Hmmmmmm T-Mac, say it's not so

[Steve N]

Mac, Narmon broke a lot of rules. Yet his pieces are coveted by many folks, and at the end of the show, most of them bore a striking resemblance to the Heirloom he made a duplicate of. He gets a kick out of hearing people talk about how woodworking must be done too.

You still getting around ok?

[Terry W]

I don't mind the occasional use of pocket screws in the shows. What shocks me is that when they use them, they put them in about every two inches!  They use a 1/2 box of screws on one shelf and the back of the project has more holes in it than swiss cheese.

[Admiral]

By your definition, and made of wood, a flammable substance, which also could float away and be crushed in a flood, or blown to the next county in a tornado. Seems furniture has a lot going against it ever getting old enough to be an Heirloom. So if this POS you are describing did happen to make it 12 generations, don't you reckon someone would call it an Heirloom?

Yeah, I get it, and the "someone" wouldn't be a craftsman but some dizzy relative, but that's beside the point.  Reminds me of a quote from the movie Chinatown, where J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is having lunch with a crusty Noah Cross (John Huston), and Noah says "Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough." This seems to apply to furniture as well.  
  My only point is that if I am starting out  to make a "heirloom" piece, I'd choose to use traditional joinery that has been proven to last 200+ years, and not rely on chance, nails or the newest Festool process (which indeed, has its place as does pocket screw joinery).  I'd also use hide glue so it could be reversible for repairs.

[AHill]

Why does "heirloom" have to be only furniture made with "traditional" joinery? Who made those rules? Seriously, to insist that something made with non-traditional joinery somehow gets excluded from being called heirloom comes off as somewhat arrogant or condescending. If your aim is to produce a replica of period furniture, than I would agree your methods should be consistent with those from that period. "In the style of" is quite different from "reproduction". Just because it looks like period furniture doesn't mean the intent of the maker was to produce an authentic reproduction. I wonder how many "period" reproductions didn't use hide glue or modern finishes. Does that exclude them from the "heirloom" category?

[Admiral]

Why does "heirloom" have to be only furniture made with "traditional" joinery?  Who made those rules?  Seriously, to insist that something made with non-traditional joinery somehow gets excluded from being called heirloom comes off as somewhat arrogant or condescending.  

Allen:  Whoa, hold on, I'm making no rules or absolutes, to each their own in the privacy of his or her shop.  I only said what I would do, and what my joinery choices would be if I set out to make something to last generations; I'm not trying to, nor did I, suggest much less insist that others should take the same approach.

[Gary G™]

We had a table which has been thru about 4 or 5 generations. I disassembled it to clean and rejuvenate for our daughter's use.
It had these metal objects with a slot in the top, driven into a hole drilled at an angle to hold a part in place.
If they had only known to call 'em Kreg pocket holes back then.

[Joel Runyan]

I really don't say this to be a terrorist, but if our Fore Fathers had access to electricity, they would have certainly used TS, Jointer, Planers, Routers, and yes Pocket hole jigs. So traditional might just be so, because all the goodies we have available weren't around yet. Hopefully no one need to pop a Nitro

They're our forefathers because they didn't have access to such things. If they did, we might not be so impressed.

[AHill]

Allen:  Whoa, hold on, I'm making no rules or absolutes, to each their own in the privacy of his or her shop.  I only said what I would do, and what my joinery choices would be if I set out to make something to last generations; I'm not trying to, nor did I, suggest much less insist that others should take the same approach.

I wasn't specifically directing my comment at you, Admiral.  I understand some would want to stick with more traditional joinery when making furniture.  My post was more of a jab at those who would insist that the ONLY way for ANYONE to make heirloom furniture is to use traditional hand tool joinery.  I respect your opinion.  In fact, I avoid pocket screws in my furniture as well.  I do, however, use pocket screws for shop cabinets and some jigs I've built.  I don't consider them to be heirloom furniture.

[Arlin Eastman]

Just another way to do wood working

[Arlin Eastman]

He's in a boat, in my book. Talented guy for sure, but the second coming, not.

It is some talent but he went to a good school also and I am sure a lot of other people who went to the school are also as good. 
I am quite sure there are guys here as good to, however, Tommy taken it to a show level and I am proud of him for that.  To bad he did not stick with it or maybe he got tired of the bad emails like Norm did and that is why he quit.

People just need to relax and enjoy the show.  I do agree that Scott Phillips is a hack in turning since I discourage the vets to watch him and all his unsafe ways and how he hacks up the wood so bad, but the other stuff is just getting buy and showing common people that they can make simple projects with simple tools. 

It is the fault of the people who watch Tommy and like him who put them on a high pedestal and not Tommy's fault just like Rob Cosman and Roy Underhill (Roy is more of a basic guy who has been doing it so long and a great teacher), Chris Schwartz (who in my opinion is not as good as he thinks and a want to be Roy Underhill).  Remember it is my opinion about Chris and the others.