New Yankee Workshop (2023 Update)

[nailshooter41]

I have to agree with both of you. I just watched a couple of his videos. S eason 1, episodes 1&2. You hit it on the head. It is a thirty year old vid eo and the techniques and designs reflect that. The shop was cleaned out an d not at all crowded. I got a real kick out of him using a radial arm saw, a drill press that I swear was a Shop Smith, and a Makita router with the b adge taken off.

He made a shaker style medicine cabinet and it was a walk down memory lane. He NAILED the rails and stiles on the face of the cabinet (the way I was taught!)and had no brad nailer. He nailed till flush and then counter sunk the nail with a set.

He screwed the back of the cabinet on with 1" sheetrock screws. Instead of using nice (or decorative) hinges, he used a full door length brass piano h inge. He even pinned the corner of the door joinery with a couple of dowel s, and ground them off with a belt sander. When finished, he rounded over the door edges with a hand held router, no table.

I have to say this, it sure made woodworking look "doable", and accessible. The finishing... well, he could have spent a day or so in the library to help that out.

Yeah, I see that all the time. I started out as a trade carpenter that did everything from setting concrete forms to site building cabinets. When I g o to an amateur's home, I find that the guys that have the MOST skills are the most humble and are almost shy about their efforts. I have seen a lot of good work from home shops over the years. But I have to bite my tongue around the braggarts that go on and on and on because they are so proud abo ut their minimal skills and very few rudimentary projects.

Worse are the guys that think because the have spent a fortune on tools, it has somehow brought their skill level up to match the amount of money they have in those tools. With $20K in tools and a dedicated shop, they think t hey are experts. Coincidentally, almost without exception the guys that ha ve the most money in tools and the most expensive tools seem to do very few projects. They sure like to talk about woodwork, cabinet building, and th e things they are "thinking" about doing.

I remember when Norm came to Woodcraft as a promotion a couple of different times. The guys that hung around him for a bit and then took him to dinne r said he was a really nice guy, soft spoken and polite. They did tell me on both trips the last thing he wanted to talk about was anything to do wit h woodworking.

Robert

[Leon]

Yeah but if you are actually selling your work and or trying to make a living you would be using a nail gun too. I do. ;~)

While not using a nail gun or similar short cut tool is nothing any of us want to do, it saves time and time is.......money..

[Leon]

Agreed

It was the stains that were almost opaque over cherry or walnut that made me cringe. He may as well have used poplar to begin with.

I was always interested in all of his projects up to finishing, he did a great job on the vast majority.

[dpb]

On 6/20/2018 8:29 AM, Leon wrote: ...

Again, that depends on what one is building for what target market. Christian Becksvoort doesn't... :)

[Leon]

LOL. And as soon as I hit send I thought of a few too. I might throw in the stickler that if making "spec" inventory furniture you might not use the brand or pinner gun. When a customer is saying OK, now that we have agreed on the design and price, when can you deliver...

I sell 90% of my work as ordered. I'll use my pinner or my brad nail gun to attach a gusset or reinforcement under a drawer, until the glue dries. ;~)

[dpb]

Sure. The point is that Norm on NYW wasn't building fine furniture but doing home hobbyist projects...and custom cabinet making isn't the same market, either, however well executed.

To complain of Norm and the brads is just missing the complete nature of the beast and simply illustrates ignorance on the side of the complainer, not a fault in Norm's technique.

Now, one could, if one so chose, take the basics of a project plan and execute it with appropriate modifications for authenticity and technique and turn it into something else, but that wouldn't be for the same audience at all.

[Michael]

Beautiful work. Would you say these side stands are made of cherry? They a re on my to do this summer. Thanks!

[hubops]

Crikey ! Do people actually pay those prices ?

I can maybe see such high prices on more time-consuming styles of furniture that have carving or inlay ... or exotic wood .. I don't really see it .. even doing hand-cut joinery. John T.

[dpb]

...

Yes, I'm sure it is.

He is perfectionist in all things including selection of the materials and matching grain, etc.

While not the only wood he uses; it is his stock-in-trade.

[dpb]

You have to see and feel one of his pieces to fully appreciate; pictures don't do justice to the "fit and feel".

And, say he has a busy year and builds 30 pieces at an average of $4,000 each -- that still only grosses $120,000/yr and in ME to heat the shop over the winter will take half that! :)

[hubops]

I don't doubt that it's very nice hand-made furniture .. I just don't move in the social circles where anyone knows anyone who would pay $ 6 grand US < almost $ 8 grand Canadian > for that "computer table " .. .. and then have to go shopping for a chair ! :-) If I were to ask around here - I'm guessing that the local craftsmen would maybe charge $ 1200 to build one - certainly $ 2000. would do it.. John T.

[dpb]

...

He's been 40 years in building the reputation that will support the present, too. Certainly the reputation and being well known through the association with Fine Woodworking hasn't hurt in getting all that national advertising for the price of writing an article while he builds a piece so that his potential client pool is hugely wider than a local without said vehicle; website or no.

Met him and saw some of his work years ago at a juried show; even for "the trained professional" his work is out of the ordinary in execution.

[russellseaton1]

Haven't you been paying attention to the news recently. Trump's secretarie s are ordering $30,000 dining tables and $75,000 office doors. So $6,000 f or a computer table would be scoffed at. Now I realize the politician's us e of "free" government money to pay for this furniture may affect things.

[Leon]

Well yes they do... I never had any problem selling my work and my pieces went in the $2000~$5000 range. There are still some people that realize this furniture from Ikea will probably not be passed down for generations.

[hubops]

I gotta call foul when you compare the people who buy and appreciate solid wood, hand-made furniture - .. with the people who go to Ikea. Two different species, in my experience. John T.

[Scott Lurndal]

There is a market for it, see for example:

Pretty stuff, but pricey.

[dpb]

On 6/20/2018 6:16 PM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

I think that was _exactly_ the point Leon was making...there are some who do know the difference and, more importantly, care.

[J. Clarke]

That particular item while it looks nice doesn't really appeal to me. While my work computer would fit in that drawer, normally I use it with two 21" monitors that while they will fit on that table will also fit on any other table of reasonable size, so I see nothing computer-specific about it. And my home setup has a 40" which would take up most of the top.

[krw]

And willing to pay for heirloom quality furniture. No idea if the kids will have the same tastes, however. ;-)

[dpb]

We generally have a view of the early colonial furniture makers as being "one-off" craftsmen turning out every piece lovingly ... reality was "not so much" :)