New Yankee Workshop on-line

[j]

I first saw Norm about 12 years ago. Just when sky digital was a new thing.

It really made me wish I'd taken an interest in Woodworking when I was at school. We had a reasonably well equipped workshop there.

I still hope to set up and use a small workshop one day, but i still spend much more time watching and reading about woodworking than actually making stuff.

Some of the things I have seen on there, I didn't even know existed. - Morticers, routers, and probably many other things.

Still it is good fun to watch him work.

J

 

[mailee]

Norm is my hero. I have watched many of his NYW series and it also got me setting up my workshop and actually making some furniture for a change. It does show it's age and his practices aren't perfect but who's are? Safety is in the eye of the beholder and what seems safe to some may not be to others. We live in changing times I suppose, (Look at what we used to do years ago which are no longer acceptable now) It is still a very good series IMHO and has started many a woodworker on the road of discovery and enlightenment. :wink:
Oh and by the way, I did download it using that program download helper and converted it to watch but it missed the end off for some reason?? Anyone know why? I couldn't watch it online as it keeps stopping and starting. Afraid I am not very clued up on these video programs. :?

 

[9fingers]

The next episode is available now!

Bob

 

[PerranOak]

I'm downloading the video with the RealPlayer add-on for Internet Explorer - all good.

Even if your broadband pipe is wide enough, the server at their end can severely limit your experience. That's why I download. **** sites usually have high capacity servers ... so I understand(!)

---

While it's true that I'm never going to have the money/space/time to be a Norm but I still watch him. I'm never going to be James Bond and I watch him too! I watch in a half-daze as his stacked-dado-head-cutter ploughs through the cherrywood, as he tapers the leg of an occasional table to proportions that would be admired by a Victorian Duchess and waxes lyrical at the simplicity of Shaker design.

For me, a Norm show is like meditation. 8)

 

[AndyT]

I'm another one who had never seen Norm in action before this, but had read plenty of enthusiastic comments from people he had inspired to make things.

The other US woodworker who stands in a similar position (lots of exposure on TV over many years, and an inspiration to watch) is of course Roy Underhill.

He takes the opposite approach - hand tools only, except for his treadle-powered lathe and pedal-powered saw. The older the tool, the better.

Which just goes to show that any generalisations about the way Americans do things are likely to be wrong.

Woodworking as a hobby, not a job, means we have the freedom to choose whether to use machine or hand methods. I think that's a good thing!

 

[9fingers]

Just in case anyone missed the first episode, it is still there as I write using the direct url

http://173.201.104.203/video/NYW_101-MedCab_122809.flv

Bob

 

[jlawrence]

I hope they show the whole lot - there's a couple of episodes I'm still missing from my collection

 

[Rknott2007]

a few of NYW later episodes are on you tube including the 9 part dream kitchen project, just type in new yankee and it'll come up, look for author fanofdiy, there are some this old house too, but lots of episodes 20 + i believe.

EDIT its actually fanoftvdiy

 

[PeterBassett]

The new one is a bench build and again has some funny operations.

Cutting the slot in the work top by dropping it onto the unguarded table saw was cringe worthy. I guess he doesn't have a router at this point. (edit : No, he uses it later)

He seems to switch from the radial arm to the table saw half way through for no apparent reason. Possibly because he doesn't like using the RAS on hardwood. The cross-cut dados in 6 foot long oak pieces with the mitre guage on the TS would have been far easier if he'd continued to use the radial arm.

I think cutting the dog slots for the vice would have been easier if he'd kept the two pieces as one and only cut them in half later.

Great show, but it does make you think.

 

[wobblycogs]

I was pretty amazed when I saw him plunging the top of the workbench onto the TS. Looked like a recipe for disaster to me but to be fair to Norm I thought he looked a bit apprehensive too. Don't forget though his router isn't of the plunge flavour so perhaps it didn't occur to him to drill a pilot hole and route the slot.

All in all it wasn't a bad bench and watching it has caused me to bunk off work for an hour and get out into the freezing cold shop so it can't be all bad.

 

[PeterBassett]

Heh, slackers unite!

 

[devonwoody]

I wouldnt send this link to my grandsons to watch.

I would prefer them to gain experience in modern workshop conditions.

BTW I assume if I download the video there is a timelimit on its running, expires perhaps after one week?

 

[9fingers]

There should not be a time limit once you have it saved to your hard drive DW

I don't know how long NYW will keep them on their servers though.

Bob

 

[sometimewoodworker]

BTW I assume if I download the video there is a timelimit on its running, expires perhaps after one week?

No time limit on my downloads.

 

[LarryS.]

bearing in mind Norm's working methods seem to go against the grain of H&S does anyone know how many fingers he's lost ?

just did a quick search on google for 'norm abram injuries' (or something like that) and didn't see anything, but then perhaps he's just been lucky

 

[Jake]

A sample of one is statistically irrelevant. It's the same problem as "I've never cut my fingers/hand/arm off" reasoning.

 

[Smudger]

Elsewhere there is a youtube video of a Japanese planemaker chiselling the bed of a plane whilst holding down the work with his foot. Protected only by one of those Japanese socks with toes in. It's about two inches from a wickedly sharp chisel, and he's working towards it. I wouldn't do that!
But no-one's coating him for unsafe working standards!

I think Norm gets a lot of stick here, unnecessarily. Perhaps he's got all his fingers because what he does is essentially safe, and he's actually a careful worker.

 

[Steve Maskery]

The point is, even if he is careful, he is portraying as the norm (pun very much intended) practices which a novice may well copy and come to grief with, because they may be led to believe that the risk is small. In fact, the risk is very high, as any search of dado accidents on tweb will show.

It's just irresponsible and unnecessary.

S

 

[jimi43]

The point is, even if he is careful, he is portraying as the norm (pun very much intended) practices which a novice may well copy and come to grief with, because they may be led to believe that the risk is small. In fact, the risk is very high, as any search of dado accidents on tweb will show.

It's just irresponsible and unnecessary.

S

ABSOLUTELY the point Steve....and add to that beginners testing the water by buying a B&Q special and whipping the guard off to emulate him.... :shock:

We ALL take risks - hopefully calculated....I KNOW I shouldn't but often to chop a quick piece of wood to size instead of putting on the goggles I close my eyes...now HOW STUPID IS THAT....but I don't go around making films of that "technique" and putting them all over the world on video!

Anyway...as I said before...there are so many people who see him as a minor god that it is pointless criticising him....

Jim

 

[big soft moose]

I think Norm gets a lot of stick here, unnecessarily. Perhaps he's got all his fingers because what he does is essentially safe, and he's actually a careful worker.

but working without the guards is essentially unsafe - the fact that he hasnt been injured (yet) is down to more luck than judgement imo

statements like yours above implying that its alright for 'experts' to break the safety rules always remind me of the defense of some of steve irwins actions - andf look what happened to him.

I think the bottom line is its fine for anyone to break the safety guidelines so long as they are prepared to live with the consequences , but it is grossly iresponsible to encourage anyone else to do likewise - when they will have to bear any consequence of the encouragement.