Thanks.

it was cool to watch the history of it in a synopsis though :)

Norm had health issues, his heart gave him problems.

……and without training or bringing up a protege to take over the reins. To bad so sad.

Some good things end, it’s called life

Agreed. I did some research on the internet and it sounds like the New Yankee Workshop was a tremendous amount of work for Norm because he built at least 2 of everything and did all of the planning and work himself. He wanted to have more time with family so he decided to retire from NYW but still continue with This Old House for a bit longer because he basically just showed up for filming and didn't have all the additional work like he did with NYW.

@@ChristopherSalisburySalz The New Yankee show needed a couple of apprentices to help Norm. He would've been teaching young guys or girls who loved the craft as well as having the extra help in that shop. I would've loved an opportunity like that. Not to be on TV but just to learn from somebody with his knowledge

no kidding I thought maybe it was his health.

I spoke to Norm a few years ago and he was disappointed the show was cancelled by 'GBH. He said it was totally "self-supporting" by the tool sponsors and cost 'GBH almost nothing to produce, but they didn't want to go forwards with it. Perhaps the viewership was down. I liked the show, but after so many episodes, Norm was doing very complex piece beyond the reach of most woodworkers. I asked him about doing a school, possibly as a joint venture, but he wasn't interested. He lives on the water in RI and still does a little woodworking. The workshop he was used was at Russ Morash's home - the new one for TOH is a barn-like office building in the suburbs of Boston.

@@lciummo1 Really? The story I heard was that he was just ready to move on. I heard it was a tremendous amount of work for him.

Yes, and a program that wouldn't be dated

The episodes are all available youtube.

May I hear some AMENS!

@@TheCybertiger9 Actually you might be surprised. Norm was a top tear craftsman, but the tools and technique available to him advanced over the years. I've watch a few early shows and some of his work around are now a bit amusing in light of the tools he had at the end of the series. Don't take this as opposition to the idea of PBS rerunning his series, I'd love it.

Great show along with This Old House.

The producer has started releasing the episodes on KZfaq. He releases them about once a week. He also has follow-up episodes and Norm is even in one. Norm is looking old but is still a legend.

I looked forward to every episode...miss it allot!!!

Now PBS is mostly a propaganda station. The last thing of any truth value they put out was their Wayne dyer special … but back in the late 90’s or early 2000’s they put out this amazing documentary about the enslved and kidnapped girls (mostly) from Nepal working in the worlds largest red light district in Bombay (formerly) mumbai, India. Apparently it was 500,000 … 500k… not a typo… ‘sex workers’ they were called. But, the vast majority were literally enslaved. And there was another large metropolis of sex slaves there, but not as big. It’s quite alarming that this is where Hillary Clinton went shortly after her presidential election loss and the accusations regarding the comet pizza connection and questionable leaked emails between her closest aids containing comments about how two children would be in the pool …I did some follow up on the situation in Mumbai after seeing the pbs documentary in the early 2000’s (2002 or 3) and found a guy claiming to have gone there and he claimed the area had been reduced to 5000… even if it had been outwardly reduced to that size, I’m confident the slavers there, joined the underground trade. Hardly anyone understands the significance of that particular location on the planet. I do not recall the exact name of the documentary. And it’s difficult to find these days… the social media companies don’t want the topic covered much. It’s insidious really. And much more could be said.

😢😢😢 I miss that show. I watched it all through Highschool and.into my 20's. Loved his craftsmanship and style of presentation.

That IS the simple real answer! Not this idiot vid.

Completely understandable...l'm 76 and experienced this natural evolution of one's life as they find themselves realizing they have far far less time on this earth than all their long yrs behind....time becomes your most precious commodity or resource. I miss him...yup l miss the old me but time stops for no man...enjoy your well earned sail boat...l'm envious but pleased for you my friend.

In that time they would have both thought many possible replacements that would respect the show

@@dougbrown7150 NORM IS NOT AND WILL NEVER BE REPLACEABLE - there are tons of excellent KZfaq videos now (Matt Cremona is a fine example of a definite Norm follow up but it wouldn’t work regardless as a continuation of NYW)…

He is absolutely a legend. Such a stud. You can tell he had a great work ethic and took pride in doing everything the right way. Very inspirational.

@@ChristopherSalisburySalz Yeah I couldn't have said it better man. Norm is one of the best I have watched over the years. Unfortunately things change with time but I would love to see him do maybe 2/3 more series for the fans of the show bcos it was a huge success from what I heard over the years. I also think Norm would collect a lot of new younger woodworkers too. Thanks for ur reply my friend. Take it easy man.

I watched it every Saturday with my Dad and like you, we marveled at his seemingly huge shop. Many woodworkers on KZfaq have shops 5 times the size of Norms with 5 times the tools and yet they don't produce nearly as much as he did or at the same level of quality.

"actually"

Some people will find fault with anything and anyone. Norm was a consummate Craftsman and I enjoyed following his career and The New Yankee Workshop from beginning to end.

I'm not sure I trust "facts" from the guy who put this video together. He seems to believe Abram was part of a show called "The Old House", so I'm guessing his familiarity with US-based PBS shows is limited.

@@utubewillyman Well, considering the "quality" of everything (mostly illiterate and grossly uneducated) these days, I take everything online with a grain of salt. Norm Abram was definitely Top-Notch in my book.

"throw shade" is a low iq slang for an insult. if anyone actually did due diligence to find the root meaning of the slang term they would find out it has embarrassing origins and should be blacklisted from everyday speech.

😂🤣 No kidding!! I was disappointed to see John Heisz break down and buy a domino machine from Festool. I don't think he was very impressed with though and regrets buying it so that kind of redeemed him. 😁 I'm sure Festool makes fine tools but they are overpriced and such a fad. It's like having Guess jeans in junior high - you have to have Festool tools to be a cool woodworker - or so people think.

I built several projects in my house using Norm’s plans. Every time I see that piece of furniture I see Norm in the back of my head! What better way than this is to remember a legend? Have a Happy Retirement Norm.

I used to watch that show in the 90s and loved it back when I first got in the trades. One thing I do remember is Norm was not working with basic tools. He had really nice equipment to build that stuff with.

😅

A little glue and a couple of screws😊

Interesting....I just listened to Mike Rowe's recent podcast with the host of TOH, Kevin O'Connor and he told the story of where the first victory garden was.....it was at the studio of WGBH in Boston....in the parking lot. The story goes that Russ Morash, the creator of TOH and the Victory Garden, had the camera men roll the cameras outside, still tethered to their wires. When the wires ran out of slack, that's where they made the first victory garden. It's worth the listen. The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe.

I knew it was the producer's home shop but I didn't know they filmed Victory garden at his house as well - very cool. The story is that Norm was hired to build the shed/building the shop is in and the producer was so impressed with his work that he asked him about doing a woodworking show in the very shop he had just built - something like that.

Some of the very early VGs were filmed near Harvard on the river front. You could drive by the location.

VG Another great PBS show now no more but greatly missed.

It's why I watch more Paul Sellers now than Norm. There's absolutely no way in hell I could afford the sort of shop from New Yankee, but I can certainly afford some quality hand tools and enjoy using them.

Well, he did need to make his sponsors happy. And that meant that each project would use some expensive thingamajig. As a novice, I built a few of his projects, including the portable saw station, and did so without any fancy tools. There is always a cheaper way to do the same job, as an expensive machine. When I built the table saw station, all I had for powered tools, was a small, cheap Craftsman table saw, a small router and an electric drill. I later added the ability to use it as a router table. I used it for twenty years, until it was destroyed in an accident involving chickens... but that is another story...

"Reality" shows aren't reality shows. They are staged entertainment shows created to shock and titillate an audience that is gullible enough to waste time watching them.

I would watch NYW every Saturday afternoon with my Dad after we did yardwork. I have very fond memories of that.

He is the Bob Ross of carpentry. ❤

@@goofyrulez7914 Rather, Bob Ross is the Norm Abram of painters...

Amen brother...

That's what it is. He just got too old for the weekly grind. Leave the guy alone to enjoy his retirement.

I thought the same thing. _The New Yankee Workshop_ wasn't in the "reality" show category, it was in the *educational* category. Sometimes, these videos on KZfaq leave me scratching my head...

The term "reality show" hadn't been invented back then. They were just shows about real stuff. It wasn't until Survivor that "reality shows" began. And even then not until the second season when producers began to fake stuff up to make it more "real", make that "more attractive for advertisers".