Newsgroups: rec.woodworking

(David Kosenko) writes:
>Jim Morgan writes:
>>Really, NYW is bad enough, but on Hometime they really go through projects
>>at lightspeed.  I don't see how anyone could learn much from watching.  I
>>wish these shows would slow down and discuss and demonstrate different ways
>>of doing things.  After all, we don't all own every tool known to mankind
>>(you listening, Nahm?).  Learning about new ways to use common tools
>>or novel ways of solving problems would be more useful to most people than
>>seeing the latest expensive squiblet flurbigator in action.  (Oh no!
>>I swore I wasn't going to add to _that_ thread!)
>
>While Norm does own just about every tool known to the human race, he is
>very thoughtful about using different methods to accomplish the same
>ends (for example, you'll see him making mortices with a router (some-
>times squaring the hole with a chisel, sometimes rounding the tenons with
>a rasp), with a mortising attachment for his drill press, and with a
>dedicated mortising machine).
>
>So all in all, I'd say all of your gripes (except the one about owning
>every tool) are completely unfounded.  IMO, Norm ALWAYS emphasizes the
>end result, and not the tool.  If you sit down and watch and listen,
>instead of just drooling over his tool collection and being torqued
>that his is bigger than yours, you just may learn some of the things
>you are asking for!


   I agree David.   I see a lot of criticism of Norm on this network,
   especially because he has a lot of tools.  But think about it, folks.
   It is television.   Norm is not your neighbor.    
 
   The program is not an expose of Norm Abram's personal life.  We have 
   no idea what tools Norm REALLY owns.  The New Yankee Workshop is a 
   fiction in the sense that it is put together for the purposes of producing 
   a TV show.   I don't believe that Norm has ever recommended that people 
   go out and buy all those tools.   Have you guys ever taken a woodworking 
   class at a local college?  Did you criticize the woodshop because it had 
   had "lots of tools"?   Were you upset that "So many different tools were
   used?"   Did the instructor recommend that you go out and buy ALL the
   tools in the shop for your own personal workshop? 

   Do y'all criticize Fine Woodworking magazine becuase a "lot of tools"
   are used in the articles?   That's about how rediculous it sounds to
   me to criticize Norm.

   Norm's show exposes the audience to a wide range of tools, and tries
   to show how each tool can be used in various projects.  I think he
   performs a service in doing so.

   The other thing is, how much can you talk about in 1/2 hour of TV?

   Really, I find that many times Norms quickly suggests something, and
   gives me an idea of an alternate way to do something, so I then experiment
   with a piece of scrap until I develop the method myself.

   Also, the original criticism that they go to fast, I think is invalid.
   Perhaps it would be valid if TV were the only source of information, however,
   anyone who is doing that kind of work ought also to be reading everything
   they can get their hands on, like FWW and Fine Homebuilding, and also 
   going to the library and reading everthing they can find on construction.

   If you don't have time to do anything but watch TV to learn about 
   woodworking and homebuilding, then you don't have time to do woodworking
   or homebuilding.   If only for safety reasons, you should do more 
   research than that.

   I personally never watched any TV about woodworking until just recently.
   I really find books and periodicals to be much more informative.