The New Yankee Workshop
The New Yankee Workshop is a woodworking program produced by WGBH Boston, which aired on PBS. Created in 1989 by Russell Morash, the program is hosted by Norm Abram, a regular fixture on Morash's This Old House. The series aired for 21 seasons before broadcasting its final episode on June 27, 2009.
Episodes
Runtime: 30m
Norm begins his search for low-country furniture projects in Savannah’s famed Monterey Square at the home of antique map and print dealers, Virginia and John Duncan. On their veranda, Norm discovers a quintessential piece of the Old South, a planter’s desk. Once used by cotton and tobacco farmers for bookkeeping, the desk can function quite well today as a compact, home office. Featuring nicely tapered legs, a hinged desktop, and plenty of shelves, it also has enough room to accommodate a small computer. Back East in the New Yankee Workshop, Norm builds this piece out of recycled pine and finishes it with a new pastel stain to give it a “pickled” look. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 1 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
While touring Savannah, Norm found the inspiration for this unique piece in Marty Johnson’s antique collection. Though its name remains a mystery, there’s no question that its graceful three-leaf-clover design makes it an attractive and practical accent table. Norm brings a little bit of Georgia back to the New Yankee Workshop when he creates the table out of Southern heart pine. NOTE: This is same project as Season 9, Episode 2 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
On a sojourn to the quaint New England island of Nantucket, Norm found a wonderful lidded settle that can double as extra storage space and a hallway showpiece. Norm crafts a rendition out of beautiful cherry wood and, in the process, demonstrates a variety of intermediate woodworking techniques including spindle-turning and how to make framed panels. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 3 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
This lovely washstand is true to the circa 1830 original found in the antique collection of Stanley and Jacqueline Levine of Savannah, Georgia. Featuring elegant scroll work, turned legs, and a generous shelf drawer, this vintage design can be used today as a night stand. Norm produces this piece out of fine tiger maple, making it one of the most sophisticated pieces in his collection of low-country furniture. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 4 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
In the 1800s, a dough box provided a warm hiding place for bread dough to rise. When Norm crafts his version of this simple design out of antique pine and adds a hinge to the lid, he turns it into a great-looking, modern-day, chest-on-legs. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 5 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm couldn't resist bringing the romantic design of this garden gateway back from a visit to a historic New England village. This ambitious outdoor project features a spindled gateway and is complemented by a pergola and a trellis that frames the garden view. Norm builds this outdoor project out of common, pressure-treated pine to ensure that it will last through years of sunshine, rain, and snow. In the process, he demonstrates how to join wood segments together with splines to form the elegant archway. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 6 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm takes viewers in to his favorite antique haunt on the quaint New England island of Nantucket where he discovers two distinctive wooden trays. Deeming them the perfect weekend woodworking projects, Norm crafts the more primitive fruit tray out of recycled pine, and, for the first time on The New Yankee Workshop, introduces the craft of metalsmithing when he fashions the cherry tray's hardware out of brass. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 7 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
It's a great family gathering table and perfect for playing games with the kids, Norm claimed when he discovered the original in a private collection in Savannah. The ingenious design of this table features a lazy Susan centerpiece which can easily be removed for more formal gatherings. While building this piece out of salvaged pine, Norm shares his secrets for creating the spindle centerpiece with minimal hardware. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 8 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm spied this regal nineteenth-century English mahogany, seven-drawer chest in the back room of Alex Raskin's renowned antique shop on Monterey Square in Savannah. This well-proportioned, chest-on-chest features period brass hardware pulls, edge banding, and dovetail drawers. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 9 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm introduces viewers to the seventeenth-century craft of wood steaming when he creates this charming hat rack out of oak. To learn the proper techniques, Norm pays a visit to craftsman Mike Dunbar, a well-known Windsor chair builder and teacher. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 10 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
He may be America's favorite master carpenter, but Norm readily admits that he's a "brown thumb," when it comes to gardening. This greenhouse is the perfect project for the serious backyard gardener (or someone who knows one) who is "workshop bound" for the winter. Norm fabricates this design out of redwood and polycarbonate panels. Built to withstand even the toughest weather conditions, this greenhouse provides enough insulation and light to sustain plants during the long winter months. This is part 1 of 2. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 11 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
He may be America's favorite master carpenter, but Norm readily admits that he's a "brown thumb," when it comes to gardening. This greenhouse is the perfect project for the serious backyard gardener (or someone who knows one) who is "workshop bound" for the winter. Norm fabricates this design out of redwood and polycarbonate panels. Built to withstand even the toughest weather conditions, this greenhouse provides enough insulation and light to sustain plants during the long winter months. This is part 2 of 2. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 12 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Between shooting The New Yankee Workshop and This Old House, Norm rarely has time to build anything for himself. And, like the rest of us, he readily admits his own home is "a work in progress." So, Norm is taking this woodworking project home. With his own Rumford fireplace awaiting adornment, Norm takes the opportunity to design this classic Colonial fireplace mantel and builds it using a variety of woods and mouldings readily available at home centers nationwide. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 9, Episode 13 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Viewers find Norm on the quaint New England island of Nantucket in an antique shop that specializes in Irish country furniture. There, he spies what he calls "the perfect occasional table," an antique Celtic pine table with a thirty-six-inch round atop four graceful, tapered legs. Back in The New Yankee Workshop, Norm fashions his own version using recycled pine, and in the process demonstrates mortise-and-tenon joinery techniques and shows how to make a tapering jig. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 1 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm asks, "Have you ever noticed that most armoires and linen presses are too big to fit in today's rooms and look just right?" However, in a private collection in Savannah, Georgia, he finds a beautiful antique linen press whose three-foot by six-foot size make it versatile enough to fit in almost any room. Featuring streamlined, raised-panel double doors with detail beading, its simple design seems almost modern. Back in The New Yankee Workshop, Norm recreates this piece out of recycled pine to give it a vintage look. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 2 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm travels to Savannah, Georgia, to meet Greg Guenther, a respected local craftsman known for his skills at making period furniture and for his restoration work of Historic Savannah mansions. In Guenther's private collection of period pieces, Norm spies a stunning nineteenth-century, black walnut, drop-leaf dining table with graceful turned legs. Before heading back to The New Yankee Workshop to recreate this heirloom piece, Norm joins Guenther in his workshop for a lesson on how to master a high-gloss finishing technique that enhances the natural beauty of wood. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 3 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Though a gardener friend uses his handsome antique library ladder to display a collection of vintage watering cans, Norm vows that it can also be used for more utilitarian purposes. He builds this intermediate woodworking project out of recycled, long leaf Southern yellow pine and in the process, demonstrates how to craft its defining feature - splayed legs joined by a hinged crossbar. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 4 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm builds his version of an antique Irish bar out of recycled pine and gives it a high gloss finish so indestructible that he dares any woodworker who builds it to "leave a frosty mug on it." NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 5 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
In Arizona, Norm goes on a search for Arts and Crafts-style furniture in Tucson's Historic Arts District. Responding to the many viewer requests he receives each season to build more of the ever-popular Arts and Crafts-style projects, Norm ventures into the F.L. Wright Furniture Gallery where he finds a virtuoso example of the era-a classic, reclining Morris chair. Norm recreates this vintage design out of quarter-sawn white oak and in the process, shares his secrets for mastering the techniques required to build the chair's reclining back. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 6 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
In a surprise twist, Norm opens this New Yankee Workshop from This Old House's recent job site in Milton, Massachusetts. While building a new "dream workshop" on the footprint of the old barn's demolished shell, Norm decides to replicate a version of the antique cupola that once adorned its roof back in The New Yankee Workshop. With help from coppersmith Larry Stearn, Norm recreates a copper-roofed version of the original design. Calling it a "true carpentry project which entails every mitre box application," Norm expertly crafts the cupola's louvers and hip roof. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 7 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm's expedition to Arizona in search of Arts and Crafts-style furniture projects to build in The New Yankee Workshop leads him to Arroyo Design, a small custom furniture company in Tucson, where he spies a beautiful, glass-front bookcase inspired by the famous Greene Brothers. Featuring divided pane windows and the Greene Brothers' trademark square-peg detailing, its true artisan qualities make it one of the most sophisticated pieces in this season's collection. To ensure its heirloom value, Norm crafts this project out of mesquite and in the process educates viewers on how to work with this native Sonoran desert hardwood. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 8 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
For any woodworker who aspires to have a home version of The New Yankee Workshop, Norm builds a portable chop saw station, an accessory that he promises will "make your power mitre box much more versatile." This station can be used in the workshop or can be carted out to a job site to trim a house or to the backyard to build a deck. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 9 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
On a recent sojourn to Nantucket, Norm is invited to view a local antique dealer's private collection of children's toys and whimsical whirligigs. Inspired by their endearing humor, Norm decides to build his own mechanized version of The New Yankee Workshop's logo, featuring Norm, himself, working at the table saw. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 10 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm takes viewers on an adventure to Utah to witness the dismantling of a twelve-mile long railway trestle which was built at the turn of the century. Eventually progress and better engineering in the 1950s replaced this causeway, and the massive trestle wood pilings which once provided the means by which Southern Pacific was able to cross the Great Salt Lake were all but abandoned. Over years of disuse, the trestle wood, which is comprised of Douglas fir and redwood, eventually became so pickled by lake brine that its grain began to develop an unusual array of colors. Norm acquires some of this trestle wood to build his own outdoor chaise lounge design and in the process, learns quite a bit about current initiatives to harvest this unusual building material. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 11 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm visits the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, Massachusetts. Built in 1860, the mill was purchased in 1864 by German immigrant woodworkers, Charles and Frederick Schwamb. The brothers did a brisk business crafting the oval picture frames which, at the time, were in demand to display photographs of Civil War soldiers. In the Schwamb Brother's old office, Norm spies a handsome, quarter-sawn oak roll top desk, which inspires him to build his version of this American classic. This is part 1 of 2. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 12 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
Runtime: 30m
Norm visits the Old Schwamb Mill in Arlington, Massachusetts. Built in 1860, the mill was purchased in 1864 by German immigrant woodworkers, Charles and Frederick Schwamb. The brothers did a brisk business crafting the oval picture frames which, at the time, were in demand to display photographs of Civil War soldiers. In the Schwamb Brother's old office, Norm spies a handsome, quarter-sawn oak roll top desk, which inspires him to build his version of this American classic. This is part 2 of 2. NOTE: This is the same project as Season 10, Episode 13 with a new introduction by Norm Abram.
