Season 17

Every family needs one of these. 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.

Every time Norm does an outside project it is an instant hit. This will be no exception. It's a useful all-weather convertible bench/table. He found it in an old house in Saint Georges, Bermuda and thought it would be perfect for a New Yankee Workshop project. Made of rot-resistant cypress, this will only get more beautiful with age.

Encouraged by his success in building the upholstered cigar chair in Season 15, Norm partners once again with furniture guru Norman Coley to build an oversized ottoman that today's decorators simply must have. Norm visits the semi-annual world famous Chapel Hill, North Carolina furniture market to select the model he will build in the New Yankee Workshop. While he is at it, he adds a leather-covered footstool to go with his cigar chair.

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 faithfully back at the shop.

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.

Lathe 101 is the first in a series of programs 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.

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.

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.

Never in the history of The New Yankee Workshop has there been a more challenging project. This bonnet-topped Queen Anne-legged tiger maple highboy is a classic in every sense of the word. Even the reproduction hardware is rare. Joining Norm in the search for a suitable highboy that Norm can reproduce are Leigh and Leslie Keno, much respected furniture experts from the PBS show "FIND." They take Norm to Leigh's gallery in New York City and show him a glorious original they believe was built in Wethersfield, Connecticut in the early 19th century. It takes Norm two programs to complete the magnificent project and those who have seen it say it is well worth his time and effort. This is part 1 of 2.

Never in the history of The New Yankee Workshop has there been a more challenging project. This bonnet-topped Queen Anne-legged tiger maple highboy is a classic in every sense of the word. Even the reproduction hardware is rare. Joining Norm in the search for a suitable highboy that Norm can reproduce are Leigh and Leslie Keno, much respected furniture experts from the PBS show "FIND." They take Norm to Leigh's gallery in New York City and show him a glorious original they believe was built in Wethersfield, Connecticut in the early 19th century. It takes Norm two programs to complete the magnificent project and those who have seen it say it is well worth his time and effort. This is part 2 of 2.

Largely unknown in grandmother's time, kitchen islands have become indispensable in today's modern home. Used to house sinks, cook tops, storage for pots and pans, recyclables, and barstools, they often become the most valuable work surface in a busy kitchen. Norm builds this one out of poplar and birch plywood for a painted finish and lines it with hard wearing factory-applied finishes intended to give this island a long career of heavy use. Along with the high-tech plywood, Norm uses state of the art drawer slides and period pulls to complete this useful project.

Norm makes carved wooden signs.

Is there a homeowner out there who doesn't yearn for more shelf space for his books and display items, says Norm at the beginning of The Library System program, which concludes the 17th season of New Yankee Workshop projects. Recognizing the need for a good bookcase design that can be used in any suitable room and added to as needed to fill out a wall of books leads Norm to design a modular system that can be adjusted to go around existing windows or doors. It looks like expensive "custom" built-ins, yet the elements are actually built in the shop where cutting and routing large pieces of plywood and dealing with the resulting dust is easy. Norm is betting that when wood workers learn some of his tips on this project, lots of Library Systems will be built.