Good Bye message on Newyankee.com

[Denny Rice]

they are all over the internet
I like the wood whisperer
Oh and by the way
I NEVER wear safety glasses

I am a guy when I was in my 20's and 30's who HATED safety glasses, but while working on my Ford Pick-up about 20 years ago, I put a metal shaving in my right eye while removing a exhaust system. I had to go to the E.R. and have the eye "put to sleep" so the doctor could remove the metal from my eye. Since then I have been a big "safety glasses guy". I will agree there is a lot of cheap and junk styles of safety glasses out there and most of them are very uncomfortable, but if you look around there are some you can put on and like me you forget you even have them on. I like the wrap-around glasses I have now they have a yellow tint to them and I can actually see better with them on than off.

[Cody Colston]

I NEVER wear safety glasses

Your eyes, your choice...but I think it's not a very smart one...and that comes from someone who is totally jaded from all the "safety" policies and practices that I'm subjected to at work. When I retire, I'm going to smack the first person who utters the word "safety" to me.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd also like to say that web or DVD videos do not even come close to replacing a great woodworking show like NYW. Maybe it's like Rob mentioned and just the ritual of watching the show at the same time and even seeing the same techniques demonstrated over and over.

I'd love to see a woodworking channel on TV but I doubt that it will ever happen. As woodworking-centric as our world is, we are just a small fraction of the television audience and probably will never command our own channel. Pity.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

The company I work for has supplied safety glasses free for the entire 23 years I've been employed here. About 3 years after I was hired, I was changing a light bulb ....looking up and the bulb broke....The only good thing was I was changing the bulb on a collimator on a piece of x-ray machine in a hospital. 300 yards down the hall I was in the ER and the glass was removed without incident or damage from my eye.

I wear safety glasses always.

[Tim Allaire]

I am in my early 30's and have been watching Norm since I was in my teens. He is the reason I am a woodworker. I still DVR all of his videos and will watch for years to come. My 2yr old watches with me today, Norm will be missed.

Tim

[Peter Aeschliman]

To me, Norm ran from genuinely inspired to outright stupid. I guess that's what made him so like-able, he's like the rest of us.

It's interesting you see it that way. One of my only criticisms of NYW is the fact that they seemed to work hard to make him seem like he never made errors. Every time he makes a mortise and tenon, it fits perfectly on the first try. I suppose you may be referring to the techniques he used rather than the results.

I think I learned a good deal from Norm on how to generally approach a certain methods of joinery. What I wished he had done more of is show how he fixes mistakes. I think that's why I really like The Wood Whisperer. Mark makes mistakes and he not only owns up to them by putting them in his shows, he shows you how he fixes them.

Norm's construction methods were very power tool based, which I assume is the approach beginners and average woodworkers use. And those beginners and average woodworkers (like me) make lots of mistakes. So we really could've learned a lot from Norm on how to avoid and fix them.

I know, NYW was limited to a certain amount of time for each episode so they couldn't spend a ton of time on that stuff...

Anyway, again, my only criticism. I loved that show and looked forward to seeing it on the DVR every week!

[Rick Levine]

Rod,
Actually I met Norm back in the early 90's at a home show.

Somebody asked about the tool belt/apron. It was a homage to his father. He was a framer I think and always wore one. He taught Norm and gave him his first tool belt. Norm continued to wear it out of habit and rememberence.

And I will continue to wear my tool belt in "homage" to Norm. Fortunately, I have two 80 gig Tivo hard disks full of NYW programs.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Peter, I always enjoyed watching Norm, I think he's been a great inspiration to many of us.

I've always detested his safety approach, I wish he had used guards on the table saw, there's no excuse not to. As an instructor that was just stupid on his part.

I also cringed every time he put a nail through the face of cabinet trim, or once again picked polyurethane as his finish of choice, so many other more suitable approaches.

On the other hand, I don't think Norm ever claimed to be a "Fine Woodworking" type of guy.

I think his great contribution wasn't the methods of work, it was just being a wood worker through the dark times of the late seventies/early eighties when wood working seemed to be in decline as a hobby.

In the seventies I found it almost impossible to purchase good hand tools, until Lee Valley came into being.

Now it's popular to be a wood worker again, although all I see at woodworking shows are middle aged grey haired guys like myself.

Perhaps we're all grey haired because Norm did such an outstanding job of inspiring a generation to become hobby wood workers.

Like I said, I'll miss the ritual of watching him every Saturday afternoon.

Regards, Rod.

P.S. I agree completely with your comments regarding fixing mistakes. I certainly make enough of them, and the recovery is the important part.

My FIL is a retired cabinet maker (English) and he always commented that amateurs make cabinets every bit as well as professionals, they just weren't as fast, or as good at hiding the mistakes.

[Denny Rice]

Just finished watching the good-bye on NYW website. What caught me by surprise more than anything was the PBS is going to re-run the last two years of NYW only?? Whats up with that? It took 20 plus years to build the show what it is today, I would think they would release more episodes than that.

[Rod Sheridan]

Perhaps the number of viewers is declining?

Regards, Rod.

[Jerome Hanby]

I imagine that Russ probably owns the show and is doing that strictly as a courtesy. I bet he has better plans to make money off the old shows. I'm hoping for a 20+ set of DVDs one for each year's episodes.

[Rod Sheridan]

I imagine that Russ probably owns the show and is doing that strictly as a courtesy. I bet he has better plans to make money off the old shows. I'm hoping for a 20+ set of DVDs one for each year's episodes.

That would make sense Jerome, might as well make money on all those old shows.

Regards, Rod.

[Peter Aeschliman]

But they better get them (the DVD's) on the market pronto to ride the wave of attention they're getting right now. If it takes them a year to get it together, I bet they won't sell as many copies.

[Mike Heidrick]

And I will continue to wear my tool belt in "homage" to Norm. Fortunately, I have two 80 gig Tivo hard disks full of NYW programs.

+1/2 (only one 80 gig)

90+ NYW
70+ Wood Works

[Joe Jensen]

To me, Norm ran from genuinely inspired to outright stupid. I guess that's what made him so like-able, he's like the rest of us.

I too watched NYW all the time. Ever since they started. In the Early days Norm and his helpers were a little clueless. He was air nailer crazy, and he nailed everything everywhere. Take a 24" wide piece of old growth pine, cut a top for an end table, and glue and nail it on all four sides. Over the years he learned that you had to account for wood movement and his designed progresses to account for that. He still like nails but at least he mostly puts them where you won't see them or the filler.

I saw him in Atlanta at the big WW show there like 10 years ago. He was already a big celebrity. They had one of the pieces done on the show there, and it made me feel better about my work. I'll just say that the resolution of the old non-HDTV video was good for that piece.

I will miss Norm too.

[Karl Card]

look on rocklers website. they have a contest going on, enter to win a trip to nyw and see norm in person... go figure