Rough Cut coming to Houston

[Carroll Courtney]

Finally,its coming to the local PBS channel 8.Hope its not a let down,I just don't know if anyone can hang w/Norm----Carroll

[John Grabowski]

Carroll, he is a fast talker and the episodes also move fast...I assuming it is to cram a lot in to the short time slot. Having said that, i love it...I record it and watch it in pieces as I am taking it in.

John g

[Van Huskey]

Carroll, neither you nor I could speak as fast as T-Mac even jacked up on meth and Mountain Dew.

Now as a comparison between Tommy and Norm as hosts Norm in the latter years was MUCH better but Tommy is just getting started. As a furniture maker it is not even close, Norm was never an accomplished furniture maker, Tommy however is a TRUE craftsman and has built many pieces that even lifelong pros never gather the skills to create.

[Dave MacArthur]

I finally got to watch Rough Cut this week, after recording it for a month ( My TV monitor was broken). I was actually very impressed--particularly after reading several comments here that caused me to expect worse.

In fact, I would have to say that IMO Tommy Mac's delivery and style are the MOST enjoyable to me of all the shows. And this is from someone that has every single NYW burned to disc and watched numerous times, all the David Marks "Woodworks" shows recorded/burned, and about 30 "Woodwright" and 30 "Woodsmith". In fact, I would say his fast paced coverage is vastly more enjoyable to me than the scripted and stilted bogusness of faked-up conversations on all the other shows. I do love the Norm, but on the other hand, Tommy is much more exciting to watch, he's got some humor in there, and honestly... he makes you want to woodwork! He does something that I don't feel any of the others do--he's a motivational "coach", not just a demonstrator.

Bill Huber made me laugh in another thread with a parody of "guys this" and "guys that", so I was expecting the worst, but after watching the first 6 shows twice now, I have to say that I cracked a smile once or twice, and after that it was no more distracting than any other speech affectation or accent. And without a doubt, I actively like the high-energy speed of Tommy's chatter. He's a guy you could see yourself enjoying spending the day in the shop working with and sharing a laugh with... But you get me in the room with some WoodSmith guys, and I'm thinking there's not gonna be a lot of funny jokes. I know that's all production and writing, but personality does shine through.

But more importantly than any discussion of how professional a "talker" or "host" a guy is (or could possibly be) after 6 times in front of the camera, is what he chooses to demo and what he chooses to just say, "now you make 3 more just like that". So far, I find myself liking his choices more than the NYW. I think this is because he does quickly demo one mortise, or one tenon, or one bandsaw cut, and then he uses the time to move on to better/more advanced ideas and work. Now maybe I wouldn't be such a fan of this style if I hadn't watched Norm cut 500 dados and 1000 tenons, which made me comfortable that I know how to do something when a guys says, "just cut this tenon on the tablesaw with your dado sunk in a sacrificial fence". But I do believe that Tommy demonstrated every single thing I found myself thinking, "hmm, I wonder if that's harder than it sounds... Oh, great, he's demoing one." But he didn't demo two, which I liked.

Anyways, I was actually expecting the worst from reading some posts here, but I found myself extremely pleasantly surprised. I spent the last three days burning woodworking shows from my digital video recorder to disc, and watching them, and after watching about 5 each of NYW, Woodsmith, WoodWrights, and Rough Cut, without question Rough Cut was most enjoyable.

I just thought of something else that struck me strongly while watching, and I think is HUGELY commendable: Tommy Mac doesn't try to set himself up as the final pinnacle of knowledge, sprung complete from a chunk of wood one day. He constantly refers to teachers and people he's learned things from, and while he is clearly the host of the show, he is equally clearly confident enough in himself that he DOESN'T have to pretend that no one ever taught him anything and he's the most expert there is. Virtually every DIY show they do this, trying to build up the host--you know the host is regurgitating some writing on something he practiced 10 times to make himself look super expert. Not Tommy-- he clearly knows how to do something, but has no problem saying, "I learned all this from THIS guy, so let's have him demo it to you now". Now this seems a small thing, but in fact to me it sets a completely different tone. It makes me think throughout the show of the master passing knowledge on to an apprentice, who works hard until he becomes a master in his own right... but always gives respect to those who taught and went before. It makes me think of the father to son parts of woodworking, of the old-world tradesman-like method of passing knowledge. It just makes me think of woodworking and my time in the shop as something more than one guy reading a book and bumbling his way through things. At first I didn't like all the "guests" he had sitting in the shop with him, until I realized they were NOT helpers, they were folks he'd learned from and he respected.

Anyways, there you go. Great show so far, and I think it will really grow into something special as time goes on.

[Van Huskey]

Dave: "In fact, I would say his fast paced coverage is vastly more enjoyable to me than the scripted and stilted bogusness of faked-up conversations on all the other shows."

Spoken by a man who spent his career processing information at a rate FAR faster than 99.9% of the population!

I agree Dave, Rough Cut is already my favorite woodworking show of all time, but what Norm has cost me in power tools I expect T-Mac will cost me in hand tools!


Dave have you seen his portfolio? If not take a look:

http://www.thomasjmacdonald.com/content/galleries/t-mac-furniture

Also watch some of his shop videos, I have been watching them for quite some time and he always inspires and AWES me. Start with the Bombe Secretary. He always intrigues me with his methods as they are often diametrically opposed to how I would solve a problem and he often goes to the hand tool crib when I would head to the router table or does stuff on the table saw when clearly in my mind the bandsaw is the tool for the job but every time he enlightens me to a different approach and opens my mind to endless possibilities.

http://www.thomasjmacdonald.com/content/galleries/t-mac-furniture

The Bombe Secretary video made me add a compass plane to my list of stuff I "gotta get". I haven't gotten one yet but I will even if I have to manufacture a use, I will.


PS I do really wish it was a full hour!

[Carroll Courtney]

I'm glad to hear all the positive comments and that he does not have a personality like Bob V.Humor----Carroll

[Jim Rimmer]

Finally,its coming to the local PBS channel 8.Hope its not a let down,I just don't know if anyone can hang w/Norm----Carroll
It's already here. Last week (or the week before) I tuned it at the time Scott Philips had been on and caught the last few minutes of T. Mac (Iwas getting ready to watch Red Green, the real handyman.)

[Brett Bobo]

Carroll,
Actually, I've already seen two episodes of Rough Cut and I'm located in Spring, TX. Considering that it's being broadcasted by PBS Houston, if I'm getting it, I would think that you'd be getting it as well. As other have mentioned, it is a night and day difference between Rough Cut and NYW but in my opinon, each has it's place and offer technique. Also, learning a new technique in woodworking is not an easy or quick task, typically, but even with Tommy's fast pace, he simplifies his techniques and makes them understandable for the common woodworker. I've been pleasantly suprised at how much I enjoy Rough Cut as like others, I was a dedicated NYW viewer. In fact, I found it humbling that Tommy would make intentional mistakes on the actual piece to demonstrate the proper technique, like he did for demonstrating cutting dovetails on the shaker step stool. All in all, I like the show!

[Dave MacArthur]

I should probably admit, I love ALL the shows heh... I've got a partially recorded DVD for Woodsmith, WoodWright's Shop, Woodturning (1 show only so far...), NYW, Rough Cut, whatever I can find. My DVR is pretty much always at 80% full of repeats of these shows-- just to be sure I don't miss on old one I never saw, I record all episodes-- so there's barely room for anything else. Every night before I get on SMC, I pretty much scan all the shows I harvested, watch whatever is new and burn it to disc while watching.

You won't catch me complaining about ANY of them, unless you take a quote or two out of context--I'm thankful all of them are on, and enjoy each for their own merit. Norm got me going and helped teach me how to use power tools and "do woodworking", David Marks got me thinking artistically and seeing the art of it, Roy shows me you can bang out utilitarian useful things in a quiet way and with a joy of life thing going, the Router guys helped me get good use out of my router table and keep me from having to constantly change the table saw to a dado, and Tommy shows me multiple ways to do a task I wouldn't have tried or used, and gets me excited to go out in the shop and start cutting. Bless them all ;)

I wish one of them had shown me how to get the cork out of my Lagavulin that I just pushed in there after breaking the cap off, but that's a woodworking trick no one has figured out yet... I was forced to pour the remainder of the bottle into my glass, and so as not to waste the noble elixer, I must here remain reading and typing until the wee hours. Cheers ;)