Norm Abram is Retiring
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First of all, congratulations to Norm on a well-deserved retirement!
Thanks for being the inspiration and giving me the confidence to try to do both home improvement and woodworking. I miss the 25 minutes I spend with you on Saturday mornings, and I have not found a suitable replacement.
You took me from someone who hung on every word and technique to someone who would question the technique you chose. Take this as a compliment as you taught me how to think through the challenges of the piece and come up with a solution.
Farewell my TV friend and mentor.
Thanks for being the inspiration and giving me the confidence to try to do both home improvement and woodworking. I miss the 25 minutes I spend with you on Saturday mornings, and I have not found a suitable replacement.
You took me from someone who hung on every word and technique to someone who would question the technique you chose. Take this as a compliment as you taught me how to think through the challenges of the piece and come up with a solution.
Farewell my TV friend and mentor.
Norm is awesome. He single-handedly inspired a generation of woodworkers.
On the other hand, guys like Russ Morash and Bob Vila are parasites sucking at the public broadcasting teat. After all, Morash fired Vila for trying to horn in on his gold mine, so Vila started his own scam. He had a stake in most of the projects on his show-if not all. As I recall the "banana house" belonged to his sister, which he never disclosed on the series.
The New Yankee Workshop existed on Morash's property. Those tools were his. Recall how there was always a prototype for each project? One of them wound up in Morash's house each time.
I'm not faulting profit from productions like those, I fault the use of PBS funding for personal gain.
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yes all true my friend.but morash was the creator and did deserve the reward.without his creative drive there would be no TOH today,nor new yankee workshop.villa was a leach that morash simply scrapped how his leg.villa was merely his puppet,not even a good one.i doubt he was missed by many.surely not by me -lol !
Morash was singularly responsible for all the home renovation programs that followed. Norm did the same for our hobby. Vila, in the early shows, was the glue that held it together. The direction TOH took was more to keep viewers returning, as the market for watching US knock drywall off walls was limited. The show that brought the early iteration to an end, was one where the homeowners claimed the show took over the project and in a direction against their wishes. What I remember from that time, was the homeowners were MIA and the show had to go on.
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If there were no This Old House or New Yankee Workshop, would we ever have VCG Construction or Stumpy Nubs?
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Bob seems to worth a lot more than Norm.I watch a lot of Bob's shows.and Norms. Enjoy both..
Personally I'd rather watch David J. Marks
Personally I'd rather watch David J. Marks
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2,642 Posts
Me too If I could get 30 million…
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You don't like VCG Construction or Stumpy Nubs?
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+1 on Marks.
I saw an interview where he said how much work it was to produce his show. Multiple prototypes to catch the process filming and all the time for setups, etc. Basically it took 100% of his time during the filming of all the episodes, which were done in continuous production.
Norm was easy to follow along with and I'm sure inspired a lot to try woodworking.
Marks was good for demonstrating the more advanced techniques and projects.
Norm would never show how to guild and patina a tall vase, though I'd bet he could do it.
I saw an interview where he said how much work it was to produce his show. Multiple prototypes to catch the process filming and all the time for setups, etc. Basically it took 100% of his time during the filming of all the episodes, which were done in continuous production.
Norm was easy to follow along with and I'm sure inspired a lot to try woodworking.
Marks was good for demonstrating the more advanced techniques and projects.
Norm would never show how to guild and patina a tall vase, though I'd bet he could do it.
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3,477 Posts
I always enjoyed Norm's New Yankee Workshop. On one of the programs, he built a farm table with turned legs. I ordered the plans and built the table with tapered legs instead of turned legs - it's been over 20 years and that table is still in regular use. My older brother and I would watch the program regularly, and we'd roll our eyes when Norm would do a dry fit to test before assembly, and of course, the joinery was perfect every time.
Norm, you can store your safety glasses away. Thanks for the shows and the teaching you shared on those shows.
Norm, you can store your safety glasses away. Thanks for the shows and the teaching you shared on those shows.
Stumpy Nubs is way off the mark quite often. He's a monetized video maker, not a source of the best information.
Case in point, he injured himself using a chainsaw wheel on an angle grinder. Instead of trying to find out what he did wrong, he did a series of those "Never use this product" videos. They got lots of views and made money for him, but it was totally off-the-mark.
He broke several rules regarding the use of those wheels, yet blamed the tool instead of himself.
If you doubt me, go watch his videos (I found three, there may be more), then watch the King Arthur Tool Company video where they explain how to properly use the product. You'll see clearly that it was he, not the tool, that is responsible for the accident.
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