What annoys you about Norm?

[Anonymous]

Hi all,
I like these polls as the difference of opinion is quite varied and its interesting to see how people do the same thing but in different ways. So heres another one.
I am a fan of NYW as i bet a lot of you in here are and what i am interested in is Norms woodworking techniques i have visited quite a few websites which have slated Norm for his use of nail guns and biscuits yet i find his finished product excellent and i have learned quite a bit from watching his show, what is it that annoys you about Norm and how would you do it differently?

 

[Gill]

Can I vote for two?

• 1. His failure to observe fundamental safety practices. He needs to wear ear defenders and operate machines with guards in place, despite the excuse that guards are only removed for the purposes of television. Yeah... right :roll: .
  
  2. His perpetual use of a dado cutter in his table saw. I'd like him to use other techniques to cut dado's, especially routing.

That said, I find much of his work to be quite inspirational.

Gill

 

[woodshavings]

He never seems to makes mistakes :evil:

 

[Anonymous]

Good point about the dado i will add that to the options. Well Done that man.

 

[Anonymous]

He never seems to makes mistakes :evil:

Yes but that is probabley the wonders of television.

 

[DaveL]

He never seems to makes mistakes :evil:

But he has already made one off camera, how many goes at doing that does he have? :shock:
I find its much easier to make the second (or eighth, search for folding chairs :roll: ) of something as you know all of the tricky bits that you had to do two or three times to get the first one together.

 

[Alf]

You really don't want to get me started on this one... :shock: Ooops, too late.

His use of a nail gun? yes
His use of biscuits? dunno, only seen 4 episodes. Biscuits have their place
His never ending supply of clamps? Nope, we'd all have a never-ending supply if we could after all
He rarely shows you different techniques as we all don't have a shop like Norm? Ah, now we're cooking with gas
His finishing Practice? Yes, yes, yes
His use of a dado Cutter? Yes, oh yes indeedy

His amazing ability to use an unsafe machinery situation that'd take ages to set up to do a cut that'd take 30 seconds with a chisel/saw.

The whole "guards removed for clarity" joke, when you never (as far as I'm aware) see him using guards, even when they wouldn't effect any clarity at all.

The fact that when he does use a hand tool, it always seems to be blunt.

Oh, that'll do for the time being. I could go and refresh my memory by looking at the tape again if you like? Or maybe not...

Cheers, Alf

Ooo look, I found my first impressions. The smilies have gone AWOL, but I bet you can guess most of them...

 

[Philly]

Oh dear......
Personally, Norm was my big introduction to WWing.The only thing that annoys me about Norm is that woodworkers slag him off-I find this amazing! :shock:
If you follow the show through the years you will see that he is constantly learning new techniques-He also didn't start out with a shop full of Uber-tools! (I'm sure I saw a Shopsmith in early shows!) The same with finishing-a lot of his stuff was finished with stain poly-not my favorite finsh for sure! But if you watch the later stuff he uses wax finishes on his pine pieces, shellac followed by a glaze followed by wipe on poly, even danish oil. So the guy is learning (you also have to remember that this show is for American audiences-they have, um, different tastes to us :roll: )
As to Nail guns, Norm is an actual chippy (watch This Old House for evidence of this) He's not a TV presenter who is doing a TV show-he's using tools that he owns and uses day-in, day-out. And as the show is so succesful, every tool manufacturer wants their tools used on the show. If tools turned up for free on your doorstep everyday would you use them or leave them in the box?? Yeah, thought so........And to be fair, I have it on good authority that the big Guy only uses tools he likes, regardless of wether the Show Sponsers sell them or not!!
To sum up-He's the second most famous carpenter in the world-what more do you want? :lol:
Cheers
Philly
(who admits it's hilarious watching the Man use hand tools!)

 

[Philly]

Alf
Just checked out your "First Impression"-see that "full-figured postings" are not just reserved for tool reviews! :lol:
Ah, the days of Uk Woodworking, uh?
Philly

 

[Anonymous]

To sum up-He's the second most famous carpenter in the world-what more do you want?

You've got me wondering now who is the first?

Derek.

 

[Alf]

Just checked out your "First Impression"-see that "full-figured postings" are not just reserved for tool reviews! :lol:

Alas, 'tis too true. You've got to tell me to shut up more often you know. :roll:

Ah, the days of Uk Woodworking, uh?

Ah yes. <wanders off down Memory Lane, gets lost, ends up in some other flashback entirely, returns to the present, confused (no change there then)>

To sum up-He's the second most famous carpenter in the world-what more do you want?

You've got me wondering now who is the first?

Bloke with a beard, good line in miracles, excellent for al fresco catering on mountain tops when there's only a couple of fish and some baguettes to be had and the whole family's coming for lunch. Tended to avoid getting his feet wet and good for a parable or two.

Cheers, Alf

 

[beejay]

ok ok he does alot of things on the show that many craftsmsn cringe at but im sure hes been responsible for introducing many people to woodworking and that can only be good.
I find the show interesting and it lets people think and in some cases know that what may see in the local pine shops etc look beyond their abilities are in fact not.
So keep up the good work Norm we all love ya really.
Maybe we should now stop for a moment and talk about shop safety and remember this..........
beejay

 

[Aragorn]

Agree with Philly really.
Used to be inspired by Norm and have learnt from some of his methods. He's done a lot of good for woodworking, so am being slightly "hands-on-hips" about a poll that basically finds various ways to put him down. He has his methods, and his reasons for using them - it's not like he's short of tools!
I voted for finishing techniques, because in all the shows I've seen, regardless of how dangerously he gets to the end result (hey, they're his fingers his risking!) he almost always spoils expensive wood with inappropriate stains and polyurethane. Shame.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh dear......
Personally, Norm was my big introduction to WWing.The only thing that annoys me about Norm is that woodworkers slag him off-I find this amazing! :shock:
If you follow the show through the years you will see that he is constantly learning new techniques-He also didn't start out with a shop full of Uber-tools! (I'm sure I saw a Shopsmith in early shows!) The same with finishing-a lot of his stuff was finished with stain poly-not my favorite finsh for sure! But if you watch the later stuff he uses wax finishes on his pine pieces, shellac followed by a glaze followed by wipe on poly, even danish oil. So the guy is learning (you also have to remember that this show is for American audiences-they have, um, different tastes to us :roll: )
As to Nail guns, Norm is an actual chippy (watch This Old House for evidence of this) He's not a TV presenter who is doing a TV show-he's using tools that he owns and uses day-in, day-out. And as the show is so succesful, every tool manufacturer wants their tools used on the show. If tools turned up for free on your doorstep everyday would you use them or leave them in the box?? Yeah, thought so........And to be fair, I have it on good authority that the big Guy only uses tools he likes, regardless of wether the Show Sponsers sell them or not!!
To sum up-He's the second most famous carpenter in the world-what more do you want? :lol:
Cheers
Philly
(who admits it's hilarious watching the Man use hand tools!)

Couldn't be bothered to type it all when Philly ahs already read my mind

Envy is a very bad thing you know :lol: :lol:

I can only vote for his nailgun

 

[DaveL]

Well I voted for the use of the nail gun. Don't like the way he put brads in everything. :shock: Don't get me wrong, a nail gun is very useful, I have two, but not for nailing trim on the front of a project with. They are great for trying ideas out, making jigs and odd things for the shop. :lol: The only time I have used one on a project was to nail the tongue and groove back panel into a cabinet.

I know he is working to get things done in the time of the show but often they film over two days, why not use a quick grab glue if you must charge straight on without leaving the clamps for more than 2 minutes?

I don't like his finishing but that is much more personal taste, having used nice timber I like to see it, not what came out of the can.

His regard for safety is very thin but he does still have all of his fingers, so he must be doing something right.

 

[Anonymous]

He's done a lot of good for woodworking, so am being slightly "hands-on-hips" about a poll that basically finds various ways to put him down

I am not putting Norm down if thats the way it looks, that wasn,t my intention, I could only dream of being as good as him and for the record i think he is an excellent craftsman and he is the one of the main reasons for me wanting to do woodwork the reason i started this poll was because of a comment made in an other poll on nailguns were a comment was made that people don't agree with norms use of the nail gun and another website i think it was the NYW website where people were slating norm for his use of the biscuit jointer and nail gun. I personally don,t find the use of the nail gun a bad thing in fact i think they are very usefull if used properly. The only thing that i find annoying about the show is that he doesn't show different methods of doing something take for example the jointer i can only recall one or maybe two shows were the table saw has being used to get a true edge. So my apologise to anyone that thinks this poll is having ago at Norm and the NYW it isn't it is meant to gain different views on how something is done.

Derek.

 

[Bean]

Mmmm good one this, For me it is many things, I am interested in the way he does things, appaled at his method of nailing everything together, feel strangly drawn to watch his finishing methods as he obliterates nice looking wood with a stain and poly varnish, yet if its on and I'm in I watch it.........but then I'm only in on a friday.


Bean

 

[Aragorn]

Hi Derek
My comments were not aimed at you personally. Sorry to come across that way. It's a good poll and thread, and it's interesting to see what others feel about it. Just wanted to stand up for the bit of the poll that's missing that goes something along the lines of "Norm does lots of annoying things, but I still really like the Big Fella!"

 

[trevtheturner]

Never seen this Norm and never likely to. What I don't see I don't miss. Benefits: he cannot annoy me and I cannot pick up any of his bad habits :wink: . Probably got some of my own though

Trev.

 

[Woodythepecker]

"What annoys me about Norm" One thing, and that is even though i been woodworking as a employee or a employer for most of my working life it was NORM and not me that got my stepson (many of you know him as Mike.C), daughter, and sister interested in the noble art of woodworking. You should hear them "Well Norm does it this way or that way" Its pitiful.

Well thats my rant over. Seriously though i am sure that there are many thousands of people world wide that owe their love of woodworking to Norm, and so whether you like him or not you have got to admire him for this point alone.

I just wish i could get my hands on some of the free goodies he gets, people even send him some of the wood he uses.

I agree that it would be better if he showed us various ways of putting a project together or different ways of making a joint, but all in all i think his shows are pretty good.

Regards

Woody