The Renaissance Woodworker

Woodworkers the world over sit down in front of their TVs on weekend mornings and drool over the size and well equipped nature of Norm Abrams New Yankee Workshop. We wonder what great things we could build with so much space and all those tools. Then we come back to reality and realize that it is never going to happen, curl up into a fetal position, and cry.

Well today I struck a blow for all those small workshop woodworkers making due with our paltry collection of small tools by adding something to my shop that Norm doesn’t have.

Everybody say hi to Frank Klausz! My wife gave me this beautiful LCD/DVD combo TV specifically for my shop this Christmas. After doing some shopping for wall mounts and a few minutes of install time I was off to the races. It has a great picture and now I can watch my woodworking DVDs in my shop either as background noise or to aid me in some step by step work. It has all the input ports too so that I can run my iPhone or iPod through it and watch all the video podcasts that have been accumulating in iTunes.

For the safety nuts out there, please realize that I won’t be watching TV while working at the table saw and I promise I will pay attention to the work at hand. I think this addition will be particularly great for playing how to videos while I work like Cosman’s dovetail video or any turning video while standing at the lathe.

If nothing else, I can pull up one of my Windsor chairs and a beer and just watch TV in my favorite room in the house! Now I just need a dust cover to protect it when not in use.