Smith & Sweetman

[Jokerman]

Has anyone seen the Smith & Sweetman Workshop prog. currently being put out on Sky ?

Forgive me if I'm being over critical, but if the standard of work they churn out is that of "Master Craftsmen" it's basically cr*p.

If the prog. is meant to teach woodworkers how to go about their beloved projects the pair should be shot.

Sloppy joints the like of which you could drive a bus through, gallons of glue dripping everywhere and bits of patches stuck into or over holes put in the wrong places. Wide boards made up from stock which is badly cupped without any attempt apart from brute force to put the problem right, never mind putting the edges over a jointer, or considering ripping the boards in half to true them up, etc. etc.

A programme like this should inspire woodworkers to take the time to get things right and think things out before starting a job. This is not to say I've never made a mistake or that I won't make another but, come on, we're supposed to learn from our errors and not repeat them.

Surely TV companies have some kind of duty to vet progs. and make sure they are representative of the efforts put in by the vast majority of us who enjoy working with wood. From what I've seen so far I wouldn't have them knock together a rabbit hutch from old pallets, let alone pay them for doing it.

Long live David Free. At least he takes the time to try to get things right without resorting to bodge to cover up afterwards. These guys have relatively unlimited budgets to work with and viewers have a right to be educated as well as entertained, not conned into thinking "Oh it'll be alright, nobody will see it."

Moan over for the moment, but probably only until the next episode!

Mike

 

[andys wood shed]

And its a repeat :x

Andy

 

[PowerTool]

Seen it a couple of times - not impressed :x (long live Norm :norm: ,if that's the best we can offer)

Andrew

 

[PaulO]

Long live David Free.

Except for the fact his show is one big Trend promotion, and he is an antipodean hosting the Great "British" Woodshop.

 

[Colin C]

\/ \/

I glad to see I was not just me that was it as a bad program :roll:

It you see the one when they did the cabriole legs and look at the edges of the legs when it is going around at the end :shock: :shock: .

They never show you the bits they have made up close ](*,)

I think they were one of the winners of the competion that was run to get some new programs, well if they where some of the best ( I try for it :? ), then they where not look for good woodworkers that could do a show on making some thing.

You have to remember that it is the same people that made two series of Boyz in the wood :shock: ](*,)

 

[RogerS]

\/ \/

I glad to see I was not just me that was it as a bad program :roll:

It you see the one when they did the cabriole legs and look at the edges of the legs when it is going around at the end :shock: :shock: .

They never show you the bits they have made up close ](*,)

I think they were one of the winners of the competion that was run to get some new programs, well if they where some of the best ( I try for it :? ), then they where not look for good woodworkers that could do a show on making some thing.

You have to remember that it is the same people that made two series of Boyz in the wood :shock: ](*,)

Is it made by the same company that does Big Brother. Think they're called Enema or something like that.

 

[woodbloke]

Roger Sindon wrote:

Think they're called Enema or something like that

If the programme's as bad as that, sounds about par... - Rob

 

[Loz_S]

Well if it was made by Joop van den Ende and John de Mol better know as Endemol (although enema sounds like a reasonable translation) then that would explain everything. This company fills Dutch TV with so much cra*p it is simply unbelievable...

 

[wizer]

I thought it was total rubbish.

do you think we are over critical of these programmes?

 

[Smudger]

A bit over-critical perhaps. After all, Sweetman doesn't seem to have a clue, and Smith can't string a whole sentence (sorry, word) together, and they have a serious tendency to bodge, and that chest of drawers cost £900 for timber, and they can't even measure properly and they bathe everything in glue...

No, possibly you are right. I have set the recorder to see how they get on with the Welsh Dresser, though.

 

[wizer]

I won't bother with the programme again but....

Don't we all make mistakes? I mean how many times have you watched Norm and thought: I bet he didn't get that right first time?

I'd absolutely love to see the Norm outakes

 

[Smudger]

Apparently there aren't any Norm out-takes because he doesn't make any mistakes. It must be true, it says so on his website...

 

[Vormulac]

To be fair, I have seen a couple of episodes of NYW where Norm has mentioned ballsing up something on the prototype and so is doing it differently on the second piece.
When I saw Smith and Sweetman a couple of years ago I thought it was ok-ish purely in terms of something to watch, but for a worthwhile woodworking programme give me NYW, The Great British Woodshop or the Cutting Edge Woodworker any day.

V.

 

[wizer]

Designer DIY was OK, Australian programme along the same lines as Smith and Sweetman but better produced.

 

[Colin C]

I thought it was total rubbish.

do you think we are over critical of these programmes?

Not when it comes to this one or the Boyz ](*,)

My wife used to laugh at me with what I would say when they where on the first time :roll:

 

[wizer]

haha good point BoyZ in the Wood was terrible.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, don't agree with this criticism at all. There are very few woody programs around and S&S made qite a decent job of it

Smith and Sweetman make some decent furniture in those programs despite their inflated wood prices and the odd iffy joint. In my opinion, even a moderately skilled amateur can learn a lot from these programs

How many projects do we see on here that are made to a better quality? Certainly none of mine

 

[Lord Nibbo]

I'm with you Tony, ok they might use a bit more glue. It's different and refreshing change to dross like boys in the wood and that salvager who uses junk and makes junk look like junk. :lol:

 

[Colin C]

Tony

I understand you point but I think you put yourself down far to much on this one as I can think of one thing for a start that you do much better than them.





















Your dovetails for a start :wink:

 

[curlywol]

Ok S&S isn't perfect
and certainly doesn't match the production excellence of NYW.
But at the moment any program dedicated to making things out of wood is welcome.
Unless you are a fisherman or interested in buying/renovating a second home in some obscure region in Spain you will not find much worth watching on the telly!

John