Norm interview

[John Gregory]

I thought this was a great interview with Norm. Runs almost 12 minutes. I found it very enjoyable and interesting. He explains why he has picked certain projects for the NYW. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.woodmagazine.com/woodvisi...id=28709435001

Thanks to Wood Magazine, one of my favorites woodworking magazines.

[Denny Rice]

Can you believe all that great furniture tucked away in a warehouse! That warehrthouse is worth some serious cash on the open market. A Norm orginial, whats that worth?

[Mitchell Andrus]

A Norm orginial, whats that worth?

...depends on how many brads had been used during its construction, and how thick the polyurethane is..
.

[Adam Cavaliere]

You forget biscuits, or depending on the season, glue!

[Thomas S Stockton]

I'm not sure Norm's furniture would be worth all that much on the open market. The people most interseted in his work are other woodworkers who can purchase the plans and make it them selves. He doesn't have any standing in the fine craft/art market since he doesn't do original work, so that won't fly.
The way Norm's work would be worth would be to tie it to a PBS fundraiser/pledge drive that way you might be able to pull in some big spenders who would be more willing to spend big because they want to support PBS.
100 years from now it would probably be a hot commodity in the antique market.
Tom

[Matt Meiser]

I bet there are a pretty good number of fairly well off armchair woodworkers who watch NYW.

[Ed Bamba]

I get the sense that some of those pieces aren't the one's Norm built. Note the white gloves he has on when touching the furniture. I don't think he would be worried (to that degree) about the pieces he made. I could be wrong though.

Ed

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've been watching Norm since his first days on This Old House. New Yankee Workshop took on some real importance to me 8 years ago when I broke my back and laid flat on the floor for 3 months. I didn't find too much TV that had any real quality other than TOH and NYW. When I was allowed to get up and go back to work, besides the doctor prescribed physical therapy, I needed something else. So ..using plans I designed in my head, I built an minature octagon gazebo (7' tall) patterned after the Norm's gazebo to get my wife's concrete geese off the front steps. Then, just for fun, I ordered a set of plans from NYW and built my first piece of furniture. The LOML who is older than I and could have retired ...was so impressed...she bought me a new table saw and hired a contractor to build the shell of my shop. I did the electrical, finishing etc. She continues working today to make those monthly shop payments.

Norm really had a big effect on my life. I could probably have found a medical excuse to retire following my back breaking incident. Norm gave me, a novice furniture builder (I'd worked for a contractor and helped build houses and wooden playgrounds) inspiration. You can argue all day whether he or David Marks is best....Who cares? They each have their own style and I have a huge respect for both of their talents.

As surely as I'm getting ready to pay out 10's of thousands of dollars for dental work....I could find a couple of thousand for a Norm original...just for sentimental reasons. 8 years later, I am working and walking ....and he surely helped get me there......

[Cody Colston]

I could say a lot about Norm's detractors and their reasons but instead, I'll just say that Norm inspired me to take up woodworking. I realize that his methods aren't appreciated by everyone and that there are many fine woodworkers whose skills exceed Norm's but I doubt there are any who have had a bigger impact on the craft.

I have no doubt, either, that a Norm Abram original piece of furniture would be highly valued and sought after. The man and his show, The NYW are a piece of Americana that is enjoyed by millions, not just woodworkers.

[Dave Lehnert]

Say what you will about Norm. He made woodworking what it is today. We would not have all the tools available today if it were not for him.
Who in the world would have purchased a biscuit jointer if we had not seen one in use on TV.
Would David Marks have a TV show if the New Yankee Workshop were not so successful ?????

[Rob Damon]

I have watched NYW for as long as I can remember and even the Woodwright show. Two of my favorites. I could have stayed up working until 4:00am on Friday night, but would still pop out of bed at 7:30am to catch the NYW.

Regardless of his level of work, nobody can deny his influence on woodworking..

Ask anybody out on the street if they have heard of the New Yankee Workshop and Norm Abrams, and I will bet 9 out of ten will say yes. Ask those same people if they have heard of David Marks or even Sam Maloof and 99 out of 100 people will say "Who?" and the 1 out of 100 is a woodworker or somebody who has bought their furniture.

Before I started to puruse the internet woodworking sites a few years ago, I had never heard of David Marks or Sam Maloof.

They took him off the air a few weeks back on our local cable channel. It's just not the same on Saturday mornings anymore.


Rob

[Dan Friedrichs]

Can you believe all that great furniture tucked away in a warehouse! That warehrthouse is worth some serious cash on the open market. A Norm orginial, whats that worth?

I don't think any of that is Norm's - he's a trustee of the Old Sturbridge Village museum, so I believe that was the museum's warehouse of antiques, and Norm was showing the ones he modeled his works after.

[Denny Rice]

Why does a guy like Norm that has done so much for the woodworking industry as a whole, catch so much flack on this forum? Usually when he creates something and uses a brad or two its for the purpose to suppport the project until the glue joint dries. Usually its hidden in a place no one will ever see it. I didn't know I was in a forum with men and women that are so much better than Norm. How many of you have your own TV show or are a master carpenter? Just wondering.

[Curt Harms]

I could say a lot about Norm's detractors and their reasons but instead, I'll just say that Norm inspired me to take up woodworking. I realize that his methods aren't appreciated by everyone and that there are many fine woodworkers whose skills exceed Norm's but I doubt there are any who have had a bigger impact on the craft.

I have no doubt, either, that a Norm Abram original piece of furniture would be highly valued and sought after. The man and his show, The NYW are a piece of Americana that is enjoyed by millions, not just woodworkers.

Well Said!! As far as some of Norm's techniques, they have evolved over the years. His early finishing attempts were pretty 'basic'. Some of his later efforts were fairly involved like the chair patterned on ones from the Pennsylvania craftsman with multiple painted layers & effects and some where he brought in "friends" to help. It seems like brad guns and biscuit jointers are less prominent in recent seasons. I was in the Revere, MA. original Woodworker's Warehouse when they were a show sponsor. They said they could always tell when Norm used a new gadget on the show--sales of that gadget would spike the next week.

[Phil Thien]

I'm not sure Norm's furniture would be worth all that much on the open market.

I think you'd be surprised what that stuff would go for at a New York/Boston auction house, even if PBS wasn't the benefactor.