YouTube addiction and frustration

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If you are a cash-strapped beginner or just cash-strapped, it might be worth considering joining a local Men's Shed. They will probably have all the tools and space you need.

You can see if you have one near you at Find a Shed -.
 
Nearly all those clickey channels are purely for entertainment.

I watch Ishitani not to learn anything, as the channel he made was to get
views to his furniture customers, and I suppose a wee diary for his own pleasure.
One could dismiss a lot of those kinda channels, if wanting to learn from.

Regarding the ones which are at least styled that way..
Very easy to spot what the intentions are if you ask yourself one thing.
Did the content creator make the video with the primary intention to help others/love for the craft, or to help themselves?.

Can do a bit of both, but the primary intent should always come across.
Take Cosman, is teaching and selling tools, which everyone would hate if he didn't actually have skills which he honesty shows regarding the work.

That's fine as long as one doesn't get suckered into thinking his tools are in some way superior because there aren't other solutions to do the same thing.
That's up to the viewer to find another trustworthy method to achieve the very same thing, and not some pretend solution, and don't show any close ups!.

At least by then, say if one would be getting annoyed with all the sales pitches...
someone should know exactly what they're looking for, to do whatever
job needs doing.

Why do I keep rabbiting on about hand tools?
Well if you're in a shed and not an aircraft carrier, then some of those machines need
space, good dust collection and a decent leccy supply.
Combined with say a kitchen build, things might just be in a constant state of chaos
to be filming anything.
Look at some who tackle this kinda thing
Gary Thompson joinery
Carpentry Joinery and cabinetmaking
Eire Workshop
New Yorkshire workshop

These guys have bigger workshops for the work they do.
If you want to do it in a tiny shed, then you would likely have to take the hand tool approach.

Suppose there might be a gap in the viewer market for something a bit more
"hybrid" as most channels who set out to do both, seem to have discounted hand tools or never really got to grips with them in the first place.

Planes on the shelf, but MFT's and festoolery the primary basis,
Plenty of nick nacks and aluminium things to sell in future going this direction,
that whole escapism thing of the hybrid woodworker what David was on about like Stumpy nubs, or whoever on this side of the pond.

I can't see why there should be any frustration involved, nor green eyes,
You can't buy skill, and it should be easy to see who's got it.
i.e, less chance of you getting an idea of how/if they use hand tools, when they've got a machine which does the job for them.

That doesn't make sense to have two setups which take up space and do the same job.
Tried to find a video on instagram of a fella working on shaft driven machines from another era.
His approach was the spindle moulder is the most important machine in the workshop
which makes sense for that sort of work.

If you want to do fancy stuff like that by hand, then one could say that would be nearer the dark side of woodworking, but not just woodworking alone.
That info is likely there for all to see.

Ps regarding the router, the departed Roy Sutton had made some old videos worth a watch on the tube.
And Steve Maskery might have some tips too.
 
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Interesting perspectives. I've been rather disappointed with the selection of YouTube videos for a variety of reasons, though my biggest complaint at this point is a general lack of real production shop type videos (likely a very small viewer base). Fortunately instagram fills that niche (for now)
It's likely thr opposite of what most people here want to see (huge commercial shop, unlimited equipment) but I'd rather watch this than the wood whisper
 
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There are some big differences between us and the states which must impact our sheds and woodworking, some of the American workshops are larger than many of the new houses in the UK where you would be lucky to fit anything much larger than a 6 by 8 shed in the garden, and looking at some they are also better built than our houses.

This situation is only going to get worse because so many are now living on an estate of hen houses with no room for outbuildings and far to close to neighbours so noise becomes a big issue.

Then what about the finance aspect, do they have more disposable cash to spend or are they like so many in the UK where they live just to pay a mortgage, by the time it is paid off they will be to old to take up woodworking and during those working years are just treading water with no spare cash for a hobby like woodworking.

Another question is will many interest and hobbies like woodworking just fade away, are the younger generation still motivated by hands on skills or just happy to stare at a screen and live in the make believe world of social media.

What about woodworking machinery, is that cheaper to buy in the states because they have such a large population, there is certainly many good products made out there which I dare say are much cheaper for them to buy compared to us having import duties, yes what has happened to a trade deal that some bumbling silly person had thought was a foregone conclusion?



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I have actually grown to quite like the Wood Whisperer's videos.

Dropping this here for reactions though. Video is cut to the timestamp, you only need to watch 5 seconds.



I'm aware the video is in jest however.
 
I think the import machine cost is much due also to a simpler reason. The distributors and manufacturers (most manufacturing overseas now) are headquartered in the US. The business is here.

If you get something from them overseas, then they consider it extra effort to get the stuff there and want compensation for the distribution. OR, they've sold distribution rights to someone else in another area and that person is expecting more.

This turns around on us when something is made in europe or the UK and sold here. Example (I've mentioned this before). I wanted a sebo automatic a little more than a decade ago. When I looked for them, they were $900. I couldn't figure out why, but they had rave reviews. Then, I saw one in the UK for 500 pounds including VAT. How could they be that much cheaper with VAT? That was something like $580 equivalent at the time before VAT.

SEBO is probably headquartered in Germany. We get shelled here in that kind of stuff unless it's actually made in the US (SEBO was germany at the time) and distribution seemingly doubles the price over whatever the origin is. The distribution is perfectly happy to keep volume low and price really high because it's very profitable and less effort than competing at a lower price. The prestige model.

I found a commercial equivalent to the sebo automatic (same vac, different colors) and bought it for $425 including shipping. Identical vacuum, same "sebo automatic" owners manual in the box (not even re-marked for the brand change) and parts list from a sebo automatic 12.

There are a lot of things like this. We get hammered on Marshall amps for some reason. We must be the biggest market, but their distribution here just takes a huge cut.

It would be cheaper to actually buy a marshall amp from europe (in the upper ranges), have it shipped here and pay an amp tech to make it work on our electrics.
 
If you are making videos on YouTube does that not automatically make you a professional on some level ?
I think its an artificial environment which is not truly representative of the real world hardly at all.
I find that much of the American stuff does assume you have a lot of equipment, this is not new. I remember watching new yankee
workshop and Norm would always be " I will just go over to my router table" and thinking "great how can I do that".
Conversely Americans seem to be able to do almost anything with a table saw, and build an entire house with a circular saw and a nailgun.

In general I think both space and machinery is a bit more affordable in America than Europe.
The best way to look at YouTube woodworking is just take inspiration and tricks and tips from it.
You are not competing with those guys unless you have a channel as well.
Just make stuff with what you have, that's all you can do.
Though I do dream of lottery winning workshop layouts.

Ollie

Norm started people spending for that kind of stuff - I never saw it locally. Just cheap fixed jointers, and if you saw more than that (often bigger older american equipment), it was at a shop that did contract work or was the property of someone who managed to have the school's shop equipment auctioned without advertising (there's a sawmiller here who has a huge shop of early 1900s stuff that came from the district where he taught - he's got the only 30" jointer I've ever seen in person - it was probably close to free. He's always milled on the side, and equipment like that is a good add-on).

But you don't find much stuff that sold in volume to individuals at the level of what norm had until the tail end of the show. Norm made people think delta equipment was top notch ( and a lot of the late 80s and early 2000s stuff is just imported stuff that's not very good).

The other direction things are going here is to furnish every square inch of a house - meaning you like to use the garage and basement? Nope. It's kept perfectly tidy and the basement is furnished to a finish level the same as the rest of the space with only a small service area walled off (water heater, electric, furnace).

So a very wealthy friend of mine who has about 5200 square feet of furnished space (and a garage required to remain spotless) has a couple of boxes of tools and he can make no more than what he can get out and put away and clean up in a given day. This seems to be a neighborhood thing - neighbor finishes their basement and your spouse sees it, you'll be getting pressure. Fortunately, most of my neighbors are elderly - but I still hear it, too.
 
friend of mine who has about 5200 square feet of furnished space (and a garage required to remain spotless) has a couple of boxes of tools and he can make no more than what he can get out and put away and clean up in a given day.

I'm just a bit north of that (finished sqft) but the attached garage is a proper shop. No moving things at the end of the day. Though my setup is anything but typical.
 
I think it's important to realize that YouTube isn't a good representation of most people as some have said already.

YouTubers get access to machinery for discounted rates or often for free for the exposure they bring to the tool companies. Not only that but some make a ton of money off their hobby and reinvest directly into it while having a regular paying day job as well meaning they have more additional income to put into their shops than most of us.

A good example is a channel called shop nation. Now I'm not criticizing this guy because he actually seems like a decent chap compared to some others out there but his actual woodworking isn't what I would call that good, especially compared to many others. However he has a video where he explains he earnt $220k from YouTube (ads, sponships, Etsy sales etc) at a ridiculous profit margin. This is in addition to his day job that he does so it's safe to assume are he's pulling in over $300k-$350k a year which puts him into the top 5% of earners in the USA. Most of us don't have $200k of additional income for work we do outside of business hours so it's not fair to compare. Also no need to be envious, rather I doff my hat to this guy and say fair play for making a serious go of it, no doubt he had to work hard to achieve what he has done.

Also to mirror something someone else said earlier, the US in general is just bigger and the wealth there is insane. Of course there's poverty as well but in general the level of wealth in the US blows your mind if you haven't seen it before.
 
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