Woodworking is something I’ve never really tried. Aside from shop class in high school, I haven’t built anything. I have no basement, garage, or shop to work in. I am an urbanite.

Why, then, do I like watching the New Yankee Workshop so much? I can sit and watch back-to-back episodes of Norm Abram making a bedside table, a rolling-top desk, or a steamer trunk.

I don’t particularly even like most of the traditional furniture he builds. But the techniques! How to make dado cuts without power tools, the secrets of mortise and tenon, dovetail joinery. Pure magic!

Seriously, though, is there anything more soothing than watching a dark hand-rubbed stain being applied to some nice cherry wood?