June 21, 2022 • 49 mins
Welcome to the Grit Nation podcast, I’m Joe Cadwell and in this episode I have the pleasure of speaking with logger, blacksmith, carpenter, and internet sensation Scott Wadsworth.
Better known to over 1 million YouTube followers as the Essential Craftsman, Scott, together with his son Nate, have created a wealth of entertaining and educational videos designed to help anyone interested in learning more about blue-collar craft skills.
Scotts laid back, straight shooting, and down to earth demeaner resonates well both on and off camera and I found this interview to be truly enjoyable.
We’ll start our conversation by learning how Scott got involved in the building trades over 4 decades ago and what he believes some of the bigger industry changes and challenges have been.
Next, Scott will share details of individuals he has met as a professional builder and what characteristics and attributes they possessed that made them so memorable and influential in his life.
Later, we’ll dig into the concept of “workmanship of risk vs. workmanship of certainty” and why a healthy balance of both is needed both on and off the job to achieve a career and life, full of meaning and reward.
We’ll then discuss why now more than ever a career as a building trades professional can produce the same or greater socio-economic gains as a college degree and investigate some of the factors responsible for shifting this paradigm.
And we’ll wrap up our conversation by discussing what it means to be a Craftsman and why Scott’s definition of success doesn’t rely solely on how many digits you have in your savings account.
The Show Notes
The Essential Craftsman
https://essentialcraftsman.com/
The Essential Craftsman Podcast
https://essentialcraftsman.com/podcast
Union Home Plus helps union members save money when they buy, sell, or finance their home.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Joe Cadwell (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of the Grit Nation
Podcast. I'm Joe Cadwell andtoday I have the pleasure of
speaking with logger, blacksmithcarpenter and internet sensation
Scott Wadsworth.
Better known over 1 millionYouTube followers as the
essential craftsman. Scott,together with his son Nate have
created a wealth of entertainingand educational videos designed
to help anyone interested inlearning more about Blue Collar
(00:31):
craft skills. Scott's laid back,straight shooting and down to
earth demeanor resonates wellboth on and off camera, and I
found this interview to be trulyenjoyable.
We'll start our conversation bylearning how Scott got involved
in the building trades over fourdecades ago. And what believes
are some of the bigger industrychanges and challenges have
been. Next, Scott will sharedetails of individuals he has
(00:54):
met as a professional builder,and what characteristics and
attributes they possess thatmade them so memorable and
influential on his life. Later,we'll dig into the concept of
"workmanship of risk versusworkmanship of certainty: and
why a healthy balance of both isneeded both on and off the job
to create a career and live fullof meaning and reward. We'll
(01:15):
then discuss why now more thanever a career as a building
trades professional can producethe same or greater
socio-economic gains as acollege degree and investigate
some of the factors responsiblefor shifting this paradigm. And
we'll wrap up our conversationby discussing what it means to
be a craftsman a wise Scott'sdefinition of success doesn't
rely solely on how many digitsyou have in your savings
(01:37):
account.
After the episode, be sure tocheck out the show notes for
more information about ScottWadsworth, and The Essential
Craftsman. And now on to theshow.
Scott Wadsworth, welcome to GridNation.
Scott Wadsworth (01:52):
Man. Thanks for bringing me on. Joe. I've been
looking forward to this for along time. And here we are.
Joe Cadwell (01:56):
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking your time
to be on the show today. Scott,I'm I'm a big fan. As we've
talked about, before we we hitrecord, I've been following you
on YouTube for a while I startedintroducing my apprentices to
your videos. And for those whodo not know Scott, have yet to
be introduced to who ScottWadsworth is and The Essential
(02:17):
Craftsman, can you give us alittle bit of your backstory.
Scott Wadsworth (02:19):
So first of all, I don't want to just take
for granted the idea that you'reusing our content for your
apprentices. Thank you for that.
We didn't really see this comingwhen we started our YouTube
channel, really almost six yearsago, that it would actually be
useful to people entering thetrades we we started it mostly
to carve out an internetfootprint for marketing my
(02:39):
blacksmith stuff, and then itmorphed into something
completely different. But thebackstory is i I'm an Oregon
native, born here in 1958. Thatofficially makes me an old guy.
I went all 12 years to the glideSchool District. I left when I
graduated, I was playing with aDixieland jazz band, a teenage
(03:02):
Dixieland jazz band. And I wentto Oregon State for a couple of
terms thinking that I was goingto be an engineer started that
curriculum, and then wasdistracted by music we played,
we were recording few albums.
And we went back and played forPresident Carter at the White
House. And then we booked a touracross the country. And so I
remember thinking that oh, solucid thought of then 19 year
(03:25):
old, what do I need an educationfor? I'm going to be a star. And
so I quit college it'd be to bea jazz musician. And then just
about a year and a half later, Irealized that wasn't going to
work. And I had always liked tomake things I and I had always
like, I had always liked olderapproaches to doing things or I
(03:47):
guess I had a respect for theefforts and the capacity of the
generations before us that hadthat had built the foundation
that everyone was standing andworking on today. Right? I had
always loved that I'd like beingfriends with older guys. And
I've been building tree housesand little boats and stuff since
I was a kid. And so I thoughtwell, I'm going to be a
(04:07):
carpenter. Because I had a girlI'd been dating through high
school and I wanted to marry herand I knew I had to support her
and the carpenter with a shortstep into something that I
thought had value and wouldappeal to me. So I got a
carpenter job. I'm probablyforgetting some steps that
aren't that important. I gotdistracted, I decided to build a
(04:28):
portable sawmill. I did that Iran that for a while. The Oregon
commodity based economy oftimber, timber timber, crashed
in 1981. Unemployment inRoseburg was 23% Think about
that for a second 23% Man thatcoincided with just about the
time that I had stuck my toe inthe water for a union
(04:49):
apprenticeship here in Roseburgand I had I got the opportunity
to go to work on a bridge joband I thought no I'm not just be
I guess it was just before Witha crash, I thought now I want to
build houses. So I got a generalcontractor's license here and I
ran that for a year or so andthen the economy crashed and I
had my sawmill and I decidedmove to Wyoming. So Kelly and I
(05:11):
with a little baby, moved toNorthwestern Wyoming where I
worked for five years, buildinghouses for a man named Wade
Welch, a good guy, and he was aground up guy, you don't blade
off the sagebrush and stay rightthere till the doors in the case
and the base and the cabinetsand all of it. It was a great
education. Then that commoditybased economy, tanked oil and
(05:34):
uranium and sugar beets andbarley and everything that that
corner of the world depended on,went down simultaneously. And
Kelly's biological father livedin Las Vegas, and he had invited
us to come down there and therewas lots of work in Vegas. So as
economic refugees, once again, Iloaded up my then larger family
(05:55):
we had, well, actually, Kellyand three kids stayed in Wyoming
in our place, and I went to LasVegas and carved out a spot
there and went to work, worked acouple months, went back, sold
the place, took them down to LasVegas worked the Las Vegas pace
of construction, which is maybeunique on the face of the earth.
I mean, I think Los Angeles andPhoenix probably are much like
(06:17):
it. And so I slipped into thatin several different areas that
we can talk about both Union andnon union, both commercial sort
of medium weight constructionand housing, track piecework
framing, and then exclusivelycommercial concrete. So I got
kind of a good education there.
And then it dawned on me that Ididn't want to try to raise boys
(06:39):
through their teenage years in atown that had posters of naked
women on the taxi cabs. Ithought, you know, I'm not, I'm
not going to try that. And so Isold the place that I had
recently built in Killeen. Imoved back to Oregon in 1994. I
logged with my dad again for afew years because I was frankly,
tired of high pressure highpaced construction. So I bought
(07:02):
in with him, and we loggedtogether. And then I realized no
logging is changing so rapidly,and dad and I can't change with
it. And so I got a contractor'slicense here in Oregon, and I've
been a small general contractorhere, since. And so it's given
me an opportunity to do a lot ofthings as a little general here,
I, I did a lot of stuff. I'm avariety junkie. And so
(07:25):
everything from steelfabrication and an inground
swimming pool and small bridgesto lots of Kitchen and Bath
remodels and additions and justsuspended concrete decks and
stainless steel, cable railingsand whatever came along that was
new and intriguing. That seemsto be what I did. And then we
morphed into YouTube. So there'sthe thumbnail bio.
Joe Cadwell (07:46):
There you go. And I picked up on a couple of things,
we'll definitely get to theYouTube in the in the essential
craftsman a little bit later.
But I picked up on a couplethings there you use the term
"economic refugee", and I washoping you could elaborate on
that a little bit Scott inregards to application to the
building trades.
Scott Wadsworth (08:03):
Building trades are, in my experience and
opinion. And this I'm not. So Ithrow out a lot of stuff as if
it's true. And I and withoutmaybe substantiating every
single thing. But it's true inmy experience, right. And so
building depends on the strengthof the economy where you're
building, if there are notdollars running around where you
(08:23):
are, people are not prone tobuild things. And so when
economies go through theirtypical cycles, to feast and
famine, lifestyle, at least inthe area of construction that
I've lived in, when yourneighbors have money, they want
you to do work, and when theydon't, they don't. And
(08:45):
particularly as a person justgetting a foothold in life. You
know, you don't have savings,you're you have payments, you
have barely enough of the thingsthat you need for your
infrastructure. When it turnsdown, you have to follow the
work at least I had to followthe work because other areas
will have work. And so I thoughtof myself in these two big moves
(09:08):
from Oregon to Wyoming in 81.
And then from Wyoming, to LasVegas in 86. I thought of myself
as a refugee we see the pictureson on the television, right of
people streaming across borders,for whatever reason, either to
escape persecution or violence,or just in quest of a better
(09:31):
life. They're refugees. Andthat's exactly what Kelly and I
were we were looking for abetter life. And it depended on
my ability to be productive andbe paid to secure that better
life. And so we got to newcommunities we met new people we
found we establish ourselves innew circles of acquaintance and
new areas of work and adaptedhowever we need to adapt. And I
(09:55):
recommend everybody be a refugeeat least one It's in their life.
Joe Cadwell (10:00):
I agree, I never thought of myself along those
terms, but I definitely livethat lifestyle is working
commercial diver chasing thework all around the Northwest
all around the world to someextent. And so I appreciate that
that definition. The other theterm that I heard you throw out
there was variety junkie and itjust sounds like your life has
(10:22):
exposed you to a whole lot ofdifferent skill sets and
environments. And, and andfolks, and I think that is huge
and in an inherent to a lot ofpeople that that get into the
crafts, because they're notsatisfied with just, you know,
the same old day in and day out.
And, and having that varietyjunkier that desire to learn
something new or be challengedon a day to day basis is really
(10:45):
important to us. So along theway, what have you learned
Scott, with all those words ofwisdom now from a guy who's been
around for a few decades, whatwould you say construction is
brought to you?
Scott Wadsworth (11:01):
It it, it has, I guess life probably does this
for everybody. But it hascertainly driven home the point
that you can never tell what'sgoing to happen next. And
whatever plans you're so so Ihave, I have a profoundly
religious worldview, it's been ablessing to me. And one of the
(11:22):
things that comes along withthat is if you want to hear God
left, just tell him your plans.
And boy, is that true inconstruction, you know, I mean,
you think you know where you'regoing to end up or what kind of
work you're going to be doing orwho you're going to be working
with or how long this job isgoing to last. You think you
know, a lot of things. But turnsout at the end of the day, you
(11:43):
didn't really know much. But youlearned a lot, if that if that
makes any sense. And once again,I don't know about other lives.
But if you are curious inconstruction, and if you're if
you are intent on keeping yourlearning curve vertical, if
you're not satisfied with whatyou know, and you're wanting to
know more about even the thingsthat you're doing, man, there
(12:03):
are wonderful things that comeacross your path and you meet
more people. So they're okay,let me go back to your good
question. What What have youlearned, I've learned that
people are fantastic. And if youkeep your eyes open, you're
going to meet people on thesejobs, that will make a huge
impact on you. They'll teach youthings, either as a positive or
a negative example. And youremember better the things for
(12:26):
the negative examples, you know,at least I do. You also learn
that some people are justhopelessly combative, some
consoling people are so lockedinto this, and this is the way I
do it. It's the only wayanybody's going to do it. You
know? And if you keep your eyesopen, and you recognize it in
yourself, you can you have achance of wiping that out of
your personality, becausenothing is a rate limiting
factor in a life more than that.
(12:48):
I tell young people that whenyou show up on a job, or you're
working with somebody, the worsttwo words you can ever use is I
know, I know, I know, if you'reworking with somebody that you
want to learn from, never say, Iknow, say, got it, you know,
because because I know myself ifI'm working with a young person
(13:10):
about the third time they say, Iknow I go well, okay, buddy, you
know, I am done opening my mouthand pointing new things that
you. So those are a couple ofthings that I don't know, I also
learned that, that it is thatthe offsetting blessing for the
curse of living in a feast andfamine world and construction is
(13:31):
the ability to look back at theend of the day and see what
you've done. That satisfactionof having actually made a
difference in that day is a big
Joe Cadwell (13:42):
Absolutely. I call that the stepback moment, you
know, where you step back at theend of the day, you and your
crew can put your hands on yourhips or fold your arms and say,
Look, this is you know, this isour accomplishment. This is
something tangible and real thatis going to be around I use the
term a lot for you know,generations generational wealth
has been constructed by by theseby our hands. So pretty darn
(14:04):
cool. So along the way, you saidyou made a lot of interesting
people, I'm sure now as aninfluencer, I'll use that term,
Scott. There must have been somepeople that had some key
influence on your life. And Iwas hoping you could talk to one
or two of those folks and whythey they played such an
important role and, and makingyou who you are.
Scott Wadsworth (14:22):
Yeah, that's that's a great opportunity. It's
kind of a long list. You know,in the Okay, so one, one of the
first and you know, I've got toput out there my dad, my dad is
a guy who lacks imaginationabout him. I can't my dad
doesn't have any confidence inhis ability to to conceptualize
(14:47):
a project and a path and anoutcome. He lacks that but boy,
he was steady. He was alwaysshowing up for work. You know, I
bet you could count onforefingers a number of times in
his life. that he was late forwork and every time was because
he had a flat tire, you know.
And so just as a steady workethic, I learned from my dad and
then I also learned, you know,from that negative example, man,
(15:08):
sometimes you just got to take achance and, and develop a plan
and move so so dad would befirst Kelly's granddad showed up
when I was I met Kelly went outwhen we were 15. And I met her
granddad when I was 16. And hewas a retired sawmill man, Sam
ball, and I have a video aboutthis sawmill that he gave me
that I rebuilt. He was a sawmillman in Southern Oregon, for 1935
(15:33):
to 1945. And in that period oftime he yarded That is logged
and sawed 69 million board feetof railroad ties with steam
power. Wow. Think of that, okay,with a third grade education. He
came west from Indiana when hewas 19 years old by hopping of
(15:57):
freight and writing in a boxcaracross the country. And he
almost froze to death going overSouth Pass and Wyoming in the
winter, because he was trappedin this box car at 40 below. But
anyway, so I met this thislittle old man tough and smart.
And he had a workshop. And helet me come into his workshop
and start making things. Hugely.
(16:21):
hugely influential in my life.
And then I started meeting theguys that I worked with and I
worked for two or three goodbosses. I mentioned weight
Welch. I worked with a guy herein Roseburg, that was two years
older than me. He graduatedahead of me, Steve hood, he
showed up on my channel. He'sbeen building spec homes here in
Roseburg, Steve influenced me atan early date. And then moving
(16:42):
to Las Vegas, the list of peopleon the on the job sites, if I
thought about it would be solong. I had a partner piecework
framing, John urban, man, hetaught me a lot about production
tricks and a productionmentality to framing that your
productivity absolutely dependson the system, you put in place.
(17:02):
Much more than how fast you runfrom the lumber pile to the
deck, Oh, you better be able torun, you know, but if you put
the right system in place, andyou handle your material
efficiently, you're gonnaproduce more than the guy across
the street. And, and thenspiritually and emotionally and
personally, I've had mentorsthat have just showed me a
better way. So long answer to agreat question.
Joe Cadwell (17:25):
And the characteristics that a lot of
these people have possessed, itsounds like tenacity, hard work,
you know, the ability to, to seethrough the tough times and
share the good times with otherfolks is super important. And,
and morale is always a big one.
And I noticed that, you know,you're a pretty upbeat guy all
the time. And, and I think thatreally does inspire a lot of
(17:45):
folks on the job.
Scott Wadsworth (17:48):
You know, I think it is, but I have my
YouTube channel is a hopelesslyromanticized and sanitized
version of me, right. I mean, myson will even take out my
daughter Chin's you, I mean, youknow, so, and I tell people that
don't be tricked by our specHouse series, where every day
(18:10):
the sun shining, you never seeme waiting in mud, and I never
get a little shock out of myextension cord, and nobody's
ever you know, it, all they'reseeing is, is the best aspect of
the construction. And, and Idon't know that that's
necessarily the way it is. But Ido think is better to build
morale than it is to tear itdown. And it's better to find a
(18:30):
way to cooperate than it is tofind yourself rolling in the
dirt with somebody becauseyou're arguing about what you
know, you know, there's so many,that's one of the downsides of
construction is opportunitiesfor interpersonal conflict
between tough guys would beegos, it's the thing. Earlier
generations when you and Ishowed up on the jobs, and we
were kid, fistfights were commonthey were common. Now, I don't
(18:54):
think they're as common now, asthey were then. And I'm not
saying there was anything goodabout that. But, but there are
aspects of construction. It'skind of a prison mentality.
Right?
Joe Cadwell (19:04):
So what are your what are some of the biggest
changes you've noticed inconstruction over the
generations then?
Scott Wadsworth (19:09):
As far as technology, man, what a list I
mean, cordless drill drivers.
Okay? Just that. When I workedfor Wade Welch in Wyoming, he
still had Yankee screwdrivers,and I used one for about six
months with him before he showedup with his first 9.6 volt.
McKee Actually no, we wereusing, he put a he put a brand
(19:29):
new magnetic screw tip into theend of our Milwaukee hole
shooter, and we were puttingdoors together with that, oh, it
was better. And then six monthslater, here's this cordless
thing. So that was first and forme as as big a game changer as a
nail gun. Lasers showed up whenI was in Las Vegas, the first
Spectre physics laser thatDennis bunker brought out onto
(19:51):
the job for Ms. Concrete I thinkin 1988 cost 5000 bucks, you
know He said, Don't you knockthis down? Yeah, I mean, it's a
big deal. But of course, the thesafety considerations, the
productivity and the time syncof cell phones. I mean, they are
(20:12):
a two edged sword. Modernconstruction couldn't happen now
without instantaneouscommunication, the way we can
schedule so tightly now that youcould not do before you couldn't
do it. I mean, if somebodydidn't show up, you had no idea
when they were going to be thereand your whole day would
collapse, right? And on the onthe other hand, you didn't have
(20:33):
guys hanging out in the in thePorta Potty on their cell phones
for 30 minutes when they shouldhave been out five minutes after
they walked in. You know, sothese changes are, it's there
have been paradigm shiftseverywhere you look in
construction.
Joe Cadwell (20:47):
For sure. And one of the shifts, I think, and I
was prepping for this Scott bylistening to another podcast and
the conversation of workmanshipof risk and workmanship of
certainty. And you you picked upthis concept from someone, I
believe in England wrote a bookand I was hoping you could
elaborate for listeners a littlebit more about the workmanship
of risk versus the workmanshipof certainty.
Scott Wadsworth (21:09):
Yeah, David Pi Ken Jordan, my friend, Ken
Jordan, that some of you whohave watched the channel may
have been introduced to on mychannel. And if you haven't,
you've just got to look at thevideo called The friend who
revolutionized my thinking. Buthe introduced me to David pines,
a little paperbound, thin book.
The nature and art ofcraftsmanship, I think, is what
(21:34):
it's called. And his idea, and Ithink this was an original
thought, or at least an originalway to describe something was
that the Industrial Revolution,boiled down to taking the risk
out of the work that was beingdone in order to get a
consistent, identical outcome,get an outcome that was certain.
And so he termed the work thatis done by hand. And use it as
(21:56):
an example of woodcarving. Orlet's talk about Michelangelo
carving. David hewing David outof a block of marble, the longer
you work on a project like that,and the tighter and tighter that
tolerances become, the higherand higher becomes a risk of a
catastrophic failure, somethinggoing bad, and a moment that
(22:18):
just can't be fixed. And all ofthe effort that's been expended
until that moment, is thrownaway. I mean, you can visualize
it, as David was finally takingshape. If whoever it was that
was chiseling off and sandingoff and making perfect the shape
of David's eyebrows, would haveknocked the eyebrow off of
(22:38):
there. Sorry, you know that twoyears effort is throwing away
that's workmanship of risk,workmanship of certainty. Think
of a table saw with afingerboard or featherboard,
whatever you call it, clamp tothe table. So you're getting
ribs of exactly the same widthjust as fast as you can jam it
down that saw, you know thatevery one of those boards is
going to be exactly the same wayor a router, you take 100 down
(23:01):
the edge of a nice mood board,you know that that Roman OG
shape is going to be perfect. Ifyou do a a client cut and an
undercut coming back. It'ssmooth, it's perfect as root
workmanship, of certainty. Andso the idea of keeping track of
how much of your work isworkmanship of risk that is
subjected to catastrophicfailure or being made much more
(23:23):
expensive by having to fixwhatever happens versus
workmanship of risk. And that isif you stage it right and if
your tools are in good shape.
And if your operator is trainedeven a little bit, you know what
the outcome is. And then in thein your construction system, you
push it push as much as you canfor risk to certainty. You're
(23:45):
going to be doing a better jobin less time, and you're going
to be a more productiveemployee. It's a great it's a
powerful concept,
Joe Cadwell (23:51):
I think, yeah. And it has to be somewhat kept in
balance. Because if all we didwas work in a workman ship of
certainty, you'd become prettyroutine pretty boring, we'd lose
the I don't know the thrill ofwhat we're doing. You're you're
almost like a factory worker inthe field. And that that element
of risk is necessary in order toat least in my opinion, that's
(24:12):
maybe one reason why I chose amore of a high risk occupation
with commercial diving wasbecause I really liked being out
you know, on the edge a lot oftime doing work that involved an
element of danger just kind ofalways made it more interesting
for me I could go down and atleast shoveled gravel underwater
for hours on end be happy as aclam just because I was
(24:32):
underwater doing it. Whereas ifyou had me move three yards of
gravel on the surface, I getbored with it pretty darn quick.
I don't know I I listened tothat concept. And I thought it
was really interesting.
Scott Wadsworth (24:43):
That is that's really interesting. And I think
that's entirely and exactly whyI was a variety junkie. Because
if you're learning something anddoing something for the first or
second time you're just liableto wreck it and so you really
have to concentrate. And whenyou're concentrating, it's the
whole you you We're not justthat part of you that's on
autopilot. And that feelswonderful. And then when you get
(25:05):
that moment that you described,where you stand back and put
your hands on your hips and lookat it, when you knew you did it,
even though you could havewrecked it, and you didn't wreck
it, it's a different level ofsatisfaction. Absolutely. So so
this introduces one of my rantsthat people don't understand. So
I love it when I hear Mike Rowesay safety third, and love to
hear him say that because he'sgot oxy enough to say it, sir.
(25:26):
And most of the rest of usdon't. Because that element of
risk is part of what convincesus that we're still alive. You
know, the possibility of eithernot being alive or not being
healthy, as a result of ourchoices, is why people do
extreme sports. It's why we makeheroes and idols out of people
(25:48):
who leap off of cliffs onsnowboards than Alex handled,
who claims El Cap free solo,
Joe Cadwell (25:54):
doing things now that that seem to have been
washed out of society, you know,everything's been so sterilized
and, and risk adverse thatpeople really are, are hesitant
to or not hesitant, but don'tlive in a life that challenges
them physically and mentally ona day to day basis. So we then
we have to turn to these peoplethat are doing that and pushing
the envelope give ussatisfaction,
Scott Wadsworth (26:16):
or young men turned to causing trouble,
because they can cause troubleand have risk. And they have to
have that feeling of risk andreward exposure and an
accomplishment, I think, to everbecome fully human. And so since
we fenced it out of most lives,sometimes people have to jump
(26:36):
over the fence to get it. Youknow, my friend siteswan I don't
know if you've met siteswan onmy channel.
Joe Cadwell (26:42):
I have seen ty i think it is he's a fellow sits
in the chair quite a bit.
Scott Wadsworth (26:45):
No, that's Ken Jordan. siteswan is a guy who
makes cannons and makes knivesand he's an 89 year old cowboy
and he he still loves and heruns his cats and his equipment.
He is the renaissance man. Okay,he's it. And sigh as I work he's
blacksmith, he he mentored me inblacksmithing. And didn't take
(27:06):
me long to figure out that ifwhat we were doing didn't have
an element of risk. And its Iwas going to input an element of
risk, either to the outcome ofthe job, or to the health and
welfare of our bodies. And so ifyou don't get a look at him on
the channel, that is one amazingold dude. He's had 16 Major
reconstructive surgeries in hislife. And 12 of them were not
(27:28):
voluntary. They were becausehe's a risk taker baby. He's an
amazing,
Joe Cadwell (27:32):
but he's lived a full life and full
Scott Wadsworth (27:35):
life. And when he dropped him in the grave
grave, it's going to be in abeat up worn out much abused
body instead of somethingpristine that might have made it
another year or two, you know,it just he's an amazing guy.
Joe Cadwell (27:46):
Right. And like you say, the I think a big part of
it, of why young men pushthemselves. There's no real rite
of passage that anyone has toachieve now and for myself, I
guess my rite of passage Itypical kid, you know, going
through typical American highschool, but when I volunteered
for the for the Navy, and thenactually had the challenge of US
(28:09):
Navy deep sea diver second classschool. To me, that was a rite
of passage, I earned that, thatrole, that position that I then
you know, embraced as a as a USNavy Diver. And I think so many
people don't have that, thatability to truly challenge
themselves both physically andmentally. And especially in an
environment that's very nonconducive to your health and
(28:30):
well being the waterenvironment. I really felt like
that was a significant milestonein my life. And I was like, I
can always look back on thatwith pride.
Scott Wadsworth (28:38):
That had to be incredibly formative. So the
Joe Cadwell (28:41):
craftsman, and I know your show is the essential
craftsman and I'm hoping to findout in your opinion, Scott, what
what is the definition of acraftsman? What What sets a
craftsman apart from just alaborer?
Scott Wadsworth (28:54):
So you've already figured out that I'm not
good at short answers. Okay. AndI apologize for that. And
nobody's asked me that. But thefirst thing is, I think it's
someone that produces that isobsessed, not with perfection,
but with excellence. And there'sa world of difference. Because
(29:17):
sometimes perfection is tooexpensive. You know, sometimes
percent perfection is either notattainable, or whoever's is
paying for this just can'tafford it. And so the idea of
being able to identify what isexcellent right now, and how do
I get excellence? I think that'sa big characteristic of
(29:39):
craftsmanship. I thinkcraftsmanship has to include
what we were just talking abouta risk that there if there's not
an element of risk to whatyou're doing and it is just
manufacturing and manufacturingis not craftsmanship, no matter
how perfect the items on theshelf at Home Depot or they're
not craftsmanship They're justmanufactured perfection or
(30:02):
they're not perfection, you takeit back, you get your money back
and get one that you know. Sothat's not craftsmanship. I
think that craftsmanship impliesand requires some passion there,
when it becomes mundane. Whenthere's no longer when you don't
feel us, when you don't feelsatisfaction and fulfillment in
(30:23):
what you're doing, it's time tochange gigs, because it's not
going to be craftsmanshipanymore. It's going to be just
production or a life alivelihood. And there's nothing
wrong with things being alivelihood, and not every
livelihood has to be craftsmanship. But doggone it, every
livelihood should be somethingthat involves an opportunity to
to be excellent. Or try to beexcellent. I think that's
Joe Cadwell (30:46):
that probably nailed it right there. You know,
your your constant attempt andand effort to perfect your craft
makes you a craftsman as opposedto someone who's just going
through the motions of pumpingsomething out. But really
putting, again, that heart andsoul into it, I think is what
separates a craftsman you cantell those people I mean, they
(31:08):
they just stand out they shinewhen they when they show up on a
job. And you can tell that theyreally know what they they're
doing and that they care aboutwhat they're doing, I think is a
big part of of just being acraftsman.
Scott Wadsworth (31:18):
I think I think you're exactly right. And I
think the first one of the firstways you can spot that person,
even as a kid, even as a a firstperiod apprentice is if he's
there a little early, and if hestays a little late. And so
speaking to whoever is listeningto this, that is just beginning
the trades. It's the biggestadvantage that you can give
(31:40):
yourself and your competitionwith all the people around you
for recognition andaccomplishment on a jobsite is
never, never never be late towork. And late means less than
10 minutes early. If you're not10 minutes early, you are late.
And if you are 10 minutes early,you are going to be standing
there ready to work and theperson who's responsible for the
(32:01):
job is going to identify you assomeone that can be relied on.
And then the corollary to thatis, if you're not the first guy
in your truck heading down theroad, when the day is done,
you're going to be identified assomebody who cares about the
outcome, and is going to you'resoon going to have an up
position of trust andresponsibility. And your
opportunity for fulfillment willbe higher.
Joe Cadwell (32:22):
Absolutely. So speaking about people who are
listening to the show right now,we may have some people that are
sort of on the fence about youknow, getting in investing in a
career in the trades or perhapsgoing to college or the
military. What What's yourthoughts on on college versus
the trade, say, college versusthe trades in today's modern
(32:42):
era?
Scott Wadsworth (32:43):
So my thoughts on that have changed over the
last 10 years, maybe some peopleare appalled when when I touched
some people are bugged when Itell them that I had three sons
and I very deliberately did notteach them to be carpenters
deliberately. Because when I wasa young man in the trades,
(33:03):
perhaps it was the same for you,Joe, although you came in
through the military and into avery exclusive club, I'll say
club very exclusive. underwaterwelding deep sea diving. I mean,
it's a tiny fraction of apercent of the people in
construction or in that niche.
But in the in the perhaps mostcommon construction niche that
there is, which is carpenter.
(33:27):
When I was coming of age, wewere thick on the ground,
carpenters were everywhere. Andthey didn't command much respect
or money. Okay, so I'll try notto get too far into the weeds
here. Let me just say this, thetrades have become a much more
viable route to a successful,financially successful life now
(33:49):
than they were when we wereyoung. Because there is a trade
gap. There is a profoundshortage of people who know how
to build things. It can't beoutsourced. It can't be sent
overseas, you'd have to bestanding on the ground ready to
do the work. And we've come to apoint now where if you have
trade skills, and you're halfwaysavvy at all, and and you have
(34:09):
the integrity to push yourselfand produce produce a full day's
work for a full day's pay,you're going to be well
compensated. And so it's veryviable. On the other side,
higher education has been coopted to the point where degrees
that have no commercial valuewhatsoever and provide no real
education, even our sort ofdangled out in front of kids at
(34:31):
something to borrow money for.
And then you emerge with acredential of no value with a
lifetime of debt. And that'sindentured servitude, with no
light at the end of the tunnel.
So the roles have kind ofswapped a little bit for the
people like me that were just inthe middle of the road in the
middle of the pack, not fightnot spectacularly gifted, not
spectacular ly challenged. Thetrades are a viable and
(34:55):
fulfilling way to a good lifenow, and they were not always
that.
Joe Cadwell (34:58):
Yeah, for sure. It seems like Got a real supply and
demand equation is happened andthere's less people that can do
that the skilled labor that ittakes to to do anything from
from home remodels to commercialconstruction, you know, it's an
ever emerging gap. And we'retrying to shore that up. And
again, the socio economic gainsthat are, are brought forth by
(35:20):
folks who are getting into thebuilding trades especially I'll
give a little tip for the unionsfor people that find themselves
in a union trade can find thatthere's livable wages and
benefits, medical, dental visionfor their families, and pensions
and safer working conditions.
And yeah, it's, it's great tosee and I think a lot of the
folks that are in the businessthe career counselors and high
(35:44):
school guidance counselors thatare just blindly continue to
push they're, they're the folksare in charge of their futures
towards college and again, likelike you said, a degree that can
be outsourced overseas or arerendered obsolete overnight are
doing their these folks adisservice by not even
entertaining Hey, something inthe trades. So, so much of
(36:04):
education does is pretty costly.
As he said, you know, you cancome out of University of Oregon
or Washington State or witheasily $120,000 Bill, you know
what you're trying to get outfrom behind. And yet YouTube, or
social media is a plethora ofinformation that is for free.
(36:26):
Yeah, that's where we're folkslike the essential craftsmen
come in. And they fill in thesehuge gaps. And I've learned so
much last week, I was trying tofigure out how to how to wine
the court on my new Milwaukeeweed weed trimmer and I just for
life, Mm hmm. Trying to do itthe old way, you know, and, and
finally, I just got sofrustrated. So I got to YouTube
the crap out of this. And sureenough, I found the guy says
(36:48):
you're doing it all wrong. Youknow, dude, within three
minutes, I knew how to windsomething that seemed very
simple the way I used to do it.
And the essential craftsman,man, I mean, from from how to
sharpen a carpenter's pencil tohow to lay out a spec home, you
run the whole, you know, breadthand width of carpentry. And and
how did you come into that?
(37:08):
Scott?
Scott Wadsworth (37:10):
It? It was because So, I work union for two
years in Las Vegas. And theywere two great years. And I
watched the guys that I workedwith, and they had more
comfortable lives, okay, theirlives were more comfortable, and
their retirements are better.
The flip side of that is my sortof hunter gatherer approach to
(37:34):
construction, which was,particularly as a small general
contractor, which is pretty muchalways going out finding
something, killing it, draggingit home and eating it, and then
go out and find something new tokill and drag it home. That
force of very broad and deepeducation, construction
education on me, it forced it, Iwas continually having to learn
(37:57):
something new in order to feedmy family. And now I see that
that was its own compensation.
At the time, it just felt likehigh wire without a net. And it
was a high wire act without anet. So that would be one thing
that I would tell young peoplethat when you're in that
(38:17):
situation where you don't knowhow to do something, and you
have to start doing it in orderto make that house payment.
Don't be fooled. You're buyingeducation. And you're being paid
to get education, which is partof the beauty of the trades,
right? So I don't know exactlyhow I stumbled into what it is
(38:38):
that I bring to the table now.
But it has to be understood interms of the number of people
that I worked with in the numberof different situations. And the
number of scary things I had totackle even though I didn't know
how.
Joe Cadwell (38:52):
And and you have a son who's a millennial, and he's
the one who sort of pushed youalong with the with the adoption
of YouTube, isn't it? And Ithink at first you were sharing
some skills that you had learnedabout blacksmithing and
eventually that started to morphinto the humble origins of the
of the essential craftsmanYouTube channel and now podcast
(39:12):
and I understand you also havethe essential craftsman Academy.
Scott Wadsworth (39:16):
So this is Nate is my partner in our social
media venture nature. Yeah, he'smy oldest son 2016. He was up
here from he and his bride, andtheir kids lived in Mesa Phoenix
area, and they were up here forChristmas. And about it around
the New Year. He said Dad, Ithink we should film something
(39:37):
in your shop. Why son? Well,we'll put it on YouTube. Isn't
that where you go to see funnycat videos and, and base
jumping? Yeah, yeah, but butthey also there's there's
construction stuff orblacksmithing stuff. And so we
thought that it was going tocarve out an internet footprint
for marketing, my blacksmithstuff, my architectural iron
work and swords. That was theintention. And he was trying to
(39:58):
help me with that and So we didthat a few blacksmithing videos.
And after a while we did a, Ibuilt a little garden shed for
my other son in Mesa anduploaded some carpentry stuff.
And wow, people liked it. Andoh, wow, I guess we need to do
more carpenters stuff. And sothat's kind of how the road
forked. It's to includeblacksmithing and carpentry. And
(40:18):
then it's forked again, toinclude the logging that I've
done and still do. What was yourquestion? Exactly, I got
derailed on
Joe Cadwell (40:26):
Oh, how you got into being such an influencer? I
mean, and, you know, for someonewho's we think about influencers
and the term is just bandiedabout all over the place
influence influence as well,it's but usually, it's, it's
younger folks, so to speak, youknow, not in our demographic.
And here you are in your early60s, and you are hugely
influential on a lot of people'slives. And I'm just wondering
(40:48):
what you owe that that to and,and, you know, I enjoy watching
your videos aren't justeducational, but they're also
very entertaining, as well.
Scott Wadsworth (40:58):
That was Nate's that was the the talent and the
brilliance that Nate brings tothe effort. Once we decided we
had to try this full time. He's,I can't even imagine how many
hours he spent making thesevideos, and keeping track of the
difference between education andentertainment. And when people
do YouTube, whatever they thinkthey're doing, they're really
(41:20):
there to be entertained, to stayon the screen, you know. So
anyhow, he's good at that. Butas far as becoming an
influencer.
I have had the advantage ofdoing a lot of speaking and
teaching in church all theseyears, I belong to the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter DaySaints, and we, we all teach in
(41:41):
and preach. And that's kind ofhow we roll in our religious
community. And so there's thatopportunity to learn that I've
done that for a long time. I'veread a lot, oh, man, I need to
double down on that, to theyoung people are listening. So
eBooks are great. But if youhaven't already got it, get the
habit of reading, read somebiographies, read whatever you
(42:01):
want, but read, and you're goingto learn how to use language.
And when you learn how to uselanguage, you're going to be
able to convey your ideas andyou're going to become
persuasive. And people will havea reason to listen to you
because you learn to read. Sothat's been a big thing for me.
And I guess maybe the last thingI'll mention is that I love
people. I love the friends thatI have, I've been blessed. You
(42:23):
know, a lot of people say theyhave one or two good friends, or
maybe three good friends. Idon't know how many good friends
I have. But the incomprehensibleblessing of this channel is I
feel like now I have a number ofgood friends that nobody else
has. I mean, Joe, the fact thatyou've been drawn to blank my
channel and that you have thisadvantage of feeling like you
(42:44):
know me now even though I'vejust met you, it provides a
sense of of familiarity, and abasis for friendship that maybe
is imaginary, but I don't thinkso, I think that we probably
would get along well. And then Iextend that to the anyway,
friends are a big part ofbecoming an of having influence
that's allowing people to haveinfluence in your life gives you
(43:05):
the capacity to have influencein other lives.
Joe Cadwell (43:08):
Yeah. And in the construction trades, you know,
you you're gonna meet people nowthat maybe you won't see for
1015 years. But if you workshoulder to shoulder with
someone, and you put in the hardwork together, there are a
lifelong brother or sister outthere. Yeah, you can make those
connections. Scott Wadsworth,your definition of success.
Scott Wadsworth (43:29):
Oh, you love easy questions, don't you? So
and you can edit this. So if Itake a long pause here and catch
my breath and make a couple ofnotes, because this is this is
the big question, isn't it? Sofirst of all, whatever else I've
(43:51):
learned, I've learned that theworst possible way to measure
your success is by the number ofdigits in your savings account.
That is the worst possible way.
And it's the way that people areseduced into thinking about
success. So if anybody'sinterested in listening to
anything that I say here today,you gotta give that idea up.
(44:12):
That your success as anindividual, I'll just say as a
man, even though that's such athat's such a 20th century way
to say anything, right? Well,I'm a 20. I'm a product of the
20th century so you got to dealwith that. But men are more
seduced by this than women are Ithink that their idea of the in
the game of life you win the whohas the most toys wins. Pure
(44:34):
baloney. That is unadulteratedbaloney. Give it up, no matter
how many times that message isreinforced on the television and
everywhere else you look part ofsuccess. So let me just boil it
down to this. From oneperspective is success. So
(44:56):
having a family, for me is a bigpart of what constitutes
success. And then being able tohold that family together during
the course of your life, becausefamilies, that familial entropy,
right, I mean, entropy does notjust happen in nature, or things
tend to break down Coolockbecome go from a state of being
(45:17):
more organized, being lessorganized. It's a second law of
thermodynamics. And it'severywhere in nature. And it's
everywhere, and families tofamilies, for some reason, are
prone to fracture. Success. As afather, as a patriarch, that's
not a dirty word, by the way,success. The second has to be at
(45:40):
least partially defined by yourability to resist familial
entropy. Don't let it breakapart. And don't, don't ever
take your eye off that ball. Andwhether you're a young person
just starting that family, orwhether you're an old guy like
(46:01):
me, it's always possible to letyour family fracture. And at the
end of the day, you will havebeen more successful if you
didn't let that happen. Well,that's a very partial
description, but you have toinclude those things. Being able
to receive and extentfriendship, being able to speak
love, when love needs to bespoken, which is quite often,
(46:22):
being able to success is beingable to endure some pain for a
while in order to make somethingworthwhile happen. But anyway,
success is not what the worldthe world, the television the
internet is telling you it is.
It's something else and thinkreal carefully about it.
Joe Cadwell (46:40):
Absolutely. Scott, this has been a fantastic
conversation, where can peoplego to find out more about Scott
Wadsworth, the essentialcraftsman and everything in the
central craftsman universe?
Scott Wadsworth (46:52):
Well, YouTube is our biggest footprint. Us.
But if you go to Google andsearch central craftsman, we're
going to pop up, it'll take youto, to one video or another.
Instagram, we're there. I don'tthink we're very big there. So
that's, that's the easiest way.
And Nate has made over 500videos. That's a ton of work.
(47:13):
And there's something in therefor for probably whatever
question you're thinking of. Andif it's not, our channel is
going to be somewhere. Allright, it's gonna say in
response to an earlier thing,you said that, I'm glad I'm not
in the higher educationbusiness. Because Youtube is
changing education for ever. AndI just love the things we can
(47:38):
learn from this. From thismedia.
Joe Cadwell (47:42):
I do as well. Well, thank you so much for taking
your time to be on the showtoday. It's been a real
pleasure.
Scott Wadsworth (47:48):
Thanks, Joe.
Great to meet you. And I'd loveto learn more about underwater
welding.
Joe Cadwell (47:51):
Anytime, Scott. My guest today has been Scott
Wadsworth, host of the hugelysuccessful Essential Craftsman
YouTube channel. For moreinformation about the essential
craftsman Be sure to check outthe show notes for this episode,
or visit the grit nation websiteat grit nation podcast.com Well,
that wraps up another edition ofthe grit nation podcast. If you
(48:13):
enjoyed what you heard, pleasebe sure to share with a friend
co worker or family member ifyou haven't already done so
please take a minute to leave areview on Apple podcasts or
Spotify really does make adifference. As always, thank you
for your support and until nexttime, this is Joe Cadwell
reminding you to work safe, worksmart and stay union strong
Scott Wadsworth (48:35):
you know one thing that that I you know we
didn't mention it doesn't haveto be mentioned but when I was
beginning to run work I realizedthat in order to be a leader you
had to be able to work and andso my niche is a job Foreman
became to take my bags off andstock material everybody you
(48:56):
know and carry as much materialand shovel I couldn't shovel
good and you're locked in onespot, but carry the material and
deliver this and make surethey've got this and then you're
and so just the idea ofdemonstrating to the people
around you that that you're init just just as far and just as
gritty and just as dirty as theyare. is a game changer in your
(49:16):
ability to be a leader
Welcome to another episode of the Grit Nation
Podcast. I'm Joe Cadwell andtoday I have the pleasure of
speaking with logger, blacksmithcarpenter and internet sensation
Scott Wadsworth.
Better known over 1 millionYouTube followers as the
essential craftsman. Scott,together with his son Nate have
created a wealth of entertainingand educational videos designed
to help anyone interested inlearning more about Blue Collar
(00:31):
craft skills. Scott's laid back,straight shooting and down to
earth demeanor resonates wellboth on and off camera, and I
found this interview to be trulyenjoyable.
We'll start our conversation bylearning how Scott got involved
in the building trades over fourdecades ago. And what believes
are some of the bigger industrychanges and challenges have
been. Next, Scott will sharedetails of individuals he has
(00:54):
met as a professional builder,and what characteristics and
attributes they possess thatmade them so memorable and
influential on his life. Later,we'll dig into the concept of
"workmanship of risk versusworkmanship of certainty: and
why a healthy balance of both isneeded both on and off the job
to create a career and live fullof meaning and reward. We'll
(01:15):
then discuss why now more thanever a career as a building
trades professional can producethe same or greater
socio-economic gains as acollege degree and investigate
some of the factors responsiblefor shifting this paradigm. And
we'll wrap up our conversationby discussing what it means to
be a craftsman a wise Scott'sdefinition of success doesn't
rely solely on how many digitsyou have in your savings
(01:37):
account.
After the episode, be sure tocheck out the show notes for
more information about ScottWadsworth, and The Essential
Craftsman. And now on to theshow.
Scott Wadsworth, welcome to GridNation.
Scott Wadsworth (01:52):
Man. Thanks for bringing me on. Joe. I've been
looking forward to this for along time. And here we are.
Joe Cadwell (01:56):
Yeah. Well, thank you so much for taking your time
to be on the show today. Scott,I'm I'm a big fan. As we've
talked about, before we we hitrecord, I've been following you
on YouTube for a while I startedintroducing my apprentices to
your videos. And for those whodo not know Scott, have yet to
be introduced to who ScottWadsworth is and The Essential
(02:17):
Craftsman, can you give us alittle bit of your backstory.
Scott Wadsworth (02:19):
So first of all, I don't want to just take
for granted the idea that you'reusing our content for your
apprentices. Thank you for that.
We didn't really see this comingwhen we started our YouTube
channel, really almost six yearsago, that it would actually be
useful to people entering thetrades we we started it mostly
to carve out an internetfootprint for marketing my
(02:39):
blacksmith stuff, and then itmorphed into something
completely different. But thebackstory is i I'm an Oregon
native, born here in 1958. Thatofficially makes me an old guy.
I went all 12 years to the glideSchool District. I left when I
graduated, I was playing with aDixieland jazz band, a teenage
(03:02):
Dixieland jazz band. And I wentto Oregon State for a couple of
terms thinking that I was goingto be an engineer started that
curriculum, and then wasdistracted by music we played,
we were recording few albums.
And we went back and played forPresident Carter at the White
House. And then we booked a touracross the country. And so I
remember thinking that oh, solucid thought of then 19 year
(03:25):
old, what do I need an educationfor? I'm going to be a star. And
so I quit college it'd be to bea jazz musician. And then just
about a year and a half later, Irealized that wasn't going to
work. And I had always liked tomake things I and I had always
like, I had always liked olderapproaches to doing things or I
(03:47):
guess I had a respect for theefforts and the capacity of the
generations before us that hadthat had built the foundation
that everyone was standing andworking on today. Right? I had
always loved that I'd like beingfriends with older guys. And
I've been building tree housesand little boats and stuff since
I was a kid. And so I thoughtwell, I'm going to be a
(04:07):
carpenter. Because I had a girlI'd been dating through high
school and I wanted to marry herand I knew I had to support her
and the carpenter with a shortstep into something that I
thought had value and wouldappeal to me. So I got a
carpenter job. I'm probablyforgetting some steps that
aren't that important. I gotdistracted, I decided to build a
(04:28):
portable sawmill. I did that Iran that for a while. The Oregon
commodity based economy oftimber, timber timber, crashed
in 1981. Unemployment inRoseburg was 23% Think about
that for a second 23% Man thatcoincided with just about the
time that I had stuck my toe inthe water for a union
(04:49):
apprenticeship here in Roseburgand I had I got the opportunity
to go to work on a bridge joband I thought no I'm not just be
I guess it was just before Witha crash, I thought now I want to
build houses. So I got a generalcontractor's license here and I
ran that for a year or so andthen the economy crashed and I
had my sawmill and I decidedmove to Wyoming. So Kelly and I
(05:11):
with a little baby, moved toNorthwestern Wyoming where I
worked for five years, buildinghouses for a man named Wade
Welch, a good guy, and he was aground up guy, you don't blade
off the sagebrush and stay rightthere till the doors in the case
and the base and the cabinetsand all of it. It was a great
education. Then that commoditybased economy, tanked oil and
(05:34):
uranium and sugar beets andbarley and everything that that
corner of the world depended on,went down simultaneously. And
Kelly's biological father livedin Las Vegas, and he had invited
us to come down there and therewas lots of work in Vegas. So as
economic refugees, once again, Iloaded up my then larger family
(05:55):
we had, well, actually, Kellyand three kids stayed in Wyoming
in our place, and I went to LasVegas and carved out a spot
there and went to work, worked acouple months, went back, sold
the place, took them down to LasVegas worked the Las Vegas pace
of construction, which is maybeunique on the face of the earth.
I mean, I think Los Angeles andPhoenix probably are much like
(06:17):
it. And so I slipped into thatin several different areas that
we can talk about both Union andnon union, both commercial sort
of medium weight constructionand housing, track piecework
framing, and then exclusivelycommercial concrete. So I got
kind of a good education there.
And then it dawned on me that Ididn't want to try to raise boys
(06:39):
through their teenage years in atown that had posters of naked
women on the taxi cabs. Ithought, you know, I'm not, I'm
not going to try that. And so Isold the place that I had
recently built in Killeen. Imoved back to Oregon in 1994. I
logged with my dad again for afew years because I was frankly,
tired of high pressure highpaced construction. So I bought
(07:02):
in with him, and we loggedtogether. And then I realized no
logging is changing so rapidly,and dad and I can't change with
it. And so I got a contractor'slicense here in Oregon, and I've
been a small general contractorhere, since. And so it's given
me an opportunity to do a lot ofthings as a little general here,
I, I did a lot of stuff. I'm avariety junkie. And so
(07:25):
everything from steelfabrication and an inground
swimming pool and small bridgesto lots of Kitchen and Bath
remodels and additions and justsuspended concrete decks and
stainless steel, cable railingsand whatever came along that was
new and intriguing. That seemsto be what I did. And then we
morphed into YouTube. So there'sthe thumbnail bio.
Joe Cadwell (07:46):
There you go. And I picked up on a couple of things,
we'll definitely get to theYouTube in the in the essential
craftsman a little bit later.
But I picked up on a couplethings there you use the term
"economic refugee", and I washoping you could elaborate on
that a little bit Scott inregards to application to the
building trades.
Scott Wadsworth (08:03):
Building trades are, in my experience and
opinion. And this I'm not. So Ithrow out a lot of stuff as if
it's true. And I and withoutmaybe substantiating every
single thing. But it's true inmy experience, right. And so
building depends on the strengthof the economy where you're
building, if there are notdollars running around where you
(08:23):
are, people are not prone tobuild things. And so when
economies go through theirtypical cycles, to feast and
famine, lifestyle, at least inthe area of construction that
I've lived in, when yourneighbors have money, they want
you to do work, and when theydon't, they don't. And
(08:45):
particularly as a person justgetting a foothold in life. You
know, you don't have savings,you're you have payments, you
have barely enough of the thingsthat you need for your
infrastructure. When it turnsdown, you have to follow the
work at least I had to followthe work because other areas
will have work. And so I thoughtof myself in these two big moves
(09:08):
from Oregon to Wyoming in 81.
And then from Wyoming, to LasVegas in 86. I thought of myself
as a refugee we see the pictureson on the television, right of
people streaming across borders,for whatever reason, either to
escape persecution or violence,or just in quest of a better
(09:31):
life. They're refugees. Andthat's exactly what Kelly and I
were we were looking for abetter life. And it depended on
my ability to be productive andbe paid to secure that better
life. And so we got to newcommunities we met new people we
found we establish ourselves innew circles of acquaintance and
new areas of work and adaptedhowever we need to adapt. And I
(09:55):
recommend everybody be a refugeeat least one It's in their life.
Joe Cadwell (10:00):
I agree, I never thought of myself along those
terms, but I definitely livethat lifestyle is working
commercial diver chasing thework all around the Northwest
all around the world to someextent. And so I appreciate that
that definition. The other theterm that I heard you throw out
there was variety junkie and itjust sounds like your life has
(10:22):
exposed you to a whole lot ofdifferent skill sets and
environments. And, and andfolks, and I think that is huge
and in an inherent to a lot ofpeople that that get into the
crafts, because they're notsatisfied with just, you know,
the same old day in and day out.
And, and having that varietyjunkier that desire to learn
something new or be challengedon a day to day basis is really
(10:45):
important to us. So along theway, what have you learned
Scott, with all those words ofwisdom now from a guy who's been
around for a few decades, whatwould you say construction is
brought to you?
Scott Wadsworth (11:01):
It it, it has, I guess life probably does this
for everybody. But it hascertainly driven home the point
that you can never tell what'sgoing to happen next. And
whatever plans you're so so Ihave, I have a profoundly
religious worldview, it's been ablessing to me. And one of the
(11:22):
things that comes along withthat is if you want to hear God
left, just tell him your plans.
And boy, is that true inconstruction, you know, I mean,
you think you know where you'regoing to end up or what kind of
work you're going to be doing orwho you're going to be working
with or how long this job isgoing to last. You think you
know, a lot of things. But turnsout at the end of the day, you
(11:43):
didn't really know much. But youlearned a lot, if that if that
makes any sense. And once again,I don't know about other lives.
But if you are curious inconstruction, and if you're if
you are intent on keeping yourlearning curve vertical, if
you're not satisfied with whatyou know, and you're wanting to
know more about even the thingsthat you're doing, man, there
(12:03):
are wonderful things that comeacross your path and you meet
more people. So they're okay,let me go back to your good
question. What What have youlearned, I've learned that
people are fantastic. And if youkeep your eyes open, you're
going to meet people on thesejobs, that will make a huge
impact on you. They'll teach youthings, either as a positive or
a negative example. And youremember better the things for
(12:26):
the negative examples, you know,at least I do. You also learn
that some people are justhopelessly combative, some
consoling people are so lockedinto this, and this is the way I
do it. It's the only wayanybody's going to do it. You
know? And if you keep your eyesopen, and you recognize it in
yourself, you can you have achance of wiping that out of
your personality, becausenothing is a rate limiting
factor in a life more than that.
(12:48):
I tell young people that whenyou show up on a job, or you're
working with somebody, the worsttwo words you can ever use is I
know, I know, I know, if you'reworking with somebody that you
want to learn from, never say, Iknow, say, got it, you know,
because because I know myself ifI'm working with a young person
(13:10):
about the third time they say, Iknow I go well, okay, buddy, you
know, I am done opening my mouthand pointing new things that
you. So those are a couple ofthings that I don't know, I also
learned that, that it is thatthe offsetting blessing for the
curse of living in a feast andfamine world and construction is
(13:31):
the ability to look back at theend of the day and see what
you've done. That satisfactionof having actually made a
difference in that day is a big
Joe Cadwell (13:42):
Absolutely. I call that the stepback moment, you
know, where you step back at theend of the day, you and your
crew can put your hands on yourhips or fold your arms and say,
Look, this is you know, this isour accomplishment. This is
something tangible and real thatis going to be around I use the
term a lot for you know,generations generational wealth
has been constructed by by theseby our hands. So pretty darn
(14:04):
cool. So along the way, you saidyou made a lot of interesting
people, I'm sure now as aninfluencer, I'll use that term,
Scott. There must have been somepeople that had some key
influence on your life. And Iwas hoping you could talk to one
or two of those folks and whythey they played such an
important role and, and makingyou who you are.
Scott Wadsworth (14:22):
Yeah, that's that's a great opportunity. It's
kind of a long list. You know,in the Okay, so one, one of the
first and you know, I've got toput out there my dad, my dad is
a guy who lacks imaginationabout him. I can't my dad
doesn't have any confidence inhis ability to to conceptualize
(14:47):
a project and a path and anoutcome. He lacks that but boy,
he was steady. He was alwaysshowing up for work. You know, I
bet you could count onforefingers a number of times in
his life. that he was late forwork and every time was because
he had a flat tire, you know.
And so just as a steady workethic, I learned from my dad and
then I also learned, you know,from that negative example, man,
(15:08):
sometimes you just got to take achance and, and develop a plan
and move so so dad would befirst Kelly's granddad showed up
when I was I met Kelly went outwhen we were 15. And I met her
granddad when I was 16. And hewas a retired sawmill man, Sam
ball, and I have a video aboutthis sawmill that he gave me
that I rebuilt. He was a sawmillman in Southern Oregon, for 1935
(15:33):
to 1945. And in that period oftime he yarded That is logged
and sawed 69 million board feetof railroad ties with steam
power. Wow. Think of that, okay,with a third grade education. He
came west from Indiana when hewas 19 years old by hopping of
(15:57):
freight and writing in a boxcaracross the country. And he
almost froze to death going overSouth Pass and Wyoming in the
winter, because he was trappedin this box car at 40 below. But
anyway, so I met this thislittle old man tough and smart.
And he had a workshop. And helet me come into his workshop
and start making things. Hugely.
(16:21):
hugely influential in my life.
And then I started meeting theguys that I worked with and I
worked for two or three goodbosses. I mentioned weight
Welch. I worked with a guy herein Roseburg, that was two years
older than me. He graduatedahead of me, Steve hood, he
showed up on my channel. He'sbeen building spec homes here in
Roseburg, Steve influenced me atan early date. And then moving
(16:42):
to Las Vegas, the list of peopleon the on the job sites, if I
thought about it would be solong. I had a partner piecework
framing, John urban, man, hetaught me a lot about production
tricks and a productionmentality to framing that your
productivity absolutely dependson the system, you put in place.
(17:02):
Much more than how fast you runfrom the lumber pile to the
deck, Oh, you better be able torun, you know, but if you put
the right system in place, andyou handle your material
efficiently, you're gonnaproduce more than the guy across
the street. And, and thenspiritually and emotionally and
personally, I've had mentorsthat have just showed me a
better way. So long answer to agreat question.
Joe Cadwell (17:25):
And the characteristics that a lot of
these people have possessed, itsounds like tenacity, hard work,
you know, the ability to, to seethrough the tough times and
share the good times with otherfolks is super important. And,
and morale is always a big one.
And I noticed that, you know,you're a pretty upbeat guy all
the time. And, and I think thatreally does inspire a lot of
(17:45):
folks on the job.
Scott Wadsworth (17:48):
You know, I think it is, but I have my
YouTube channel is a hopelesslyromanticized and sanitized
version of me, right. I mean, myson will even take out my
daughter Chin's you, I mean, youknow, so, and I tell people that
don't be tricked by our specHouse series, where every day
(18:10):
the sun shining, you never seeme waiting in mud, and I never
get a little shock out of myextension cord, and nobody's
ever you know, it, all they'reseeing is, is the best aspect of
the construction. And, and Idon't know that that's
necessarily the way it is. But Ido think is better to build
morale than it is to tear itdown. And it's better to find a
(18:30):
way to cooperate than it is tofind yourself rolling in the
dirt with somebody becauseyou're arguing about what you
know, you know, there's so many,that's one of the downsides of
construction is opportunitiesfor interpersonal conflict
between tough guys would beegos, it's the thing. Earlier
generations when you and Ishowed up on the jobs, and we
were kid, fistfights were commonthey were common. Now, I don't
(18:54):
think they're as common now, asthey were then. And I'm not
saying there was anything goodabout that. But, but there are
aspects of construction. It'skind of a prison mentality.
Right?
Joe Cadwell (19:04):
So what are your what are some of the biggest
changes you've noticed inconstruction over the
generations then?
Scott Wadsworth (19:09):
As far as technology, man, what a list I
mean, cordless drill drivers.
Okay? Just that. When I workedfor Wade Welch in Wyoming, he
still had Yankee screwdrivers,and I used one for about six
months with him before he showedup with his first 9.6 volt.
McKee Actually no, we wereusing, he put a he put a brand
(19:29):
new magnetic screw tip into theend of our Milwaukee hole
shooter, and we were puttingdoors together with that, oh, it
was better. And then six monthslater, here's this cordless
thing. So that was first and forme as as big a game changer as a
nail gun. Lasers showed up whenI was in Las Vegas, the first
Spectre physics laser thatDennis bunker brought out onto
(19:51):
the job for Ms. Concrete I thinkin 1988 cost 5000 bucks, you
know He said, Don't you knockthis down? Yeah, I mean, it's a
big deal. But of course, the thesafety considerations, the
productivity and the time syncof cell phones. I mean, they are
(20:12):
a two edged sword. Modernconstruction couldn't happen now
without instantaneouscommunication, the way we can
schedule so tightly now that youcould not do before you couldn't
do it. I mean, if somebodydidn't show up, you had no idea
when they were going to be thereand your whole day would
collapse, right? And on the onthe other hand, you didn't have
(20:33):
guys hanging out in the in thePorta Potty on their cell phones
for 30 minutes when they shouldhave been out five minutes after
they walked in. You know, sothese changes are, it's there
have been paradigm shiftseverywhere you look in
construction.
Joe Cadwell (20:47):
For sure. And one of the shifts, I think, and I
was prepping for this Scott bylistening to another podcast and
the conversation of workmanshipof risk and workmanship of
certainty. And you you picked upthis concept from someone, I
believe in England wrote a bookand I was hoping you could
elaborate for listeners a littlebit more about the workmanship
of risk versus the workmanshipof certainty.
Scott Wadsworth (21:09):
Yeah, David Pi Ken Jordan, my friend, Ken
Jordan, that some of you whohave watched the channel may
have been introduced to on mychannel. And if you haven't,
you've just got to look at thevideo called The friend who
revolutionized my thinking. Buthe introduced me to David pines,
a little paperbound, thin book.
The nature and art ofcraftsmanship, I think, is what
(21:34):
it's called. And his idea, and Ithink this was an original
thought, or at least an originalway to describe something was
that the Industrial Revolution,boiled down to taking the risk
out of the work that was beingdone in order to get a
consistent, identical outcome,get an outcome that was certain.
And so he termed the work thatis done by hand. And use it as
(21:56):
an example of woodcarving. Orlet's talk about Michelangelo
carving. David hewing David outof a block of marble, the longer
you work on a project like that,and the tighter and tighter that
tolerances become, the higherand higher becomes a risk of a
catastrophic failure, somethinggoing bad, and a moment that
(22:18):
just can't be fixed. And all ofthe effort that's been expended
until that moment, is thrownaway. I mean, you can visualize
it, as David was finally takingshape. If whoever it was that
was chiseling off and sandingoff and making perfect the shape
of David's eyebrows, would haveknocked the eyebrow off of
(22:38):
there. Sorry, you know that twoyears effort is throwing away
that's workmanship of risk,workmanship of certainty. Think
of a table saw with afingerboard or featherboard,
whatever you call it, clamp tothe table. So you're getting
ribs of exactly the same widthjust as fast as you can jam it
down that saw, you know thatevery one of those boards is
going to be exactly the same wayor a router, you take 100 down
(23:01):
the edge of a nice mood board,you know that that Roman OG
shape is going to be perfect. Ifyou do a a client cut and an
undercut coming back. It'ssmooth, it's perfect as root
workmanship, of certainty. Andso the idea of keeping track of
how much of your work isworkmanship of risk that is
subjected to catastrophicfailure or being made much more
(23:23):
expensive by having to fixwhatever happens versus
workmanship of risk. And that isif you stage it right and if
your tools are in good shape.
And if your operator is trainedeven a little bit, you know what
the outcome is. And then in thein your construction system, you
push it push as much as you canfor risk to certainty. You're
(23:45):
going to be doing a better jobin less time, and you're going
to be a more productiveemployee. It's a great it's a
powerful concept,
Joe Cadwell (23:51):
I think, yeah. And it has to be somewhat kept in
balance. Because if all we didwas work in a workman ship of
certainty, you'd become prettyroutine pretty boring, we'd lose
the I don't know the thrill ofwhat we're doing. You're you're
almost like a factory worker inthe field. And that that element
of risk is necessary in order toat least in my opinion, that's
(24:12):
maybe one reason why I chose amore of a high risk occupation
with commercial diving wasbecause I really liked being out
you know, on the edge a lot oftime doing work that involved an
element of danger just kind ofalways made it more interesting
for me I could go down and atleast shoveled gravel underwater
for hours on end be happy as aclam just because I was
(24:32):
underwater doing it. Whereas ifyou had me move three yards of
gravel on the surface, I getbored with it pretty darn quick.
I don't know I I listened tothat concept. And I thought it
was really interesting.
Scott Wadsworth (24:43):
That is that's really interesting. And I think
that's entirely and exactly whyI was a variety junkie. Because
if you're learning something anddoing something for the first or
second time you're just liableto wreck it and so you really
have to concentrate. And whenyou're concentrating, it's the
whole you you We're not justthat part of you that's on
autopilot. And that feelswonderful. And then when you get
(25:05):
that moment that you described,where you stand back and put
your hands on your hips and lookat it, when you knew you did it,
even though you could havewrecked it, and you didn't wreck
it, it's a different level ofsatisfaction. Absolutely. So so
this introduces one of my rantsthat people don't understand. So
I love it when I hear Mike Rowesay safety third, and love to
hear him say that because he'sgot oxy enough to say it, sir.
(25:26):
And most of the rest of usdon't. Because that element of
risk is part of what convincesus that we're still alive. You
know, the possibility of eithernot being alive or not being
healthy, as a result of ourchoices, is why people do
extreme sports. It's why we makeheroes and idols out of people
(25:48):
who leap off of cliffs onsnowboards than Alex handled,
who claims El Cap free solo,
Joe Cadwell (25:54):
doing things now that that seem to have been
washed out of society, you know,everything's been so sterilized
and, and risk adverse thatpeople really are, are hesitant
to or not hesitant, but don'tlive in a life that challenges
them physically and mentally ona day to day basis. So we then
we have to turn to these peoplethat are doing that and pushing
the envelope give ussatisfaction,
Scott Wadsworth (26:16):
or young men turned to causing trouble,
because they can cause troubleand have risk. And they have to
have that feeling of risk andreward exposure and an
accomplishment, I think, to everbecome fully human. And so since
we fenced it out of most lives,sometimes people have to jump
(26:36):
over the fence to get it. Youknow, my friend siteswan I don't
know if you've met siteswan onmy channel.
Joe Cadwell (26:42):
I have seen ty i think it is he's a fellow sits
in the chair quite a bit.
Scott Wadsworth (26:45):
No, that's Ken Jordan. siteswan is a guy who
makes cannons and makes knivesand he's an 89 year old cowboy
and he he still loves and heruns his cats and his equipment.
He is the renaissance man. Okay,he's it. And sigh as I work he's
blacksmith, he he mentored me inblacksmithing. And didn't take
(27:06):
me long to figure out that ifwhat we were doing didn't have
an element of risk. And its Iwas going to input an element of
risk, either to the outcome ofthe job, or to the health and
welfare of our bodies. And so ifyou don't get a look at him on
the channel, that is one amazingold dude. He's had 16 Major
reconstructive surgeries in hislife. And 12 of them were not
(27:28):
voluntary. They were becausehe's a risk taker baby. He's an
amazing,
Joe Cadwell (27:32):
but he's lived a full life and full
Scott Wadsworth (27:35):
life. And when he dropped him in the grave
grave, it's going to be in abeat up worn out much abused
body instead of somethingpristine that might have made it
another year or two, you know,it just he's an amazing guy.
Joe Cadwell (27:46):
Right. And like you say, the I think a big part of
it, of why young men pushthemselves. There's no real rite
of passage that anyone has toachieve now and for myself, I
guess my rite of passage Itypical kid, you know, going
through typical American highschool, but when I volunteered
for the for the Navy, and thenactually had the challenge of US
(28:09):
Navy deep sea diver second classschool. To me, that was a rite
of passage, I earned that, thatrole, that position that I then
you know, embraced as a as a USNavy Diver. And I think so many
people don't have that, thatability to truly challenge
themselves both physically andmentally. And especially in an
environment that's very nonconducive to your health and
(28:30):
well being the waterenvironment. I really felt like
that was a significant milestonein my life. And I was like, I
can always look back on thatwith pride.
Scott Wadsworth (28:38):
That had to be incredibly formative. So the
Joe Cadwell (28:41):
craftsman, and I know your show is the essential
craftsman and I'm hoping to findout in your opinion, Scott, what
what is the definition of acraftsman? What What sets a
craftsman apart from just alaborer?
Scott Wadsworth (28:54):
So you've already figured out that I'm not
good at short answers. Okay. AndI apologize for that. And
nobody's asked me that. But thefirst thing is, I think it's
someone that produces that isobsessed, not with perfection,
but with excellence. And there'sa world of difference. Because
(29:17):
sometimes perfection is tooexpensive. You know, sometimes
percent perfection is either notattainable, or whoever's is
paying for this just can'tafford it. And so the idea of
being able to identify what isexcellent right now, and how do
I get excellence? I think that'sa big characteristic of
(29:39):
craftsmanship. I thinkcraftsmanship has to include
what we were just talking abouta risk that there if there's not
an element of risk to whatyou're doing and it is just
manufacturing and manufacturingis not craftsmanship, no matter
how perfect the items on theshelf at Home Depot or they're
not craftsmanship They're justmanufactured perfection or
(30:02):
they're not perfection, you takeit back, you get your money back
and get one that you know. Sothat's not craftsmanship. I
think that craftsmanship impliesand requires some passion there,
when it becomes mundane. Whenthere's no longer when you don't
feel us, when you don't feelsatisfaction and fulfillment in
(30:23):
what you're doing, it's time tochange gigs, because it's not
going to be craftsmanshipanymore. It's going to be just
production or a life alivelihood. And there's nothing
wrong with things being alivelihood, and not every
livelihood has to be craftsmanship. But doggone it, every
livelihood should be somethingthat involves an opportunity to
to be excellent. Or try to beexcellent. I think that's
Joe Cadwell (30:46):
that probably nailed it right there. You know,
your your constant attempt andand effort to perfect your craft
makes you a craftsman as opposedto someone who's just going
through the motions of pumpingsomething out. But really
putting, again, that heart andsoul into it, I think is what
separates a craftsman you cantell those people I mean, they
(31:08):
they just stand out they shinewhen they when they show up on a
job. And you can tell that theyreally know what they they're
doing and that they care aboutwhat they're doing, I think is a
big part of of just being acraftsman.
Scott Wadsworth (31:18):
I think I think you're exactly right. And I
think the first one of the firstways you can spot that person,
even as a kid, even as a a firstperiod apprentice is if he's
there a little early, and if hestays a little late. And so
speaking to whoever is listeningto this, that is just beginning
the trades. It's the biggestadvantage that you can give
(31:40):
yourself and your competitionwith all the people around you
for recognition andaccomplishment on a jobsite is
never, never never be late towork. And late means less than
10 minutes early. If you're not10 minutes early, you are late.
And if you are 10 minutes early,you are going to be standing
there ready to work and theperson who's responsible for the
(32:01):
job is going to identify you assomeone that can be relied on.
And then the corollary to thatis, if you're not the first guy
in your truck heading down theroad, when the day is done,
you're going to be identified assomebody who cares about the
outcome, and is going to you'resoon going to have an up
position of trust andresponsibility. And your
opportunity for fulfillment willbe higher.
Joe Cadwell (32:22):
Absolutely. So speaking about people who are
listening to the show right now,we may have some people that are
sort of on the fence about youknow, getting in investing in a
career in the trades or perhapsgoing to college or the
military. What What's yourthoughts on on college versus
the trade, say, college versusthe trades in today's modern
(32:42):
era?
Scott Wadsworth (32:43):
So my thoughts on that have changed over the
last 10 years, maybe some peopleare appalled when when I touched
some people are bugged when Itell them that I had three sons
and I very deliberately did notteach them to be carpenters
deliberately. Because when I wasa young man in the trades,
(33:03):
perhaps it was the same for you,Joe, although you came in
through the military and into avery exclusive club, I'll say
club very exclusive. underwaterwelding deep sea diving. I mean,
it's a tiny fraction of apercent of the people in
construction or in that niche.
But in the in the perhaps mostcommon construction niche that
there is, which is carpenter.
(33:27):
When I was coming of age, wewere thick on the ground,
carpenters were everywhere. Andthey didn't command much respect
or money. Okay, so I'll try notto get too far into the weeds
here. Let me just say this, thetrades have become a much more
viable route to a successful,financially successful life now
(33:49):
than they were when we wereyoung. Because there is a trade
gap. There is a profoundshortage of people who know how
to build things. It can't beoutsourced. It can't be sent
overseas, you'd have to bestanding on the ground ready to
do the work. And we've come to apoint now where if you have
trade skills, and you're halfwaysavvy at all, and and you have
(34:09):
the integrity to push yourselfand produce produce a full day's
work for a full day's pay,you're going to be well
compensated. And so it's veryviable. On the other side,
higher education has been coopted to the point where degrees
that have no commercial valuewhatsoever and provide no real
education, even our sort ofdangled out in front of kids at
(34:31):
something to borrow money for.
And then you emerge with acredential of no value with a
lifetime of debt. And that'sindentured servitude, with no
light at the end of the tunnel.
So the roles have kind ofswapped a little bit for the
people like me that were just inthe middle of the road in the
middle of the pack, not fightnot spectacularly gifted, not
spectacular ly challenged. Thetrades are a viable and
(34:55):
fulfilling way to a good lifenow, and they were not always
that.
Joe Cadwell (34:58):
Yeah, for sure. It seems like Got a real supply and
demand equation is happened andthere's less people that can do
that the skilled labor that ittakes to to do anything from
from home remodels to commercialconstruction, you know, it's an
ever emerging gap. And we'retrying to shore that up. And
again, the socio economic gainsthat are, are brought forth by
(35:20):
folks who are getting into thebuilding trades especially I'll
give a little tip for the unionsfor people that find themselves
in a union trade can find thatthere's livable wages and
benefits, medical, dental visionfor their families, and pensions
and safer working conditions.
And yeah, it's, it's great tosee and I think a lot of the
folks that are in the businessthe career counselors and high
(35:44):
school guidance counselors thatare just blindly continue to
push they're, they're the folksare in charge of their futures
towards college and again, likelike you said, a degree that can
be outsourced overseas or arerendered obsolete overnight are
doing their these folks adisservice by not even
entertaining Hey, something inthe trades. So, so much of
(36:04):
education does is pretty costly.
As he said, you know, you cancome out of University of Oregon
or Washington State or witheasily $120,000 Bill, you know
what you're trying to get outfrom behind. And yet YouTube, or
social media is a plethora ofinformation that is for free.
(36:26):
Yeah, that's where we're folkslike the essential craftsmen
come in. And they fill in thesehuge gaps. And I've learned so
much last week, I was trying tofigure out how to how to wine
the court on my new Milwaukeeweed weed trimmer and I just for
life, Mm hmm. Trying to do itthe old way, you know, and, and
finally, I just got sofrustrated. So I got to YouTube
the crap out of this. And sureenough, I found the guy says
(36:48):
you're doing it all wrong. Youknow, dude, within three
minutes, I knew how to windsomething that seemed very
simple the way I used to do it.
And the essential craftsman,man, I mean, from from how to
sharpen a carpenter's pencil tohow to lay out a spec home, you
run the whole, you know, breadthand width of carpentry. And and
how did you come into that?
(37:08):
Scott?
Scott Wadsworth (37:10):
It? It was because So, I work union for two
years in Las Vegas. And theywere two great years. And I
watched the guys that I workedwith, and they had more
comfortable lives, okay, theirlives were more comfortable, and
their retirements are better.
The flip side of that is my sortof hunter gatherer approach to
(37:34):
construction, which was,particularly as a small general
contractor, which is pretty muchalways going out finding
something, killing it, draggingit home and eating it, and then
go out and find something new tokill and drag it home. That
force of very broad and deepeducation, construction
education on me, it forced it, Iwas continually having to learn
(37:57):
something new in order to feedmy family. And now I see that
that was its own compensation.
At the time, it just felt likehigh wire without a net. And it
was a high wire act without anet. So that would be one thing
that I would tell young peoplethat when you're in that
(38:17):
situation where you don't knowhow to do something, and you
have to start doing it in orderto make that house payment.
Don't be fooled. You're buyingeducation. And you're being paid
to get education, which is partof the beauty of the trades,
right? So I don't know exactlyhow I stumbled into what it is
(38:38):
that I bring to the table now.
But it has to be understood interms of the number of people
that I worked with in the numberof different situations. And the
number of scary things I had totackle even though I didn't know
how.
Joe Cadwell (38:52):
And and you have a son who's a millennial, and he's
the one who sort of pushed youalong with the with the adoption
of YouTube, isn't it? And Ithink at first you were sharing
some skills that you had learnedabout blacksmithing and
eventually that started to morphinto the humble origins of the
of the essential craftsmanYouTube channel and now podcast
(39:12):
and I understand you also havethe essential craftsman Academy.
Scott Wadsworth (39:16):
So this is Nate is my partner in our social
media venture nature. Yeah, he'smy oldest son 2016. He was up
here from he and his bride, andtheir kids lived in Mesa Phoenix
area, and they were up here forChristmas. And about it around
the New Year. He said Dad, Ithink we should film something
(39:37):
in your shop. Why son? Well,we'll put it on YouTube. Isn't
that where you go to see funnycat videos and, and base
jumping? Yeah, yeah, but butthey also there's there's
construction stuff orblacksmithing stuff. And so we
thought that it was going tocarve out an internet footprint
for marketing, my blacksmithstuff, my architectural iron
work and swords. That was theintention. And he was trying to
(39:58):
help me with that and So we didthat a few blacksmithing videos.
And after a while we did a, Ibuilt a little garden shed for
my other son in Mesa anduploaded some carpentry stuff.
And wow, people liked it. Andoh, wow, I guess we need to do
more carpenters stuff. And sothat's kind of how the road
forked. It's to includeblacksmithing and carpentry. And
(40:18):
then it's forked again, toinclude the logging that I've
done and still do. What was yourquestion? Exactly, I got
derailed on
Joe Cadwell (40:26):
Oh, how you got into being such an influencer? I
mean, and, you know, for someonewho's we think about influencers
and the term is just bandiedabout all over the place
influence influence as well,it's but usually, it's, it's
younger folks, so to speak, youknow, not in our demographic.
And here you are in your early60s, and you are hugely
influential on a lot of people'slives. And I'm just wondering
(40:48):
what you owe that that to and,and, you know, I enjoy watching
your videos aren't justeducational, but they're also
very entertaining, as well.
Scott Wadsworth (40:58):
That was Nate's that was the the talent and the
brilliance that Nate brings tothe effort. Once we decided we
had to try this full time. He's,I can't even imagine how many
hours he spent making thesevideos, and keeping track of the
difference between education andentertainment. And when people
do YouTube, whatever they thinkthey're doing, they're really
(41:20):
there to be entertained, to stayon the screen, you know. So
anyhow, he's good at that. Butas far as becoming an
influencer.
I have had the advantage ofdoing a lot of speaking and
teaching in church all theseyears, I belong to the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter DaySaints, and we, we all teach in
(41:41):
and preach. And that's kind ofhow we roll in our religious
community. And so there's thatopportunity to learn that I've
done that for a long time. I'veread a lot, oh, man, I need to
double down on that, to theyoung people are listening. So
eBooks are great. But if youhaven't already got it, get the
habit of reading, read somebiographies, read whatever you
(42:01):
want, but read, and you're goingto learn how to use language.
And when you learn how to uselanguage, you're going to be
able to convey your ideas andyou're going to become
persuasive. And people will havea reason to listen to you
because you learn to read. Sothat's been a big thing for me.
And I guess maybe the last thingI'll mention is that I love
people. I love the friends thatI have, I've been blessed. You
(42:23):
know, a lot of people say theyhave one or two good friends, or
maybe three good friends. Idon't know how many good friends
I have. But the incomprehensibleblessing of this channel is I
feel like now I have a number ofgood friends that nobody else
has. I mean, Joe, the fact thatyou've been drawn to blank my
channel and that you have thisadvantage of feeling like you
(42:44):
know me now even though I'vejust met you, it provides a
sense of of familiarity, and abasis for friendship that maybe
is imaginary, but I don't thinkso, I think that we probably
would get along well. And then Iextend that to the anyway,
friends are a big part ofbecoming an of having influence
that's allowing people to haveinfluence in your life gives you
(43:05):
the capacity to have influencein other lives.
Joe Cadwell (43:08):
Yeah. And in the construction trades, you know,
you you're gonna meet people nowthat maybe you won't see for
1015 years. But if you workshoulder to shoulder with
someone, and you put in the hardwork together, there are a
lifelong brother or sister outthere. Yeah, you can make those
connections. Scott Wadsworth,your definition of success.
Scott Wadsworth (43:29):
Oh, you love easy questions, don't you? So
and you can edit this. So if Itake a long pause here and catch
my breath and make a couple ofnotes, because this is this is
the big question, isn't it? Sofirst of all, whatever else I've
(43:51):
learned, I've learned that theworst possible way to measure
your success is by the number ofdigits in your savings account.
That is the worst possible way.
And it's the way that people areseduced into thinking about
success. So if anybody'sinterested in listening to
anything that I say here today,you gotta give that idea up.
(44:12):
That your success as anindividual, I'll just say as a
man, even though that's such athat's such a 20th century way
to say anything, right? Well,I'm a 20. I'm a product of the
20th century so you got to dealwith that. But men are more
seduced by this than women are Ithink that their idea of the in
the game of life you win the whohas the most toys wins. Pure
(44:34):
baloney. That is unadulteratedbaloney. Give it up, no matter
how many times that message isreinforced on the television and
everywhere else you look part ofsuccess. So let me just boil it
down to this. From oneperspective is success. So
(44:56):
having a family, for me is a bigpart of what constitutes
success. And then being able tohold that family together during
the course of your life, becausefamilies, that familial entropy,
right, I mean, entropy does notjust happen in nature, or things
tend to break down Coolockbecome go from a state of being
(45:17):
more organized, being lessorganized. It's a second law of
thermodynamics. And it'severywhere in nature. And it's
everywhere, and families tofamilies, for some reason, are
prone to fracture. Success. As afather, as a patriarch, that's
not a dirty word, by the way,success. The second has to be at
(45:40):
least partially defined by yourability to resist familial
entropy. Don't let it breakapart. And don't, don't ever
take your eye off that ball. Andwhether you're a young person
just starting that family, orwhether you're an old guy like
(46:01):
me, it's always possible to letyour family fracture. And at the
end of the day, you will havebeen more successful if you
didn't let that happen. Well,that's a very partial
description, but you have toinclude those things. Being able
to receive and extentfriendship, being able to speak
love, when love needs to bespoken, which is quite often,
(46:22):
being able to success is beingable to endure some pain for a
while in order to make somethingworthwhile happen. But anyway,
success is not what the worldthe world, the television the
internet is telling you it is.
It's something else and thinkreal carefully about it.
Joe Cadwell (46:40):
Absolutely. Scott, this has been a fantastic
conversation, where can peoplego to find out more about Scott
Wadsworth, the essentialcraftsman and everything in the
central craftsman universe?
Scott Wadsworth (46:52):
Well, YouTube is our biggest footprint. Us.
But if you go to Google andsearch central craftsman, we're
going to pop up, it'll take youto, to one video or another.
Instagram, we're there. I don'tthink we're very big there. So
that's, that's the easiest way.
And Nate has made over 500videos. That's a ton of work.
(47:13):
And there's something in therefor for probably whatever
question you're thinking of. Andif it's not, our channel is
going to be somewhere. Allright, it's gonna say in
response to an earlier thing,you said that, I'm glad I'm not
in the higher educationbusiness. Because Youtube is
changing education for ever. AndI just love the things we can
(47:38):
learn from this. From thismedia.
Joe Cadwell (47:42):
I do as well. Well, thank you so much for taking
your time to be on the showtoday. It's been a real
pleasure.
Scott Wadsworth (47:48):
Thanks, Joe.
Great to meet you. And I'd loveto learn more about underwater
welding.
Joe Cadwell (47:51):
Anytime, Scott. My guest today has been Scott
Wadsworth, host of the hugelysuccessful Essential Craftsman
YouTube channel. For moreinformation about the essential
craftsman Be sure to check outthe show notes for this episode,
or visit the grit nation websiteat grit nation podcast.com Well,
that wraps up another edition ofthe grit nation podcast. If you
(48:13):
enjoyed what you heard, pleasebe sure to share with a friend
co worker or family member ifyou haven't already done so
please take a minute to leave areview on Apple podcasts or
Spotify really does make adifference. As always, thank you
for your support and until nexttime, this is Joe Cadwell
reminding you to work safe, worksmart and stay union strong
Scott Wadsworth (48:35):
you know one thing that that I you know we
didn't mention it doesn't haveto be mentioned but when I was
beginning to run work I realizedthat in order to be a leader you
had to be able to work and andso my niche is a job Foreman
became to take my bags off andstock material everybody you
(48:56):
know and carry as much materialand shovel I couldn't shovel
good and you're locked in onespot, but carry the material and
deliver this and make surethey've got this and then you're
and so just the idea ofdemonstrating to the people
around you that that you're init just just as far and just as
gritty and just as dirty as theyare. is a game changer in your
(49:16):
ability to be a leader
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