New Yankee Workshop - the early years

So True, No grey 20 years ago, Some Today, Oh same for you? Hah :)

Hail to the chief! Norm’s Gone:( I watched every week.

No more important safety rule than these safety glasses.

-- Striving Woodworker

I have a lot of respect and appreciation for Norm. He really got me excited about woodworking. However, there has been a transition in my life. Years ago I accepted everything that Norm said as the absolute gospel truth about the best way to do something. Today, I agree with him at least 95% of the time but, every once in a while I think, “No Norm – I wouldn’t do it that way”. Still, the bottom line remains, he has been very good for woodworking.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

Some of the old shows used to say “the guards were removed just for filming” also.

-- Gary - Never pass up the opportunity to make a mistake look like you planned it that way

I’ve seen that a little while ago ,It looks like he’s using and old Craftsman table saw too.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture maker, Riddle Oregon

So true, I think he using an old Rockwell Unisaw.

-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker

He also used a Shopsmith band saw. In later years manufacturers couldn’t push new tools at him fast enough.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

I just got done watching that episode. I forgot what a bare-bones set-up he had (relatively speaking). Also noted:
-no drywall on ceiling
-some walls were uncovered
-Pipe clamps?
-he was really excited about his new glue roller!

-- Tony, Ohio

I bought my Shopsmith bandsaw after watching Norm use one. I miss norm on Saturday mornings…...Although I don’t think my wife and kids do

-- Dennis Trenton Ohio

I fear I have made an inaccurate statement. I thought I had downloaded one of these episodes. After I thought I had downloaded it seemed to work fine. Now I realize is that all I did was download the website address. Sorry ‘bout misleading.

Tony Z. – Norm still likes his glue roller. He says good things about it every time he uses it. He also likes that special apparatus for putting glue in the biscuit joints.

I still buy stuff based on what Norm uses. I bought the Osborne miter gauge because that is what Norm uses and I love it.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I’m new here help!!!!!!

-- JUST DO IT !!!

Holy MoJolly Batman! He is using a wobble dado!

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Funny, His shop then looks like my shop now. I guess I have 20 years to catch up.

Tom

-- So Many tools, So little time

I don’t think I have ever seen any of these old shows. How refreshing to see him make do without all the latest and greatest tools and gadgets. Really makes you think “I can do that”.

I’ve seen every episode over the years, and here are some things that I’ve noticed along the way:

-Use of the radial arm saw has diminished. I miss mine. I had to get rid of it ten years ago on moving day.

-Used biscuits on every table top glue up, now says the glue is stronger than the wood. Biscuits have caused me more problems than they solve, so I don’t use them anymore. My new dining table top is almost perfectly flat.

-Aniline dye was dissolved in alcohol. Now they tell me it’s susceptible to fading, so use distilled water. My entire bedroom set was done with alcohol. Luckily, it’s dark in the bedroom.

I’ve always felt that having all those fancy tools made woodworking seem expensive and unattainable. As much as I respect Norm, there has been several instances where I would’ve done some process another way. For example, using a router to do a rabbet or dado instead of the table saw or vice versa. My biggest problem with NYW is that I’ve never really cared for the country style furniture that makes up the vast majority of their catalog. I’m an Arts & Crafts guy, and he only made a few pieces in that style over the years.

I will definitely give Norm kudos for teaching me the basics that got me started. A lot of episodes are available on torrent sites if you are willing to download them. I’ve been toying with the idea of making a NYW-style sign for the shop. I like Norm’s personality more than David Marks’. I miss not having a woodworking show to watch every week.

-- You can't control the wind, but you can trim your sails

the shop smith was the first thing i noticed. In a couple of episodes think he used its other functions as well. lathe maybe.

-- Got Wood?

I watched that episode last nite and I really would like to build that table. I think it is refreshing to see him using basic older tools….some of his newer episodes it seemed like he would pull out some expensive job specific tool for every operation he would do. It was educational watching him make mortises and tenons with a dado blade and forstner bit.

-- David, South Windsor, CT "The ***damn Germans got nuttin to do with it" Sheriff Buford T Justice

I just watched the old episode where he made a standing bookcase.

Ya know, this is much more indicative of the way things happen in my shop! I don’t have every tool under the sun, but things can still get built. Norm used a regular hammer and finish nails rather than his pneumatic nailer. At one point, he even drove some screws in by hand. My, how things have changed.

-- "Find out what you cannot do and then go do it!"

Thanks Lenny for directing me to this thread! Dang Rich, I didn’t see your post, otherwise I would have posted here. I just posted about Norm’s early shows in the Coffee Lounge. That shop belongs to Norm’s producer, Russell Morash. Morash also produced This Old House and Victory Garden. As the story goes, Morash hired Norm to build a structure of some sort and was impressed by his quality work and the small scrap pile. He struck a deal with Norm to do a weekly woodworking show on PBS and the rest is history. I’ve always thought the behind the scenes direction that Morash brought to the table, was just as important as Norm’s easy going aw shucks style.

-- david roberts, houston area, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but that has never been a problem for me."

I have been watching NYW since I was a kid with my dad. I am really getting into woodworking now and I enjoy watching Norm each week.

Anyone ever notice that his most important safety rule “safety glasses” are not safety glasses, no side shields.

just watched the episode and have to say i like the older ones better, they are more “my” level of tools, not some “this tool was manufactured specifically for this single joint that i almost never use, by gnomes in the antarctic”. Also noticed that he left his RAS on while he was moving wood around it ALL the time. It only takes .25 seconds of inattention to have a piece your moving grab the blade and get slung across the room.

I’ve been watching Norm since the first episode. I’m a woodshop teacher and my students are greeted everyday with a life size cardboard cutout of Norm. The New Yankee Workshop lives on in my Woodshop. I show them a couple of episodes each semester. They have learned to love and respect the man, as do I. Here’s a video I’ve made of the show he made the Clancy Sailboat or what I like to call the Epoxy episode

-- Wood is Good!

And…. I also like to think of Norm as my best friend:

-- Wood is Good!

I need to join the chorus of people saying how they can relate better to the older shows where the tools used are closer to what we have in our shops today. Actually, I have at least 2 tools that he did not have in the early shows, a mortising machine and an oscillating spindle sander. I find myself saying, “If Norm can make a good mortise with a drill press and chisels then I have no excuse since I have a mortising machine.”

Also – thanks to CanKuhn for the great videos.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

I also grew up with Norm as a kid I thought you could only build things if you had the tools Norm had. I dont think it was his skill that made the show it was his common man attitude. Without norm there wouldnt be alot of us interested in woodworking.

-- GO DAWGS!

Hey CanKuhn, how does Norm magically get from your shop to mine. It must be like Santa Clause at all the shopping malls. I think I have the same one, or did you sneak into my shop to get a picture??? I got my Norm when he came to the STL wood show in 09. Good to know the Delta/PC vendor.

I got my Norm on Ebay. You probably got yours for a lot cheaper than I did.

-- Wood is Good!