Give The Man Some Credit It’s Not The Tools That Make ‘New Yankee Workshop’ A Success But The Genius Of Norm Abram

First, let’s explode the myths.

The New Yankee Workshop is not as big as several football fields, but a couple of smallish rooms in some guy’s barn in the suburbs. One room is so crowded with finished projects that you have to inhale to walk through it.

But don’t breathe too deeply. The room is also filled with fumes from wood stains and polyurethane.

The shop is not filled with every woodworking tool ever made. Oh sure, the miter saw has a laser cutting guide, but it’s not even a compound miter saw. Most of the other equipment used on the show is homemade or jury-rigged to fit special circumstances.

True, there’s a lot of it, especially enough homemade jigs to fill a library of Irish folk-dance music.

It takes only five people to produce the program - the host, executive producer, cameraman, a production assistant and the guy who finishes off the host’s projects.

With that said, you can now stop telling yourself and everyone else that if you had that workshop and all those tools and all those assistants, you could be just like Norm Abram.

Dream on.

“He’s a genius,” said Russ Morash, the show’s executive producer and six-time Emmy Award winner. Morash, often called the father of TV do-it-yourself shows, is the guiding spirit behind Abram and the rest of the pantheon, which includes French chef Julia Child, “This Old House” co-host Steve Thomas and the people who walk around Morash’s yard three seasons a year planting bok choi in “The Victory Garden.”

Genius is the reason Abram rarely makes mistakes, Morash said.

“I’ve worked here five years, and I’ve yet to see one,” said Hugh Kelly, Abram’s right-hand man, who does a lot of the finishing work and “sweetens” the work area - removing extraneous objects that will draw the viewer’s eye away from what Abram is doing.

Cameraman Joel Coblenz, source of most of the pointed comments floating around the set, said Abram is forever fine-tuning shows even before shooting begins.

“We’re sitting in an airport lounge waiting for a flight, and I look over at Norm, and he’s drawing his next project on a cocktail napkin,” Coblenz said. “He never stops thinking.”

This year’s output of cocktail-napkin drawings will begin materializing in your TV set this month, when “The New Yankee Workshop” opens its ninth season of 13 episodes on public television. Among the projects scheduled are several pieces of furniture, a mantelpiece that Abram made for his new house, and a free-standing redwood greenhouse that will be built over two consecutive episodes.

The show has given Abram a chance to demonstrate his full range of woodworking talents.

“There’s a big difference between shop work and working in the field, where the conditions are not ideal,” Morash said. “The field is noisy and dusty, but the environment in the workshop is controlled.

“That’s why we build a staircase in the workshop for installation on site,” Morash said. “It allows you to demonstrate the full range of Norm’s craftsmanship.”

Abram, while still surprised and somewhat uncomfortable with the adoration shown by his fans, is always ready to share tips with woodworkers at all levels of experience.

The trick to woodworking, he said, is to think a step ahead of what you are doing to catch yourself before making a mistake, yet still not rush to finish the project.

“When I get to this stage, I’ve tried to do all the planning and thinking involved, but the trick is not to get too far ahead,” Abram said. “Most home woodworkers are limited in time to evenings and weekends, and there’s a tendency to want to get everything done today.

“And that’s understandable, since every woodworking job involves a lot of start-up time each time you resume work on it,” Abram said.

“It’s all step by step,” he said. “Each sequence in the show is predetermined, so you’ll know what has to be done first.”

Another of Abram’s concerns, which he articulates at the start of every show, is shop safety. When asked if he’s ever afraid of cutting himself on a power tool, the woodworker shakes his head.

“Respect is the key,” Abram said. “If you are nervous, you’re going to get hurt. If there is an accident, it’s not the fault of the tool. If you are afraid or are overconfident, you can hurt yourself.”

As Abram is speaking, Morash turns his head toward the table covered with the crew’s catered lunch.

“That’s the most dangerous thing in the workshop,” he said, pointing to the main course of rice and beans and the overabundance of gooey desserts.

“There’s always too much of it.”