- 10 hours ago
find more Series on RealTV :
https://linktr.ee/myTVChannel
https://linktr.ee/myTVChannel
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00My name's Mike Rowe, and this is my job.
00:07I explore the country looking for people who aren't afraid to get dirty.
00:11Crap. Ow.
00:12Hard-working men and women who earn an honest living.
00:15Oh, man, we're gonna be here all night.
00:17Doing the kinds of jobs that make civilized life possible for the rest of us.
00:23Now get ready to get dirty.
00:27Coming up on Dirty Jobs, at the largest onion processor in the world, I get all touchy-feely.
00:33Is there any rubbing? No rubbing.
00:35California law.
00:36But a million raw onions, plus my raw emotions.
00:41That's a recipe for disaster.
00:43Oh, no. I'm scared to touch anything now.
00:47Later.
00:48Perfect.
00:50Now it's perfect.
00:51At a fire department that makes ladders out of a flammable substance.
00:55Okay, why is it wood?
00:57I blow everyone away.
00:58You know, I got it.
00:59You're an English teacher at some time?
01:00A frustrated one at that?
01:02No, I have been a **** for years, though.
01:04Oh.
01:08Oh, God.
01:21Today, I've come to Oxnard, California, to learn about onions.
01:24Why Oxnard?
01:25Because Oxnard is home to gills' onions.
01:28Why gills?
01:29Well, because nobody processes more onions on the face of the planet than gills.
01:33Yeah, we could have gone to a farm and pulled these out of the ground, but come on.
01:37You've seen me do that a thousand times.
01:39Today, we're going to learn about onions.
01:41We're going to learn stuff like that's a giant colossal onion from the lily family.
01:48Now, you know what I know.
01:50We say we go inside and have ourselves a good cry.
01:56Gills slices, dices, slivers, and purees onions for restaurants, grocery stores, and food manufacturers all over the country.
02:05Their handiwork is used on hamburgers and salsa, salads, and soups.
02:10And some even end up as hot golden brown onion rings, which makes me so daggone happy.
02:15It brings tears to my eyes.
02:18You're going to feel that sulfur in the mix with your...
02:21That's what makes your eyes burn, and the other sulfates.
02:24It's the sulfur that mixes with your eyes.
02:27The tears in your eyes, yes.
02:29I mean, it creates the tears in your eyes.
02:31You're making stuff up.
02:32I am.
02:33That was Nikki, by the way.
02:35She's not kidding about the sulfur.
02:37We go through 66 boxes of Kleenex a day.
02:40Really?
02:40But sulfur doesn't seem to bother plant manager Fernando.
02:44All right, where am I then?
02:45Okay, you're here in the dumping area.
02:47Yeah.
02:48What you're going to be doing is you're going to be using the forklift to load each hopper with approximately
02:55a thousand pound container.
02:57And it'll automatically raise the hopper and dump the onions into the hopper.
03:02So this is the first stage on the production line?
03:06Yes, this is the first stage of the production line.
03:09Some of these onions come from Gill's own farm.
03:11The rest, they buy from other onion farmers.
03:14No matter where they're from, they all get a free ride to the conveyor belt system on board the forklift.
03:21I can't tell if it's on.
03:24What's that do?
03:25Signal.
03:26Signal.
03:26Signal.
03:27Signal.
03:29All right.
03:29The brake.
03:30Is that a brake or is this a brake?
03:32We need the brake right there.
03:33Okay, but that's the brake brake.
03:35And that's reversed, so I should go backwards.
03:36What could possibly go wrong?
03:39Watch the forklift.
03:41Watch the forklift.
03:43Watch the forklift.
03:54Higher, higher.
03:56Whoa.
04:02Too high.
04:04That was too high?
04:05Yeah.
04:05Oh, crap.
04:06I feel your tail.
04:07Oh, .
04:09Oh, no.
04:10I'm scared to touch anything now.
04:13That scared me.
04:16That was a big loud bang I wasn't supposed to hear.
04:20Yeah, I know.
04:20If you've got a hammer, I'll put it back.
04:22No, we'll do that on the weekend.
04:24I can't come back on the weekend.
04:26I'll stay late and fix it.
04:27It's all right.
04:29I feel terrible.
04:31It's okay.
04:32Before I can do any more damage, Fernando takes me to another room where things are more automated.
04:37This is where all the employees put each individual onion into these moving conveyors.
04:44And each individual onion is top and tail.
04:49Top and tail?
04:50Yes.
04:50You have to orient the onion where the top is facing that wall and the tail is facing you.
04:57Orient the onion.
04:58That's fancy talk for putting it like that.
05:01So what goes on in here?
05:03That's where all the action takes place.
05:05By action, he means the machine will peel the onion.
05:08And then we got two knives on each side, one knife on each side, and it's scoring it.
05:13As it passes through, it scores it, so it takes off one or two layers off of the onion.
05:18Who invented this thing?
05:19This is all fabricated by our engineer, Arturo.
05:23Seriously?
05:24Yeah.
05:24Oh, and you're not shining me on again.
05:27No.
05:28There's a guy here who made this.
05:29And also, he made a lot of the conveyors, the slicers.
05:34A lot of the equipment we have is proprietary.
05:37Man, I want to meet that guy.
05:39Yeah.
05:39Is he here today?
05:40He's here today.
05:41Really?
05:41We'll meet him later.
05:42Alright, so later I'm going to meet Arturo.
05:44Arturo.
05:44The inventor of all things.
05:47Here at Gil's Onions.
05:48But Arturo will have to wait, because lunch break is over, and the battle against the mighty onion is about
05:54to begin.
05:55Okay, so before they start their ship, and after their lunch, they warm up.
06:00Their hands, their shoulders, just part of our safety program.
06:05Cool.
06:07Shoulders first.
06:07You've got to follow her.
06:08Alright.
06:12Oh, I know that motion.
06:15Is there any rubbing?
06:17No rubbing.
06:19California law.
06:20No one's allowed to rub anybody anymore.
06:25Starting to get worried.
06:26What exactly are we going to be doing?
06:29What does this mean?
06:30For your wrist.
06:31Warm it up the wrist.
06:32Oh, yeah.
06:33Ready?
06:34You bet.
06:35We'll put you next to a pole.
06:38The reason you're hearing this in voiceover is because it was so f***ing loud in there, I couldn't hear anybody,
06:44and nobody could hear me.
06:50If you could hear me right now, I might be saying something about how I decided to feed the machine
06:55only the very best onions.
06:57And to me, the very best meant the very biggest.
07:02And I might have said that going big seemed like a darn good idea, until the machine jammed.
07:19So first I mangled the hopper with the forklift, then I clogged up the peeling machine with my big onions.
07:26Although no one actually accused me of anything, I could feel their crying eyes boring into me.
07:34So it was with some relief that Fernando moved me on to my next job, where hopefully I won't break
07:40anything.
07:42So this is the, uh, the what station?
07:45Slicing station.
07:46Right.
07:46This is where all the slicing takes place.
07:49Uh, you put the whole peel onions in each tube, they slide down, and it slices the onions from a
07:57sixteenth of an inch all the way to an inch.
08:00After the onions are sliced, they're hand packed. Everything is made to order.
08:05Okay, you gotta make sure that you feed the onions, so that the slicer slices them in this direction.
08:10If the onion is sliced in the wrong direction, the slices fall apart, and they can't be sold to customers.
08:16So they're shipped off to a compost pile, and the whole production line is slowed down.
08:21How am I doing? Is it working?
08:26It's tough.
08:28Apparently some of yours are coming out sideways.
08:31It's like the, uh, whack-a-mole.
08:36Razor-sharp rotating knives are carefully calibrated to cut each slice to the perfect thickness.
08:42Babe, you should shoot straight down in here, if you can.
08:45See it? Look at the blade.
08:48You're not allowed to see that.
08:50Oh, it's proprietary.
08:51Yeah.
08:51Get the heck out here, what are you doing?
08:54Another proprietary invention.
08:56Perhaps the elusive Arturo invented this, too.
08:59If I ever meet him, I'll have to ask him.
09:01Alright, Mike, I'll hand you off to our QA and Steve, the owner of the company.
09:06Oh, you're the big cheese?
09:07Yes, sir.
09:08You don't have gloves? I don't have gloves.
09:10Nice to meet you.
09:10Nice to meet you.
09:11How are you, Laura?
09:12Hi.
09:12Pleasure.
09:13Well, thank you.
09:14I'm gonna do what it...
09:15Is this a lab or a kitchen?
09:17What are you guys doing in here?
09:18Apparently, many customers use Gil's Onions to make onion rings.
09:22So, three to four times a week, Gil's puts their own product to the test, just to make sure it
09:27has the right texture and flavor.
09:29Alright, so you want me to open this bag?
09:30Open this bag.
09:33Put this knife.
09:35Okay.
09:37That's okay.
09:38And this, what is this exactly?
09:40This is butter.
09:41This is butter?
09:42Batter.
09:42Batter.
09:43Batter.
09:43It's a process that we developed to get the onion battered, to stick better to the onion.
09:49So, in other words, you're making the batter batter?
09:50Batter better.
09:51So, if you were to add the butter, the batter would be even better.
09:55Okay.
09:56Don't use the knife, please.
09:57Okay.
09:58Is this also batter?
09:59It's butter.
10:00This is butter.
10:01It's butter, too.
10:01Oh, this is butter, too?
10:02Yes.
10:02So, these are different kinds of batter?
10:04No, it's the same.
10:06Two different processes.
10:08Got it.
10:08Put the same batter.
10:09Same butter.
10:10Butter.
10:11Butter.
10:12Batter.
10:13I get the feeling they don't want me to understand the nuances of this process.
10:17Probably proprietary.
10:17Can't help but notice, Steve.
10:19Yes.
10:20Somebody in the kitchen is not wearing a hairnet.
10:25I'm not inside the plant.
10:26I'm just in the kitchen right now.
10:27Uh-huh.
10:30How come he doesn't have to wear a hairnet, but you do?
10:35He's the boss.
10:38He's the owner.
10:39That is exactly the right answer.
10:41We take the batter batter, dip some onion rings into it, coat them in breading, fry them
10:46up, and put them to the ultimate test.
10:50Delicious.
10:51That's delicious.
10:52Delicious.
10:53Like, swallow your tongue good.
10:55Really good.
10:56This is a good lot that'll make it through the system without any issues.
11:02Through my system?
11:03No.
11:04Through the food service chamber.
11:07Well, here's to hoping to make it through my system without any issues, too.
11:12Coming up, I meet the elusive Arturo, ace inventor of top-secret onion machines.
11:18You invented this, too, huh?
11:20Yeah.
11:20Yeah, good.
11:22Later, I build state-of-the-art fire ladders.
11:24That's really interesting.
11:25Out of a surprising raw material.
11:27We're the only fire department that has a shop that does that with ladders.
11:30In the country?
11:31Yes.
11:32Mm-hmm.
11:33Jerry, you buried the lead.
11:43Well, that's Arturo, the guy I've been hearing about all day, who built every machine in
11:48the plant, and the whole plant, for all I know.
11:51And I believe this is where everything gets recycled.
11:57Of course, I could be wrong.
12:00I've been wrong before.
12:07Arturo.
12:08Hey, Mike.
12:08How are you?
12:09Gills, onions.
12:10How are you?
12:11I'm okay, thanks.
12:13So this is your genius?
12:16This is my baby.
12:18His baby is also his biggest achievement, a revolutionary screw press that squeezes the
12:24onion juice out of the plant's waste material.
12:27The juice is fed to an electric generator that supplies 40% of the power needed to run
12:32Gil's onions.
12:33Arturo's system saves the business over a million dollars a year on their utility bill.
12:41We squeeze around 75% of the liquid.
12:4525% is a solid.
12:47All right.
12:47Can I help?
12:48Yes, go ahead.
12:49Go do it.
12:51Arturo is educated at National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico City.
12:55He's got a degree in electrical engineering.
12:58So you invented the whole thing?
13:00I didn't invent it.
13:00We pulled together.
13:02He's being modest.
13:03The fact is, 26 years ago, Arturo came to work at Gil's as a forklift driver.
13:08But, as his expertise became obvious, he was given more and more responsibility until
13:13they finally made him plant engineer.
13:15No, no, no, no.
13:16Are you a scientist?
13:16A chemist?
13:17No.
13:18I'm a little.
13:19I'm a little old stuff.
13:21To play with this unit?
13:23Part of the play is taking apart this big blue unit and cleaning it once a month.
13:28Crap.
13:37What did you say?
13:38Sulfite?
13:38Sulfur?
13:40The sulfur that naturally occurs in onions and brings tears to your eyes is also extremely
13:45corrosive.
13:45It can damage the electrical generator.
13:48So it's removed from the onion juice with this big blue thing.
13:51It seems like it should be getting easier, but it's not getting easier.
13:55Yeah, it's not easy because that one, you're tight instead of loose.
13:58Wrong way.
13:59No, no, no.
14:02You're going wrong way.
14:03Well, it's very tight now, I can assure you that.
14:08Do we do just this side or the other side too?
14:11You go the other side too?
14:12Of course you do.
14:13Of course you do both sides.
14:18That's good.
14:21This is the last one.
14:25You invented this too, huh?
14:27Yeah.
14:27Yeah, good.
14:31The official name of this big blue thing is the heat exchange unit.
14:36I don't really understand how it works, but I do understand that these stainless steel
14:40plates get very dirty and somebody needs to clean them.
14:43Those are all the bits of the sulfites?
14:47Sulfite, a little waste, solid.
14:49Uh-huh.
14:50Comes to the reactor.
14:51Right.
14:51So we're going to take all these off and go clean them?
14:54Yeah.
14:54How many you got in there, about 20?
14:56We have around 20, 24.
14:5834.
14:59And we might do it one at a time.
15:01One at a time?
15:02Yeah, one at a time.
15:02All right.
15:05One at a time.
15:07So, what are we seeing here?
15:09See, you see?
15:09All the yellow stuff.
15:11That's sulfite.
15:13Use a wire brush.
15:15Clean it up.
15:17Every single piece.
15:18Every single piece?
15:19Yes.
15:20All right.
15:20Make it shiny.
15:21Yeah.
15:22Shiny like a hiney.
15:26How many times have you done this?
15:28We do it around one time a month.
15:31Once a month?
15:33Guess I showed up on the right day.
15:34Yes.
15:35You have lucky day.
15:36That's me.
15:38A career defined by luck.
15:41Now, some of this stuff is really baked in here, right?
15:43I mean, does that come out?
15:44No.
15:44That one is the glue to attachment to the gasket.
15:47I've been trying to scrape the glue out of here.
15:49You want to damage my piece?
15:51No, I want to damage your piece.
15:53I can't tell the difference between dirt and crap.
15:59See, this is miserable.
16:01Look at that schmutz.
16:03I can't seem to get the schmutz out there.
16:15Where's that Arturo guy?
16:16You'd think you'd have some, uh...
16:19I don't know, some cleaner.
16:21You use any, uh, cleaner?
16:24It's just, I mean, no disc, you know...
16:26No.
16:27Everything is by hand.
16:28Because look, I mean, no, I get the by hand, but that's...
16:31I can't get that off there.
16:32No, because...
16:33You need some salt for a laser, maybe.
16:36A laser beam.
16:38I'll show you.
16:39Oh, wait a minute.
16:40Yes.
16:40Something like this?
16:41You got it.
16:43Ah.
16:45You gotta be kidding.
16:47Yep.
16:48How long would it take one guy to clean all these with these tools?
16:51Uh...
16:52Around six hours.
16:53Six hours.
16:53Two months.
16:54Maybe three months.
16:55Six hours.
16:56I understand.
16:57Four months.
16:57That's a long time.
17:03The question now remains, how many of these do you think we'll do before we go home?
17:08My guess would be...
17:10All of them.
17:13The ancient Egyptians worshiped the onion, believing that its round shape and concentric rings symbolized eternity.
17:18Of all the vegetables that had their images created from precious metals by Egyptian artists, only the onion was made
17:24out of gold.
17:30It's a tough job.
17:31And you're kind of brilliant.
17:32You built stuff, and I'm on the verge of understanding how it works.
17:35But what...
17:35Is there anything else you can show me while it's still light?
17:37The last thought we might do it...
17:39Some product in the reactor.
17:41You want to take me to a reactor?
17:42Yep.
17:43Is that...
17:45I'll follow you now.
17:46Yeah, go ahead.
17:46I'll follow you.
17:47You will follow me.
17:51After all I've busted today, Arturo is bringing me to the reactor.
17:58And so we come to the Chernobyl of dirty jobs.
18:01Well, this is beautiful.
18:02You saved the best for last.
18:04It looks like a...
18:05It looks like meringue.
18:06You know what is that?
18:07What?
18:07It's a protein.
18:09The onions contain protein.
18:12The protein is the one that makes foam.
18:14Maybe it's a block.
18:15Maybe the foam is turned off.
18:17Right.
18:17We'll see what happens.
18:20Arturo wants me to help clean something called the defoaming filter.
18:24Not a good idea.
18:26I'm tired.
18:27It's late.
18:28This is one crazy place, man.
18:31And I've got a bad feeling.
18:33Someone's going to get hurt.
18:35So it's the foam.
18:36This is how I defoam.
18:38Put a finger.
18:39Squish it.
18:41After all I've done, this is how the day ends.
18:43I clean this.
18:44Assemble.
18:45With my finger.
18:47After all the genius I've seen today.
18:49It all comes down to a filter.
18:51The size of a thimble.
18:54Okay.
18:56Put a buck.
18:57This is a magical onion place.
19:00With sulfites in the air.
19:02Man, I think we look great in this light.
19:05Thank you so much.
19:06I had a great weird time.
19:09You cry.
19:10Nope.
19:11I'm not going to stop crying.
19:12I'm going to go home and cry like a 10 pound baby girl.
19:14I'm crying right now.
19:19Here's a brand new San Francisco fire truck.
19:21All shiny and new.
19:23Bursting with state of the art technology.
19:25Strapped to the side is a wooden ladder.
19:27That struck me as odd.
19:29A wooden ladder on a fire truck.
19:31Wood.
19:31You know, a substance that can splinter and break if you put too much weight on it.
19:35Wood.
19:36You know, a substance that can burn if it gets too close to a fire.
19:40Wood ladders on a fire truck.
19:42What's that all about?
19:45To find out, I've come to the San Francisco fire department's ladder shop.
19:49Since 1917, its sole job has been to build and maintain the 13 types of wooden ladders used on all
19:56of San Francisco's fire trucks.
20:00Hey.
20:01Hey.
20:01Who's Jerry? Who's Chang?
20:02I'm Jerry and this is Chang.
20:04Jerry.
20:05Hi Chang.
20:06Nice to meet you.
20:07Mike.
20:08This is where the wooden ladders are made?
20:09That's right.
20:10This is the wood?
20:11Mm-hmm.
20:12Uh-huh.
20:12I hear you want to make one.
20:14Who told you that?
20:15Some little bird.
20:17I am curious, I must admit.
20:18We have a pretty big complement of ladders and pretty much special ladders for special usage.
20:26You know, there's ladders for attics, ladders for roofs.
20:30Even the fire boats use wooden ladders.
20:32So are you saying that every fire truck in San Francisco, every fire boat uses some form of wooden ladders?
20:39Wooden ladders, yes.
20:39Why not aluminum?
20:40Well, aluminum is, uh, well, I hate to say anything bad about aluminum.
20:45No, go ahead.
20:46I don't think we have any aluminum sponsors.
20:48No, but, uh, well, with aluminum ladders, uh, they have a definite lifespan.
20:52And, uh, and they usually last about maybe eight years, uh, and it's due to work hardening.
20:58You know, the aluminum gets hardened.
21:00And most fire departments, what they do is they just replace them.
21:02But we have, we have about 300 ladders in between all of our fire apparatus.
21:08Mm-hmm.
21:09And so to replace those, um, it's pretty costly.
21:12What kind of wood is it?
21:13This is Douglas fir.
21:14Mm-hmm.
21:14And the reason we picked this is it offers the best, uh, weight to strength ratio.
21:19Is there any concern about the ladders burning?
21:21Well, it does burn.
21:22Yeah.
21:22But what it does is it burns at such a slow rate, and the whole piece doesn't get engulf
21:27and turn, and turn to charcoal right away, so.
21:29It doesn't go poof.
21:30No, it doesn't.
21:31So it takes a long time to even penetrate, say, an eighth of an inch.
21:34So it, it will still maintain your weight.
21:36You get the whole piece holding, instead of, with aluminum, you're, you're, you're just,
21:41uh, well, it's kind of hard to explain.
21:43It's, uh.
21:43No, no, it's fascinating to me, because I think, I mean, I don't want to put words in your
21:46mouth, but I think you're saying that a wooden ladder functions as a single piece of almost
21:51living, breathing, organic strength.
21:54Yeah, exactly.
21:54Yeah.
21:55Whereas the aluminum is just an indifferent metal that was pulled out of the ground and
21:58cobbled together by people who simply don't give a crap.
22:01I don't think we want to say that.
22:02It's too late.
22:04The San Francisco Fire Department's wood shop has been making ladders for a long, long time,
22:09and many of those ladders that were built in the last century are still in use today.
22:13I think this one's probably in, uh, like, 1945 or something like that.
22:171945.
22:18Yeah, something like that.
22:19It was somewhere in the 40s, I remember.
22:2095, 05, 205.
22:22This thing's over 70 years old?
22:23Yeah, mm-hmm, yeah.
22:24Well, the original-
22:25Now, is it in here for repair?
22:26Well, this is, well, it was in here for repair, but this is ready to go.
22:30It's been, it's been repaired and it's, uh, it's finished and it's just waiting for an
22:34assignment.
22:35It's, it's just, this ladder's just lying here waiting to be assigned.
22:38Well, it's-
22:38It's ready to go.
22:39Yeah.
22:39Now, where do these come in?
22:41Um, those don't come in.
22:43I mean, in, in terms of basic firefighting.
22:46Well, brick windows or doors or something.
22:50What the heck is this?
22:51That's an aluminum ladder.
22:52What in the heck is this piece of crap doing in this new job?
22:54That's right.
22:55That's exactly-
22:55What happened here?
22:56We don't want to say that.
22:57We don't want to say that.
22:59Well, see, this is, these are the, these are the ladders that the, um, engines used to
23:03carry, but they've all been taken off and they all carry wooden ladders now.
23:07Yeah, I mean, do you understand how odd this sounds in terms of everything we're taught
23:10about the way things evolve and the way technologies improve?
23:14Yeah.
23:15Yeah.
23:15We went from wood to aluminum back to wood.
23:18But a lot of fire departments want to have wood, but they have no way of, uh, testing
23:22them or repairing them.
23:23Um, we're the only fire department that has a shop that does that with ladders.
23:27In the country?
23:27Yes.
23:28Mm-hmm.
23:29Jerry, you buried the lead.
23:30You're the only central repair shop in the country whose purpose is to build and maintain
23:37Yes.
23:38Uh, the wooden ladders so the fleet of trucks can have what really is state-of-the-art technology
23:44in spite of the fact that it's been around for a hundred years.
23:47Yes.
23:47Uh-huh.
23:48Yes.
23:48That's fascinating.
23:49All right, let's go build one.
23:54Oh, you're doing great.
23:56Sounds like Christmas.
23:57It does, huh?
23:58Jerry says this piece I'm cutting into will be one side of the ladder.
24:02Okay.
24:04So we'll do the same to this piece here.
24:06You want to do another one?
24:07Sure.
24:08This other piece will be the other side.
24:10The thinner piece will be the handrail.
24:13And the wider piece will be what's called the bean.
24:17Oh, that's great.
24:19Yeah.
24:20Coming up, it turns out there's a secret genius in the ladder shop.
24:23Mm-hmm.
24:24Chang with the giant brain.
24:25He's making my life a little easier.
24:28I tell you what, Chang, I'm just loving your invention more and more by the second.
24:32And later, I meet a provocative painter named Pete.
24:35Given what I've heard so far, I might go with Pete the pontificating painter.
24:42Okay, here we got some excessive glue.
24:44Yeah, Chang did that.
24:46I don't want it.
24:53Okay, so now we'll take these over and we'll drill some rung holes in it.
24:58Rung holes?
24:59I love drilling rung holes.
25:01Put your square up here and just draw the line straight down.
25:04And do.
25:05But apparently, you need to mark them first.
25:09See the line on the table?
25:10I see it.
25:10So we'll line up your pencil mark with it.
25:13Yep.
25:13And we'll turn this on.
25:14By we, you mean you, don't you?
25:16Yeah, I'll turn it on.
25:17And all you have to do is push down until it stops.
25:22Go ahead.
25:23Ah!
25:24We're drilling with our feet.
25:25Yeah, what do you mean, huh?
25:26It stopped.
25:27Yeah.
25:28Okay, let it up.
25:29Okay, so now what we've done is we've drilled.
25:31This is the rung hole that you just drilled.
25:33And then we've got to drill 16 of them.
25:36So to do the rest of them, we'll put the rung hole you just drilled into this fixture here.
25:43Line it up?
25:43Yeah.
25:44And step on it.
25:44And then clamp it and step on it.
25:50And then put it into the fixture.
25:53Well, actually, you don't need to use your line since we have a fixture set up here.
25:56Oh, yeah.
25:57You just put the hole.
25:58Yeah.
25:59So let me ask you this.
25:59Why did I even draw all those lines if all I have to do is worry about putting it up?
26:04That picture is new.
26:05Chang made that.
26:06He invented that thing.
26:07Chang, you did this?
26:09Yeah, he did that.
26:10See, that way we could have all of these holes exactly 12 inches apart.
26:14That's my point.
26:15Why did I draw the lines with Chang's innovation?
26:17Well, we're just kind of checking how well you draw lines with a number two pencil.
26:20Let me just tell you what's happening.
26:21For years, what Jerry had been doing is drawing lines very carefully based on a template.
26:28Then Chang comes along.
26:30Chang with the giant brain.
26:32He goes, wait a second.
26:33What if we put this little thing right here?
26:35So Chang makes this plate and he puts this little thing on it.
26:39So now what happens is when you go through here and you drill and you're making holes like this, right?
26:44Now, rather than lining it up with a line, all you have to do is line the last hole up
26:49with Chang's amazing invention.
26:51Then you slide the hole into what I'm going to call the Chang protrusion, and then everything else lines up
26:58immediately.
26:59There you go.
27:00See?
27:01Why didn't Jerry think of this?
27:02Yeah, I know.
27:03He busy.
27:05Jerry's too busy to be thinking about stuff.
27:10All right.
27:13Hey, Chang, let me ask you something.
27:14Yeah.
27:15Is this aluminum?
27:16No.
27:17That's a few.
27:18I had a feeling you were going to ask.
27:26I tell you what, Chang, I'm just loving your invention more and more by the second.
27:30I'm not even looking at those stupid lines Jerry had me throw.
27:40Okay.
27:41Okay.
27:41I think we're ready to put this thing together.
27:43Let's do it.
27:44Yeah.
27:46Oh, all ready for you.
27:50So these are called the trust blocks?
27:51Yeah.
27:53So you guys are more organized than I thought.
27:55Like when I walked in here, I looked around, I thought this is, you know, these guys are making it
27:58up as they go.
27:59But look.
27:59We are pretty much.
28:00They've got the trust blocks for a 16-foot ladder.
28:03Mm-hmm.
28:04Okay.
28:05So we want to put these in here.
28:06Trust blocks go between the beam and rail and make the ladder stronger without adding a bunch of extra weight
28:11to it.
28:12Yeah.
28:12There we go.
28:13Yeah.
28:14You know, if only we had a wooden hammer or something, I could bash this.
28:16We've got a wooden hammer.
28:17Why wood?
28:17Why a wooden hammer?
28:19It's possible.
28:20What is this?
28:21Don't ask me.
28:21No, I want to understand.
28:23Don't ask me why isn't it aluminum.
28:24I'm...
28:25Okay.
28:26Why is it wood?
28:27Well, I use it on the chisel and it doesn't damage the handle.
28:32That's true.
28:33Really?
28:34That's really true.
28:35Okay.
28:36All right.
28:36It's true.
28:37I haven't seen a wooden hammer like that.
28:39That's funny.
28:41It's all right to do that?
28:42Yep.
28:44Now we can put...
28:44Here.
28:45These nuts that you made, these are nuts made right here in the shop?
28:48Yeah.
28:48Shop made nuts?
28:49Shop made nuts, yeah.
28:51These are brass?
28:52Yeah.
28:53So they don't rust?
28:53And these are just zinc plated, the bolts.
28:56Zinc, brass, and steel.
28:58I see a certain bias against a certain metal.
29:01I don't want to say it.
29:02But if I were in Britain, I'd call it...
29:04Aluminium.
29:08Okay, and then here's the nut.
29:10Mm-hmm.
29:11Okay, that was your last one.
29:13What we'll do is we'll glue the two ends and we'll let it sit a while,
29:16and then we could actually put some rungs in and...
29:18It'd be great.
29:19Finish the ladder.
29:21Okay.
29:21What we use is a latex glue.
29:24It's basically almost glue.
29:25Yeah.
29:25And we do that because this glue, we could take apart.
29:30We could disassemble this ladder and the glue won't damage it.
29:33That's it.
29:33So I was thinking in my head, you've got to have the toughest, most forever glue,
29:37but you actually want glue that you can pull apart.
29:38Yeah, that we could break apart.
29:40Right.
29:40And that's why these ladders have such long lives.
29:43But latex glue makes it easy to replace broken parts.
29:46And then we'll just let it sit until it's set and then we can assemble.
29:51Coming up, meet Pete the Painter.
29:53He's the smartest, handsomest, best looking painter in the whole darn paint department.
29:57You're the finisher.
29:59Thank you for completer.
30:00I'm the ender of all things.
30:10It'll take a while for this glue to dry.
30:12So we'll put this rail and beam aside and put rungs onto another rail and beam set that Jerry has
30:17already finished.
30:19Okay, let's put some glue on.
30:20And the thing is, you don't want to put too much glue on because the holes are so tight that
30:24if you put too much on it,
30:26you won't be able to squeeze any of it out.
30:28And because ultimately we're going to have to jam wood into that tight hole.
30:32Mm-hmm.
30:33Yeah.
30:33All right.
30:33Okay, so I'll show you how to do one.
30:35We just put a little bit in there and, well, just a little bit like this.
30:40Mm-hmm.
30:40That's all you need.
30:41All right, like so.
30:42All right.
30:43You want me to run all the way up with this?
30:45Mm-hmm.
30:45Yeah.
30:48Well, here we are creating an integral tool for an absolutely vital profession,
30:53relying not upon aluminum, steel, and other state-of-the-art metals,
31:00but wood, Elmer's glue, some out-of-the-box thinking by a guy named Chang,
31:08and some endless patience by a guy named Jerry.
31:14I think it's interesting.
31:17So we're ready to put some rungs in?
31:19A couple questions about the rungs.
31:21These are also Douglas fir.
31:22No, they're hickory.
31:23Hickory.
31:24Mm-hmm.
31:24Why do we change wood?
31:26Well, hickory is actually stronger, and it doesn't snap.
31:31So say this ladder, this rung is broken in service,
31:36and it breaks while the fireman is coming down with its load.
31:39Right.
31:39It won't dump them, if you know what I mean.
31:42It'll splinter?
31:43Yeah, it'll splinter, and it'll hold them until it gets off of it.
31:46Wow.
31:47So hickory is sort of a fibrous wood.
31:50So all the fibers are intermeshed like this.
31:52Yeah, yeah.
31:52So when it breaks, it won't just snap in half.
31:55That's really interesting.
31:56Yeah.
31:57See how important it is for me to ask questions?
31:59Mm-hmm.
31:59Yeah.
31:59I mean, this is how we learn stuff, Chang.
32:01See, we take it for granted.
32:02Okay, we'll grab a hammer over there, and we'll start putting these in.
32:07Perfect.
32:09There.
32:09Now it's perfect.
32:10Okay.
32:11And then we just go along and put them all in.
32:12I like this, John.
32:14Oh, yeah.
32:14This is the most fun part.
32:16Just sit around.
32:16You're close to finishing.
32:18Sure.
32:22Jerry says making a 16-foot ladder is a one-man job.
32:26It takes him about a day and a half to build one.
32:28And there's no TV crew in the shop slung him down.
32:32You like my hammer, huh?
32:33I like your hammer, Shane.
32:35Of all your inventions, this may be my favorite.
32:39Jerry's been doing this job for over 20 years.
32:41In 20 years, you've probably touched every ladder in the entire San Francisco.
32:47Pretty much.
32:47I mean, you would have to.
32:52All right.
32:52Okay, now we're going to try to match up all these holes.
32:56Match up about three of them.
32:57In a city like San Francisco, with low-hanging, high-voltage power lines,
33:01wood ladders are especially good because they don't conduct electricity.
33:05So if one accidentally hits a live wire, the firemen won't get electrocuted.
33:10Okay, we're done.
33:11All right.
33:12Okay, so actually now this ladder is pretty much ready to go to, uh,
33:17we'll have a cut of finish, but it's pretty straight, huh?
33:20Yeah, you did a great job.
33:21Well, you know, I hit stuff.
33:24All right, so where do we, uh, where do we varnish it?
33:27So we're going over to the paint booth to meet a guy named Pete
33:32and, uh, get into some varnish.
33:35So, Pete, this is your job. You varnish the ladders.
33:38We refinish them.
33:39Mm-hmm.
33:40We're putting a coating on them to protect the wood and preserve it.
33:43So by and large, that's what you do. You refinish as opposed to finish.
33:50So not necessarily. It's probably about equal. We do an equal amount of finishing to an equal amount of refinishing.
33:57So in this case, with this virgin ladder, this new wood, this Douglas fir on the, uh, beams and rails
34:04and this hickory on the rungs, this would be a finishing.
34:07That's correct. We would be finishing.
34:09That's correct. We would be finishing it because you constructed it and, uh, required to be finished.
34:13And you're the finisher. Thank you.
34:14The completer. Okay.
34:15The ender of all things.
34:17The wrapper-upper.
34:18What we'll be doing here is, uh, we're gonna make sure that there's no, uh, splinter sticking up or any
34:25deep contusion or, uh, just little minute, uh, imperfections in the wood before we start to apply any coating.
34:35So prior to the application of coating, we facilitate a visual inspection.
34:39That's it.
34:40And that begins forthwith.
34:41And it begins with a piece of sandpaper in hand.
34:44Yep. Normally this would be applied to a sander.
34:46Uh, or a pad sometimes. You could put a pad on the inside of it, but we're not really gonna
34:51do any serious sanding.
34:53I'm just gonna kinda look, work the edges, the radius of the edges, make sure that there's no little teeny
35:00splinter.
35:01I'll check the rungs, make sure that they, uh...
35:07What about underneath?
35:08Okay, here we got some excessive glue.
35:10Yeah, Chang the dead.
35:12Atta boy.
35:14I'll, I'll knock it off.
35:17Coming up, when the paint flies, the language gets messy.
35:21Holy crap, did you just say porosity?
35:23Yeah.
35:23Is it legal on TV?
35:25It's frowned on on cable, but we don't care.
35:38And the visual and the light sanding is probably about over.
35:42Got it all.
35:44Okay.
35:45Next step, I'm gonna turn on some real nasty blowers.
35:49Fans that evac everything out of this place, and we're gonna blow that ladder off and get all the dust
35:55off of it.
36:15So the, the next step would be to oil it.
36:20And what we have here, for the camera, is boiled linseed oil.
36:25Linseed oil is a, uh, derivative of the flaxseed, now popular in everybody's, uh, health food diet.
36:32Not everyone's.
36:35Flaxseed is the, the basis for virtually all oil-based paints.
36:40Interesting.
36:42And, uh, is the linseed oil actually boiled?
36:45Yes.
36:45When they boil it, that adds oxygen molecules to it.
36:51Thereby increasing its...
36:53Ability to catalyze.
36:56Cure.
36:58Work.
36:59Dry.
37:00If we put regular, unboiled linseed oil, it would take a long time for the film to cure or dry.
37:08Ah.
37:10Got it.
37:11All right.
37:11So, we got this boiled linseed oil, and we got a couple empty cans here.
37:16And you're gonna take one, and I'm gonna take one.
37:19And we're gonna slather every square millimeter...
37:21That's it.
37:22...of this wood with boiled linseed.
37:23I'm gonna dope this thing up fat with this stuff.
37:25Dope it fat.
37:26You like that, aren't you?
37:27I like, I do appreciate it.
37:28It's yours.
37:29I will use both dope and fat in the next couple of sentences.
37:34God, I'm getting fat.
37:35I feel like such a dope.
37:36See how I did that?
37:37So, linseed oil is gonna go on for several reasons.
37:42Tell me all of them.
37:44All right.
37:44Well, it's almost a primer coat.
37:47It's gonna saturate into the porosity of the wood.
37:51Holy crap, did you just say porosity?
37:53Yeah.
37:54Does that refer to the porous nature of the wood?
37:56Is it legal on TV?
37:58Porosity?
37:58Yeah.
37:58It's frowned on on cable, but we don't care.
38:01If you could view wood as a big sponge with a cell structure in it, this'll flood it all the
38:08way up to the top of the, what's called ligden.
38:10The structure that's in between grain is called ligden.
38:14Ligden as in like ligaments?
38:16No, it's the cell structure that's in between all these really tight little teeny grains that are running in that
38:22vertical line, that long grain wood.
38:25What this really does more than anything is it keeps the coat that we'll be subsequently putting on afterwards, the
38:33varnish, vitalized.
38:38The varnish afterwards, as it begins to age, becomes brittle.
38:44Yeah.
38:44It cracks, it crazes, and it delaminates.
38:48Cracked, crazes, and laminates?
38:50Delaminates.
38:51It cracks, crazes, and delaminates.
38:52And we want to prevent that.
38:54This is a pre-coating.
38:55Right.
38:56This will help the varnish stay...
39:00On.
39:01Stay on, but stay vibrant.
39:03Stay active.
39:04Robust.
39:05Keep it from embrittling and drying out and delaminating.
39:11Embrittling?
39:12Man, I tell you what, I'm making mental notes.
39:15I'm going to play this back later, I'm going to listen to it.
39:18I'm going to laugh like go.
39:19No.
39:20No, the only thing you said that gave me pause, actually, you said something would be happening subsequently after the
39:28process.
39:29I forgot that part.
39:30And I would just point out that subsequent and after...
39:36They're the same.
39:37They're the same.
39:38So, you know, I...
39:39Were you an English teacher at some time? A frustrated one at that?
39:42No.
39:42I have been a **** for years, though.
39:48What do they call you? You got a nickname?
39:50Pete the Painter.
39:51Pete the Painter?
39:52Yeah, that's awfully clever.
39:53Who came up with that one?
39:54Pete did.
39:56Come on, Pete, we can do better than that.
39:58Given what I would...
39:59What I've heard so far, I might go with...
40:02Pete the Pontificating Painter.
40:05Yeah?
40:06Okay.
40:06Me, the practical protagonist.
40:09Because alliteration almost always annoys.
40:12The next step would be for this to dry.
40:15And then after that, we start doping the varnish on.
40:19In a fat way.
40:21In a fat way.
40:22Dope it fat.
40:23All right.
40:23Well, you know what?
40:24Let's just cut to the chase.
40:25I'm not gonna...
40:26I'm not gonna show you, me and Pete, wiping off boiled linseed oil.
40:31Because I believe you can visualize that.
40:33Nor am I gonna show you, me and Pete, applying in a fat dope way a thick layer of chunky
40:40satisfying varnish.
40:41Because I know you can envision that as well.
40:43What I'd like to do is simply thank you for your expertise, your artistry, and then take a finished product
40:48out and put it on a ladder.
40:49Good point.
40:50A truck.
40:50A big shiny thing.
40:52A fire truck.
40:52That's what they are.
40:53That.
40:55How many men does it take to mount a brand new finished ladder?
40:59I'll go with four.
41:02We got Pete, and we got Jerry, and we got Chang, and we got me, and we're setting this up
41:07on a brand new truck.
41:10Brand new aerial truck.
41:12Is that right, Chang?
41:13This is a brand new aerial truck, right?
41:14Yeah, it's brand new.
41:15Brand spanking new, Pete.
41:16Just got it.
41:17Just got it.
41:18I'm told this...
41:20Still got the shine.
41:22880,000 fully loaded.
41:24Something like 1.3 million dollars.
41:27Made right here in the good old USA.
41:29Just like this ladder.
41:30How much does the ladder cost?
41:32Oh, well, by the time you got done with it.
41:34Yeah.
41:35Oh.
41:37I can take it.
41:37I was in around 7,800 bucks.
41:39All right.
41:40Yeah.
41:40Well, there it is.
41:41Old technology and new.
41:43Sounds like we got a call coming in right now, Jerry.
41:45Thank you very much.
41:45It's been an education.
41:46Chang, you're a fine inventor.
41:48He is.
41:49Pete, the pontificating painter.
41:50Thank you, sir.
41:51I'll remember you.
41:51My pleasure.
41:52Next time you see one of these going down the road, tip your hat.
41:55Give my regards.
42:01If we could just get a little closer, Dave, I think.
42:04That's good.
42:04That's what the folks want to see.
42:09You like that?
42:12I'll follow you.
42:13You will follow me.
42:15No, no.
42:15That's not me.
42:16No, no.
42:17That's not me.
42:17That's a paint tool.
42:18That's a paint tool.
42:19It's me.
42:20It's me.
42:21Dirty jobs with who?
42:22Paint tool?
42:23No man stands so tall as when he bends to help a child.
Comments