- I feel like Fonzie.

I just go like, hey, it's time to make a bead.

(laughing) (rock music) - On this special episode of Charlie Bee.

(screaming) I do something I've never done before.

- Good.

- You have like a second to take your finger off.

- Now I'm scared.

(laughs) - I go on a behind the scenes tour.

- I had bees all over me.

- Of one of the oldest bee equipment manufacturers in the US.

(grinder buzzing) - Don't screw it up.

- That's expensive.

- I hope they're insured.

Say a little prayer, Jake.

I ruined your product.

- Boom.

- My name is Charlie Agar, and I'm a beekeeper in the Texas Hill country.

They got me.

I help people with nuisance bee problems and rescue bees from sticky situations.

(bees buzzing) I think I got some bees on me.

With bee populations in decline, it's more important now than ever to save these bees.

(rock music) (vocalizing) Beekeeping has taken me all over the state of Texas and working with bees has given me the opportunity to meet some incredible people along the way.

(laughing) I'm always learning, experiencing new things and working hard.

Things can get a little crazy.

Ow, ow!

(exclaiming) But I love it.

(rock music) Oh yeah!

(mumbling) This is just wild.

I love it.

I love it.

We're solving somebody's problem We're putting these bees to work where they're meant to work, somewhere safe and away from people.

This is what it's all about.

Retreat!

Woo!

(rock music fades) (country music) Morning guys.

What's happening?

Boom.

Boom, how you doing, John?

How you doing, Landon?

- Good.

- Are you ready for some beekeeping?

- Yeah.

- So the best part of what I get to do is to share bees and beekeeping with new people.

What happens when you get stung?

It gives off the attack pheromone.

So if you get stung in on spot, they're gonna be attracted to that and that can set them off.

Whenever I take people into the bee yard, I give a safety briefing in case we encounter spicy bees.

Average person gets stung by a bee, (screaming), they go running for the hills.

So the safe place is your vehicle.

If you have a bad time, I want y'all to get in the vehicle, start it, then crank the AC, and the bees will fly out and leave you all alone.

This young man is gonna get a first hand glimpse of what it's like to be a kooky beekeeper like me.

(rock music) All right, let's get into it.

(rock music) If I give him a little smoke here to say, hey ladies, here we come, Landon's here.

But what do you see in there?

- Nectar mostly.

- More-- - Oh, and that's capped.

- That's capped, good eye.

Holy smokes.

Once it's capped, then it's honey.

So they dehydrate it below 20% moisture.

They chew it, flap their wings.

We're not just here to learn today.

We're also harvesting late season honey.

So when we go into the honey house, and we take a capped frame, we're basically gonna be uncapping like that in order for the honey to come out.

How's that taste?

Do you like it, bud?

- Good.

- Oh, that's good honey.

(laughing) - That's my breakfast right there.

So I'm gonna give it a good shake.

(rock music) (bees buzzing) And I might even use the brush, but as long as there aren't too many bees on it, then I can just kind of take it.

You want to take that big heavy honey frame out?

- Yeah.

- You the man.

Give it a good shake.

There you go.

Can you hold onto it okay?

- Yeah.

- There you go.

From here on out, it's rinse and repeat.

- Ooh, honey!

(country music) - That's money.

Shake.

Here you can brush the bees off.

Just give them a nice brush.

There we go.

Whoa!

(country music) Now that we've collected our booty, it's time to sail back to the honey shack for extraction.

Welcome to the honey shack, baby.

We're gonna put y'all to work.

Only special people get to work in the Charlie Bee Honey house.

(laughing) Before we send frames through the extractor, we've gotta uncap cells first, and we're basically gonna drag it across this, right?

That's all.

So I'll do that whole thing.

You can just jump in and do both sides.

How's that?

Yep, scratch, scratch, scratch.

Nothing like free labor.

(rock music) But more scratchy, less push, a little bit of finesse.

After you do it for six to eight hours, you'll be a pro.

(laughs) (rock music) All day long, baby, and then this goes from here.

Go like this, and it goes right in there, and you see the grooves.

- Like that?

- Exactly.

This year we have an awesome new tool.

It's the automatic uncapper.

What we do with this thing is we take a frame, and set it right in here, and then this thing comes up and over and then it uncaps it.

(uncapper grinding) Done.

Saves us a little time.

I'll do this one.

- I'll hand it to you-- and then I'll hand it to Daddy.

- You're hired.

(rock music) (uncapper grinding) Scratch right there on the edge.

Yep, you got it, and then hand it to pops.

Automating a lot of my processes has really helped me grow my business.

There you go.

(rock music) (uncapper grinding) Technology is a wonderful thing.

- I like this smell.

- Doesn't this smell good?

(uncapper grinding) - That's it, that's the last thing.

- All right, let's crank this thing up.

We're gonna start it real slow.

This tightens the belt basically and speeds it up.

And this room is gonna start to smell like more and more delicious here in a minute.

(country music) - It's so fun to get out there and finally get in to doing some beekeeping and see what it really is like.

Being in nature, being with natural organisms, it's just amazing.

- I'm hooked on beekeeping.

- All right, I think that's good guys.

I think we got it.

(country music fades) You want a job?

You work for me full time?

Is that legal?

- Would you work for Charlie?

- Well, I helped him.

(laughing) - I got a treat for you.

Just for all your hard work.

I want to thank you.

Appreciate your help, guys.

High five it out.

- All right.

- All right, we'll see you soon.

- Thanks, Charlie.

- See you, neighbors.

(rock music) It's no secret that hone processing equipment is essentia to my business, but I've always wanted to see how it gets made today.

I'm getting my wish as we go behind the scenes at Maxant Industries.

(rock music) How's it going, y'all?

- Welcome from Massachusetts.

- Thank you, sir, you must be Jake.

- I am.

- The world famous.

I've seen your videos, man.

I use your products.

Love the stuff.

- Well, we appreciate your support, and we're excited to show you around.

- Thanks for having me.

This is the mothership.

- It's where dreams come true if you're a beekeeper.

- That's right, that's right.

Well, let's see what we got.

Gimme a little tour.

- All right, so everything that you see right here in the showroom is pretty much what we make right here behind those doors.

- That's great.

Now this I have.

- You may know this machine.

- I know this machine-- - Yep.

- Very, very well.

- We got a 20 frame extractor last season, and I'd fire it up every time I extract honey.

- Should outlast you.

- I would hope so.

- Yeah.

- I don't have much longer, (laughs).

And then this I just purchased from this season.

- Okay.

This is the uncapper.

- Yeah, the chain uncapper.

- Chain uncapper.

- Yes.

- It's a beast.

- It is a beast.

- It's awesome.

Scraping back and forth all day by hand is a grueling, laborious process The uncapper that we used with Landon saves me countless bottles of ibuprofen.

- Luckily for you today you're gonna get to experience what it's like to make one of these.

- Oh, perfect, awesome.

- All right, Mr. Maxant's gonna give you the ins and outs and-- - I love it.

- You'll walk away here a smarter man.

- I hope so.

(laughing) I need all the help I can get.

Y'all been thinking about this for a little while, huh?

- A little bit, about 50 years.

- Just about 50 years.

- Just about 50 years.

- Just about as long as I've been alive, you've been working on these products?

- Well, that's kind of what's unique about us is we're not like catalog supply house that sells bee suits and wooden wear.

- Yeah.

- This is our specialty.

Metal, that's what we're all about.

- Looking around the showroom, it's clear to see that Maxant's roots are in metal work and fabrication, made right here in the good old bay state.

- It's an American made product.

It's made right here.

- Right.

The Yankee family.

Yeah, the Yankee, you know, up in Texas they call me a Yankee and they consider it an insult.

I don't understand.

(laughing) There's a magazine.

There's a Yankee Candle Company.

I'm a proud Yankee.

- Yeah.

("Yankee Doodle") I'd love to get my hands dirty to learn how to weld a little bit today.

Is that possible?

- Yeah, we can definitely do that.

I also want to take a tour of the factory, so you can see where the magic's made, and I'd like to introduce you to Teddy Maxant, too.

- A real Maxant?

- A real Maxant-- - Holy cow, let's do it.

- All right.

(liquid gurgling) (rock music) - Welcome to Candy Land.

- Wow, look at this.

This is the source.

I love it.

(rock music) - So, cutting, lots of sanding done.

You know, with the burring thing.

This is where we do a lot of the machining, drill presses.

We got some lathes, rich ports.

- The machinery looks pretty old - It's old, but you can't break it.

- You can't break it.

- You buy the new stuff, and it doesn't last more than a year.

- Is that right, wow.

- For us, there's an advantage to keeping old equipment.

- Sure.

- It's easier to service, and it's very well built.

- Very durable.

- Yeah, I mean, it's some of that, like this was World War II era.

(laughing) You know, it's just awesome.

- That's amazing.

- Yeah.

- Why the yellow curtains?

- Just to keep the flap protection.

- So this is almost like a welding shield?

- Right, yeah, 'cause you don't want to stare at the arc.

- Right.

- You get weld burn and then you'll be scratching your eyes for the rest of the day.

- Right, right, right.

- Yeah.

I've got enough head injury going on, but I don't need any more of that.

- Understood.

(laughing) - Where do you source all your material?

Where's your metal come from?

- Typically it comes from Kentucky.

- Okay.

- Or Pittsburgh.

- Pittsburgh.

That's all right, (laughs).

- Go Steelers.

- Go Steelers.

(laughing) So these guys are just welding away all day?

- Yeah, he's actually making the tank that you said you just bought, which is the wax processing tank - Oh, is that right?

That's cool.

- Yeah, so when it comes in, it's a flat sheet.

What we do is we roll it, and we weld the back of it, run it through the beading machine.

- Okay.

- And he's welding all the fittings on, and then it'll go to get water tested.

So this is called TIG welding.

- TIG welding.

- Which is a very artistic weld, if you will.

So you are going to have your chance at doing this as well.

- Okay, I'm a pretty artistic guy, so I'm willing to give it a shot - It's not about what's in the head, it's about what's in the hand.

- Is that right?

Okay, okay, good, good, okay.

- Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, we'll get you on some of that.

- You want me to sign a waiver?

If I lose a finger or something, that's all right.

I've got 10 of them.

- We'll throw it in the finger bucket.

We got plenty of them.

- There you go.

What do we got over here?

- I would like to introduce you to my father-in-law, Theodore Maxant.

- Mr. Maxant, Charlie Agar.

- Mr. Maxant number two.

- Mr. Maxant number two.

There you go.

I'm Charlie Agar, number two.

- Pleasure.

- Pleasure to meet you, sir.

- To see your show.

- How do you like it - It reminded me of my father, the time that he told me to hold a box underneath an apple tree.

And he would lower the bees gently in the box.

You know what he did?

He jumped on the lid.

(laughing) I had bees all over me.

- So you're a beekeeper too?

- No!

- Not anymore?

- Not anymore.

- You're a metal worker.

- Right?

- What are you working on here?

- Chain uncapper.

- Well, I have one of these.

I love it.

It's the best product.

- Yeah.

- Did you come up with this?

- I don't think anything's ever original.

- Okay.

- My father probably found a real crude machine that somebody put together in his backyard, asked if he could buy it from the guy, and then brought it back and said, refine this thing.

Make it nice.

- That's great.

- That's how things happen.

- I love it.

- You know Henry Ford wasn't the first guy.

(laughing) Wanna see how it works?

- Yes, sir, show me.

- This one here is almost ready testing and it's gonna make some noise.

- Yep.

(chain rattling) - Hear that?

(rock music) So now it's gotta be adjusted.

- These chains have to be adjusted right and left so they don't hit the thing.

- So the easiest way to do that, shut it off.

Push this down.

See where that hits there?

- Yep.

- And I can see it's too close.

And that one there is about right.

And this one here, whoa!

Way off.

- Way off.

- And way off.

- Okay.

- So then I mark this and I mark this.

- Okay.

- Loosen that.

And if somebody ever swaps out a reel, that's what they're gonna have to do.

And then I take the hammer way over there.

- You got it.

- And I just tap it.

(rock music) And I check it with a ray?

Gotta go more.

- A little more, okay.

This is like old world craftsmanship.

- Yeah, it is.

I don't tighten it up real tight yet.

- You wanna make sure.

- Just want to make sure everything's good before we do.

And we go to the next one here.

- How many of these do you produce in a day, Mr. Ford?

I can make one in eight hours.

- One in eight hours?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

- But the problem is I have to make all the parts myself, too.

All these parts here are all formed on a break or laser cut.

- Wow.

- Baby.

All right.

- Well that's silent, wow.

- Looking good, except this one could go over a little bit more.

'cause I can see the gap.

So I can go a little bit more with this one.

- Okay.

- And then I'm good.

(country music) All right.

This is done.

Now you go through and you make sure it's really tight.

- Where did you learn this?

Just by doing it with your dad.

- Back in the 1800s, my grandparents came out of Germany, so they came here to America.

And as things evolved, we eventually got into textile machinery and industrial sewing machines.

- Okay.

- And making big stuff.

- Yeah.

- But just like any American privately owned business, when there's 30 cousin waiting for the old men to die, it's time to sell th business to something bigger-- - Okay.

- And move on.

And that's what they did.

- Okay.

- And with my father's money, he started this business.

- And so moved from Chicago here to-- - Well, they moved from Chicago after World War I and had a big factory downtown that employed a hundred people.

- Okay.

- All machine tools, milling machines, lathes, screw machines, turret machines, all that stuff.

That's where I learned to trade.

16 years old, you get in there.

- There you go.

No college for you.

- Oh yeah.

I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic and-- - So did my father.

- Did he?

- Yep.

what class?

- RPI '63.

- Well he's 84.

- He was there when I was there.

- Yeah, Rodney Agar.

- Really?

Well, he must know me 'cause I played hockey.

He played soccer and lacrosse.

And I played lacrosse, too.

- You might know him.

- I probably know him because I was a freshman.

He was a senior.

(laughing) - That's a small world.

- That's good.

That's a good school, RPI.

- Oh, yeah.

Now I understand you worked with beekeepers.

We spent the last week with a young man with a last name, Mraz.

Oh yeah, Charlie.

- Charlie's his uncle.

- Aha.

- Yeah, so Curtis Mraz, I think he's gonna get back in the family business, but he's in the Hudson Valley, New York.

- They're good people, the Mraz.

- But you worked with thos beekeepers with your products.

- Yeah, I mean, you have to go out in the field and see what it's doing.

- Yeah.

- You really have to.

Now you want to get Shelby over here, So he shows us how to put the reel together.

That's the biggest time consuming part of the job.

Shelby!

Get your lipstick on.

(laughing) (harmonica music) - Shelby's working on the heart of the chain uncapper, the reel.

There are 196 pieces o stainless steel chain per reel with spot welded ends to make sure they don't open up when in use.

Shelby, how long you been doing this?

- A while?

- Do you get in a zen state of calm?

- Definitely.

- Show me how to do it.

- So there's a hole on it, that goes on the circle like the smaller one.

- Okay.

- So you just put it on here and just slide it down.

- How do you do this with those long nails like that?

Let me see your nails.

- I don't know.

- You don't bite your nails like I do?

- No.

- I've worked in factories before.

I'm probably not as fast as Shelby, but I'll get there.

- Well, we're gonna show you one of the most repetitive tasks, and that's spot welding of the lengths, - Because nothing about beekeeping is repetitive.

Shelby does that, too, okay.

- Shelby is the spot weld master - Stainless is expensive, isn't it?

- Ha ha!

- 70 cents?

- How much?

(laughing) - So you wanna make sure that it's all even.

- Even Steven - The screws are the same so-- - This goes on here?

- Yeah, you want the screw to be on the top.

- Okay.

- And then you push it all the way in the, these small rods have to go through here.

- Oh, these have to go through here, okay.

- Well, those shaky bee hands.

That's right, oh.

Oh, I screwed up.

- Oh yeah, I don't recommend pulling it out - Don't pull that side, okay.

- This is what takes the most time.

- You just hit it with a hammer, right?

(laughing) - I got it.

- There we go.

- I got it, I got it.

- So yeah, actually, the thing that you're using is good.

You're gonna need it.

- Okay.

- So, you take the longer one, and you put it in the middle.

- Okay.

- And then you actually take the hammer and you smack it into it until it's the right length.

- Oh, I see, okay, perfect.

(rock music) So I go hard?

- Yeah.

- Easy, easy, easy.

- Easy, okay.

(banging) (rock music) I'm a rough carpenter really.

That's about my only skill, so.

And now we tighten that down?

- Yeah, so I think it should be this one.

- Is it this one?

Okay, great.

Great.

- And then you do 16 more.

- 16 more.

One, two, three, four, seven, eight, nine, (vocalizing), yeah.

So you do that all day?

- Yep.

- Did you ever think you'd be doing this when you were a little girl?

- No.

- No.

Pretty cool job.

- Yeah.

- Are you still in school?

- Yeah.

- Nice.

Good experience.

- It definitely is.

- Are they teaching you here?

- No.

- Not really?

- No - You're just cranking it out.

- Yeah.

- Are you a welder, too?

- Well, I do spot welding.

- Spot welder.

You wanna show me how to spot weld?

- Sure.

- Let's go.

(rock music fades) (whooshing) (liquid gurgling) (whooshing) - All right, Sensei, show me what you got.

I gotta put my old man glasses here, wait.

- I definitely recommend it.

- All right, good.

- So you have the foot control over here.

- Okay - And where the chain link is, the circle.

- Yep.

- You put on the thing, you go to the opposite end instead of that.

- The opposite end.

- The flat end, okay.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- And then you put it in here and... (air hissing) That's it.

- Nice.

I'm gonna burn my fingers off.

(laughing) Do you ever get your finger caught in there?

- No.

- No.

Okay, we'll try not to do that.

Shall I jump in?

- Yeah.

- Let's switch here.

You hop over here and I'll jump in.

This is the right end, the flat end?

- Yeah.

- I'm gonna, how do I hold it like that?

- Yeah, you can do that.

And then once you put you foot on it and it closes down, you have like a second to take your finger off.

- Now I'm scared, (laughs).

- I was too when I first did it, but it's okay.

- Like that.

- Yep.

(rock music) And then you just drop it.

(air hissing) (rock music) - I shouldn't hold it?

- No.

(laughing) - I'm like holding on, all right - No, you're supposed to let go.

- So I'm gonna leave it here.

I'm like shaking.

- It's, it was, yeah, when I first did it.

And then you just let it go.

- Could get a nose ring in there - Yeah.

(laughing) That's why I got mine.

- Is that right?

- Yeah.

- Oh my gosh, (laughs).

Do you listen to music?

- I do.

- What do you listen to?

- I listen to-- - Ah, shit.

I got scared, sorry guys.

- All right, what is going on over here?

(laughing) - I got scared.

- This is where the nails help.

- The nails help?

- Yeah.

(air hissing) (rock music) - I love how you pull your arm back as if it's gonna explode or something.

(laughing) - It's gonna take my arm right off.

(rock music) What kind of music we listen to again?

- I listen to a lot of Pink Floyd.

- Pink Floyd?

- Iron Maiden.

Metallica, yeah.

- All right, now I'm used to it.

It's not feeling as dangerous as it did a moment ago.

That's exactly when you get hurt.

(laughing) - Yep.

(rock music) - You're fired.

- Okay.

- Maybe you're just promoted to something more thinky.

- Hopefully.

- And smart.

That's pretty cool.

What if I, no, I don't-- - I don't recommend it.

- I don't recommend it.

Shelby, you rock.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Appreciate the lesson.

I'm a spot welder now.

(buzzing) And they're putting me through my paces here.

I'm not done.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, What are you doing?

- Oh, I was talking to the camera.

- Get back to work.

- All right, boss.

All right, boss, I'm after it.

(rapid air pulses) (scratching) (whooshing) What do we got here?

This looks like honey.

- It is, it is.

- You can take a bear out of the honey, but you can't take honey out of the bear.

- Feel this water.

- Ooh, it's warm.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

So we're taking this honey, it's pumping outta here.

- Pumping it into there.

- Going into the tank.

Now, do you jar this yourselves?

- Absolutely.

- Do you jar your own honey?

- Look at all the jars.

- Oh, my goodness.

Is it Maxant honey, do you call it, or-- - I'll show you.

- This looks like something I would do.

Look at that.

(country music) Oh, that's beautiful.

- That's it.

- That's it, boom.

I'm glad you got that engineering degree.

You're prepared for this.

And then you, you label it and everything?

- This is what makes it valuable - You sign it.

- You know, this puts value added onto the honey.

- Is that right?

Okay.

- Just like your label.

- That's right.

(both laughing) - And then of course I price it right here.

What are we going for, 15 and a- - 15.

- 15.

It's a pound and a half or two pounds?

- Two pounds.

- Two pounds.

Could I do a bottle?

I use just a regular honey gate, so this is much fancier than mine.

And we got glass, ding, ding.

That's the real deal.

So I just push this down?

- Push down.

- Whoa.

- Tip the jar slightly, so, there you go.

Give him another two, that's it.

Oop, too much.

- Too much.

We're losing money.

- Losing money.

- We're losing money.

Now, I'm over here.

I'm gonna take a-- - Yeah.

- Maxant sticker.

- Yep, gotta put two pounds on it though.

- Oh, you got to put two pounds on it.

I gotta write that first.

Two l-b's right here.

(country music) Two pounds.

- And we got another sticker that has to go on, that one way over there.

- This one?

- Yeah.

You know that one.

- This is all your ingredients and your warning label, and put that right on the back lower or-- - Don't put it upside down.

You got it.

- I got it.

- It's right up here sideways.

- Is that okay?

- That's okay.

That's it, ready to go, except for the price.

- Oh, good to price it.

- That's it, there we go.

- Nine bucks.

- I'm like working at the Kroger I love it, (laughs).

That's great.

(laughing) (country music) Good stuff.

What's awesome is that their honey doesn't come from too far away.

- Man, you got some bees here.

- Yeah, we got a couple hives here.

- So you haven't gone far from your roots.

You're still beekeepers.

- Goes with the theme of Maxant honey processing, and it allows us to test our equipment, make a better product.

- Cool.

Do you pull honey here and have the guys work on it, or?

- Sometimes they'll join in, but for the most part, it's myself doing all the heavy lifting and the sticky work.

- I think that's awesome that you're staying close to beekeeping.

I think beekeepers appreciate that, so.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

Healthy hives.

They're busy.

- As long as they're bringing in that pollen, bring it in, bring it in.

- Well, let's go check out your little hive in here.

Let's see what else we got.

- Absolutely.

- All right.

(rattling and whooshing) - All right, so we're gonna introduce you to Josh.

He is my head welder.

- Awesome.

How you doing, Josh?

- Hi, nice to meet-- - Charlie, good to meet you.

- Good to meet you, too.

- What are you up to?

- This is a six five bottling tank.

- Okay.

- This is the outer.

Those are the inners right there.

- Okay.

- So I just finished welding this pan on.

- Nice, this is TIG welding.

- This is TIG welding, yep.

- Tell me about TIG welding, if I knew nothing about it.

Pretend I know nothing about it.

- So it's based off of a tungsten electrode.

- Okay.

(rock music) - And we have an argo shielding gas to coat your weld.

I just fuse these two pieces of metal together.

Sometimes I'll need a little bit of filler, so I've got a nice supply over here, but-- - Okay, okay.

- Usually with what we do, I just have to fuse it.

- And you do a, weave back and forth?

- A little tiny little weave motion.

- Okay.

- Yep.

- I never welded.

I've done a little bit of arc welding.

- It takes a lot of practice to get good at it.

- A lot of practice, okay, to get really good, yeah.

So does beekeeping?

- Yes.

- Yeah.

So is marriage.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, it's the same thing.

- Fresh with that, just started, yeah.

- Good for you, good for you.

Do I need to have this on if I'm gonna look at it?

- If you wanna watch, yeah, you should have it on.

The light's very bright.

- Do I wear a hat?

Just turn that around?

- I wear my hat, yeah.

Throw it on backwards.

You don't have to, but yeah.

- Okay, so if I put this on, I am able to... - All right, that's cool.

(rock music) Watch your eyes.

- Yep.

(rock music) - Can you see it, Charlie, can you see it?

- Barely.

It's very, very light.

You know what I need is my readers.

- Yeah.

- Because I'm old.

- Hold on, let me try to, hard seeing it, right?

- It is hard to.

- It's like going - to the bathroom.

- Yeah, (laughing).

- Hard to find it.

(laughing) - Where, where?

I feel like Fonzie.

I just go like, hey, it's time to make a bead.

(laughing) (rock music) I thought you'd have one that was like a skull.

I've seen those, like.

- We have a couple around, an old guy has one, an old one stashed away.

- Yeah.

- But I like the high tech ones.

- You do, okay.

- They're a little bit easier to see through.

- Easier to see through.

- Yeah.

And I'm really used to this one.

- And you gotta wear gloves, right?

- Usually, yeah.

Sometimes I don't.

- Same with beekeeping.

Yeah, sometimes we do, sometimes we don't.

- Yeah, I've seen, I've seen.

(laughing) Yeah.

I'm the same way.

- You've seen the show?

- Yeah, I'm the same way.

Sometimes I wanna show off, I won't wear a glove.

- Boom, I love it.

You got the skills you can show off, right?

- Exactly.

Sometimes you get a few battle wounds in there.

- So when you're, just kind of touching it.

- I don't even touch it.

If I touch it, I'll get stuck.

- I see.

- So I have a little between my electrode here.

I want a nice sharp electrode.

I'll actually... That comes out.

And I'll switch it to a nice fresh sharpened end.

- Are you pressing a button?

- I have a pedal down here.

- A pedal, okay.

- That's what it runs off.

- It's just like spot welding though.

- So yeah, if I do this, that would strike my arc.

If I go near the metal, because that's grounded-- - I see.

- Ground on my pedestal here.

- Okay.

- It'll strike my arc on the metal and then the heat will fuse the two pieces together.

- I see.

- And then I just watch my puddle, and slowly move it along.

- Drag it along.

Yeah, are you going back and forth or?

- Usually I'll do a little weave to it to make it look pretty like that one.

- Like that one.

- But if I drag it, it will work - This is inside, so no one will see this.

- This is outside, actually.

- It's outside.

- This is the bottom of the outer.

This is where it matters.

- Don't wanna screw up your product.

- I mean, I can fix anything.

- You can fix anything.

- I can fix anything.

- All right.

- I mean, you could pay for this now and then try it.

- I'll take it, I'll take it, (laughing).

- You can give it a shot.

I guarantee I can fix anything.

- Can you, okay.

- Yeah.

- I'll try it.

I'm here to kick butt and chew bubblegum, and I'm all outta bubblegum.

So you put your tongue-- - No, no, no.

- Yeah, tungsten.

- Tungsten, exactly.

So when you do press the pedal, you want to go very lightly.

- Very lightly.

- And you'll watch to see your puddle.

Once your puddle forms, you'll be able to start moving it around.

- Okay.

I'll start like here.

- Yeah.

- How close do I want to get?

- Like you want to get, yeah, about there.

You can lean in on it.

Get comfortable.

Comfort is key in there.

- Yeah.

- Pretend you're on a date with this.

- Yeah.

- Lean in, put your arm around her.

(laughing) - I'd probably throw up on her though.

That's my problem.

Say a little prayer, Jake.

You're gonna ruin your product?

(rock music) - Right, you wanna bring that helmet down first.

- That didn't sound good.

- Bring it a little closer.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) Yeah.

(rock music) Bring it in more.

You want that tungsten really close?

Really close.

(rock music) Am I going, I'm going backward.

- It doesn't really matter how you go.

A lot closer.

There you go.

- Takes a lot of practice.

- I can clean that up no problem.

- That looks like a wow.

A chimpanzee, doesn't it?

- Well, when customers say d you have any scratch or dents?

- I got one now.

(laughing) - Can I go from here to here and try that?

- Yeah, sure, sure.

- When you do this?

- Yep.

- Get your hand, hold it like a pencil.

- Okay, yeah.

- That's like the perfect angle.

Get your hand a nice and close.

- And do I go this way?

Is that okay?

- Yeah, you can.

Either way works.

I like the-- - Now why was this so fat, that I was just holding it there too long?

- It's when you're far away, it spreads the heat.

So the closer you are, the more it direct it.

- So if I'm right there.

But not touching.

- Yeah, the balance is getting right against it without touching it, yeah.

- Okay, say a little prayer.

That was-- - You can see through the helmet if you put it down.

(rock music) - A lot smoother, wow.

- That's pretty good.

- That's actually not bad.

- I'm doing better.

See?

- Pretty good.

- Can I go to here, here?

- Sure.

(rock music) - You're fired, Josh.

(chuckles) (rock music) - That's pretty impressive.

- Is that?

- Yeah, do you want to do direct deposit for your paycheck, or do you want to take one home every week?

- I'll just Eggplant Parmesan sandwiches and gear is all I need.

(laughing) Man, that was great.

Thank you so much.

- That's not bad.

That doesn't look terrible.

- It's not.

- Yours looks a little bit like you kind of-- - So yeah, I'll go really slow, and I'll do a little like back and forth or like a figure eight motion.

- Yeah.

- Some fancy stuff, but I've been doing it a long time, so.

- You have.

- Spot welding, TIG welding, pretty much.

- Now it's MIG welding.

- Now it's MIG.

- You gonna teach me MIG?

- I'll teach you MIG.

- All right, let's go check that out - If that's what you wanna do.

- I'm game.

- All right.

Let's take a walk.

- I didn't ruin it.

I didn't ruin it too bad.

Scratch and dent a little bit.

(laughing) - That's the one you just ordered.

- That's the one I just ordered, (laughing).

(liquid gurgling) This is the MIG world, huh?

- Yep, this is where we make all the legs.

That's for a junior spinner.

- So what are we doing?

Are we... - We put feet on 'em.

- We put feet on 'em.

- That's all we doing, and then they get sent to paint.

They've already been punched and bent.

- Okay.

- And then we'll weld our feet on.

- And then we're gonna weld our feet on.

Let's weld our feet off.

- All right.

First we'll turn on our gas.

This is an argon CO2 mixture.

Turn on our machine.

So these are our little end tabs for the 3100 legs.

We'll throw this up here.

- Okay.

- And we'll throw that down there.

Here's a leg.

We make sure the slot is along the bottom of it, and it's in place.

Now we just do our welding, take it out, and we'll throw it in the barrel - So with gloves on?

- Yep.

- You don't want to get burnt.

We don't wanna get stung by the bees.

Sometimes these sparks will feel like a bee sting.

- Oh, really?

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Helmet down.

- Helmet down.

(arc buzzing) One.

(buzzing) Two.

- Nice and packed up.

Now spin it.

One.

(arc buzzing) One.

Two.

- Now you didn't have to step on anything?

- No, this one is the trigger.

- Oh, a trigger, okay.

- Yeah, so this is magnesium.

And when you hit the self seating, I'll open this up.

There's a spool of wire in here.

- I see, okay.

- When you hit the trigger, it spins, goes through the rollers, and then our dials adjust how fast that spins and how hot our arc gets.

- I see.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - It is like bee stings.

- That's pretty.

- Well done.

- That's awesome.

- Can you see it, Charlie, through your lens?

- I can, yeah.

- So again, you want to be as close as you can, but not touch.

- But not touch.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - It is alive!

Okay, that was a little drunken.

- Ooh.

- Ooh.

(laughing) - Pretty ugly.

That's what grindings for, isn't it?

- That's what grindings for.

- Okay.

So just a little.

- Yeah, so just get a little tap on there to close that gap up.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - That's terrible.

- Yeah.

- Hold on.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - That sounded better.

- That looks a lot better, too.

- It looks a little better.

It's a little built up, but that's gonna happen with MIG welding.

- You just send it some beekeeper in Texas.

They don't know the difference, yeah.

(rock music) - Better than the first one though.

- Where's your grinder?

I'll grind it down.

- Behind you right there.

- That's a throwaway.

(laughing) - Should I put my veil down, this thing?

- Yeah.

- The veil.

- It's not a good idea.

(grinder buzzing) (rock music) - When the sparks fly, you can't see.

So if you look inside your helmet, you'll have a switch.

- Okay.

- If you flip it down, it's in grind mode, so that it won't turn dark.

There we go.

Now it will stay off.

- Oh, okay.

I'm a grinder.

(grinder buzzing) (rock music) - So I think it's easier to do it right the first time and not grind it to fix it.

- Much easier to do it right time.

- I think I just learned something, yeah.

- You always gotta learn the hard way though.

- You gotta learn the hard way, right.

Can I try one more?

- Yeah, of course.

- All right.

- This gets tossed.

- Yep.

- Maybe, I don't know.

Is it fixable?

- Yes, it's fixable.

Put it to the side for now.

- Okay.

- Scratch and dent.

- Scratch and dent, (laughs).

- Nothing's a scratch and dent when I'm working on it.

- See money flying out the door today.

Well, welcome to my world.

(laughing) - So this goes-- - Yep, that way.

- Down.

- Now you wanna make sure you flip your helmet back to weld mode or you'll blind yourself.

- Yep, weld.

That's cool.

So this is like digital or something?

What is-- - Yeah, it's digital.

It's solar powered.

So it picks up the light from the arc.

- I see.

- The dark in your helmet.

- Sweet.

- Get in nice and close.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) (beeps) (arc buzzing) That's the sound you want.

If you hurt, you hear that?

- Yeah, that felt better.

- That's the sound you want.

- That's, it felt a little bette So it's interesting, I think a lot of people take the trades for granted.

- Yeah.

- We forget how important that, so much everything we sit on, everything we use, everything we drive, it requires skilled labor, which I am not, (laughs).

Apparently, I'm getting there, but that's what the world runs on.

- Yeah.

- Is your skills.

I mean, my extractor can't look like that.

- Right.

- You know?

- Customers would not be happy with that.

- Not gonna be happy, so.

- If you ordered it fro Wish.com, it could look like tha - Yeah, that's right.

- Remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

- Right.

But I know we're in the middle of an employment crisis.

I think he'd take me.

If I showed up on time, like somewhat sober, I think he'd take me.

He'd put up with a few days of bad welding.

- You're on time, yeah.

If you're on time.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - That's what you want to hear.

That's how you know that's a nice weld.

That's what you want to hear.

- Sound like that?

- Yep.

If it sounds that consistent.

- Yeah.

- Pop, pop, pop, pop.

- Yeah.

- If you're popping a lot, you want to go in close and bury that lead.

- Okay.

(rock music) (arc buzzing) - You hired.

- I'm hired.

I quit.

I love it.

- 401k.

(laughing) Match.

(rock music) - There you go.

- I think I should sign this, hold on.

- That is definitely one of one.

- One of one.

Charles.

- Don't burn yourself.

- Signed.

Women swoon when they see me weld.

(laughing) It looks almost like one of your worst.

(laughing) - Five years ago, yeah.

- Yeah, five years ago.

Josh, you made a welder out of me.

- I'm proud.

- In six months I'll be able to join your team.

- Perfect, very proud of you.

Good job.

Thanks man, you're a good teacher.

- Thanks.

- Sorry about ruining your product, man.

- Don't worry about it.

Nothing's ruined.

(liquid gurgling) (whooshing) - So we are in the grinding room.

This is where dreams are really made.

(laughing) This is our 3100 can.

- Okay.

We're gonna have you grind this down and smooth it out.

- Smooth it out.

You can feel right here, like where we punch the holes.

- Oh, right.

- Got a little bit of a burr.

- Right, right.

- Yeah, so let's safety glasses.

- Safety goggles.

- Always a must.

- Yep.

- Like the Fonzie, aye!

- Aye!

- Aye!

Aye!

- All right, this would work.

(country music) Old person stool.

- There you go.

Throw that up on there.

And it spins this way, so I should stand over here?

- Yep.

- Yep.

(grinder buzzing) - And just smooth it out.

- Beautiful.

- Oh, wow.

- So what we'll do first is we'll hit these three spots.

- Okay.

- To make 'em flat, and then we just do one, nice-- - Go all the way around it.

- Long pass around.

Try and keep it flat.

- Okay.

- And we're good.

(country music) - So I'll just.

(grinder buzzing) (country music) - Give it a shot.

- Yeah, and just go right around - Be very careful.

(grinder buzzing) (country music) - Fine like wine.

Did I miss anything?

- No, it doesn't look like it.

Beautiful.

- That's all it really is.

It's just a finish cleanup pass.

- You wanna try a bottling tank or?

- Sure.

- That was the easy one.

All right, so you gotta remember that this is a little bit different.

- An expensive piece of equipment.

- Very expensive.

(grinder buzzing) - Don't screw up.

- It's expensive.

- It's expensive.

(laughing) (grinder buzzing) - Not one of my welds.

Just whoever did it must have been drinking, I don't know.

(grinder buzzing) Whoever did this was a grinder, not a welder.

(grinder buzzing) (country music) - Yeah, (speaking Spanish) - Perfect.

- Perfecto.

- That's neat.

I'll stick with the bees though.

(laughing) (bees buzzing) - All right, so this is the final built product.

These are the 3100 nine frame power extractors.

- Okay.

- Why don't we get it over to shipping.

We're gonna have you build the box, get it stripped down, put the decal on.

- Woo!

- And then we'll send it to its new home.

- Perfect.

Oh, it's not heavy.

That's not bad at all.

It's solid, but it's not heavy.

- How's it going?

- Good.

How you doing?

- Good.

- Dylan, I'm Charlie.

- Nice to meet you.

- I'm your student today.

You're gonna teach me how to market our product and get it out.

- Wonderful.

- So you're gonna start with this?

- Uh huh.

- So you want to clean off and go around.

- Okay.

Now what am I cleaning off?

Is that from the grinding process?

- On the inside there is just the weld burn.

- Okay.

- This gives that top ring a nice even finish.

- Oh, how hard should I push?

- Elbow grease for sure.

- Elbow grease, okay.

All right, that looks pretty good.

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- All right.

- Now you're gonna come and place it on top of here.

- All right.

(rock music) So always start from this side, and start peeling the plastic off.

- Okay.

- Hold it and pull.

- It's like the lid of a box in beekeeping.

That's actually pretty satisfying.

I think I got it.

- Cool.

- Love it.

- That's beautiful.

Have you put these gloves on.

- Okay.

- And go through the process of cleaning the weld.

- Cleaning the weld.

Oh, so we're still in production process.

We're not-- - Yeah.

This is quality control.

This is all the important work.

This is what matters.

This is what goobers like m see when their machine arrives.

- Yep.

- Yep.

- All right, doc.

Okay, so I'm gonna have you pick up that rag.

- This rag.

- And then this is the weld cleaning brush.

- Wow.

- This top button will engage the acid fluid and the electrical current.

- Okay.

- So push that button.

(rock music) - Wow.

Look at that!

- Wipe it down.

- Yep.

- Wow, that's a big improvement.

- So the fluid that comes out of there is an acid.

- Okay.

- So now you want to neutralize the acid.

- Now what is this, a base?

- Yep, and it will neutralize the acid and protect the whole machine from corrosion.

- Sweet.

Man, we're still building a machine over here.

I thought we were just gonna be doing pretty stuff.

How's that?

- Good.

- Sweet.

- So now we're gonna want to spin it around to the front.

- More welds.

- Yep.

- Clean around there.

- Yep.

- Can you see that little spark coming out?

That's cool.

- Yeah.

- This looks like one of my weld Real clean and tidy.

- Bueno?

- Yep.

And then just neutralize it once again.

- Neutralize.

(rock music) And these gloves are important 'cause you're dealing with chemicals, right?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- They're not super bad on the skin, but in cuts and whatnot, they burn.

- Oh, okay.

Well that looks pretty.

I'd want it coming to my house looking just like this.

Purdy, purdy.

I think I should sign this one, too.

- We'll have you sign the bottom and if a customer gets it, and they call me and tell me that they found it-- - Okay.

- They'll get a special prize from me.

- I love it, that's great.

What's next?

- Polish.

- Polish.

- I always wet one front and go around the whole machine.

Okay, all the way?

Up and down?

- Yep, up and down.

- How many of these do you do in a day?

Do you count?

- If I'm doing them all day, I can probably get about 25 to 30.

- 25 to 30.

- Wax on, wax off.

It's like a turtle waxing your car back in the seventies.

- Yeah.

Probably best to take the gloves off-- - Okay.

- As you apply a decal.

- You want it real crooked, right?

- As crooked as possible just for him.

- Okay.

- I always line it up with here and comes straight up.

- X to the A of the center?

Right there?

- Yep.

- Right.

- Aw!

(laughing) You stinker.

(rock music) - He has a squeegee to smooth some bumps out.

- Oh, beautiful.

(rock music) Woo!

(laughing) Looks good.

- Spin it in the back.

Another one.

- We got the famous Massachusetts sticker.

- Mass America sticker.

(rock music) - I love it.

Here's Worcester.

- Worcester.

- Here's the Cape.

We went out of the Cape.

We got so drunk out of the Cape.

(laughing) We were blasted.

- So there's one more thing.

Screw this cap on on the bottom.

- Okay, great.

Do you have to put the parts inside?

Is there a honey gate or?

- Nope.

We'll put some instructions on the inside.

- Okay.

Yeah, we'll sign the bottom here All right.

Charlie Bee.

Whoever gets this-- - Whoever gets this-- - Golden ticket.

- Gets a pony.

(laughing) Now it's time to add the lid and box it up.

- Let's take this over here.

Since this is your machine-- - Yep.

- Sign and date it.

- Charlie Bee.

(rock music) Check.

Smiley face.

- Wonderful, wrap it.

So you wanna hold it until you get all the way around.

- Okay.

(country music) - Okay, good.

(country music) Okay, we want a 27.

- Oh, dude.

- Already measured.

(country music) - Wow.

- For the sides, you wanna push 18.

- My grandfather was in the cardboard box business in Jersey.

- Really?

(laughing) So these are called dog bones.

- Okay.

- All these folds, we pull 'em nice and tight.

- Why you call 'em dog bones?

- I have no idea.

(scraping) - I'm going in.

(country music) - Whoop, use your back.

(country music) - I do feel like an elf.

Christmas morning for every one of our customers.

- Here you go.

(country music) - It's like work, but only funner.

- New stamp.

- That's 3100 P for power.

- 3100%, that's what I put into my day here at Maxant.

You the man, thanks, brother.

- Dylan, thanks.

- Thank you.

- I'm just gonna take this with me.

- Yeah, that's fine.

- All right.

We'll see you guys later.

Yep, bye-bye, okay.

(laughing) Whoa... (laughing) See you guys later!

Oh man, we got to go behind the scenes right here at the Emerald City, Maxant Industries.

We got to meet the Wizard of Oz, Jake and his father-in-law, Theodore Maxant.

What great guys.

You know, you could do beekeeping all by yourself in the backyard, but when you get serious about beekeeping, you need serious equipment.

So cool to see how all this gets made.

I'm just reminded how important skilled labor is to beekeeping and really everything we use in our modern society.

(music begins) For more information about Charlie Bee Company, including new and exciting removals, visit us online as charliebee.com.