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Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

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Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby RogerM » 20 Oct 2021, 23:03

This is being screened tomorrow night (Thursday 21st Oct) at 8pm on Channel 4.

Nine of the country's most talented craftspeople compete to be crowned Britain's best woodworker. Each week, the woodworkers compete against each other in the workshop, nestled in the ancient woodland of Wales' Glanusk Estate, where they face a big build that supersizes the skills they've honed at home and a surprise challenge that tests their core skills. In this opening episode, the woodworkers have two days to complete a bed of dreams that may become the stuff of nightmares. And in the surprise skills challenge, they must celebrate the fine skill of hand carving, with an invaluable prize for the winner. Presented by Mel Giedroyc
Last edited by RogerM on 21 Oct 2021, 11:54, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworket.

Postby Mike G » 21 Oct 2021, 07:47

How did they recruit for this? I mean, did they think to ask around the various woodworking forums, for instance?
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworket.

Postby Argus » 21 Oct 2021, 11:48

Mike G wrote:How did they recruit for this? I mean, did they think to ask around the various woodworking forums, for instance?


A phone call here, a nod and a wink there, don't-you-know-old-boy....... one should ask around at one's club.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby thetyreman » 21 Oct 2021, 12:03

I can guarantee you there are more than 9 people on here far more talented than all 9 contestants on the show
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworket.

Postby Alf » 21 Oct 2021, 13:20

Mike G wrote:How did they recruit for this? I mean, did they think to ask around the various woodworking forums, for instance?

I think it probably goes:
1. Are you a bubbly out-going person?
2. Do you want to be on a TV show?

Oh yes, we nearly forgot:
3. Do you do woodworking?
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworket.

Postby RogerS » 21 Oct 2021, 20:47

Alf wrote:
Mike G wrote:How did they recruit for this? I mean, did they think to ask around the various woodworking forums, for instance?

I think it probably goes:
1. Are you a bubbly out-going person?
2. Do you want to be on a TV show?

Oh yes, we nearly forgot:
3. Do you do woodworking?


Alf....how on earth did you do it ? Spot on. I lasted 5 minutes.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Mike G » 21 Oct 2021, 21:05

Well that wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might be. The winner did some proper joinery, and some of the carving was approaching reasonable or even quite good. But there were 4 or 5 contestants I wouldn't allow to pick up a tool in my workshop for fear of the damage they'd do.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Trevanion » 21 Oct 2021, 22:57

Like Mike, I thought it wasn't as bad as I had originally anticipated, if anything it was somewhat enjoyable although some of that enjoyment was from watching some of the most horrendous woodworking crimes I've ever seen being committed :lol:

I recognised Joe, nice guy, has had his own YouTube channel for donkeys years now: https://www.youtube.com/user/AverageJoesJoinery

So this week the brief was to make a "bed of dreams", there was some quite good work for the time limit of two days, and some were downright abhorrent, some clearly have some skill and some have no skill whatsoever but none stand out as skilled woodworkers as of yet. One individual even admits to having never used tools whatsoever, which is a terrifying prospect when you're letting them run wild in a workshop full of stuff that will cause you serious harm if you don't know what you're doing, I understand there are technicians to help but surely if you're looking for "Britains Best Woodworker" you'd be looking at getting contestants who have actually worked with wood? :eusa-think:

That individual was explaining something with their workpiece on a running table saw, using their finger to point and wangling it about dangerously close to the exposed spinning blade, I noticed a technician quickly pushed down the saw guard in the background to cover the blade to prevent an accident.

Mel Giedroyc's humour feels a bit forced throughout the program, a bit like Lee Mack's on the other program.

I'm not one to judge, but I'm not sure pigtails are a clever idea near rotating machinery, especially when it's a technician!

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Overall it wasn't a terrible watch, and I'll probably watch the next one, even if there isn't a neo-nazi involved this time.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby RogerM » 21 Oct 2021, 23:05

That's an hour of my life I won't get back again! Usual bunch of individuals selected to ensure that every conceivable group is represented in some way, and if a few of them recognise a piece of wood when they see it, then so much the better. Having said that, the brief and expectation was pretty impossible too. This week build a bed of your dreams, at least 2m high, in 18 hours, including all finishing. A couple of guys made a passable fist of it, although the one who used wedged through tenons explaining that it would enable him to knock it down for transport was, I think, missing the point of wedged through tenons. The judges seemed to expect something fantastic, and the main fault was that contestants set themselves an impossible task rather than design something that could actually be built in 18 hours, and which would have some structural integrity, or wouldn't leave you with gashed shins and broken toes following a middle of the night foray to the loo. Not sure I'll bother next week, although curiosity may get the better of me.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby AJB Temple » 21 Oct 2021, 23:10

Just watched it on recorded playback. I think the billing (best woodworker) is clearly nonsense, but it was interesting to see how they coped with making a statement bed in two days. Some of the designs had merit. It's puzzling the choice of contestants: it seems to cover a range of gender bases and identities, as opposed to actual woodworking skills.

I would have fired the guy who made the boat bed because it was easily the worst bodge up I have seen, ever. The one they actually fired, I suppose must have thought she was making a raised bed to grow veg in rather than a sleep platform. Not sure how she managed to spend 2 days on that.

Can see why they picked the winner, but for an assistant cabinet maker (whatever that is), I expected better.

If they do any more really lame "jokes" and runs about tools and wood, it will detract. Next week it would be good to see some proper skills much more in evidence.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Trevanion » 21 Oct 2021, 23:32

AJB Temple wrote:I would have fired the guy who made the boat bed because it was easily the worst bodge up I have seen, ever. The one they actually fired, I suppose must have thought she was making a raised bed to grow veg in rather than a sleep platform. Not sure how she managed to spend 2 days on that.


At least the boat bed guy actually made something, the woman who made the raised flower bed could've done what she did from the first couple of hours, without two days of planing timbers :lol:
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby thetyreman » 22 Oct 2021, 01:36

yeah just watched it, I was thinking to myself they should have used a tusk tenon so it's easy to take apart later on the beds, that would have been nice to see.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Woodbloke » 22 Oct 2021, 07:10

RogerM wrote:That's an hour of my life I won't get back again! Usual bunch of individuals selected to ensure that every conceivable group is represented in some way, and if a few of them recognise a piece of wood when they see it, then so much the better. Having said that, the brief and expectation was pretty impossible too. This week build a bed of your dreams, at least 2m high, in 18 hours, including all finishing. A couple of guys made a passable fist of it, although the one who used wedged through tenons explaining that it would enable him to knock it down for transport was, I think, missing the point of wedged through tenons...


Agreed, just one of the things I picked up. The show was mediocre at best, just about reasonable if we're being charitable.

It was missing Jay Blades though! :lol: - Rob
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Lons » 22 Oct 2021, 08:54

What everyone else said.

I recorded and watched it last night and parts made me cringe but it isn't aimed at people like us and there are many I know who would marvel at the "skills" of the contestants so along the same lines as similar popular programs as all the TV companies are interested in is viewing stats. I quite like Mel G but the only funny bit was when she broke the bed head. :lol:

It is so false though, no coverage of how much input the technicians had, little coverage of the contestants actually machining and when first introduced to their task of making a bed it was presented almost as if they didn't know what they were about to undertake when they had clearly spent time already on the designs.

Typical TV fakery but I'll probably record the others and have a dip in out of curiosity.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Andyp » 22 Oct 2021, 09:46

These people, as Alf pointed out, are picked more for their personalities than skills. I too cringed at how that chap thought he was going to be able to take that bed apart and as for the copious use of decking screws and nails :o
But hey, it did not clash with Strictly :)
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby AndyT » 22 Oct 2021, 10:11

I've now watched it as well. Most of what I would have said has been said already - the format is all about the personalities and the competition, not about what good woodworking is.

The time constraint skews it towards making theatre props rather than practical furniture.

When a round was judged, we barely saw a shot of each person's work, because we had to be shown their faces instead, to share their emotional experience.

Just possibly, the judges are coming over as a bit dry because they do understand what good design is and want to say that a bed that you can't get into or which has bits on that are too fragile to touch is not a good bed. I got the feeling that most of their comments were left out of the programme.

I wonder if the programme will improve after a few weeks - the elimination format forces the first few episodes to be rushed and bitty, with too many competitors for the time slot - just as it does in the other variations on the theme.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Sheffield Tony » 22 Oct 2021, 10:55

Theatre props rather than practical furniture - spot on. The time constraint is impossible. Clearly the actual "Britain's best woodworker" is not in the workshop, I find the title mildly offensive (not on my behalf, I hasten to add).

But what did we expect. You see some of the messes of cakes from the first rounds of Bake Off - laughing at the hopeless candidates is part of what the show is about.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Mike G » 22 Oct 2021, 11:06

How did that guy who made the simple ply frames with slats between not finish in the allotted time? That was such a simple build.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Phil Pascoe » 22 Oct 2021, 11:07

Best thing about it? Katherine Ryan isn't in it. :lol:
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby RogerM » 22 Oct 2021, 11:12

Mike G wrote:How did that guy who made the simple ply frames with slats between not finish in the allotted time? That was such a simple build.


I agree Mike. But I thought he actually had the right idea. Keep it simple and use materials that didn't require time-consuming joints or laminations.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby AJB Temple » 22 Oct 2021, 13:49

I thought that too Mike. However, it is possible that it is not all that it seems. Some years ago I did Masterchef. There was a lot of time spent by the crew setting up, shifting stuff around, re-shooting scenes and doing things again because a different shot or interview was needed. It was very interesting to see, but quite boring too as there was a lot of hanging around.

So although they say the actors / contestants had 2 days, there may have been quite a bit wasted. It may well be that outcomes are manipulated a bit too: they don't want to make it look too easy in week 1. 8-)

Of course, you may choose to believe that it is all totally real, including the female contestant "with" the head scarf and dodgy teeth. I might have accidentally put those quotes in a word or two too late. ;)

Some of it was a bit odd. For example the fella who made the bed with the curved frame, looked at first that he knew what he was doing as he was well set up with his perfectly good cramped bending method. (Wish I had that many lovely new cramps). Then he appeared to have no real idea how to mate the curved pieces with the bed legs. I mean, seriously, wouln't you have practiced that given that you knew in advance you were designing a bed. I would never take a punt on TV on a joint I had never made before when I am trying to portray myself as a woodworking expert. It's bad enough doing the ones I've made hundreds of times :lol:
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby AndyT » 22 Oct 2021, 14:02

That's interesting about how far from a simple video record these programmes are.

I can't remember where I read this, but I saw a statement that these elimination format shows are always edited after the competition has finished.

So another way that the presentation is manipulated is to make sure that the winner's "journey" to victory is visible from the start and that the other participants will be shown failing from time to time.
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby AJB Temple » 22 Oct 2021, 14:14

Yep. Certainly back in the day (some years ago) that is how they did Masterchef. Some outcomes were re-recorded. There were more stages back then when I did it, and by the time we got several days into filming, I don't think anyone was under the illusion that it was just filming reality.

Of course, I expect its far more truthful now 8-)
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby Woodbloke » 22 Oct 2021, 14:19

AJB Temple wrote:...it is possible that it is not all that it seems. Some years ago I did Masterchef. There was a lot of time spent by the crew setting up, shifting stuff around, re-shooting scenes and doing things again because a different shot or interview was needed....


I had a similar experience when the Antiques Roadshow came to Salisbury Cathedral. I was in the audience behind one of the punters and we were instructed by the director not to move as they needed to do (if I recollect) at least four or five 'takes' to get the piece in the can and as it was really hot Spring day, it wasn't a lot of fun - Rob
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Re: Handmade:Britains Best Woodworker.

Postby MattS » 22 Oct 2021, 15:20

Yes, it's never quite what you expect. Listened to Patrich Grant talk last year on a Heritage Crafts Association event. Apparently with the challenges if all the contestants look to be way off in the time given they will extend it and just reshoot the first bit saying how long they have :lol:
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