Why I hate Norm Abrams

[David Nebenzahl]

Well, I don't personally hate him. Don't even know the guy.

But that's the title of the latest piece by one of my favorite columnists in the /Berkeley Daily Planet/, Matt Cantor, local owner of a home-inspection business who writes a weekly column on home repair and maintenance.

Here's a sample:

I do genuinely hate these specific shows: "Hometime," "This Old House" and "The New Yankee Workshop." I hate them for one simple reason: they make most people feel like idiots. Even if a show only demonstrates how to build a basic chest of drawers, it does a lousy job of preparing the average Joe or Joan for the task. In the end, the show provides nothing more than boutique shopping and showing off. I suppose that would be a lot of fun if you only want to learn that you?as a homeowner or stock broker or bank clerk?know nothing about houses or furniture or nails and that you?ll never stand a chance of doing more than hanging a picture on the wall.

On shows like these, the jobs are made to look so darned easy. All the materials are waiting for assembly and nothing is spoiled, the wrong type or missing. The air gun never misfires and the compressor never needs to be drained (yes, you have to drain compressors daily because they fill up with water and will rust out if you don?t do so). That?s another thing I hate: in actuality, there are many small details that fill a contractor?s day (or your day when you play contractor) but they?re neatly edited out, just as they are in a cooking show. Just pop the raw one in the oven and Voila, the new freshly baked one comes right out of the other oven.

(See article at

[Leon]

Well, don't take this personally but for many of us the shows are equal to or shallower to our learning curve. Basically we get ideas or learn how to do a specific detail. We don't need to see the mistakes, we have that part covered. I feel that if the shows start with identifying the difference between a board and a screw that 99.9% of the viewers would get bored very soon. Take the "Router Workshop" for instance, same old routine over and over and over and over..... Then I get fixated on the "knot" on the old man's head and all I remember from that point is RRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr, bla bla bla, rrrrrrrr, bla bla bla...... I believe for our society to gain knowledge and advance intellectually that we should always challenge ourselves. I don't like the idea of dumbing down a class or instructional video to the lowest common dominator of it's students intelligence level. If the show seems a bit too advanced, take a look at the other 95% of what is showing on the DIY channel or watch a reality show.

[JIMMIE]

They are definately not woodworking for dummies shows but I get a lot of good ideas from them. Most of us know it is going to take all day to do one step in his .project that it takes 5 minutes to do on TV. That is just just the reality of DIY hobby woodworking. Hell it took me 4 months to build my wife a cedar chest. Now my daughter wants one and expects me to have it built over a weekend. Now thats the problem with those shows. I t gives unrealistic ideas to those who want you to use your woodworking skills for them.

Jimmie

[PDQ]

In news:Xns9C70AD80237EDRedGreen@216.168.3.70, Red Green dropped this bit of wisdom:

We got one on H&G.

It's called "Holmes on Homes".

He is always dumping on the previous "contractor" who either didn't = finish of screwed up royally but still managed to make off with a ton of = money.

P D Q

[PDQ]

You probably can get it built over a weekend.

Just don't tell her which one. LOL

P D Q

[ransley]

Its a Show, you are to only get ideas from it, or do you think they should spend alot of their time scraping paint, taping, cutting etc, then it would be boring and off tv. I bet they make a very good living, and thats why they do it.

[notbob]

I don't know about that.

That's my bitch. Let's make a box. Here, we have my new nuclear powered, laser guided, atomic clock timed, whiz bang hand saw........ The last episode of This Old House I watched, in disgust, a huge crane and crew of 10 lowered pre-stressed concrete walls into the basement of the rustic cabin, which they had apparently completely dismantled and stored away in a climate controlled warehouse, somewheres. And Yankee Workshop. "Today we will show you how to construct and use this pre-Columbian horse drawn hand plane........"

That was the old PBS stuff. Today's DIY is much better. I tuned in for the much needed "deck" episode. "Here's the old deck. Sucks, doesn't it. Here's our crew of twenty. Look at'em go! Done. Tune in next week" WTF!

I get more info here, in a day, than I got from years of watching those useless shows.

What I've been looking for, and have only been teased, is a dead simple, dirt cheap, outdoor woodfired bread/pizza oven. Apparently the Ancients could build millions of them for centuries using only dirt, water, spit and elbow grease, but for some reason, now it's utterly impossible with anything short of $1500 worth of brick and mortar and another $129 for plans. Not sure if I need the whiz bang hand saw.

nb

[Tim Daneliuk]

What do you expect? It's Berkeley, where the odds of using any tool for its intended purpose (as opposed for deviant sexual practices between consenting gophers) is next to nothing. They are good at "building" Molotovs and joints there, I have to admit ...

[John Grabowski]

*I've seen at a couple of festivals in NJ a restored 1930's truck with a wood fired pizza oven mounted on back. The guy makes delicious fresh gourmet pizza. I can't remember the name of the company.

[Kevin]

First off I don't think it's fair to lump Hometime in with TOH. The latter no longer offers any educational value whatsoever while the former does a pretty good job. And they have even spent time showing how to assemble knock down cabinets, so if that's over their heads then please don't ever let them touch a hammer. In any case the idea is really to give the homeowner some idea of what goes on so they are better able to ask the right questions of the pros, not necessarily to make them able to do it themselves.

Norm, well I doubt I would be where I am today if it weren't for him. Sure everything always goes swimmingly for him, and really you learn the most from your mistakes and by never showing anything going wrong that opportunity is never presented. As the saying goes, the difference between an amateur and a pro is the pro knows how to fix his mistakes. But for the format of the show it just isn't feasible.

There's a lot of accumulation of knowledge that has to happen. If Norm makes it look easy and people try and give up, that really isn't Norm's fault. But if he gives you a look at what is possible and you find your own way from there, that's a good thing. There's a lot of well equipped shops out there with everything but someone who knows what to do with it, but that's true of every hobby.

-Kevin

[jo4hn]

[snip]

As has been written here many times, Norm probably didn't frighten Maloof or Krenov a whole lot. We all wince when the glue bottle, the brad nailer, or the poly brush come out, but he probably had more influence on the popularity of hobby woodworking than anybody. Even if a fan never brandishes a jig saw in anger, there can be an appreciation of the effort (and talent) involved involved in making a decent bench or dresser and that can't be bad for those trying to make a buck.

mahalo, jo4hn

[Dave Balderstone]

Have you seen this one?

Lots more:

(no bricks!)

[Jon Danniken]

LOL, those were my thoughts exactly. Someone from Berzerkely finding something to whine about, yeah, why am I not all that surprised?

Jon (who also enjoys watching NASA launch rockets into space, and doesn't feel that incompetence should be encouraged to make idiots feel better about themselves).

[notbob]

LOL......

You kid, but.... My late brother, a master carpenter, DID put a 16 box through the last 3 fingers of his hammer hand w/ a nail gun. Amazingly, missed all bones. He was hand hammer framing within a week.

nb

[notbob]

I can imagine the materials bill for either of them.

Now this is more like it. I'll definitely check out both sites, specially the masonary heater site. Thank you.

nb

[Lew Hodgett]

Trying to lump the NYW with the rest of these DIY operations is like trying to compare a VW bug with a race car.

Personally I wouldn't consider building more than maybe 20% of Norm's projects; however, every one of his projects illustrates at least one new method to solve a problem that is unique.

The specialized fixtures, and some very interesting problem solutions using a lathe, are just a couple of things that come to mind.

Yes, that damn brad nailer drives me nuts, yes he is dangerous with a paint brush in his hand, but the shows are well written, the camera work is quite good and the plans I have purchased were complete and quite useful.

OTOH, most of the rest of these DIY shows are little more than shills for the remodeling industry or totally inept wood butchers.

Lew

Te

[sbnjhfty]

Mother Earth News has plans on how to do this.

[DGDevin]

This really misses the point. Shows like TOH aren't meant to provide all-encompassing A-Z instruction for people who have never held a hammer in their entire lives, that's probably not possible on TV as there are too many things people have to experience themselves to really understand. They know there are some things we'll pick up quickly (that's why they have experts who coach the homeowners through the basics) while there are more complicated jobs aimed at those who already know the difference between a jigsaw and a drill press.

Watching a video isn't a substitute for having the tool in your own hands and learning how to use it via the time-honored method of making mistakes. TOH and similar shows provide ideas to people with some experience of using tools, with tips and guidance to made the job easier, and frankly with inspiration--"Hey, I think I could do that." Expecting such a show to teach someone how to tie their shoes and wipe their nose is ridiculous, that isn't the purpose. Anyone who has done household repairs and upgrades knows it will take a lot longer and involve a few mistakes as compared to a TV show, who believes otherwise?

NYW is a whole different animal, it's aimed at people who already have a garage full of tools and some idea of how to use them--that Norm appears on both shows is irrelevant. Seriously, who expects things to go together as easily as Tommy or Norm make it look? What a misplaced complaint, but if the guy gets paid to write such foolishness I suppose he's laughing all the way to the bank.

[notbob]

Not as detailed as I could wish, but enough to give me solid ideas in right direction. Thank you.

Funny you should find it in MEN. I read that magazine for years after its first issue. Musta given away a few hundred copies. Glad that stuff is online.

nb

[Metspitzer]

I hope the DIY's come out on the Internet. I have already seen some pretty useful ones.

What I really want to see is something you have to bring home and assemble that comes with a link where you can watch the assembly of the exact product on the Internet.