# Discovery Shed



## misterfish (2 Jul 2009)

I answer various 'consumer questionnaires' for Discovery TV programs and in the last few months have had the opportunity to comment on 'Shed'.

Today I received the latest newsletter and they said

"_You told us there was not enough varied content on Discovery Shed. We listened to you and as a result of your feedback more build and DIY content has been scheduled for the channel._"

So hopefully less fishing and (maybe) more woodworking!

Misterfish


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## yo_chuci (2 Jul 2009)

wicked... bring back norm lol...
i do get sick of the fishing days they have on a weekend. shouldn't people be out fishing on a weekend not sat at home watching fishing...
almost as interesting as golf.

but then yesterday that anton fitzpatrick was on making a coffee table... OMG. plastic blocks to hold top to legs. trim was glued then panel pinned with no attempy to hide the pin heads..


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## FogggyTown (2 Jul 2009)

yo_chuci":2j39tws4 said:


> wicked... bring back norm lol...
> i do get sick of the fishing days they have on a weekend. shouldn't people be out fishing on a weekend not sat at home watching fishing...
> almost as interesting as golf.
> 
> but then yesterday that anton fitzpatrick was on making a coffee table... OMG. plastic blocks to hold top to legs. trim was glued then panel pinned with no attempy to hide the pin heads..



Talk about low standards. Hey! That means that even I could host a WW show! :shock: I think I'll call it, "Cut to Shape . . . Pound to Fit"


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## mailee (2 Jul 2009)

What is even more worrying is that he builds boats! :shock:


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## wizer (2 Jul 2009)

I think that was the problem. The boat building show was much better because he prety much knew what he was doing. I think after that series ended some bright spark at the TV company thought he'd be great hosting a general WW show. Truth is he probably never designed or made any furniture before. It's laziness on their part as there must be millions of woodworkers more capable than he is.


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## fossil (2 Jul 2009)

i think ha has a lot of woodworking skill ,ie his boat building 
but i think the tv bosses got him to do a woodwork for dummies program 

i know a bloke who would'nt know which end of a hammer to hold !!

so for a laugh i bought him an IKEA tool set :twisted:


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## hivisvest72 (3 Jul 2009)

I see what people mean about Anton Fitzpatrick, however as an amateur woodworker I find his methods, projects and choice of materials much easier to get stated with than the likes of New Yankee Norm (much as I love watching him).

For him to use normal pine, plastic blocks and good old nails to create his projects is a good entry into the potentially very expensive and frustrating world of woodworking.

I'm sure I'm not the last to have started with this type of approach and as my confidence with handling the tools and materials grows, I find myself moving on to (and investing in) dedicated power tools, better materials (who wants to pay £100 for a pile of hardwood only to ruin the build - better try it first with softwood at a fraction of the cost) and using more sophisticated jointing techniques (to get rid of the plastic blocks).

So don't be so quick to criticise the 'woodworking for dummies' approach - we all need to start somewhere and I find Anton's approach a good stepping stone (or wooden stool) onto mor complex projects.


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## Gill (3 Jul 2009)

I would like to be able to endorse the comments about it being good to have a television woodworker show novices how to produce something worthwhile with the minimum amount of skill and tools. Sadly, I don't think Anton Fitzpatrick achieves that because he does not produce items that I can envisage ever becoming family heirlooms. I miss Richard Blizzard, whose projects did meet that requirement.

Gill


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## Soulfly (3 Jul 2009)

There is a lot of wood things made on How its Made on Discovery


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## Shultzy (3 Jul 2009)

I agree Gill, Richard Blizzard was responsible for awakening my desire to make family heirlooms. I was mainly a "glue 'n screw" man until I saw one of his programs. I have all his books and have made a number of his models.


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## Rob_H (3 Jul 2009)

yo_chuci":1sj8jydq said:


> shouldn't people be out fishing on a weekend not sat at home watching fishing...
> almost as interesting as golf.


 And shouldn't woodies be in the workshop?? :lol: :lol:


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## Woodmagnet (4 Jul 2009)

Soulfly":j1z2a227 said:


> There is a lot of wood things made on How its Made on Discovery



Thanks for the information Soulfly, i don't
bother with that station so i would never have 
thought about looking there.
Cheers. :wink:


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## StevieB (4 Jul 2009)

I quite like 'How its Made' although it does tend to have an American slant (baseball bats, pitchers gloves, ice hocky skates etc). It has recently been introduced by Robert Lleywellen (sp?) of Red Dwarf fame and he does his intro in a fairly impressive looking workshop.

Anton doesn't do anything for me I am afraid. You can build up slowly and introduce newbies to woodworking without using 6 inch nails and 2x4. :roll: 

Steve


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## FogggyTown (4 Jul 2009)

Who was the guy who was on a few years ago - not many programmes though? Mid 30s, had funky music accompanying his actions, always wore a battery-powered ice hockey-style breathing mask. I quite enjoyed him although nothing he ever did was particularly "deep".

Bring back Rico!


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## Calpol (4 Jul 2009)

Was that 'Cutting Edge Woodworker' Foggy?

What put me off Anton Fitzpatrick was he cut a finger joint by clamping the two pieces together and chopped both pieces at once, had big nasty gaps everywhere :shock:


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## wizer (4 Jul 2009)

CEW was good but he used the spindle moulder too much. The designs were modern and he wasn't scared to use different materials.


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## FogggyTown (4 Jul 2009)

Calpol":38dxul8z said:


> Was that 'Cutting Edge Woodworker' Foggy?
> 
> What put me off Anton Fitzpatrick was he cut a finger joint by clamping the two pieces together and chopped both pieces at once, had big nasty gaps everywhere :shock:



Yeah, that was it! Paul Bradburn. I quite enjoyed that programme although I didn't learn much from it.


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## Calpol (4 Jul 2009)

Paul Bradburn, the very chappie! I liked that program, he had a bit of a laff when he worked... Didn't like some of the features like the blue backlit holes on the TV stand but all in all well worth a watch!

Awesome workshop as well, one of the best I've ever seen in fact! Although I don't think that belonged to him did it? The guy Leicster who helped him out owns it as far as I know...


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## OPJ (4 Jul 2009)

There's a site for _Cutting Edge Woodworker_ here.  I wasn't too keen on a couple of his designs either but, he was a brilliant presenter.


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## Dave S (4 Jul 2009)

fossil":3q04hspg said:


> i think ha has a lot of woodworking skill ,ie his boat building
> but i think the tv bosses got him to do a woodwork for dummies program


I don't know - I would expect an accomplished boat builder to be able to turn out some reasonably tight-fitting joints! :? 
His foray from boats to furniture was far less convincing than JK's, that's for sure!


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## fossil (4 Jul 2009)

what are your thoughts on Rico ?

the (le) salvager 

knocks Anton into a cocked hat !

though i would'nt make or have any of that krap in my house


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## Mailman14 (5 Jul 2009)

Fossil - Le Salvager is my HERO!

Just taking a walk in the woods, ah - that one looks o.k., I'll get me French mate to chop it down, plank it up, oversize tenons, wedges, mortices, done - adjustable shelving for wonky floors! I'd have that any day! (Although I draw the line at the converted 2CV chaise he made... :shock: )

I used to get New Yankee Workshop, thought it was great, but have the same problem with a lot of WW mags - they expect you to have all the tools (I mean - how much does a planer / thicknesser cost?) and just knock it together with the knowledge you;ve acquired over the years...
IF I HAD THE KNOWLEDGE I WOULDN'T BE BUYING THE MAGAZINE FFS!


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## hivisvest72 (6 Jul 2009)

I agree with mailman - I love Rico on le salvager, but wouldn't put much of his stuff in my house. I thought the greenhouse he built in one of his series was superb, although he was very lucky finding all those panels just the right size and quantity to make up the 'walls'. 

I took a leaf out of his book a few years back and got some old floorboards from a reclamation yard, spent days tidying them with hand tools, hand planers and my thicknesser and eventually made me a garden bench. I'm still well chuffed with how it turned out. The wood cost me all of about £30 in total and they had tons of it stacked up. 

Going back soon to get some more to make a matching garden table.


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## wizer (6 Jul 2009)

I certainly don't 'love' Rico. But at least what he does is honest. He's openly turning scrap into something relatively useful. Tho some of his designs are diabolical. The TV cabinet made from a water tank and fire extinguishers, galvanised ?


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## Tom K (6 Jul 2009)

wizer":20nh4lws said:


> I certainly don't 'love' Rico. But at least what he does is honest. He's openly turning scrap into something relatively useful. Tho some of his designs are diabolical. The TV cabinet made from a water tank and fire extinguishers, galvanised ?



Really funny when he does the speil about "Creatin' a 'eirloom kwality peace to 'and down to my Grandchildren"


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