Ep 118: Little Birch Town

• Chocolate confessions launch the show with dark chocolate sea salt pretzels competing against chocolate peanut butter fudge brownies while Jess describes Halloween ghost cupcakes involving Oreos with orange filling and brownie mix creating spooky treats that impressed his wife Ashley's seasonal decoration obsession

• Baby Charlie steals the spotlight making surprise camera appearances during Colton's solo dad duties while Crystal attends Dancing with the Stars watch parties forcing impromptu childcare negotiations and witching hour bottle battles that threaten podcast completion

• Texas Woodworking Festival discoveries blow Colton's mind with Air Weights vacuum tables featuring customizable grid systems that section off suction zones plus revolutionary vacuum dogs that turn bench dog holes into clamping systems without traditional clamps

• Clear Boot dust collection innovations combine laser positioning systems for perfect bit alignment with transparent acrylic strips replacing traditional brush fingers allowing visual monitoring during delicate CNC operations while maintaining dust extraction efficiency

• Stone Coat epoxy expansions include penetrating formulas and ultra-deep three-inch applications plus urethane topcoats that roll on like paint while Boss Dog introduces colored wood glues with acetone-based CA accelerators preventing bubble formation during curing

• Angie's List sales trap nearly ensnares Colton with sweet-talking representatives pushing year-long contracts costing five grand for questionable leads until Jess and Ross intervene with horror stories about credit card charges and fake phone numbers plus prepaid card protection strategies

• Construction reality checks reveal cabinet tariff increases hitting seven and a half percent while Jess navigates county inspection marathons covering everything from insulation installation to drywall screw patterns plus front porch reconstruction replacing rotted cedar posts with pressure-treated alternatives

• Shaker drawer front masterclass emerges when Ross seeks guidance creating twelve painted fronts leading to detailed domino joinery tutorials with climbing cut router techniques and radius corner sanding plus half-inch plywood center panels creating professional results

• Lumber education revolution combines history lessons with interactive trivia covering nominal dimensions revealing two-by-fours measuring one-and-a-half by three-and-a-half inches while exploring stamp meanings like KD for kiln-dried and PT for pressure-treated lumber

• Plywood grading mysteries get decoded through A-B-C-D classifications where A represents paintable cabinet grade and CDX means construction sheathing with exterior glue while FSC certification ensures Forest Stewardship Council approved sustainable harvesting practices

• Board foot mathematics challenge listeners calculating twenty board feet for eight-quarter lumber measuring twelve inches wide by ten feet long while quarter-sawn techniques create vertical grain patterns essential for figured woods like tiger oak and zebra wood

• Workshop wisdom includes Ross's dado relief cuts solving oversized drawer problems plus Jess's job site cleanup revelations improving customer relations and inspector impressions while Colton learns valuable lessons about seeking advice before signing sales contracts