This is the story about woodworking on YouTube and how it started. The very first year of YouTube was primarily about sharing videos with good friends, family and even coworkers, and on December 13, 2005 John Leeke, @John Leeke a historic preservationist made history by posting the platform's very first woodworking video.
Frank Howarth @frank howarth would create the first woodworking channel on July 8, 2006, followed quickly after by Marc Spagnuolo @The Wood Whisperer on Oct 18, 2006 and Matthias Wandel @Matthias Wandel on Apr 9, 2007.
The recession in 2008 contributed to just a handful of brand-new channels emerging over the next few years. Ones who are still posting today include Carl Jacobsen, Colin Knecht, Chad Stanton, WoodWorkers Guild Of America, Chop With Chris, myself, Ana White, Jon Peters, Alain Vaillancourt, Stumpy Nubs, Samurai Carpenter, John Heisz, and Paul Sellers.
In 2013, the flood gates opened, introducing the Golden era of YouTube woodworking and maker channels (2013-2017), followed by the Influencer Period and the COVID era.
If you've been a long time YouTube viewer, I hope you enjoy this sentimental look at the early days and if you're new to the platform, perhaps you'll check out some of this early content. A great deal of it might appear rough by today's requirements, but it was content made by a couple of enthusiastic people for the large happiness of sharing videos about woodworking.
Thanks to @April Wilkerson, @DIY Creators, @Fix This Build That, @Anne of All Trades @Modern Develops, @jimmydiresta, @Jon Peters – Longview Woodworking
***
Learn how to start woodworking and started a business for less than $1000. Download my Complimentary GUIDE ►
The WTS Podcast: Conversations with innovative people ►.
Register for my totally free monthly newsletter ►.
PATREON ► ►.
TOOLS I UTILIZE ►.
WWMM TEE SHIRTS ►.
FACEBOOK ►.
INSTAGRAM ►.
SENDING BY MAIL ADDRESS:.
WWMM.
448 Ignacio Blvd. # 237.
Novato CA 94949.
—————-.
Woodworking for Mere Mortals ® is a registered trademark of ZRAM Media, LLC.
#woodworking #documentary #youtubehistory.
Woodworkers Secrets Revealed – Click Here to Discover the #1 Woodworking Resource!
The YouTube woodworking origin story! What an awesome look back; thanks, Steve!
This could be an hour and I’d still watch it all the way through! Thanks Steve!
This is so good. I’m so happy to see someone (himself respected in the community) take a retrospective look at the people who blazed the trail and see how far the hobby on this platform has come. Thank you, Steve.
Here’s to all the you tubers that started sharing their knowledge on woodworking🍺And hopefully we will see more content and more new creators come out. Thanks for the knowledge and the inspiration to pick up woodworking! It definitely made a huge impact on my life!
Fascinating look at our recent history. It’s so funny to see how young everybody looked when they first started! Marc Spagnolo, Dave Piccuto, John Peters, April Wilkerson all look like teenagers! And yet, somehow, Steve Ramsey is aging in reverse like the Benjamin Button of YouTube…
He does it by absorbing the youth evaporating off of other woodworkers!
Well done Steve. I’m a total noob, into woodworking for all of 18 months and I have to say that YouTube has been my 2nd education. Basically everything I know about woodworking is from YouTube. Not sure if that’s good or bad but I love it. Thanks for everything you do for us weekend hacks! Lol
Thank you Steve!
Your humility shines through that you haven’t placed yourself front and centre, but you should have commented more; your insight is important too. I appreciate you are fulfilling the roll of documentarian rather than contributor though.
You have done an excellent job of championing woodworking on YouTube. This could easily be a full hour documentary and I’d watch it end to end!
Thank you and thank all of the other contributors and channels that I’ve watched and then personally mangled their amazing excellence in my own projects 🙂
Great video! Watched while I was taking a break from building an L-Shaped walk-in closet for my wife. Your channel has really helped me accept how to work with imperfections. A topic I think would be interesting is : How to work with non-square situations. I am building the closet in a space that is drywalled and not square. It has bows and angles. So far I plan to fill gaps and hide corners – but in the end as I am putting in uprights and shelves, I kind of need to measure each piece individually.
This was really cool. I remember looking forward to that next season of The New Yankee Workshop back in the day. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t gonna happen. I found YouTube and many of these creators (including Steve Ramsey) and have been hooked ever since. Thank you, Steve!
Appreciation to all of you pioneers for sharing, you have taught us a great many things
Thank you for doing this. It matches some of my own experience as a viewer, but it’s nice to see some of those who I’ve watched over the years talk about how they got started and what they see in the platform. Probably shows my own inclinations, but I think this would be a great masters or doctoral research topic for someone.
I missed seeing you in this one Steve! You are one of the big ones who got me into this, so your contribution should be included if you ever update this.
This was great and so interesting to look back at how the woodworking genre on Youtube has evolved to what it is today. Very enjoyable.
That was amazing Steve! Thank you for compiling all that footage & giving us all some background on what we love doing. You also left it open for the next generation to create the next chapter.
Well done!
Thank you for this, Steve. This was wonderful work, and it was very interesting to watch how things progressed and hear the reflections from the creators themselves.
really great video! Interesting to see how the platform has evolved for the woodworking community and hearing perspective form the early adopters – thanks for posting!
Steve you made my day! That back track into history reminded me of how far I’ve come not only in watching woodworking videos but improving my woodwork. I’m on the other side of the world! Thank you!
Thank you for that comprehensive look into YouTube’s woodworking history. Very well put together
Amazing production Steve! So cool to pull all that together and hear from the YT celebrities so many of us have come to know and love! I for one have grown because of each of many of the folks in this video. I’ve grown along with each of them. And that is what community is all about. Thank you.
Nice pivot, Steve. Love the idea of actively documenting something as it’s still happening. You’re doing good work.