YouTube tutorials

[Mike Null]

I have recently switched much of my tv viewing to wood working and art tutorials on YouTube. Most provide helpful information but on finishing, particularly shellac, there is plenty of misinformation to be had.

I was surprised to find that many of those who post on YT are making their living from it and since I also do a little water color painting, there are a good number of those people who also make their living on YT.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a couple woodworkers I follow on YT but I find there is a lot of misinformation on there, a lot of unsafe procedures and yes, a lot of people seem to make a living by their posts on YT.

[Edward Weber]

Make no mistake, it is a job.
Making videos and editing content (good or bad) is a lengthy process.

[jack duren]

Their out to get payed, regardless if it good or not..

[George Yetka]

I watch a bunch, usually 30 min a day with breakfast. While some are good and some are bad everyone has ideas, so I watch.

When I became a pipefitter one of the old guys said "Watch the lazy guys, they always have an easy way of doing something."

[Monte Milanuk]

When I became a pipefitter one of the old guys said "Watch the lazy guys, they always have an easy way of doing something."

A room mate I had back in the Navy referred to that as being 'constructively lazy' i.e. "work smarter, not harder".

[andrew whicker]

When I'm curious, I like to do a deep dive on forums (I stay away from Reddit for advice), YT and the product manufacturer's advice.

Really, for me, the best way to get actual tips and tricks is to find people that have someone film them just working. It's more inefficient in the sense that it isn't a "tricks and tips" on the exact topic you want. But you get to see how this person actually works. And inevitably will get you some tip or trick or how-to just from watching them.

I haven't watched a lot lately, but I will after work sometimes for 15 to 30 minutes.

As far as finishing, it seems like those experts are different people than woodworkers. Or, if they are woodworkers, they are a special case of woodworker who also loves finishing and takes it very seriously (like John T on this forum). A woodworker who has one process that works for them might be okay, but you really want the person who clearly nerds out about the subject, buys high end finish products, has a really nice spray set up, etc.

When I was trying to figure out HVLP (specifically with SW Emerald Urethane) I came across a guy that has a pretty good video. But now that I'm a bit smarter (I hope) about finishing I see that he is really using a "conventional" or "conversion" setup because he's using 40 PSI into the gun. HVLP is defined as 10 PSI. So this guy really confused me and made me wonder how I was getting such different results when we using the same process - HVLP. But turns out we weren't using the same process.


anyway, rambling over. Back to work.