April Wilkerson shop tour

[Mark Bolton]

Well, I'm gonna beat the epoxy thing to death because this thread has got me started

A couple of years ago, a Cadillac dealership in Calgary that had a huge (17' long) conference room table made of 2 walnut slabs joined with an epoxy pour in the middle. I was in the dealership about a year after & had a look at the table. They clearly take very good care of the place, but already the epoxy part looked like crap because of light surface scratches that left it looking hazy & awful. I'm sure it could be power polished, but who wants to go through that hassle every few months.

HAh. one of the ones that slipped through the cracks. Wonder what the cost of the table and the crane through the side of the building was. But yet there is no "follow up video" from those losers and they have likely foisted who knows how many other abortions on their paying customers. Yet "changing the channel" is the answer. lol. Oy vey. What have we become.

[Mark Bolton]

Mark, I have to say that I find that outlook a bit cynical. Maybe it's because I've worked for companies that don't really list pricing on their websites for such a long time that I am used to talking to folks who are interested until I tell them the price of a machine. But I never personally am offended by it. My reaction, as a businessperson, to the situation you mention is that either that business is not targeting the correct prospective customer or, perhaps that business needs to better hone their messaging so that that sales is spending time talking with clients who are potential customers rather than the wrong folks. Maybe just me but I never really see customers as the problem. I see my failures to adapt and reach them as the problem. Just my 2-cents.

Erik

Small shops can "hone" all they want. The term "hone" means shape your offering to cull the people that either cant afford, dont want, arenet looking for, what you want to make. The mere fact is the small job shop typically is willing to make anything the customer is willing to pay for as long as it doesnt compromise their integrity of quality or an acceptable level of warranty they can provide.

There is simply no way to include in your web site or google search criteria that "if your a youtube, pinterest, HGTV, dingbat dont dial our number". The conversation of things that defy the laws of what can be stood behind happen after initial contact. It is what it is. The mere point is a mass pushing a concept that simply wont work in the long haul. Its find to just make whatever they want and think you can walk away. But you cant... and I would guess any states attorney general would somewhat agree.

[Mike Cutler]

If she's not breaking any laws, exploiting people, or fraudulently misrepresenting a product, or her skillset. I wish her all the success in the world.
The things I have seen her make have been very utilitarian in nature, didn't require a great degree of rote skill, and demonstrated to people that they too could do it.
One thing that many of us that are older here may not be aware o, is how limited the creativity and skillset is of a lot of today's generation, April's generation.
They were never asked to be creative, they didn't have to be creative, and as time went on, more and more opportunities to become creative were slowly fading away. They then find themselves April's age, wanting to do something creative, or just on their own, and have absolutely no clue where to even begin. This is the demographic she has tapped in to. People that want to "do things", but have no idea how, or even where to start. Sadly, neither do their parents.
In Jr. High School and High School,I spent 5 years in woodshop classes, 2 years in mechanical drafting classes. One year in metals and metal fabrication, 3 years in electrical shop. A year in "Resins and Plastics" making frisbee's, and bongs, and other "art" type classes. These classes by and large no longer exist. Younger people were given no foundation upon which to build a creative skillset.So folks turn to You Tube for guidance. Some is good, some is bad.
If you have a skillset, and you can produce an engaging video that interacts with people, and gives them the confidence that they to can "do something", you will probably find a measure of success. Heck, I've probably watched the Engel's Coachwork videos at least twice. I have no need to ever make a wagon wheel, but after watching those videos, I think I can. Probably actually can't, but that isn't the point.
You Tube is the remaining avenue for DIYR's. Good, or bad, unfortunately.

[William Chain]

Reading a lot of thread, it would appear that envy has little to do with it. It certainly isn't for me. For me, it is general disapproval for how this works (call it showbiz if you like). As I said, Youtube and instagram, etc, are revolving doors of the same formula - someone pops up, drops the 'maker' card, and starts doing stuff. Enter the sponsor. They of course go yay and they slowly (or rapidly) but surely degrade into a 'content provider' as was termed here. The AW channel is infomercials at this point, a strong example. I'm reading the thread and the prevailing commentary is about astute business sense. I see little about talented woodworker. I'm looking for the latter, not the former in my preferred 'content'. Videos about all the free *&$# they acquired isn't entertaining or informative. Congratulations, you sold out and have free *&$#. It degrades from the people moving the craft forward as a few of the contributors termed it.

Case in point - there are at least two others on YT and Instagram that I'm thinking of now that started out with really cool pieces, videos on technique, and were generally cool to follow and watch. Enter the sponsors. Now they're all 'grizzly is the best evvuuurrr' and how many woodpecker squares can I get in one shot? Great. Two more of those. Truly moving the craft. Another one I used to like had an interesting home made jig. I asked a few questions about measurements and this and that. It was top secret state information. I said thanks anyway, I worked it out based on your photos, I like it. With that, I was blocked. Really? Truly moving the craft. Incidentally, now, over a year later, it's for sale. I would have bought one a year ago. Sure as *&#$ won't now.

I said before and I repeat - the sponsors ruin everything.

I think some of this is out of envy, which is unfortunate. Some of it is kinda well founded, in my opinion. If you watch a guy/gal financially struggle that does fantastic work and moves the craft forward in a meaningful way, but simultaneously observe someone on Youtube profit off the concept of the craft with their knick knacks, then i completely understand why you--the amateur with a passion for the craft--would harbor ill will towards the knick knack content producer. However, that's showbiz, baby.

[Ole Anderson]

failure at some point in the tables life is pretty much guaranteed inevitability

You may be correct about long term failure, I don't know. It may just be conjecture on your part, I don't know that either. Those that might be interested ought to see just how strong an epoxy river table can be. Blacktail Studio built one specifically to be able to test it to destruction. Which they did. Spoiler: The epoxy/wood joint did not fail as I would have expected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KQ...lacktailStudio

[Mark Bolton]

You may be correct about long term failure, I don't know. It may just be conjecture on your part, I don't know that either. Those that might be interested ought to see just how strong an epoxy river table can be. Blacktail Studio built one specifically to be able to test it to destruction. Which they did. Spoiler: The epoxy/wood joint did not fail as I would have expected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3KQ...lacktailStudio

Like I said, not really about epoxy table for me (the wilkerson thing) and I have zero concerns with the strength of epoxy. Its used in some of the most critical conditions in the marine and aerospace/carbon fiber industries. I use it for layups regularly. Bomb proof. The strength of the material and the bond to a proper surface is ballistic strong. Thats not the point. You post black tail, he has spoken in his videos about others (one of which is mentioned in this thread) and failures. Not strength failures, there will likely never be a mechanical collapse failure on even a $20k conference table, but the failures are moisture, cosmetic, delaminations/separation, etc.. No different than a finish failure with film finishes. Its not uncommon for people who work with epoxy and natural materials (artists and the like) to deal with this regularly. People encapsulate leaves, acorns, pinecones, all sorts of organic things (wood) and in time, its not uncommon for the bond between the two to fail for any number of reasons. It doesnt fall apart. But it looks like poop. I have several art pieces from a local artist I really like that suffer from some of these issues on a small scale. I have seen locally several small scale purchased and DIY that have suffered the same fate. The material WILL move over time there is no stopping it.

After all that, a log being dropped on a top is not the type of failure anyone will complain about. It will be the internal voids/blisters/bubbles that appear, the surface scratches that continually have to be buffed out or recoated because the material is soft. When you watch the nightly news look closely at those clear acrylic desks that are all over news media today. With 4K HD now you can see how horrible they look. Scratched, hazy, dull, being clear they show every little scuff. Now if you have the chance to get in a studio with some of them and see them in person they are a mess. And polycarbonate is a good bit harder than any epoxy pour.

[Ryan Yeaglin]

Ok, let's present this as it is. April is a pretty younger lady that does stuff, she has a you-tube channel and a lot of people watch her. Is she a super skilled wood or metal worker, NO. Does she promote making things with your own two hands, YES. The whole maker thing is a millennial deal, to make them feel empowered I guess. Sorry not a fan of grizzly tools, I feel they are not worth my money, Not that I own anything super fancy, just not into them and most of the other tools wanting big dollars being made over seas. If you want to become better at a skill; research it, read about it, find others to help guide you, and do a lot of it.

[Bob Jones 5443]

I wish someone would come onto the scene that put out 6-12 videos a year on making interesting pieces. Not cramming in new content every 2 days, because thats what gains subs, likes, views, and more sponsorship.

For a skilled craftsman who releases infrequent, inspiring YouTube videos of beautiful builds, check out Germán Peraire.

[Warren Lake]

already mentioned in the thread. Doucette and Wolf, off the map hand skills material selection at purchase and layout in the pieces.

[Tom Bain]

already mentioned in the thread. Doucette and Wolf, off the map hand skills material selection at purchase and layout in the pieces.

Doucette and Wolfe: 47k subscribers
April Wilkerson: 1.3 million subscribers

[Mark Hennebury]

Therein lies the rub: The majority of people "learn" woodworking from YouTube entertainers / sales people/ Product hustlers, not from experienced, knowledgeable woodworkers. And you can say that's great, the entertainers are just hard working business people tapping into a hungry market. You congratulate them on their success while ignoring the fact that many don't know what they are doing, and are spreading misinformation to a unsuspecting and gullible audience. Many of the gurus have very little knowledge and understanding or experience. some are just opportunist's, that have learned enough to bluff their way through knowing that they are appealing to an audience that knows less then them. Have you ever tried leaving a "negative" comment: you will find it gets deleted real quick.

I recently watched a demo video from a YouTube guru, A test was done was to prove how bad straight router bits were for template routing and how the spiral bits were safer and far superior: all it was was a slanted BS sale pitch for the sponsored spiral router bits. he has 500,000 subscribers. Does a biased test, tells them bad information, and everyone loves it and thinks that they learnt something. Another woodworker was advertising on Facebook that he was the "Premier custom furniture maker "in this region. so i asked him how he got the title, and my question was promptly deleted, and i was prohibited from posting any more comments. Those kinds of things might account for some of the anger directed at the YouTube stars by those that take woodworking seriously.
But hey....It's a free world and hustlers are allowed to take advantage of the gullible and ignorant.

Doucette and Wolfe: 47k subscribers
April Wilkerson: 1.3 million subscribers

[Jim Becker]

Regardless of the commercial motivation and entertainment appeal of content providers like April...if even one person who never did anything themselves is inspired to become a creator, I'm a happy camper. That's the concern I have with "us" being too critical of the projects, of the sponsorships, the "brand", whatever. Think about all the people that you know relatively well and how many of them do things like we do as a hobbyist. (yes there are many pros among us, but they are not the audience for the YouTube content being discussed in most cases) Some of us will have a larger number of family members, friends and acquaintances that are involved in creation or other similar activities, but many of us will recognise that so many people in our sphere just watch TV for fun. Consider the younger generations, too, since a large percentage of folks in this community are, um...more mature. How many of those folks that you know are actively involved in creating things or similar? Maybe if more folks watched this stuff, more would be involved in some way...

[Ole Anderson]

Regardless of the commercial motivation and entertainment appeal of content providers like April...if even one person who never did anything themselves is inspired to become a creator, I'm a happy camper. That's the concern I have with "us" being too critical of the projects, of the sponsorships, the "brand", whatever. Think about all the people that you know relatively well and how many of them do things like we do as a hobbyist. (yes there are many pros among us, but they are not the audience for the YouTube content being discussed in most cases) Some of us will have a larger number of family members, friends and acquaintances that are involved in creation or other similar activities, but many of us will recognise that so many people in our sphere just watch TV for fun. Consider the younger generations, too, since a large percentage of folks in this community are, um...more mature. How many of those folks that you know are actively involved in creating things or similar? Maybe if more folks watched this stuff, more would be involved in some way...

Well said Jim. Funny, but twice now I have penned a response to the naysayers but canceled it before posting as it would not fit what my father taught me: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

[Prashun Patel]

If you think pre-internet teachers of shop techniques and woodworking were best practice purveyors, I beg to differ. We used to be at the mercy of high school shop teachers, our dads or our neighbors. That was our internet. I can tell you some nightmare stories of things my son saw in his middle school shop. Now, at least he has - and avails himself of - the Internet.

If users are like me, they're not just watching one personality and saying "duh, ok, I'll do the same". They're watching 10 videos because they're all accessible, they have different levels of views, and they may want to know cheaper, alternate approaches to whatever problem they're solving.

I think we need to give students more credit and conventional hero teachers less.

[james manutes]

Well said Jim. Funny, but twice now I have penned a response to the naysayers but canceled it before posting as it would not fit what my father taught me: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

Me too , Ole . There seems to be a train of thought that one needs to follow a given path . Start as a hobby , build birdhouses and the like . A few years on graduate to simple furniture , throw in some mortise/tenons and some hand tool work . Eventually becoming a artisan and master woodworker , with all the skill/ knowledge one could ever desire . I think it's cynical to look at it that way in a world of Instagram , You Tube , Facebook etc. Everybody and almost everything is welcomed , and if you demand perfection you must seek it out . It's difficult to find , agreed . Putting work out there that's so-so , I think it's here to stay .