smorgasbord
Member
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2022
- Messages
- 1,092
luvmytoolz said:...especially Ishitani Furniture, Blacktail Studio, Foureyes Furniture, and Darrell Peart, etc.
Most of the time I don't care if I'm learning anything, as even seeing how well or badly someone is using a tool, or doing something, is still somewhat a learning experience.
I've dropped Blacktail Studio from my viewing. His projects are repetitive, and his self-learning has him offering a "class" that tells you to use every grit from 80 to 180. Yeah, that's 80, 100, 120, 150, and 180, which is a waste of time, sandpaper, and wood. He probably heard "don't skip grits" and interpreted it incorrectly, which is fine if that's what he wants, but he shouldn't teach that to other people. He also uses the internet fav Rubio without a respirator, with that accelerator which is quite toxic (contains isocyanate), which Rubio goes to great pains to hide. You can use Rubio without the accelerant if you're willing to wait longer for it to dry, which YTers never are, but that's the way to avoid the toxicity.
Foureyes teamed up with Lincoln St to offer a pay-for class for newbie woodworkers. I have no idea how good or bad it is - their videos seem OK if you're their target audience. Although Foureyes is now selling their own 2-part hard-wax oil finish. Heck, even Blacktail is selling his own branded ceramic overcoat. Apparently, it's pretty straightforward to create your own finish from commonly available chemicals. That's what the old-timers did.
I inherited my parent's Nakashima dining room and bedroom furniture (no, they weren't rich, they bought in the 1960's), and yet without iron C-channels, no epoxy fillers, and a plain old pure tung oil finish, that table remains flat and has held up well over the decades of literal everyday use. I remember as a 9 year old or so playing around in his showroom while my parents met with George Nakashima himself to pick out a board and size the furniture. I must have gotten rowdy as my Mom grabbed my arm to calm be down so I wouldn't wreck anything, but he put his hand out and said it was OK. I later read in his books that "Kevinizing" added character to his solid wood pieces. I do wish I had been able to meet him again later in my life - growing up with his furniture both spoiled me for store-bought furniture as well as inspired me to take up woodworking as a hobby.