On Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 7:18:26 PM UTC-5, dpb wrote:

As another says, he started as carpenter and the projects weren't
intended as anything but what they were as beginning to intermediate
handyman projects for the amateur.

I have to agree with both of you. I just watched a couple of his videos. Season 1, episodes 1&2. You hit it on the head. It is a thirty year old video and the techniques and designs reflect that. The shop was cleaned out and not at all crowded. I got a real kick out of him using a radial arm saw, a drill press that I swear was a Shop Smith, and a Makita router with the badge taken off.

He made a shaker style medicine cabinet and it was a walk down memory lane. He NAILED the rails and stiles on the face of the cabinet (the way I was taught!)and had no brad nailer. He nailed till flush and then counter sunk the nail with a set.

He screwed the back of the cabinet on with 1" sheetrock screws. Instead of using nice (or decorative) hinges, he used a full door length brass piano hinge. He even pinned the corner of the door joinery with a couple of dowels, and ground them off with a belt sander. When finished, he rounded over the door edges with a hand held router, no table.

I have to say this, it sure made woodworking look "doable", and accessible. The finishing... well, he could have spent a day or so in the library to help that out.


Many (and, I'd wager of those who did, a very low percentage were truly
of markedly higher skill sets) wanted to judge as if he were building
high-quality reproductions or the like.

Yeah, I see that all the time. I started out as a trade carpenter that did everything from setting concrete forms to site building cabinets. When I go to an amateur's home, I find that the guys that have the MOST skills are the most humble and are almost shy about their efforts. I have seen a lot of good work from home shops over the years. But I have to bite my tongue around the braggarts that go on and on and on because they are so proud about their minimal skills and very few rudimentary projects.

Worse are the guys that think because the have spent a fortune on tools, it has somehow brought their skill level up to match the amount of money they have in those tools. With $20K in tools and a dedicated shop, they think they are experts. Coincidentally, almost without exception the guys that have the most money in tools and the most expensive tools seem to do very few projects. They sure like to talk about woodwork, cabinet building, and the things they are "thinking" about doing.

I remember when Norm came to Woodcraft as a promotion a couple of different times. The guys that hung around him for a bit and then took him to dinner said he was a really nice guy, soft spoken and polite. They did tell me on both trips the last thing he wanted to talk about was anything to do with woodworking.

Robert