New Yankee Workshop 2005 Season

[John Gregory]

I found descriptions of the first 3 shows. I thought that would share this info.
Saturday, January 15, 2005 at 4:00PM

Episode 1701
Create a unit that will be an assembly point for the family keys, hats, and mail, with the added bonus of a large mirror that gets you ready before you leave the house. This Arts and Crafts style hall mirror—framed in oak and fitted with reproduction antique hardware—is an ideal woodworking project.

Episode 1702
Create a useful all-weather convertible bench/table. He found it in an old house in Saint Georges, Bermuda, and thought it would be a perfect project. Made of rot-resistant cypress, this will only get more beautiful with age.

Episode 1703
Encouraged by his success in building the upholstered cigar chair two years ago, Norm partners once again with furniture guru Norman Coley to build an oversized ottoman. Norm visits the semi-annual, world famous Chapel Hill, NC, furniture market to select the model he will build.

[Steve Beadle]

Here are brief descriptions of 1705-1708:

1705 "Federal-Style Game Table"--With no television and few newspapers to read, our ancestors had plenty of time for card games - thus, game tables were very popular. They often featured circular tops that were hinged and could be folded, designed to be stored against the wall when not in use. When needed, the top flipped down on a hinged gate leg and was suitable for four card players. Norm discovered an example in historic Deerfield, Massachusetts, which he used as inspiration for his piece. 2/5/05

1706 "Lathe 101"--Lathe 101 is the first in a series of programs planned over the next several seasons of The New Yankee Workshop featuring the skills required to master a single shop tool. In this first installment, Norm tackles the wood lathe and shows the basic techniques necessary to learn spindle turning, showing several examples of lathes and the tools required to achieve professional results. A self-taught turner himself, Norm then turns a regulation sized baseball bat and even gets a member of the current Red Sox baseball team to try it out in Fenway Park. You'll see the results and you'll learn how to improve your lathe skills on this long awaited program. 2/12/05

1707 "Side Chair"--Norm has said many times that chairs are the most challenging projects a woodworker can attempt. Not only do they have to be strong enough to support the heavy twisting action of a human body, they also have to be attractive enough to take their place at the table. Norm visits historic Deerfield in central Massachusetts where he discovers, amid the vast collection of antique furniture, a comfortable, handsome, American-built side chair of the early 1800's. Norm makes a faithful reproduction back in the workshop and upholsters it in a modern fabric that should stand up well to the rigors of time. 2/19/05

1708 "Tilt Top Table"--One classic furniture form that Norm has long admired is the tilt top table. Graceful Chippendale feet support a central pedestal, which in turn supports the tilting mechanism and a glorious cherry top, which is fashioned in a "hanker chief" outline. When stored in the "up" position it provides a dramatic backdrop, and when it is down it is a comfortable and useful table for four. Norm finds the original at the historic Harrison Gray house on Boston's Beacon Hill. 2/26/05

I haven't found a description of 1704 just yet.

[Dennis Lightbourn]

Here you are Steve, 1704

"Bermudans call themselves "Onions," perhaps because of those succulent pungent bulbs they have grown for hundreds of years. But onions also appear as wooden buns, or feet, to keep their blanket chests off the damp floors of that seaside nation. Norm, on his trip to Bermuda, finds a historic example in the form of a well-proportioned solid mahogany chest which he is able to reproduce back at the shop."