The New Yankee Workshop - Season 5

First aired: 1/2/1993 13 episodes

Norm builds a Victorian kitchen table out of pine, a plant stand out of pine, an oak Delft rack, an oak coffee table, cypress outdoor planters, a pantry table, a white oak sideboard, a pine hanging corner cupboard, a pine cupboard, a poplar and maple butcher block, a redwood arbor, a pine secretary desk, and a tall pine clock.

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Episodes

1. Victorian Kitchen Table

Aired: 1/2/1993

Norm builds his version of a perennial favorite, the Victorian kitchen table, using a design that combines the best features of three tables he studied in Britain. Made of century-old "sinker" pine salvaged from river bottoms in the southeastern United States, the table has a deep storage drawer that extends halfway under the table. Norm demonstrates how to incorporate this drawer into the table's design and how to turn the table's sturdy legs on a lathe.

2. Plant Stand

Aired: 1/9/1993

This tall English country plant stand is perfect for a temperamental fern. The trick to this relatively-simple project is tapering its long thin legs. Norm demonstrates how to make a jig to do just that. This straight-grained sugar pine stand protects ferns, ivies or other delicate plants that resent touching.

3. Delft Rack

Aired: 1/16/1993

Norm visits a private collection in an English castle and discovers a Delft rack from 1780. The Delft rack - an oak rack that is the ideal way to display china and figurines-has a cornice molding built up from up five different-shaped pieces of wood that fool the eye and "read" as one. Norm demonstrates how to mill the fluted casings, and how to use patterns to create decorative cutouts and fretwork that embellish this piece.

4. Oak Coffee Table

Aired: 1/23/1993

Americans are mad for coffee tables! Norm's version of this feature of modern life is inspired by the English country look (there's no such thing as an English country coffee table) and by the rugged appeal of an antique workbench. Norm instructs viewers how to use a v-groove to give the table's top a thick plank-like look.

5. Outdoor Planters

Aired: 1/30/1993

Norm creates two outdoor planters: one that's square with raised panels and a second that's simpler, larger and rectangular, with vertical slats. The master woodworker demonstrates how to craft the small planter's raised panels on a table saw and turn its finials on a lathe. (Both planters are "sinker" cypress, an excellent outdoor wood that weathers to an attentive silver-gray.)

6. Pantry Table

Aired: 2/6/1993

This simple, versatile English country pantry table needn't be confined to the pantry: it can serve as a bedside table, writing desk and more. Norm uses a table saw to craft this piece and explains how to taper its legs and form the delicate bead detail around the drawer front. Norm adds a breadboard edge to this classic's top - for extra stability.

7. Sideboard

Aired: 2/13/1993

We call these buffets, huntboards or servers in America, but they're sideboards in England, and some are up to nine feet long. Norm's smaller white oak version has three drawers, fiddle-shaped legs and a pot board (a large open shelf between the legs for storage). Norm guides viewers in cutting the curves of the piece on a scroll saw.

8. Hanging Corner Cupboard

Aired: 2/20/1993

After searching London's renowned King's Road, Norm uncovers this unusual piece. He then teaches viewers how to make a curved door from flat boards using a table saw and biscuit joinery for this bow-front hanging corner cupboard. The four-shelf piece, inspired by an 18th-century original, is built from hard sinker pine but has a plywood carcass to bolster stability.

9. Pine Cupboard

Aired: 2/27/1993

Norm teaches viewers how to make flat panel doors as well as glass panel doors for the display area of this English country cupboard. Made of soft #2 pine with knots to impart added character, the practical piece has tongue-and-groove backing.

10. Butcher Block

Aired: 3/6/1993

Norm's version of the indispensable kitchen staple, the butcher block, features a hard endgrain maple top instead of the usual parallel grain. The base of this English country piece is sturdy poplar. Norm demonstrates how to cut the endgrain carefully, thus avoiding excess sanding of this tough wood.

11. Redwood Arbor

Aired: 3/13/1993

Although Norm researched arbors in old England, the one that he builds is inspired by versions from the New England island of Nantucket. Norm's arbor, meant for sitting and enjoying the beauty of the garden, is built from redwood and presents the challenge of fashioning an arch out of segments of wood fixed together with a new water-resistant glue. Norm also tackles making diamond-shaped lattice panels for this project.

12. Secretary Desk

Aired: 3/20/1993

Norm builds a secretary writing desk out of pine. Viewers can learn how to craft breadboard corners for this English country favorite, the most elegant and elaborate project of the season, with its four drawers, pigeonholes and stepped interior.

13. Tall Pine Clock

Aired: 3/27/1993

Norm suspects that the original of this English country clock found on London's King's Road, with its tapered profile, may have been built by the village coffin maker. Norm builds up its mouldings from a combination of off-the-shelf mouldings and others made at the workshop, and selects an inexpensive quartz movement.