Replies

1. 
   garyowen | Mar 17, 2010 08:07pm | #1

   Hi cts, he was probably a bit thinner also, as Joe Walsh said,  "Life’s Been Good So Far”, by Norm and  “Thanks For The Memories”.  garyowen

2. 
   forestgirl | Mar 17, 2010 10:51pm | #2

   The Unifence.....

   I stopped watching Norm on a regular basis about 3 years ago, when I dove back into the horse world.  But the "old steel fence" -- which is the Unifence (and unfortunately aluminum) -- caught my attention, with its ability to slide toward the operator and become a half-fence, and to flip down and become a short fence.   Seeing him use it gave me the appreciation I needed to grab that used Unisaw when it showed up on Craig's List awhile back!!

1. 
   AZMO | Mar 17, 2010 10:55pm | #3

   Time to stop Horsin around and get back to work on that Uknee! Watcha made lately?

   AZMO,

   Who is in the middle of shop season,  waiting for the Death Heat Rays to descend and turn him back into a Sketchup pro, instead of shop junkie.

2. 
   bduffin104 | Mar 18, 2010 02:48am | #4

   Did you say Horses?

   
3. 
   RonInOttawa | Mar 21, 2010 05:51pm | #9

   I watched the latest "repeat"

   I watched the latest "repeat" episode yesterday, #112.  He was building a drop-front desk.  Several things jumped out at me. . .all of them reminded me how much he changed his working methods over the years. I think it might have been the first episode which featured a brad gun.  Also, he was cutting tenon cheeks by running them upright against the rip fence, holding them against the fence with his hands (shiver!).  The fence was the original Unisaw fence which rode on round tubular rails. He used the router without hearing protection, and his dado blade was the old wobble type. His old radial saw looked like a Craftsman and he actually finished a cut with a backsaw!  That said, the finished desk looked to be functional and he still had all his fingers.

   I miss Norm, and I'm looking forward to the replacement show.

   Regards,

   Ron

3. 
   GRW | Mar 18, 2010 08:09am | #5

   I agree

   Tom,

   I've said here before that I thought Norm used too many costly and uncommon tools

   that most weekend warriors don't/can't have.  I've seen a couple of shows in the past month

   or two and have noticed that he is working with common shop tools and stayed away from his

   large panel sander. It was nice to see. Hope this trend continues.

4. 
   dboetb | Mar 18, 2010 09:52am | #6

   I watched the New Yankee Workshop every Saturday for years then gave up trying because the local PBS station was constantly preempting the show with pledge drives and special features then when it was on it was usually the reruns from the season before.  Now we have a new PBS channel called Create and I finally have a chance to watch all the shows I had missed.  I am also happy to see the NYW web site is showing episodes online and you’ll find me in front of my PC watching them on Sunday afternoons.

   I think the hand tool augments are unjust for if one remembers back to the time when NYW came on the air power tools were the in thing and how many of us didn’t ran out to buy Craftsmen power tools during that time.   It was such a big thing to own power tools we used to brag about how much power our tools had, it became a real competition among us woodworkers just as it is today to brag about the LN plane we just purchased.  It got so big that Tim Allen started a show called Home Improvement that made fun of all of us and our power tools.

   When Norm came on we watched because we wanted to learn and it was the first time some one had not talked down to us nor did he threaten use by is attitude.  He was in all reality the shop teacher we all wished we had.  He taught us things, he made us think, and yes he showed us how to use power tools, what so bad about that?  You could almost say he was the Mrs. Rodgers of woodworkers and will be remembered for many years as being the guy on TV who inspired so many people to get into woodworking.

   I didn’t think anyone can deny that.

   Don

5. 
   RalphBarker | Mar 18, 2010 02:20pm | #7

   I always thought the half-hour format was too short. It prevented Norm from getting into some details that would have been very instructive, and it forced glossing over some operations that might have created safety issues for those who didn't "Read and understand . . . " A full-hour format would have been much better, and wouldn't have encroached too much on those deadly-boring 3-hour self-help programs that seem to be so popular on PBS. But, 30 minutes of woodworking was better than nothing.

6. 
   bones | Mar 18, 2010 02:32pm | #8

   those were the days

   I loved Norms show and watched it pretty much from the beginning.  I have to admit the last two seasons did not do it for me though.  The whole season on kitchen cabinets were cool, I'm just not in to kitchen remodels.   This year with just a do over from the past (reruns) that I'd seen already.  I will miss him though and yes he had tools (and no surprise Delta since the sponsored him), but what a dream job.  Making stuff on TV for 20 twenty years with the tools provided   For those that hate him, I do beleive it was tool envy :) I loved rewatching some of those old ones where he had a makita cordless drill, the lamelo that I always wanted.  I have a few of his projects on vhs that were great, and to this day i have not bought project plans as well written.   I would love to go back and watch them all over.  

7. 
   ctsjr | Mar 24, 2010 08:52pm | #10

   Jamie, it wasn't a unifence, it was the old parallel sided steel fence.  I never could keep up with Norm changing out the fences.  I remember he went to a Biesmeyer, and then the unifence, and seemed to switch back and forth between them.  The show I watched was obviously before he was inundated with tools from sponsors and fans of the show.  What I always appreciated about Norm was he would show you several different ways to do the same task, so if you didn't have all the tools he did, you could still accomplish the same task.  Hope you are weathering the winter ok.  Tom