Who's got it better US or UK Woodworkers?

[NorthernSteve]

Youtube appears dominated by US woodworkers, is there more of them per capita or do they just like to be in front of the camera more?
There appear to be some very large woodworking stores in the US affording easy hands on access to machinery and tools. Yes we have some in the UK, but who is better served by retail supply, them or us and why is this?
Access to training, I have found this incredibly frustrating in the UK. There are an increasing number of 'high end' training schools £10k to £20k a course. There are then those offering to help you make a wooden spoon in a forest for £500. Beyond these I see little face to face training provision. Am I wrong?
Finishing materials, we have access to some great manufacturers, but their product presentation can be somewhat esoteric. By comparison the US manufacturers tend to present their products in a 'systems' format. Use A then B then C etc.
Are my observations valid or am I way off the mark? What other differences exist?

 

[Spectric]

I think it is just down to the shear size of the place, each state is like one Uk and there are a lot of woodworkers, maybe because when you look at the books based on the states they seem to do a lot more real carpentry in housebuilding comaped to us with our love of MDF mouldings. I can also say that they do produce better teaching material than us, when studying electrical and electronics there books were far better than ours in that they taught in a more practical fashion with clearer explanation wheras we tended to be more pure academic. Anyone remember the maths book by Bird and May that was often part of the UK sylabus, still brings back nightmares now and I got my head around maths using an American program called Derive, it was a great teaching tool for maths that allowed me to tame calculus and Laplace transforms, not to mention the theory in electromagnetics.

 

[Blackswanwood]

The US definitely is geared up for the power tool market but for quality hand tools I’d say it is not really that different to the UK. It is a bigger market than the UK though. @Cabinetman may have a better view as he splits his time between UK and US.

If you hunt around there are some good short courses available in the UK. This place used to be run by Chris Tribe that has a good reputation. I did a course with Chris when I got back into woodworking and it was excellent.

https://wharfedaleworkshop.co.uk/

Quite a few of the high end schools also do short courses. Waters & Ackland do an online video course which I think costs iro £100/£125 for 12 months access.

The guru for box making is Andrew Crawford (Smartboxmaker) who regularly does courses.

Chestnut Finishes do a good guide on what to use from their range when and with what.

 

[TRITON]

The US. Place is massive and due to the American dream thing, theres always lots of companies willing to fill the needs of the consumer

As to training, I'd say it has to be Scotland. I did 4 years at college(Glasgow college of Building and printing) and it didnt cost me a penny.

Of course being Scottish helps there, but we readily accept English immigrants

 

[jetsetwilly]

The US. Place is massive and due to the American dream thing, theres always lots of companies willing to fill the needs of the consumer

As to training, I'd say it has to be Scotland. I did 4 years at college(Glasgow college of Building and printing) and it didnt cost me a penny.

Of course being Scottish helps there, but we readily accept English immigrants

We need to stop the tragic trade in human misery that every year sees literally one or two english migrants crossing the perilous Tweed in unsafe small boats. I blame the Go Outdoors in Tweedmouth...

 

[stefan szoka]

The US has a lot more room, we can only dream of having those large workshops. Making sideboard cabinet in an 8 x 10 garden shed is not easy working around the lathe, bandsaw, sharpening station etc. !!

 

[paulrbarnard]

We need to stop the tragic trade in human misery that every year sees literally one or two english migrants crossing the perilous Tweed in unsafe small boats. I blame the Go Outdoors in Tweedmouth...

Made even more perilous by the lack of daylight hours that far north

 

[Ollie78]

The prices of stuff like Maple, cherry and Black walnut are very much lower there than here. Which is simply logistics I suppose.
Also shellac in all its convenient forms seems to be available everywhere in north America.
I am sure we have some stuff in Europe they would like, proper sliding panel saws perhaps,

 

[curryjunkie]

US def has cheaper tool;s, and a greater range of them, their workshops also seem to be 2 or 3 times the average UK one. timber is probably much more reasonably priced.

 

[Ed Weber]

Youtube appears dominated by US woodworkers, is there more of them per capita or do they just like to be in front of the camera more?
There appear to be some very large woodworking stores in the US affording easy hands on access to machinery and tools. Yes we have some in the UK, but who is better served by retail supply, them or us and why is this?
Access to training, I have found this incredibly frustrating in the UK. There are an increasing number of 'high end' training schools £10k to £20k a course. There are then those offering to help you make a wooden spoon in a forest for £500. Beyond these I see little face to face training provision. Am I wrong?
Finishing materials, we have access to some great manufacturers, but their product presentation can be somewhat esoteric. By comparison the US manufacturers tend to present their products in a 'systems' format. Use A then B then C etc.
Are my observations valid or am I way off the mark? What other differences exist?

YouTube is dominated by guys in the U.S. who think they're woodworkers. 90% of them are content creators, there is little depth to their woodworking knowledge or skill. More clicks does not equal more skill.
In the states we might have more access to machines and products but with the availability to purchase anything via the internet, it's really not much of an advantage IMO.

 

[Doug71]

We have it best.....blade guards, riving knives and proper push sticks

 

[TRITON]

The US has a lot more room, we can only dream of having those large workshops. Making sideboard cabinet in an 8 x 10 garden shed is not easy working around the lathe, bandsaw, sharpening station etc. !!

Ahh, but thats the quintessential British workshop, we are indeed a nation of tinkerers

 

[hennebury]

You can learn far more in your own workshop, regardless of where it is located, if you have an insatiable desire to learn, and open mind and are willing to question , experiment, observe and analyze.

 

[danst96]

The US certainly is magnificent for woodworking when it comes to range of machinery, tools, lumber etc and the prices available.

That said, I think the second hand tools and machinery market in the UK cannot be matched, mostly because of the relatively little distances and population density. A great deal might come up and the odds are to aren't more than 3 hours away, whereas US you may be 10 hours away from a decent second hand machine deal unless you are in a major city.

If I had to choose, I'd honestly take the UK for woodworking. It all looks glamorous and amazing in the US but more and more of the brands this side are become widely available in the UK and the UK has the added advantage of the domestic companies that we don't have over here like rutlands etc. plus as the comment above, different variety of machinery like combination machines, proper panel saws, planer/thicknesser machines available second hand which can be harder to find in US.

I live in Canada and it's definitely streaks behind both areas, particularly so Saskatchewan where the population is so tiny (i spend a decent amount of time in the US and often get tools down there). I had better access to better timber in the UK than I do here and I could at least choose what I was getting rather than ordering in boards and taking what I get.

 

[dzj]

The US is a richer place, so things are perhaps a little bit easier.
At the end of the day, you can't buy your way into any craft and some would say 10000 hours is the least
amount of time you have to put in to achieve reasonable competence.
(It's probably many times more)

 

[Silken]

I bought a bunch of stuff for my workshop some years ago, thinking I couldn't get them here. That was mainly due to lack of TV advertisements in the UK for workshop tools. I then discovered after visiting a tool show down south that Trend did the same stuff. Price was comparable if you add the VAT import duty. The popularity in the USA is much greater, which gave rise to TV shows such as "This OLd House", "New Yankee Workshop” and “The Woodwright's Shop". For the UK it tended to be "60 minute makeover" - "DIY SOS" and "Ground Force" which are house and home makeover and not workshop shows. I guess producers don't feel they are worth making here for the UK market, cheaper to buy in ready made from the USA.

 

[NorthernSteve]

The US definitely is geared up for the power tool market but for quality hand tools I’d say it is not really that different to the UK. It is a bigger market than the UK though. @Cabinetman may have a better view as he splits his time between UK and US.

If you hunt around there are some good short courses available in the UK. This place used to be run by Chris Tribe that has a good reputation. I did a course with Chris when I got back into woodworking and it was excellent.

https://wharfedaleworkshop.co.uk/

Quite a few of the high end schools also do short courses. Waters & Ackland do an online video course which I think costs iro £100/£125 for 12 months access.

The guru for box making is Andrew Crawford (Smartboxmaker) who regularly does courses.

Chestnut Finishes do a good guide on what to use from their range when and with what.

Thanks for this, a few helpful contacts for me, appreciated.

 

[NorthernSteve]

YouTube is dominated by guys in the U.S. who think they're woodworkers. 90% of them are content creators, there is little depth to their woodworking knowledge or skill. More clicks does not equal more skill.
In the states we might have more access to machines and products but with the availability to purchase anything via the internet, it's really not much of an advantage IMO.

At this stage in my woodworking it is difficult for me to assess who is/not skilled. I guess in time, I will get better at this.

 

[NorthernSteve]

You can learn far more in your own workshop, regardless of where it is located, if you have an insatiable desire to learn, and open mind and are willing to question , experiment, observe and analyze.

I do get a lot from practicing - chisel work for example.

 

[NorthernSteve]

I bought a bunch of stuff for my workshop some years ago, thinking I couldn't get them here. That was mainly due to lack of TV advertisements in the UK for workshop tools. I then discovered after visiting a tool show down south that Trend did the same stuff. Price was comparable if you add the VAT import duty. The popularity in the USA is much greater, which gave rise to TV shows such as "This OLd House", "New Yankee Workshop” and “The Woodwright's Shop". For the UK it tended to be "60 minute makeover" - "DIY SOS" and "Ground Force" which are house and home makeover and not workshop shows. I guess producers don't feel they are worth making here for the UK market, cheaper to buy in ready made from the USA.

It is such a shame that house renovation shows (and many others) are presented in the format they are in the UK, dumbed down content for the masses. I would much rather TV became more educational than just focus on entertainment. That said YouTube and equivalent have made access to good content viable.