New Yankee Workshop on-line

[Richard Findley]

Please advise if it is safe to watch this video in your opinion.

This video is perfectly safe to watch, it's copying what he does that isn't safe and frankly, anyone that has used any of the machines he uses will be able to spot the things that are insanity straight away. Worth a look just to see how not to do it :wink:

Richard

 

[rileytoolworks]

Whoa. SteveM had better watch out. That jig he attached to the 'rip fence' of his pillar drill looked technical!!

Adam

 

[wizer]

...but I like tools anyway, 'specially if they're shiny :lol: - Rob

I prefer danger meself... :wink:

 

[jimi43]

Don't get me wrong...I am FIRMLY a handtool nut...I love 'em...the older the better BUT...there are certain jobs that, if you have Norm's kit you can do more consistently and accurately.

Each has its place in my view and I stand by my previous observation that if you have good tools be they hand or machine your craft is easier.

I am ASSUMING that you are a craftsman and not a weekend DIYer when I say that having these tools improves the result and of course you need to know how to use them effectively.

Yes I could cut a straight piece of wood using a handsaw...but I would not give up the table saws, the band saws, the biscuit jointer, the router....etc.

Used in sympathy with a fine plane, a nice chisel and decent measuring and marking gear they make a complete craftsman.

Just IMHO you understand! :wink:

Jim

 

[cambournepete]

Watching Norm has inspired me to go a make stuff.
I can't copy all his techniques even if I wanted to - I don't have the kit - but he has inspired me.
Surely that's one of the ideas of this type of program - to encourage us to make things.

Just don't make me watch his woodturning...

 

[BradNaylor]

Watching Norm has inspired me to go a make stuff.

+1

While I did a lot of woodworking at school and at college, it was all with hand tools. I then went doing other things in the furniture trade for twenty years and to a large degree lost touch with actually making things.

It was Norm who inspired me to return to hands-on woodworking, around ten years ago when we first got cable TV. He opened up a world previously unknown to me, a world of 'jointers', planers, routers, and table saws. I was mesmorized.

Within a year or so I had invested the proceeds of a house sale in setting up a workshop 'just like Norm's'. After a few hiccups and setbacks I am now making good money living the New Yankee dream.

Without Norm, I would probably be working as a sleazy kitchen salesman.

Cheers Norm!

ccasion5:

Although to some he is a virtual god...I always used to say to her indoors..."ANYONE could make a good job at woodwork with kit like that"...and I still firmly believe that.

You are to a large degree, quite right of course. To make a good living at woodwork however, kit like that is absolutely essential.

You have to understand too, that the average American hobby woodworker has a workshop equipped to professional standards. Those are the guys Norm's show is aimed at - and there are an awful lot of them!

Cheers
Brad

 

[devonwoody]

Here Brad, I'm coming up 73, do you reckon I could start again, like Colonel Sanders. :wink:

 

[jorgoz]

The paino hinge destroys it for me, i think some nice brusso hinges would make that cabinet so much more beautiful.

 

[Ross K]

That video of making the finger joints and the bridle joints with an unguarded circular saw millimetres from his fingertips is the most impressive demonstration of stupidity I've seen in a while. How he still has all fingers is just amazing.

Cutting the tenons for the bridle by holding the rail end-down freehand, with only 5mm or so of uncut face pushed against the saw fence is breathtaking for its degree of utter insanity.

It's fair enough saying that anyone with any common sense would watch these things and know instinctively that they are just wrong and dangerous, but to the uninitiated it may actually encourage some idiots to go and remove their finger tips.

I'm no H&S bore but publishing stuff like that on the net is just totally irresponsible, even if it does make highly amusing watching for the likes of you and me.

 

[woodbloke]

Don't get me wrong...I am FIRMLY a handtool nut...I love 'em...the older the better BUT...there are certain jobs that, if you have Norm's kit you can do more consistently and accurately.

Each has its place in my view and I stand by my previous observation that if you have good tools be they hand or machine your craft is easier.

I am ASSUMING that you are a craftsman and not a weekend DIYer when I say that having these tools improves the result and of course you need to know how to use them effectively.

Yes I could cut a straight piece of wood using a handsaw...but I would not give up the table saws, the band saws, the biscuit jointer, the router....etc.

Used in sympathy with a fine plane, a nice chisel and decent measuring and marking gear they make a complete craftsman.

Just IMHO you understand! :wink:

Jim

Agreed...but who is this Norm guy and is he on the BBC? Never seen any of his stuff, so have I missed anything or is there anything extra that I need to learn? - Rob

 

[cambournepete]

who is this Norm guy and is he on the BBC?

Never been on the beeb AFAIK, which is a bit ironic as he's on WGBH Boston, which is a OBS network in the US.
Usually on Discovery Shed in the UK.

 

[Shultzy]

I'm another one who has never seen Norm till I watched the link. That tenon cutting on the table saw and knocking seven bells out of the finger joints at glue-up was appalling for any body starting out in woodworking.

I can see how his great teaching manner and enthusiasm, inspires people to start woodworking. For me it was Richard Blizzard, he used mainly hand tools, but it was his enthusiasm and gentle manner that spurred me on.

 

[stuartpaul]

.....

For me it was Richard Blizzard, he used mainly hand tools, but it was his enthusiasm and gentle manner that spurred me on.

There's a name from the past!

I spent hours and hours making some of his wooden toys. It was his books (and I can still see two of them on my bookshelf above the PC) that really got me back into woodworking in the mid '80's.

I do like some of Norm's stuff but some of his working methods have made me cringe a bit. Like many I do wonder how he's managed to maintain all his digits.

 

[jimi43]

I didn't know there WAS a "Discovery Shed"!!!!!

That is just amazing! Is it on SKY and if so what number! Darn it...I even pay for DIGIGUIDE and can't find it.

I want to watch Norm again...not JUST for the shirts but for the new enlightened stupidity I see remarked upon here....that should be fun...

Bit like watching a train crash!

THIS OLD HOUSE though did my head in...who is that prat that works with him on that one!?

I too was inspired by him to move on to the next stage of woodworking but even NOW I can't afford some of the kit he comes out with and he has more jigs than a Scotish dancing club!!

Jim

 

[brianhabby]

Discovery Real Time and Discovery Shed are on Sky channels 240, 241 and 242 although I haven't seen Norm on any of these for months.

Despite many comments on this thread about his unsafe practices, you can't get away from the fact that he has inspired many a woodworker to either start or re-start. For those that have never seen him on TV then watch the videos online and make your own mind up.

As for slow downloading with these longish videos, I tend to wait for the whole thing to download and then play it. It should then play without any hiccups.

I did try that link for the download helper program for Firefox but the icon greys out when I go to the New Yankee site. Maybe they have disabled it somehow

regards

Brian

 

[xy mosian]

Brian, Try:-

http://www.e2esoft.cn/flvcapture/

It's free and works like a charm, for me at least.

xy

 

[Hobbyshop]

Discovery Real Time and Discovery Shed are on Sky channels 240, 241 and 242 although I haven't seen Norm on any of these for months.

Despite many comments on this thread about his unsafe practices, you can't get away from the fact that he has inspired many a woodworker to either start or re-start. For those that have never seen him on TV then watch the videos online and make your own mind up.

As for slow downloading with these longish videos, I tend to wait for the whole thing to download and then play it. It should then play without any hiccups.

I did try that link for the download helper program for Firefox but the icon greys out when I go to the New Yankee site. Maybe they have disabled it somehow

regards

Brian

Hi Brian

I had the same problem initially.
You need to change the preferences settings for Download Helper to enable video conversion.
This may require you to also download an additional programme, but this is taken care of automatically.

Take a look here: http://www.downloadhelper.net/conversion-manual.php

 

[Benchwayze]

Below is a link to a free video format converter.
Works fine with XP. No trouble with viruses, etc.

http://download.cnet.com/Prism-Video-Co ... 44345.html
HTH

John

 

[ondablade]

Norm was a great inspiration to me ten years ago too. Like Brad he started me down the road of setting up a properly equipped shop - i bought my Robland combo back in the late 90s. It's only properly coming to fruition now mind you following health and related financially challenging times.

I guess the fact he has all his fingers has to count for something, although it's a bit like your 100% healthy granny who smoked 40 a day all her life - it doesn't make it safe.

Not only is Norm very inspiring, i find him highly therapeutic and relaxing too. There's something very calming about his methodical approach, although some might think it boring...

ian

 

[misterfish]

Norm is and has been a great inspiration to me as well. His presentational skills and showing that even somebody like me could possibly end up with acceptable results got me enthused and back into woodworking after having my potential spark of enthusiasm snuffed out by woodworking as taught at school in the 1960s.

Bear in mind that the eoisode streamed from the NYW site is episode 1 of season 1 made over 20 years ago. At the time he had a very reduced set of tools - a basic Delta Unisaw and a Shopsmith used as a lathe and drill press. American ways of doing things are different and equipment changes - look at the Sawstop range of tablesaws. At the same time things have changed here. My Wadkin saw made in the 1970s shows the use of stacked dado sets and moulding heads as 'standard', practices that are now not acceptable in a commercial environment.

You need to look at how NYW developed over its 21 years, not only the workshop and equipment, but also methods and the projects undertaken.

As for This Old House: which partticular 'prat' are you talking about Jim. This is another series that has been running for over 20 years in which Norm's role has been 'master carpenter' and some presentation. The show has always had a 'host' (a number of hosts ove the years) and involved a wide range of skilled artisans and builders. They have regularly shown new products, materials and methodologies and for many tears have pushed 'green' technologies and solutions. Again this is a US program and covers construction and renovation in the States with the main project each year based in the Boston area and with a second project elsewhere - they even did one renovation in London.

These programs give information and instruction methods which are lacking from nearly all of the current UK building and renovation type programs. These are gentle programs without the interpersonal conflict and friction so beloved of so many recent program makers.

Misterfish