Blanket Chest | S1 E4

Norm travels to the island of Nantucket off the Massachusetts coast to look at a handmade blanket chest in a sea captain's house dating from 1790. Incorporating elements of this antique in his own design, Norm builds a blanket chest of pine, lined with aromatic cedar panels.
Season: 1 | Episode: 4
Original Air Date: January 28, 1989
The New Yankee Workshop is a co-production of Morash Associates, Inc. and WGBH Boston.
#newyankeeworkshop #normabram

[@bigjayrawls]

We built 25 of these chests in high school out of oak. it was a class we learn how to make them in a production style setting. We each got one. And i used a golden oak stain to finish mine. 30 years later I still have it sitting in my loft. It still looks like i just made it.

[@newyankeeworkshop]

Sounds like a great learning experience!

[@danturney7037]

Your show was a reason for me to get out of bed on Sunday mornings. I built the chest for my daughter 25+ years ago, using knotty pine. The only change I made was to put the beveled side of the panels on the outside.

[@mjay4700]

I also like the look of the beveled panels being on the outside, not inside. Glad to hear someone changed that and made it their way.

[@marilynsnider8183]

😅😮😮

[@fdort3971]

His show put peace on our home for a short moment...I wish there had been more of them. I'm grateful KZbin university gives us Norm back with many other great makers

[@armorguy1108]

The absolute subtle mastery Norm displays here is *amazing*. He just freakin' EYEBALLS the blade height to clean up the tenons. If I did that I'd be sobbing in the corner of my garage as I realized I had screwed up and needed to rebuild that entire part. I genuinely from the bottom of my heart appreciate these episodes being put up on KZbin. Thank you, Norm! Thank you, Russell!

[@wyssmaster]

It's actually a bit easier than you'd think, as he has the width of the kerf he's already cut as wiggle room. He only needs to be within about 1/8" of the height. Now the fact that as he's making the cut you can see he's basically right at the perfect height is pretty crazy; I'd definitely use the piece to get the right as, or I'd have heart palpitations while making the cut.

[@monkeydna7490]

Norm is a national treasure

[@ronheidenreich1808]

Interesting to see that he had a Shopsmith in his shop on the early shows.

[@seelau]

I think I spotted two of them in one of the other episodes!

[@hbengineer]

I built this for my daughter’s hope chest using figured maple. I routed her initials in the top using a stencil kit from Rockler. If you think it’s solid in Pine, holy crap is it heavy in Maple! This was an incredibly fun project to build and it came out just beautiful. Thank you Norm!!! BTW, I was able to use my router table that I also built from Norm’s plans. It’s fun to see these early shows where the tools were more simple. Norm shows incredible technique no matter what tool he uses ;-)

[@ryanhessler8966]

Just finished building this chest after seeing this video. We have so many blankets laying around and they always wind piled on the floor when company is over. The drawing along with this video made construction a breeze. Thank you so much for releasing the show on KZbin.

[@ABFeltham]

Hey there! Did you have the plans from New Yankee Workshop?

[@aaqilian5.085]

@@ABFeltham no, he got the plans from old McDonald. Then he improvised.

[@hytekrednekbama4400]

I built this in 8th grade VO-AG class for my 2nd semester project. That was in 1992. It is still serving my mom well, holding many blankets and afghans. Classmates were building bird houses and such, a few just stood around lost. I loved that class, and really loved my High school carpentry 1,2, and 3 classes! My teacher was very good at teaching and helping us figure out problems in the shop, or in our life. I will miss Mr.Wright. Best teacher I had in school.

[@afs6596]

built 1 over 20 years ago...its gotten better with age

[@loveniacannon3302]

Looked high and low for a foot locker style trunk to store my daughter's dress up clothes. kzbin.infoUgkxRkkpE1_3gMEZ2mPhAt6b2moNCUXyH8tG I had one growing up that I stored my Barbies in and wanted something sturdy like that for her costumes. This arrived really, really quickly and is exactly what I've been looking for. Perfect size, color (pink) and has stood up for nearly a year so far against my kids using it as a chair, stage, and barricade (😬) to keep each other out of their rooms. I'm probably going to order another one for my daughter's Barbies.

[@vaughngaminghd]

11:33 Using the workpiece to measure the fence adjustment and blade height: Brilliant!

[@wolfpreist]

I watched this show on PBS growing up... i loved it. But its insane looking back at it today and seeing how much has changed with tools. I wonder how Norm Feels about pocket holes? Tricks like painters tape on drillbits to mark depth... still loving this show.

[@frankparsley1913]

He actually used pocket holes on several projects. Still one of my favorite shows and he inspired so many people to try woodworking. I wish they’d start it up again.

[@slomo1562]

Norm used pocket holes a few times but it was before Kreg jigs came out. He also used the tape trick on a drill bit a time or two it seems. He wrote a book titled "Measure Twice Cut Once" were he discusses tool use and some tips while sharing his experiences.

[@imsowright90]

Nice piece.

[@matthewziegler3814]

This was one of the first woodworking projects I ever built, and one of the few projects I ever built from plans. We used it as a toy box for the kids.

[@davidcole333]

I built 3 of these years ago, still holding up strong. I did 1 in mahogany, one in cherry and one in poplar.

[@nothingtoseehere3839]

I grew up watching Norm. It’s really refreshing to see true craftsmanship accomplished without all of todays fancy name brand tools.

[@-ZIO]

I never noticed the dog in the shop. I watched NYW with my dad every chance we got. Missed the dog every time, but today I noticed it.

[@seelau]

Me too-first time and only time I’ve seen it was this episode today!

[@danielgeng2306]

Hi Russ, I was wondering if the chest lid held up with the glued breadboard ends? I don’t think pine moves that much so the cross grain glue joint may have been non issue but I don’t think I would risk it. As always thanks to you and Norm for inspiring me to take up woodworking as a hobby ~

[@cabman86]

I used to build these for the flea market booth we have. The price of lumber these days had me stop it. I make small jewelry boxes from fallen tree limbs now.

[@robertlivingstone3947]

Great video

[@BillMulholland1]

👍

[@gretahottunareed]

Hi Norm happy holidays from Dayton Ohio

[@newyankeeworkshop]

Thanks Greta. Enjoy the holiday and have a Happy New Year.

[@gtp1172]

Trying this atm

[@TheGooglyminotaur]

How did it turn out?

[@gtp1172]

@TheGooglyminotaur not bad if I do say so myself

[@gtp1172]

However, the breadboard edge was a pita. I won't do that part again.

[@TheGooglyminotaur]

@@gtp1172 yay! Congratulations!

[@andyjame4015]

*Bella*

[@AndrewHunter]

Excuse me, did we have nothing to say on shop safety? For that matter, what is the most important safety rule? We are totally adrift without knowing that!

[@sj-kp1ks]

One thing I do notice about Norm's work compared to current-day (30? years later) woodworking videos is a lack of emphasis on safety. No dust collection, safety glasses, ear protection. Several times he put his hands near the table saw blade where I would use a push stick. Plus, he cut the short end of the rails (3" wide) against the fence -- I would use a square block to keep the short end from twisting as it was being cut. I'm not really criticizing Norm; I'm just noticing how the craft has changed. And of course, there are a lot of idiots making videos today who (IMO) are obviously unsafe.

[@afs6596]

safety is relative...if you dont rush your good...too much emphasis on "safe" this and that...

[@roman_le]

Thank you Norm for sharing this. You've not mentioned how did you glued your breadboard ends to the top. Was it just the center? Is it strong enough?

[@jamesholm3107]

I built 4 of these.

[@louiswhitney1761]

Anyone else notice the dog in the background?😅😊😮