New Yankee Wishshop

[D Smith]

I remember years ago reading a "home improvement" help column in a newspaper. Someone had written in asking how to paint some teak furniture they had. The columnist spent way too many column-inches talking about sanding, removing natural oils, the type of paint to choose, etc.

If it was my column, I would have quickly answered "no, you can't paint teak. Sell it to someone and use it to by some cheap furniture you CAN paint."

As the saying goes, it's all a matter of taste. Some people have it. Some people don't.

[Michael]

make the transition into a real wood \worker. He

compensates by obliterating the natural beauty of most of his

Yes, but he's not a true craftsman. The true craftsman is actually an artist.

As an amateur woodworker, I like the easy project I can get done in a weekend and so I like to watch Norm. But that's not the attitude of people who work at a very high level.

Norm has the show 1) because his kind of work appeals to a fairly large audience that can aspire to his skill level and 2) he is a television personality.

If you create a show displaying the a master craftsman, even an interesting personality, I doubt even PBS would pick it up because of a lack of viewership.

[Lowell Holmes]

I was privileged to attend the conference on making 18th century furniture at Williamsburg. The Headly brothers are true craftsmen. The furniture makers at Homestead Heritage are true craftsmen. There are others.

Norm is limited by the premise of his show. Occasionally a snippet of skill shows through that indicates there is a side of him that is not displayed. I think a lot of the protesters in this newsgroup that complain about Norm miss these subtle things that show occasionally.

It doesn't really matter, but it's just my 2 cents worth. OBTW, I consider myself to be an old duffer, but that doesn't mean I'm not a woodworker. :-)

[fredfighter]

Some Amish would. Natural wood paneling and trim is considered to be 'proud'.

Intersestingly, I've read that the ancient Greeks painted their statuary. Evidently one reason for using marble was that paint adhered well to it.

[Joe]

I often see things that seem hard to understand- just like Norm's rational for staining the table. The first time I saw a PT Cruiser I thought....."why would anyone want to drive around in that thing". I hear music that I cannot believe can be enjoyable to listen. People wear clothes that I would not be caught dead in - shoes too. If we all looked at a 12x12 sheet of blue paper we would (hopefully) all agree that its blue, but, are we all seeing exactly the same thing? Doubtful. Not understanding how Norm could stain the table is not understanding how different we all are. For sure, if we ran a focus group we would find that there would be two distinctive groups (maybe more) - those who prefer the table with stain and those would prefer it w/o.

[Brian Henderson]

But Norm never pretended to be a craftsman or an artist. His show appeals to the weekend handyman with a power tool fetish. People who want to produce art would watch David Marks or the like, that's not Norm's schtick.

The only thing I hate about NYW is watching Norm butcher antique wood that cannot be replaced. If he's just going to paint it or whatever, why not use wood that's easy to come by and give the antique, high-quality wood to someone who is going to make good use of it?

[Enoch Root]

The columnist spent way too many column-inches talking about

Must've been under a lot of pressure.

er

[Rich]

My point exactly!

[Max Mahanke]

[No]

As others have said - He can do what he wants.

For me - I would have either painted it or used the wood in the fireplace. I thought it was the ugliest wood I had ever seen!

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[Oleg Lego]

The Frank Arthur entity posted thusly:

Yes, and the watcher has the right to apply a twisting motion to the channel knob. I don't watch him any more. I think he's a hack.

[RicodJour]

You have to get out of your chair to change the channel?! You must be one of them fitness freaks. ;)

R

[B A R R Y]

What is this "channel knob" you speak of?

[CW]

constructor of

[Doug Payne]

Isn't that the person that gets outta the chair to change the channel?

[RicodJour]

I think he meant channel KNOB - probably a woodworking channel.

R

[D Smith]

From what I have hear, is is some sort of a mechanical analog device in which rotation results in changing electrical characteristics. At least, that's what they said. In reality, I think it has some belts and pullies inside that are strapped to a tiny fairy or gremlin, sort of like an old medieval torture rack. When the knob pulls them the wrong way, they have a remote control they can use to change the channel for you. I think the older remotes had very limited range, and wouldn't work over the usual couch-->TV distances in most homes, so they put it in the hands of the fairy/gremlin and forced them to do it. I think the method is contrary to most current labour laws.

[Michael]

That's what I said. But even so, it unnerves even us amateurs when he pulls out the nail gun or, heaven help us, the biscuit joiner.

[CW]

Yep, things should be made the old way. Junk your car, buy a Stanly Steamer. Trow out you stereo tuner. Built yourself a crystal set. These are from a time when things were built right. None of that modern crap. BTW, if you have any surgery planed, make sure to find a doctor that dopes you up on lognum first. Those modern anesthetics are crap. Make sure that he doesn't sterilize his instruments, wear a mask or use rubber gloves. All that stuff is more of that modern crap they just started doing to lower the quality. Don't forget to specify large needles and cat gut.

[Thomas Adams]

While working on a new home in a VERY high end area of Houston years ago I was shocked and awed at the owners den. It was all oak panels and the painter went to great lengths to pop the grain and stain it wonderfully. To give you an idea how exclusive an area, the servants quarters above the five car garage was over 2700 sq. ft. Anyway, the owner walks through checking out things and stops in the den. He looks perplexed. He calls the painter over and we all expect the painter to be congratulated on his wonderfull work. No. The owner says that he hates these squigly lines in the panels and to paint it black. We were all in shock. As was stated before, some have taste and some don't.