New Yankee Workshop is Online

[SteveCogs]

I just saw that they are starting to air the NYW episodes and have the first one available. I know there are mixed feelings about this show but I for one can't wait to have yet another thing to look at on the internets.
http://www.newyankee.com/index.php

Thanks
Steve

 

[Sealeveler]

Thanks for the link.Tony

 

[sawman101]

I, for one, will not object to being able to view it online. Considering the content of most TV programs, NYW is one of the few I can enjoy watching with my grandchildren. I have read that Norm Abrams is going to quit making the show. There goes another one I've enjoyed, along with Roy, Gene, and Hoppy. I know it has changed a lot; 20 years ago I would watch with a notebook in hand, quickly drawing the project and adding the dimensions as Norm gave them to us. That info quit being supplied quite some time ago. The Woodwright Shop is by far my favorite--I really enjoy watching Roy make anything in his shop. Thanks for the heads up, and the link.:thumbs_up

 

[Travis Porter]

Thanks for the link! That is definitely an OLD episode. He had a much bigger gut back in those days.

I had forgotten Norm used to have "less" tools.

Shop smith drill press
Wobble dado
Craftsman Radial arm saw
No finish nail gun
Old style fence on the tablesaw
corded drills

Plus, the way he cuts tenons in this early episode is definitely different. Still, neat to see the original Nahm.

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Thanks for the link! That is definitely an OLD episode.
Plus, the way he cuts tenons in this early episode is definitely different. Still, neat to see the original Nahm.

Downright dangerous holding the boards vertical freehand and not using a tenoning jig of any sort! He didn't use a jig to drill to shelf pin holes either. A number of router operations would have been easier with a router table also. Etc., etc. Norm's craftsmanship really improved over the years as did his shop tools.

 

[NCPete]

did anybody count how many different routers he used?

 

[petebucy4638]

Downright dangerous holding the boards vertical freehand and not using a tenoning jig of any sort! He didn't use a jig to drill to shelf pin holes either. A number of router operations would have been easier with a router table also. Etc., etc. Norm's craftsmanship really improved over the years as did his shop tools.

I met Norm when I lived in Orlando. His background is primarily in new construction and renovation. Though talented at both, his skills were nothing extraordinary as evidenced by This Old House and the early episodes of the New Yankee Workshop. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Compared to the really talented woodworkers that I have known over the years, Norm was a C-. The work that he did reflected a lot of what a good trim carpenter learns in order to do his job on custom homes. I could relate to Norm because that I where I received most of my experience too. On the construction side of the Norm equation, I could see a definite lack of formal education and training. I used to cringe at some of the things that they did on This Old House.

Norms woodworking skills improved over the years. He inspired a lot of people of average skills to go to the garage and dust off the old table saw again. He quite literally created the Norm School of Woodworking for the Average Guy. Sometimes dangerous, often times flaunting conventional tools woodworking technique for Norm's brand of 'get it done."

Nevertheless, it was great fun watching him in the shop. He is truly a nice guy and a competent woodworker who gave many an aspiring craftsman a jump-start in the shop.

Pete

 

[froglips]

Thanks for sharing!

I am glad to see this, its a great idea. I hope they open up more content and move to a download service. I tried to play my NYW DVD on my wind up Victrola, just doesn't work

Jim

 

[Ray Martin]

Steve,

Thank you VERY much for finding and posting this. I couldn't be happier to see Norm's shows again available. I know there are loads of folks who will say he used too many power tools, or that there are better craftsmen in the world. But it was Norm that brought woodworking to the masses; through shows, books, plans, DVDs, and now the internet. Norm's wide range or projects gave us something for everyone to build. Gotta put this on the calendar so I don't miss an episode.

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

I don't think I've ever seen any of the first episodes. I can only remember watching with mostly high end equipment in the shop. I actually enjoyed this 1st episode more than the later stuff. Certainly his craftsmanship isn't high end, but the shop is more indicative of the hobbyists shop, not a Delta showroom.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Now, that's the Nahm I enjoyed watching.
Before he filled his shop with production tools!

 

[ErnieM]

Wow! That was both fascinating and frightening to watch. I have to wonder how many of his early viewers got hurt using some of the techniques shown on the show. While it's obvious that Norm's skills and techniques have improved over the years (and ours too...), it demonstrates the need for basic training in the use of these powerful and dangerous machines. Many, if not most woodworkers are self taught, and learning "what not to do" by trial and error can be costly.

Ernie

 

[Travis Porter]

did anybody count how many different routers he used?

I think there were two. A D handled Makita, and another I couldn't identify, but I am going to guess was a metal shelled Stanley.

IIRC, his first show was building a bedside table. I watched it, and thought, I can do that, and that is when I got started in woodworking. I began with a pretty bad 8" bench top no name tablesaw that would barely cut butter. Nahm made heavy use of a jointer, and that was the first major purchase for me. A Jet JJ-6 jointer. I used it for many years....

 

[SGalley]

If you want to see some costly trials and errors, I could make some video of myself in action. Thank goodness none of the costs have been medical related

 

[Alan in Little Washington]

Yup, most of us have learned from Norm- what to do and what not to do. In woodworking, like other forms of designing and building, there is more than one way of doing things. Whether I could execute all the techniques or not, I realized I had learned something when I knew there was a different, and many times better, way to do whatever Norm was doing at a particular moment.

Norm attended UMass at Amherst (first ME then Business) for 4+ years, worked for his father during the summers, never graduated. He quit and worked as a construction supervisor for a big company but three years later started his own business which he ran concurrently with TOH for 10 years until he started doing NYW. He visited his first job (on Nantucket?) during one episode of NYW (or TOH?). I think he was eventually awarded an honorary degree by UMass but can find no evidence of that.

 

[peteb301]

Thanks for the link.
Its 'back to basics' withiut all the Biesmeyer and lamelo ($$$$) fancy tools that he aquired later.
The tenon cutting was a treat - one of those 'Don't try this at home events'. :saw:
And he still has ten fingers !!!

 

[FlyingRon]

Norms skills definitely improved with time. In those first seasons, for example, he loves breadboard edges, but in the first seasons he always just glued them in place (crossgrain). After a few years it seems like someone smacked him in the head about the issue and he used better joinery.

The "safety" issues were kind of odd. My favorite was that in the early episodes the first time he used a table saw in the show there was disclaimer text superimposed over the scene saying the guards were removed for clarity and you should always use them (this was before Norm started making his "a few words on shop safety" speech in each episode). What always was laughable was that the cut that they would be making was invariably one you couldn't have used the guard for anyhow.

I met Norm twice. Once right before the NYW hit the air (though he talked about it). The other was a few years ago right after the FWW ran him on the cover (I remember because he signed my copy).

 

[christopheralan]

That was awosome! I throughly enjoyed watching that. It seemed more like a normal shop with normal tools. Some of the techniques kinda scared me, but overall, a great project, great show!

 

[Joe Scharle]

Nahm was working the same way as most carpenters and trim carpenters I've seen on job sites. I've seen many use portable tablesaws with not a miter gage nor fence in sight.

 

[Matt Schnurbusch]

No miter gauge or fence was how the "cabinet installers" from the orange BORG worked on my SILs laundry room make over. But then one of the chuckle heads used an angle grinder with a diamond blade to cut (BURN) some notches in the back edge.

Perhaps that's why I wound up finishing the job.