Goodbye to the New Yankee Workshop
Well, I suppose it had to happen eventually. I just received word from various sources, including Popular Woodworking and Wood Magazine, that Norm is retiring from the New Yankee Workshop. Say it isn’t so Norm!!!
Regardless of how you feel about his work methods and tool choices, you can’t deny the influence he has had on the woodworking community. I used to even watch Norm before I knew the difference between a pin and a tail. And its guys like Norm that paved the way for a goober like me to create our show. So here’s a big thank you to someone who I consider to be one of the greats: Norm Abram. This will make it all the more special when I break out the Halloween Norm-O-Lantern this year.
Comments
55 Responses to “Goodbye to the New Yankee Workshop”Speak Your Mind and Maybe Win a Prize!
Leave a comment and you could be a winner in our Wood Whisperer Giveaway!And if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Check it Out!
Premium Membership
Keep Up With TWW!
Shop our Affiliates
Latest Video
Proud to be Sponsored By:
Support our Advertisers
Saturday mornings will feel a little empty now…but maybe this opens up a time slot for the W.W. on more pbs stations?
Fair winds and following seas, Norm. It’s been a great journey. Thanks for being our guide.
Gone but not forgotten. I watch NYWS every week. I’m always learning something. However, the PBS station I watch him on (Create) shows re-runs. I can’t remember seeing a repeat of NYWS more than once or twice. So I know unless the Create channel stops showing re-runs, I’ll be seeing many more in the months and years to come.
When one door closes another opens. I say there’s a need for a new generation of woodworking on TV… anyone know of someone that would be good?
I feel like I have lost a dear friend. My two sons (since they were two), loved watching this with me on Saturdays. We will miss him dearly.
Maybe not an artist in wood, but always a professional, and always a nice guy. Just the kind of person you want to live next door to.
DD
I am going to admit something rather astonishing…. I have never seen an episode! Not that I don’t want to, I’ve just never had the chance. Is there someplace online that I can watch episodes?
I had a feeling this might happen when they decided to reshow seasons 9 and 10 this past year instead of producing new episodes. But I’m still saddened by the news. I wish Norm the best and thank him for his instruction and for making me think I could build stuff.
It’s definitely sad to see Norm go. I’ve only been watching him for the past couple of years (many of which have been re-runs), but I’ve enjoyed them and learned a lot. I’ve built up a nice little collection on my DVR, and hope to get some of the episodes I’ve missed in the last 21 years. He always seemed so down-to-earth, and I feel that he definitely played a big part in my start into the world of woodworking. I think even my wife will miss laughing when he says, “Now we’re ready for some assem-bl-y.”
Wow, It was watching this show that made me decide to try woodworking. And I agree with Doug more Marc on PBS, we should start a campagin!
Good Luck Norm. I’ll catch you on This Old House.
Well what can I say, Norm spoke to the less learned thats why I watched.He made me think that I could do what he did.I will miss him greatly.I am working with wood right now because of Norm. Now we carry on and make own legacy.
Thanks Norm!
You will be missed.
Norm was a big influence on me. Here the show ran on PBS on Saturday afternoon. For years I had Norm on at 4:00. I have two books and my workbench is from I think his second or so episode. I’m a big fan.
To all you Norm haters out there. Norm has brought more people into the woodworking scene than any one person in the history of woodworking. I hate to see you leave Norm , but leave knowing you have been good to the art. I wish you God Speed.
Robert
NYW was fun to watch when i first got into wood working, I just wish Norm had done a little more intermediate or advanced woodworking from time to time.
If a WW petition exists, let me know where I will sign it.
-Dan
Damn!
Double-damn!
Thanks for all the great shows Norm. I feel sick to my stomach now. I think we should all stay our of our shops this weekend to pay tribute to him. Then first thing Monday morning, start sending emails that Marc take over the show. It would be a little odd seeing him in a flannel shirt, but he could get used to it. How could someone not like Norm?
I thought that Norm was planning to retire when he did a
season of “best of” reruns. My son and I have been watching Norm on NYWS every Saturday morning since he was little. The agreement was that he could watch Saturday morning cartoons, and I could watch the NYWS, which he always referred to as the New “Icky” Work Shop when we changed channels away from the cartons.
I really think Norm should retire from This Old House and
work in his rather fabulous wood shop.
I think this year we all seen this coming but in
our woodworking hearts we were hoping for a new
Birth and ten more seasons.
Thank You Norm
Job well done. Good luck on your retirement. Fair winds and following seas.
Jerry
flannel will never be the same…
I’d say offer up a 21 brad nailer salute, but that might be dangerous. I had personal ups and downs with TNYW, but it was my own misconceptions and issues, not his. A well deserved retirement, Norm, best wishes. You took hobby woodworking to at least 5 new levels in your multi-decade tenure. Congrats!
I didn’t know that people had issues with Norms methods or tool choices? Considering there are several methods, tools and techniques to build furniture, I can’t see how anyone could possibly have a problem with the techniques Norm employs.
I will miss The New Yankee Workshop, I’ve watched the show since it started.
I feel if it were not for Norm hobbyist like myself wouldn’t be able to have a hobby. Norm pretty much popularized the home shop. I give him my thanks and respect thanks norm for all the entertainment and inspiration.
The ultimate tribute I can pay: New Yankee Workshop is the only show that I TiVo’d at the full quality setting…
Even my two little adopted kiddies from Russia know who Norm is. Every weekend when I wake up, they ask me if I am going downstairs for coffee and Norm. I am sooooooo bummed!!!!
A big thank you to Norm
Come on our American Friends if Norm was British he would have received an honor from the queen for his work in woodworking.is there an equivalent in america if there is he has earn it
Enjoy your retirement Norm
Be Great Marc if you could ask him for a interview and air it on your site
yeah marc. Get on that.
I too remember watching TNYW on the weekends when I was a kid. He was always able to explain complex projects in very simple terms and made all of his viewers believe that they too could recreate some of his projects. As I grew up, it was always comforting to watch the consistency of TNYW. It was a safe place you could go to get lost for a half an hour.
Norm, you are truly a national treasure and TNYW will be sorely missed.
WOW!! I remember sitting in front of the tv watching Norm work his magic in 88′. The many years past watching and learning was great. Thanks for all the tips and good luck. Saturdays will not be the same. You will be missed.
I agree with Harry. You should try to interview Norm prior to retiring. That would be cool.
Thank you too Marc for what you do. Looking forward to learning more and working on my skills.
Thank you Norm!
I have some fond memories of NYWS and Norm on many a Saturday. I’ll really miss the show!
Oh that is sad news..
I guess after 21(or 22) years, maybe he wants to retire and start relaxing with a hobby. Hey does anyone know what Norm does for a hobby?
Thanks for all the great years of entertainment..
The Best of Luck Norm !
Joe
BTW is he giving away any equipment ;-)
Man, what a 6 months we have had in the woodworking world. First the death of Sam Maloof, then the death of James Krenov , now the retirement of Norm from New Yankee. Maybe somebody up there is saying make room for Marc, Matt and Adam K.? The Woodworkers of the 21st century ?
NYW got me started doing woodworking & for that I would like to say Thanks Norm.
By far the worst news I heard all year. Hopefully we can still catch him on This Old House. I’ve been watching the NYWS since I was 6 yrs. old and have been entertained ever since. Good luck Norm and happy retirement.
OMG! No Norm? Well, I guess we all must retire eventually. My best wishes to Norm and thanks for all the truly great shows…
Now there is one thing I’ll add you might get a laugh out of. As I used to sit in my family room and watch my recordings of Norm and other shows…but as I would watch Norm on NYW I would turn and see my son (on his computer as always) completely locked into watching Norm work. Guys, nothing and I mean nothing else in this world took his attention from his computer games. Interesting…Guess that is just another tribute to the charisma of Norm.
It saddens me to see it end, but we do have this guy Marc around. Shopping for some flannel Marc? LMAO, maybe you should do a tribute video in flannel and a beard….NOW that would be something to see!
Marc,
I will miss Norm and the show but what are the odds that YOU can take over and keep the show going? I think that would be awesome!
i guess i’ll get angela will have to create a new and improved norm-o-lanter this year as a tribute… I’m sad.. :(
Well, I guess he deserves it but it still sucks. Even so I don’t really learn to much from him anymore it is still nice to watch and taught me many things through the years, and how many of us havent built the shop jigs and router table thanks to him. He was a big influence to get me started just like he was for so many others. I wish he would have had a big final season, maybe a bit too painful though. Good Luck oh master of plaid Norm and thanks for it all. (thank goodness I have 12 vcr taps full for the memories)
Nate
RIP beloved Norm…
I sent a couple emails to the NYW website over the last year asking for a similar retrospective season focusing on his shop projects, giving us all another chance to improve our shops and perhaps sharing a couple “lessons learned” along the way (”If we did it again, we would change…on the shop hutch”). When the webcam didn’t appear over the summer I got nervous, and now here it is–the end of a long, great run.
Thank you, sir, for a great run. Thanks to Marc for picking up the baton and running the next leg of the race for us!
Norm was the spark to my woodworking fire.( that sounded really cheesy)I see flannel being replaced by funny and ironic t-shirts in the near future. Marc my words.
well it had to happen eventually i was literally shocked when i read it. i have been a fan for 22 years. my two children have grown to know sat at 4 30 was norms time in my house. it has even gotten to the point when my 5 year old daughter would hand me my safety glasses in my work shop and repeat his phrase on safety glasses. it would be great to see mark take over.
I will miss Norm. He was a true carpenter to the bone. He is a very skilled craftsman and he will be missed in his show. Can someone please clarifry one thing did he retire or did they just decide to stop taping the show? Everything i have read does not clearly state one way or the other.
Everything I’ve read says they are just stopping the show, but he will continue to do This Old House.
I will miss the show. Norm inspired me to start woodworking. I bought my first biscuit jointer because Norm used biscuits. My DVR is full of his shows, whenever I have a question about a technique I’ll remember Norm did that and review my shows and sure enough there’s an example of that technique on one of his shows.
Thanks Norm!
OK … the business side of me sees the situation clearly. There has not been a new episode in over a year (maybe 2). For whatever reason(s) Norm and Russ Morash had taken a sabbatical from production. Now it appears that “that is it” … again, for whatever reason.
The woodworker side of me is very nostalgic and, yes, sad at receiving this news. Norm has been such a part of my life for longer than I can remember.
I did, however, have a kind of love-hate relationship with NYW. I often said that I would prefer to watch him … out in my garage on an old black and white tv, with a bag of old fruit next to my chair. Then, when Norm would say “am I the lucky woodworker” and pull out a re-saw band saw with a 4″ blade for cutting logs into boards … I could then relieve my frustration by tossing rotten fruit at him (on the TV).
But …
I loved every minute of it. I am sure that there are some episodes that I have not seen but I haven’t seen one in a long while. I will watch any episode even if I know that I have seen it several times before (I still always pick up something that I had not noticed before). Norm and the NYW were like the saturday morning fabric in our home. When he was on in the morning on Saturday was the best. We would always watch in PJ’s with coffee in bed. When my own kids were little, they would be right there between Therese and me. Then it was just Therese and me after the kids left … and now, my first grandchild sits in PJ’s with me on Saturday morning (and she loves it) … now, just for TOH-hour.
But it has been a wonderful ride and my wife is almost as big a fan as I am. Anytime Norm would bring out a tool that she had not seen before, she would say “Chester, do you have one of those?” And if I did not, she would often encourage me to get one (now that’s a great wife) That’s what happened the first time she saw Norm use his biscuit joiner. She still gets all excited anytime Norm uses the biscuit joiner.
I know that there are serious woodworkers that take issue with some of Norm’s techniques but those are Norm’s choices. I do believe that Norm possesses the skills to do his work in almost whatever style or construction method he would choose. And some of his construction choices were probably dictated by the the constraints of television production. I have always wished that Norm would have shown more of the errors and miscalculations … and what he did to remedy those situations. But, in the end, I will always say that Norm was “for real.” There were no special affects or unseen specialists used to make him look better.
It will be interesting to see, as this story continues to unfold, what is the real story. It may be that Morash needed to retire. I think that he is quite a bit older than Norm.
Back to business … with NYW ceasing production of its product, what will fill this niche in the market? Marc, will you be the one? Has the market and the media delivery of WW content changed so much that the old NYW format has now become obsolete? Stay tuned …
Chester
Terrible news. Though I’ve been disappointed in the last season or two where it seems they trimmed off several minutes from each show and now I’m noticing old reruns. I havne’t been as focused on watching it each week as I used to be. Still, I watched the show before I did any woodworking. My only gripe is that he made it all look too easy and was not much help for beginners like myself. That’s why I like Marcs videos.
This is certainly bad news for us woodworkers. I certainly want to wish Norm the best going forward and I want to thank him for being a teacher to us all.
This is a sad day for us all and I for one would like to thank Norm for all the years He came into out homes and allowed us to follow along with him when he would journey to new locals and bring back new ideas.
I have watched Norm since I was a small child on this old house and then with TNYWS it’s sad to see him go but maybe PBS will realize that woodworkers all over the world need a new Woodworker and Hire Our Beloved friend Scott here Ahh I can see it all now tune in saturday and watch a new episode of the wood whisperer here on PBS kinda has a ring to it don’t it.
GoodBye NORM enjoy the rest of your time away from the spot light you will be missed by many my friend
Thanks so much man. But I am still trying to figure out who “Scott” is? lol
Time for you to start trying on flannel shirts Marc! While I’ll miss Norm, we’ll all feel the loss of yet another woodworking related show on tv. With your personality and charm, you could really start to bring more people into the hobby.
What an odd thing: I never thought I would be capable of grieving over the loss of something “inanimate”, but here I am saddened over the closure of The New Yankee Workshop. I watched the show since its inception back in 1989. It is this show/Norm Abrams that inspired me to dive into the world of dust making. Norm, if you read this, thanks! You will always be the very best! Good luck to you always. At least we can still enjoy your wisdom and talents on This Old House.
It’s funny. I was just thinking the same thing. How silly is it to mourn the loss of a tv show, but what a show. Fond memories for me, good luck Norm Abram…