So it's back: Britain's Best Woodworker

[seanf]

Jacob seems to be running away with this. Funny to see the judges make a flimsy excuse of his slats being undersized in the run up to giving Russell Woodworker of the Week. I suppose they can’t give it to Jacob every single episode

Sean

 

[Spectric]

I was waiting for the claret when you saw Dafydd using a chiesel towards his hand that was holding the piece of wood, might have even seen a thumb drop to the floor. Are these experts not interested in safety.

 

[seanf]

Are these experts not interested in safety

Plus last week watching Mel feel the “rotating wood” (as she called it) with her long sleeve getting closer and closer

Sean

 

[Spectric]

I think that if anything happened it would be edited out, not sure how they explain a one armed mel or a thumbless Dafydd though.

 

[Dibs-h]

My lad mentioned last night that the programme was on - "Dad, Britain's Best Worker is on."

My reply was "Best of the Worst, son." He chuckled and walked off.

 

[seanf]

So there we go, series two is done. Not the winner I guessed a few weeks ago, but was the name I was expecting to be announced after seeing the judges reactions and comments

Sean

 

[Rhossydd]

I'm surprised there's been so little comment on the show this year here. I thought it better than the last series, not great, but quite watchable.
Not convinced about the winner, but without seeing the final pieces in person one has to trust the judges.
One can but hope for an even better series next year. Maybe with at least one judge with credible woodcraft skills, hopefully a director and editor that understand and show woodworking skill better. It might be a more compelling competition if the the contestants are more experienced, rather than a box ticking exercise for channel 4.

 

[TRITON]

I'm surprised there's been so little comment on the show this year here.

I think we know the real reasons there

The woodburning one was hilarious. Outside of a little background scorching on my child like level wood carving, their portraits were straight out of a primary 3 colouring in class

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

I thought Jacob and Lauren were really good, nice bars etc. Chloe was great too, but I suspect a little out of her depth with the joinery aspects as she favoured screws (and not even pocket holes at that).
All in all, a fun programme which I look forward to next series.

 

[Rhossydd]

The woodburning one was hilarious. Outside of a little background scorching on my child like level wood carving, their portraits were straight out of a primary 3 colouring in class

That struck me as a very poor choice of task. It's more of an art challenge than woodwork. You can handmake a perfect dovetail, but not be able to draw a facial likeness.
I thought that it rather revealed the lack of woodworking knowledge in the production team, also shown in their choice of judges.

 

[Spectric]

It was good for reality Tv but really lacking quality woodworking skills, many struggled with basic tools and Jacobs bar was little more than some fancy building tressles. Were these issues down to their inability to design something that they could build within the given time frame which suggest they also may not really know there own abilities. It was odd watching that woman use the Makita router one handed !

 

[Spectric]

Good point from Rhossydd, woodworking is a very multi faceted subject and you get those very creative types that make top end furniture and such, others are more functional and deliver solid projects with fancy joints whilst others are more constrained to MDF boxes but asking someone to perform creative art I would say is beyond many round here, myself definitely included.

 

[MorrisWoodman12]

I thought that it rather revealed the lack of woodworking knowledge in the production team, also shown in their choice of judges.

Judges with woodworking experience? Now there's a novel idea. I have a suggestion for you all: Peter Sellars


Waits for howls of laughter/derision/amazement (why didn't they think of that before).

 

[bourbon]

He may have been asked and turned it down. It's a fair chunk of your time to loose

 

[Rhossydd]

He may have been asked and turned it down. It's a fair chunk of your time to loose

Yes, filming would be quite a time commitment, but an on-screen judge would be very well financially rewarded.

You could add someone like Richard Finley or Jason Breech to a list of engaging experienced woodworkers too.
Having a judge that could actually demonstrate mastery of a skill before a spot test would give great credibility to the show. The Great Pottery Throw down with Keith Brymer Jones and Rich Miller judging is a perfect example of how to get that right.

 

[TRITON]

I think it's inspiring to people who might have a hankering but havent actually started or tried to make something.

 

[Reffc]

I thought that Jacob was the stand out talent of the whole group but the judges decisions were often mind bafflingly biased or eratic. On some episodes, it was so predictable to see Lauren winning due to creativity(over skills) even if she didn't really demonstrate very advanced woodworking skills. Jacob's attempts were admirable and more skilled imho but his timings often let him down. His Rococo style desk I thought was beautiful and easily the best on show and to see his effort treated with such derision because it wasn't original enough was sickening but I guess wan't what they were after. Creativity though is not something easily learned. I believe you develop it at a very young age and are either the creative type in later life or you're not. His bar effort I though beautifully creative and wonderfully done.

 

[Rhossydd]

the judges decisions were often mind bafflingly biased or eratic.

They made sense for their aims. When the lead judge is a designer, not a maker, you can expect design to be more important than skilful manufacture.
You also need to consider that the judges will have studied the items made far more closely than we can, so will have a better view of which pieces meet the criteria best.

 

[bourbon]

Jacob didn't listen to what was asked of him at times. That's what let him down.

 

[mudman]

If they have a third series, they really have to get judges that have a far better background in woodworking than the pair they had this time around. Sophie is more of a whittler and Tom has no background in furniture design that I can discover, so I found it difficult to take anything they said seriously.
I thought Russell had a good chance of getting to the final until he made that rocking chair which was a very ill-considered design. Of the finalists, I did prefer Jacob's bar over Lauren's as I preferred the design but he let himself down with the silly router mishap and not finishing. I liked Cloe's design the most but it lacked finesse and skill demonstration I think.
The skill's challenges were often a bit daft. Maybe they should have challenged them to do things like flattening the face of a board with a hand plane.
Something I'd have like to have seen more of was hand tool use. Seeing Jacob try to remove a mil' from his infill strip was amusing.
For all its faults, I did enjoy watching as it is nice to see woodworking shows, but it would be nice to see something where the contestants were starting from a higher skill level as these people were more beginners than fully-fledged woodworkers.