Norm on Discovery Shed

[RogerBoyle]

What is 'Shed'? A Sky programme?

Yes
(hammer)

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Roger,

Beyond my reach then. Not got Sky. Not likely to have either. SWIMBO objects. Summatt to do with Murdoch's capers. And I used to be an F1 Fan!

 

[Allylearm]

The bit I remember about Norm and that exterior door he made. He did not cut tenons but machined plugs. Well it was a nice door and he went even to fit ply as a expansion/water gap behind the panels so far so good. On EBay I did watch a four axis Router making a raised panel door but I was not a fan of how they cut the haunches. They used a drill in the corners, but used a rather large cutter the same they used for profiling and this made the tenon look a bit odd in my eye or cause a fracture point on the twin tenons as they were not wide or thick as I would have thought. But this digresses from our Norm.

The only issue is that it my dealings with plugging the tenon or using dowels for such joints is water seeping in and expanding or eventual rot, worse if you use dowels made from beech. As a lad I was called out a lot to do homers for exterior doors expanding on dowel jointed glazed and paneled doors. These doors were popular due to cost and came in a Mahogany colour with a 6 pane glazed panels, B&Q must have cornered the market in them. To be honest I did like the extra income. But for Norm having morticing ability in his workshop the old ways were the best in regards to such a good quality door. If exposed to rain/weather I would love to see that door now, or did it go the same way as the one he replaced. Maybe there was lesson to be learnt.

As for jigs, great for repetition work, I have used such a system in fitting locks, these were the dome type that bolted through from rear handle and had the lock turn button in the centre in the case of toilets etc. If I remember correctly they were called Weiser and were a great bonus earner for me as the jig clamped on to the door supplying drill holes to follow, they even supplied the drill bits big fast cutters they were, and they supplied stamps to mark and enable chiseling out keepers etc this was in the 70's. I have not used the new hinge jigs by Trend etc that utilise routers and would be financially of benefit if you were doing a lot of doors. As a one off I would never see the need or expense and this is where Norm falls foul. It would better if he did show fitting a squint door and all the pitfalls you need to address giving half or quarter ball or stepped progression. Its the bits these programme never show or skip that the hobbyist would benefit not nice easy square door ways or machinery to get out of repetitional work, this misses the point of the hobbyist they do not have the machinery/tools but do have time and plenty of it. When I learnt my trade I was giving all the scribes/joints and squint openings by my journeyman. If you can fit them and I mean fit tight or same gap all round, the easy ones are not an issue.

But other than that just like This old House it keeps tradesmen and suppliers in business and they do visit some manufacturers factories which I always find interesting.

 

[deserter]

Thanks Roger,

Beyond my reach then. Not got Sky. Not likely to have either. SWIMBO objects. Summatt to do with Murdoch's capers. And I used to be an F1 Fan!

Don't worry about the F1 the sky coverage is appalling, I watch it on the BBC still whenever possible.

 

[doorframe]

Well, I think Norm is a God in the world of TV woodworking. He's an inspiration to Joe Public (Me!!) and must surely be responsible for introducing the greatest number of people to this great hobby. Just like Rico and Anton, he's not trying to teach you professionals how to suck eggs. He's giving people like me (and Fred Bloggs down the road) the encouragement to have a go for ourselves. Even if we haven't got the machines he's got, we can see the joints and decide for ourselves how to achieve something reasonably similar using the tools we have available.

The only TV 'woodworker' I won't watch is Tommy Walsh. He's just too smug.

Did I mention I like Rico???

Roy

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks Roger,

Beyond my reach then. Not got Sky. Not likely to have either. SWIMBO objects. Summatt to do with Murdoch's capers. And I used to be an F1 Fan!

Don't worry about the F1 the sky coverage is appalling, I watch it on the BBC still whenever possible.

Still not the same though is it?

And just as it was getting interesting, with a mix of winners.

 

[No skills]

Norm is one of the reasons I have an interest in woodworking, as is Rico actually.

Some people posting seem to forget that tv shows are made with a brief, generally the things made on NYW were one or two day projects which pretty much means that powered tooling needs to be used. This is combined with sponsers desire to sell products!

I cant see even the most hardened hand tool flagellists (sp?) on here making some of those projects in two days.

I could ramble on but I wont, the show has pros and cons -who cares

 

[jimi43]

I think Rico is an absolute master of inspiration...he is a guy after my own heart...I simply loved his boat from the roof of an old van!

I think I might like Norm more if he made things that interested me...he doesn't...and I think his show does exactly what it's meant to...make people buy power tools to copy him...hence his longevity with the sponsors.

The only decent thing about Walsh is Dimmock! How anyone can make a workshop and get an entire wall the wrong length and then film it is beyond me. If it were a BBC programme I would refuse to pay my licence! :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[TheTiddles]

He's no Tommy Walsh though, now there's a real artist!

Aidan

 

[McGill]

I'm a newb to the craft of sawdust manufacturing, and even I can see that Norm follows some rather dodgy procedures.

I'll forgive him his table saw death wish, and even the endless brad bullets, simply because he makes me want to try new things out, and he puts ideas into my head.

As for the rest of them I've seen on Discovery Shed:

Wood Works, with the much-maligned Anton which I thought was OK for basics. It's about the level of expertise I am at for now. Simple, basic measuring-cutting-assembling projects.

Wood Wizard which was painful when Richard Blizzard was teamed with Mark Evans, and dull as ditch-water with the other forgettably nameless bloke. Some good tips, but the presenters ruined it for me.

The Great British Woodshop, hosted by some Antipodean bloke desperately trying to emulate Norm.

John's Woodshop, where John Revell just seems to make everything out of MDF . . .

And my favourite of all - Smith and Sweetman - simply because they'd make mistakes and show me that it's not the worst thing in the world to cover them up or work round them. For a newb like me, that's gold dust.

Noticed there a new one in the past few days - Cutting Edge Woodworker with a Paul Bradburn. Only seen one episode and the jury's out for now.

 

[RogerP]

What is 'Shed'? A Sky programme?

No, it's one of Discovery International Networks portfolio of 20+ channels. It's certainly aired by Sky but also by Virgin Media in the UK and virtually every pay-television system in the world.

 

[Den Dezyn]

Have to say Norm does state that guards are only removed for filming and reminds you always to read the instructions and follows safety advice of all tools and machinery before using them, reminds you not to wear loose clothing and to wear short sleeves or roll up the sleeves so they dont catch in the machinery also to wear ear defenders and safety glasses.
I dont like all the things he makes but if we all liked the same it would mean no innovation. Norms use of brads is probably due to the speed he has to work which means glues dont have time to dry during filming.
Norm makes furniture for the US market where antique style furniture is the vogue and his visits to museums to gain ideas and measurements is due to this and he shows you how to make a modern copy as antiques are expensive and short in supply to the average householder. This was also seen in This Old House as all the homeowners wanted to renovate their homes in period styles.
With all the excellent furniture makers on this site perhaps some of you could make good and useful videos yourselves that could be offered to Discovery that would give us mere mortals something which could teach both hand and power tool work and some modern and innovative designs for the 21st century.
I for one would definitely tune in.

 

[doorframe]

Well said Den.

The only decent thing about Walsh is Dimmock!

Ahhh, Dimmock!!! Peanut smuggling at it's best!! :lol:

Roy

 

[adzeman]

Our joinery manager asked me if I could get Norm to work for us because he can make anything in half an hour