pinocchio's, but it's actually Cheerios there. Whitlow's, though I guess both would work. OK. OK, now, Justin, is that from or is that from a viewer that viewer submitted or is that something you found would work.

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OK, now I get I feel like there's eight punch lines in there, yeah, because you also said widow, widow, widow Cheerios or Whitall. Yeah, no I OK, I get that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So Pinocchio's is one punch line. Weirdo's is another one would work is the third punch line. You don't often see that in the joke where they just say like, hey, choose your own favorite punch line here. Laugh at all of them.

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Oh boy. Stan pissed himself. That's actually hugely embarrassing and pissed himself. Laughing Is he on camera right now? He is. He can you get him off? Can we get Stan off camera, please? OK, thank you. As a woodworker, I love the final stages of a project. Oh, yeah, all the little impurities and arrows go away. Oh, it's a real varnishing act. I love it.

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I forgot we were doing a joke and I thought, we are just talking about how good it is to finish a project. And so you really got me there at the end. Yeah, that's it's really good. I tried to come up with a better joke than that, yeah, Travilla, I think I nailed it. Nobody saw it. Oh, I see. Nailed it and saw once again another two fer there. I love it. I love it.

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I love it. Way to go against the grain. Did you read that officer.

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No, no, no. I just came to me. Just came to me, you know. Oh man. That was good. Can you say it again. Exactly the same way. Yeah. Way to go against the grain. That clean fellows are going to Jesus. Oh, God, you scared the shit out of me. Hey, I'm hungry here again. I can get you to explain in detail it's going against the grain because it has grain in it.

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And you don't want to go against the grain because then it's just that it's a it's the grain goods. Blood. No, I mean the grain whistles. Huh. No shit grain. No, it's muscles. I don't think so. Getting hungry over here. Huh. OK. Oh are you drooling blood until you know where I look is the heartwood this right near the center. That's sweet. Oh God. Like mother's milk. Oh Jesus. Can we cover up that cage please.

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Can we get a heavy duty tarp over that please. I'm scared to talk with Tony Stark.

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Oh, God. Oh, God. OK. Hey, we're having a lot of fun here and we've got so much more fun to come. But first, let's take a quick break and hear from our commercial sponsor. You know, friends, a woodworking TV show was once just a dream for my brother and I, but now we're making it a reality and you don't have to wait for a sleazy TV producer to pull up on your lawn and force you to get into the back of his Jetta to go make your dreams a reality.

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You can just use Squarespace. Yeah. And maybe maybe when the producer pulls up, your little brother is like at the store or whatever. And so you do get in the car and then you haven't seen Griffin for a while. And, you know, that happens. You know, sometimes you're away from your brother and you need a way to communicate and to send messages through so you can use Squarespace, you know, you can showcase your work or post pictures of what you've been up to, sell products and services of all kinds, including your your woodworking stuff or, you know, any kind of information you have about your whereabouts and you can promote your physical or online business and more.

[00:26:26]

Yeah, you can. It's free and secure hosting. They got analytics that grow in real time and there's nothing to patch or upgrade ever. So go to Squarespace Dotcom, slash my brother for a free trial. And if you see Griffin, please tell him that we're safe and we're doing our best and we're trying to get free and use the offer code. My brother to save 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain. So go to source base dot com, slash my brother for free trial when you're ready to launch the code.

[00:26:55]

My brother, as in my brother Griffin McElroy, to save 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain. You know, I can't remember the last time I went to the post office or anywhere, really, because I just don't have the time or the ability to. And that's why I love Stamps.com so much, because they allow me to mail and ship any time anywhere right from my computer in this basement. And, you know, whether it's a giant office sending out invoices or, you know, you're sending postcards to loved ones or, you know, ransom notes or whatever, an online seller, shipping out orders, anything like that.

[00:27:36]

You know, you you can use Stamps.com and they can handle it all with ease. With Stamps.com, you get discounts of up to 40 percent off post office rates and up to sixty two percent off shipping rates. Wow, that's amazing. Travis, how can I take advantage of this? Stop wasting time going to the post office and go to Stamps.com instead. There's no risk, which sounds really nice. And with my grandmother, my grandmother, my brother, you get a special offer that includes a four week trial plus free postage and a digital scale.

[00:28:11]

There's no long term commitments or contracts. And there's so many contracts that I wish I hadn't signed, especially recently, that committed me to things. So isn't it nice to have no long term commitments or contracts? You just go to Stamps.com, click on the front of the top of the home page and type in my brother that Stamps.com promo code. My brother Stamps.com never go to the post office or anywhere else again. Hey, so welcome back to the new Appalachian workshop with the MacRay Brothers, but not Griffin, and you know what that means.

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We're back from the commercial break. So it's time for everybody's favorite segment. Which would would you work with if you could? Would work would.

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Now, Justin, here's what's going to happen.

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I'm going to give you some projects and you tell me what kind of wood would you use for those projects? OK, you ready? OK, is there a right? Is this kind of a right or wrong kind of thing? Well, there are some preferred woods, but Justin, it's all about how you work at. That wasn't a joke. It is about how you work it. I mean, that's where the skill comes in. So the first project is outdoor furniture and decking.

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Well, I personally would use teak to take is my is my go to if I'm going to be outdoors. You know, the the the ravages of nature are pretty savage, but teak has got the the power to to stand up to it. And I would, I would probably go with with teak trout. Interesting. See, I would go with Cedar Key. It's relatively soft. It's a one on a scale of one to four. It has a straight grain and it has a slightly aromatic smell.

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And it's great for outdoor projects because it can handle moist environments without rotting. Well, you know what, different strokes for different. Absolutely. Now, Justin, if you were going to do let me see. Building, framing, right. What would you use? I mean, I would probably, you know, building, framing, especially in this market, especially in this market, is going to run you a pretty penny. Oh, yeah.

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Oh, yeah. I'm I would I would probably still frame with pine. That's how I would I would frame out of home. Yes. I would do Douglas fir I think. OK, yeah. It's inexpensive and it can be used for making furniture but it doesn't have a very interesting grained pattern and it doesn't take stain well. So mostly I would use it for, you know, for framing, especially since it's, it's a four on a scale of one to four for softwood.

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So moderately strong now just in one people you know people. Can we talk about softwood and hardwood first? Yes, please. This this distinction, once you learn it, it makes it all make a lot more sense. Softwood comes from conifer trees. Yeah. Coniferous and the deciduous trees give you softwood now deciduous area give you hardwood now coniferous like pine, that's going to be soft. And that's that's a tree shaped like this. Right. And now we're talking about a deciduous tree that's more tree shaped like this, you know what I mean?

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Yeah. So you can see on the diagram here of the differences between the two. Yeah. And we also have this scale. It's going to be up for the rest of the episode so you can reference it whenever you need to. The scale of the hardness of the woods and which one you want to use, that you will notice that scale has taken up the the left four fifths of your screen. Yeah. And we have been relegated to sort of the last fifth there.

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That's something we're working on in video toaster and we haven't really figured that out yet, but I'm sure we'll we'll get it. Oh, we've also got some fun overlays coming for episode two, so stick around for that as soon as we figure it out in production. Yeah. Now, just got one last one here. And this is this is a tricky one, OK, furniture, joinery, flooring, veneers and musical instruments. Oh yeah. All right.

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I knew that one would get you. I mean. I guess. Now, you're probably trying to think of a tricky one here, because the answer is so obvious, right? Yeah, but I guess I probably use I to remain stuck. I get it together. It's a mahogany, pristine mahogany. I feel like you want me to see mahogany. We have to move forward. We're almost done. It's got to be something trickier than just say just say mahogany.

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So we can move forward, please. We have to if I say that it's a trap phrase, it's not just nice mahogany. If I say that and it's the wrong thing, know, buddy, buddy, we're in this together. We're the only ones who are doing this for a few months of trying to. Justin, we're the only ones we can trust in the scenario. Mahogany. Yes, it's mahogany, also called Honduran mahogany. It has a reddish brown to deep red tent, a straight grain, which is so important, medium texture and hardness of around two.

[00:33:28]

On a scale of one to five, it takes very well and looks great with just one coat or ten of oil. And now that is it. That is a tricky one because mahogany is not the most sustainable. No, that is the big problem. It's not grown in sustainable forest. So that is a good reason not to make any musical instruments moving forward. Right, right. No more musicals. There are strains of mahogany there that are OK, but yeah.

[00:33:58]

But better not to risk it. I think just. That's true. You're not you're not a sustainability expert. Just stop using mahogany at all. Yeah. Especially musical instruments. Bamboo's the same although. Yeah. Well yeah I know. Honey sustains itself. How would you even use the bamboo to make a musical instrument. You know what I mean. Like come on what, what would it be. A flute. I guess it could be a Pabst.

[00:34:21]

You know, you could probably do a flute with it now that I'm thinking about it. It's not hey, buddy, you're doing so good to stick with it, OK? Here's another question on all of this. Yeah, dear brothers, OK, how do I get over my fear of using power tools for woodwork? Oh yeah. They are very loud and fast and have sharp blades. They can cut off my fingers. I'm a tech theater major and I had to build flats all the time.

[00:34:44]

Please help. Alternatively, any hot tips for using a power screwdriver? I always screw it up. I had intended as some scared of circular saws in CT. Yeah, the thing you need to know is that all power tools. Do you want to cut your fingers off? It is there don't a side. You should be very afraid. Yeah. That's good and healthy. That says your you're thinking like yeah you should be wicked afraid of them.

[00:35:14]

They're so dangerous. When I have Bonte power tools in the past, it is amazing to me that I don't require some kind of permit. Oh passed or waiting process. I am buying something that could easily kill. Yeah. When my first saw that I bought my first power saw was a circular saw. Yeah. Made by the fine folks at Milwaukee. I thought it was going to be the only side ever owned, so I wanted to get it right the first time.

[00:35:40]

So I got an eighteen battery powered circular saw from Milwaukee and as I was leaving I kept waiting for someone to stop. Yeah right. Like sir, you actually don't. I can't sell that to you in in good conscience. Yes, I own. Now just I'll walk you man. Of course I'm a DeWalt man. I own a battery operated Jewelz all which is like the shotgun of saws of electric saws. It is terrifying to behold. And when I worked in the theater, I was often standing on top of a ladder, holding it over my head during strikes, just cutting stuff above me.

[00:36:19]

So yeah, but this is why it's a good question asker that you're getting into it while you're still, I assume, in college and young because you don't understand death as much during that time period and you will feel a lot more invincible than you will when you reach your mid to late thirties. Lots of and there's lots of time for the singers to grow back. At your age, you're going to be absolutely fine. But no, do be afraid.

[00:36:43]

The the time people get hurt is when they stop being. Yes. And start getting silly and doing some bad cuts that aren't advisable. Just do like do it in a proper safe way. And they're like, don't start using a tool until you've watched the videos on how to use it extremely safely. I'll give an example. I bring home a piece of plywood like a four by eight sheet. And these things are just what are you talking about here now?

[00:37:10]

Three quarters. Oh yeah. Yeah. So I bring home that that for bright sheet and it's miserable to try to work with there's so. Oh yeah. I don't think about this so heavy. So you want to break it down as soon as possible. But you know you'll see some people just like turn on a table saw and push it across the table, saw and start roughly breaking it down like that. And you could anything can happen when you're doing that.

[00:37:37]

Anything you talk about kickback from. Oh, yeah. I would just get it cut you in half like a plate. Oh, man. Here's what you do. And I actually got this tip from Steve Ramsey. He does woodworking for mere mortals. He puts it down. He has like an inch thick sheet of insulation that he lay in that same form factor four by eight, and he'll lay down the sheet ventilation and then put the plywood on top of it.

[00:38:02]

So then then break it down with a circular saw. So you're cutting into the cutting edge of the insulation. Not enough to sever it, but then you're you can make your cut safely that way. That's that's the way to break down plywood right there. Yeah, but you need to know this stuff. You don't just start, like, getting silly with it. Oh, no, no, no different stuff. If you find yourself thinking, well, this is a made for this, but stop, stop, stop right there.

[00:38:27]

Yes, exactly. I think I can figure out a way to and, you know, ask for help. But the other thing may help. Yeah. And make sure, you know, while we're on the topic of safety and I don't want to make sure you're using at the very least, make sure, you know, people always think about the sock cutting you and this is bad and they will. But don't forget about the the other stuff that you should be using day in and day out.

[00:38:55]

You should vitamins now. You should be wearing eye protection in the ear, protection you should be wearing, like protecting your breathing airways, trying to get ventilation and dust and take it from me, from personal, very scary experience. No baggy sweaters. No baggy sweaters, what a specific oh, yeah, what a specific sometimes, Justin. Well, then this is a hypothetical situation in which I'm going to be talking about a scary body thing. So morning.

[00:39:24]

But sometimes you're wearing a sweater, you push it up the sleeves to your elbows, you're using a chop. Saw the sweater sleeve gets common on the blade, pulls your arm towards the blade. Luckily, the sweater stops the blade just as the blade touches your skin and you only get a minor scar sometimes. I mean, hypothetically, that could happen. Another thing for to tech question asker. Don't brag about how good you are using a tool while you're using it, because inevitably that's when you will hurt yourself in front of other people.

[00:39:58]

Like, say, hypothetically, you are showing a freshman and you are senior how to use a pneumatic stapler and you're like being all like you. And you got to be careful, man. The things that a lot of power and you could shoot right through your finger and then it double fires and you shoot a staple through your finger and like that, you know, and that's that's just a moment where God says, maybe you aren't until I got into your creation because you are fallible as humans are want to be.

[00:40:27]

And only I can build the gazebo without double firing and shooting an inch and a half pneumatic staple through my finger. Well, folks, I I have a really exciting, exciting surprise for you here on our first episode. We wanted to get a special guest, so we reached out to all the celebrity woodworkers that we know because, you know, the celebrities, they're just like, oh, yeah, absolutely. And they're and they're they're out there working wood as well.

[00:40:59]

And I am so thrilled to welcome to the program, Bill Macy. Hi, everybody. Hey, Bill. What's coming? Welcome to the new Appalachian Workshop featuring the McCrary brothers, beNot Griffin. It's so I'm so thrilled to have you here. No, I'm I'm I'm so glad to be here. You know, I love talking about woodworking. I love it. I love it. And I love we love watching you on Fargo and Shameless, you and mystery man.

[00:41:32]

So what are you working on these days? Well, I'll tell you, it's no mystery, man. We own my wife's childhood home in Colorado and where we're redoing a lot of the fencing on the property. And I've saved the most Natoli boards. They're all great and deeply weathered and I'm using them to make benches. I made a jig so I could join two boards along their length with Biscuit's. Then I use another jig to root a recess on the underside of the top four legs and a stretcher.

[00:42:01]

And I take a palm center and work on the more egregious spots, the places where someone's likely to get a big splinter in there. And I have a lot of stains, so I use them to make sanded spots. Gray again takes me a full day to make a single bench. You work on anything outdoors?

[00:42:21]

Yeah, building staircases around the house in L.A., which is on a pretty hilly side. This is my exercise. I find it insanely gratifying to build these stairs. I call them my Stairway to Heaven. And I have a great view of downtown L.A. from the top. A few years ago when I visited, you had just completed an arch footbridge over a gully house that the homeowner had to rebuild it, it rotted right out of its foundation. I'm not a very good carpenter, but I'm very enthusiastic.

[00:42:57]

So is there a connection between woodworking and acting? Usually I answer this question no. But lately, I do see a connection just. Everything we do in this life involves a lot of repetition in the shop, you design something and lay it out, but at a certain point you realize you need 12 of one piece and it would be best if they were all exactly alike. That's not different from what I do as an actor. Everyone rehearses their lines a couple times, then a scene is blocked out and the cameras roll, there might be an interaction between you and me in the scene and we might do it 10 or 12 times.

[00:43:47]

You want all the takes to be the same, yet you also want them to seem spontaneous. So wisdom comes from realizing that there has to be repetition, but also that the repetitions are never the same. Hell, yes, you sense of that statement, right? OK, I got to go. Oh, what's up with me? Oh, God. Wait. Well, we'll come back. Oh, he jumped out the window before. He's got wins, it would so you pick it up again.

[00:44:21]

Oh, go back to the car, right? Oh, no, what I'm don't want to know. It's you know, I feel like I've given you a really hard time would. So I just feel like there was more opportunity to go. Got somebody who was in Seabiscuit. No, no. The horse is coming next week. That horse loves woodwork. Travis, I didn't know that, but that'll be that's huge. And you know what else is huge?

[00:44:44]

Our gratitude to you for tuning in for this. Our first episode, first of many of the first of many episodes. And the Appalachian workshop featured the Zachary Brothers, but not Griffin. Thank you to our guest, Bill Macy, for coming out and huge. And thanks to you for four for listening. Our interview with Bill Macy was, of course, provided by Woodcroft magazine. So thanks to them and I do want to say before I forget, Will left this beautiful he's carved a little toy rocking horse here and it is free.

[00:45:18]

We're going to give it away. Just call that number that you see at the bottom of your screen right now on the 10th caller. We're going to give that to you. Signed by William H. Macy, valued at about fifteen thousand dollars. Wow, that's fantastic. And thanks to Macing for creating our our intro and outro theme, if you want more of them, they're a great Huntington, West Virginia band. You can find them on Bandcamp got amassing WHV dot bandcamp dot com.

[00:45:50]

They got songs about genos. They got songs about basically everything. I mean, the pub, which which is also at genos, that does sound like some kind of like witch that lives at a pub. Yeah. They got songs about pepperoni rolls, everything. These these guys are so talented macing to be beat up and came back. And of course, thank you to producer Stan without without Stan, we wouldn't have to do this. So thank you for tuning in.

[00:46:15]

And as we say, every week when you'll join us next week. Hey, folks, thank you so much. If you like that, you can just relistening to. Yeah, listen, it was rough, but I think if we got another shot at it, I think there's a lot of things we would do differently.

[00:46:35]

Probably include gravity. Make you pretend to be Bill Macy. Yeah, well, they said that they would fix it in post. And Stan said that a lie. I don't think he knew exactly what that entailed because I didn't know how you could fix the fact that I'm not I mean, I was wearing that mocap suit so that maybe they were going to fake it.

[00:46:55]

Maybe they're going to it wasn't a mocap.

[00:46:57]

It was just a green jumpsuit with ping pong balls on it. I try to tell you that.

[00:47:01]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that's what you might. You look so ridiculous in the. Yeah, OK.

[00:47:07]

See, I didn't know what you were talking about then. I thought you were talking about something hours for you.

[00:47:11]

Honestly, at this point like can we be done.

[00:47:13]

Well yeah we can everybody go check out. We've got some new merch up for April McCoy, Match.com. Don't forget to check that out. We got Max fundrise coming up pretty soon and it's very exciting. Don't forget to preorder the adventure zone graphic novel Crystal Kingdom at the Adventure Zone, comic Comic-Con. Let's see what else Justin thinks.

[00:47:34]

The maximum fun dog. We got a really beautiful farm wisdom. Super cute, super great farm wisdom pen that benefits the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, which supports efforts by local community based organizations to combat violence and hate. There's also a new adventures down shirt over there. Go check that out.

[00:47:53]

And I think that's going to wrap it up. Well, folks, thank you so much for listening and be sure to join us again next week.

[00:47:59]

We don't have to do our normal closing or anything because this is really kind of a more archival episode for for posterity sake. But thanks for listening. We really appreciate. Cut off to cut up, yeah, cut up and put it back together again. That was the new shop featuring the McElroy brothers, Chris. Maximum fun dog comedy and culture, artist owned, audience supported.