My New YouTube Channel Has Officially Launched!

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The new American Craftsman Workshop channel has officially launched and it is off to a running start!

I posted the following video at my old YouTube channel this afternoon informing everyone to head over to the new channel and the response has been great!

In 7 hours I got 300 subscribers. That was just from the exposure on Google +, I had not posted anywhere else like the woodworking communities or here, at my own site at that point. 

The real goal is to strengthen the American Craftsman Workshop brand. Remembering my name, or spelling my last name to find my content is more difficult than "The American Craftsman Workshop."

This name came to be since I run my local business as Todd A. Clippinger - American Craftsman. The American Craftsman Workshop was a natural extension from that. 


I tried to change the name on my YouTube account, but that just was not working. It seemed that the issue was because I was going from a personal name to a business name and they would not allow it. So I just decided it was easier to start over. 

I had just over 6,000 subscribers and about 785,000+ views at my old channel when I launched the ACW channel, but I did not care. In the long run this will be better for my brand. 6,000 subscribers is pretty much chicken scratch and I did not deserve that for the sporadic posts that I made. 

People will watch, some will subscribe, some will like it, and some will not. But none of that matters, I just need to share, I just need to get it out of me. I have 18 years of experience bottled up inside of me and sharing is what makes me feel better. 

When I started as a carpenter, and even as I moved toward fine woodworking, I was self-motivated and self-taught. But there were people along the way that shared freely with me. I was impressed with the generosity of those craftsmen, and now it is my turn to pass it on.

That is why my motto is Share the Love - Share the Knowledge. You can go back through my earliest entries here at my site, or even way before that, check out my entries at LumberJocks. My motto is at the closing of each blog.

I would love it if you check out the new ACW Channel and show your support by subscribing. The comments and show of support is really energizing and gives strong motivation to get out more video. 

That's all for now. I still have some sanding to do on a project so I gotta head out. 

Your friend in the shop-

Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love-Share the Knowledge 




I Am Moving....Sort of...

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In The Beginning

When I first started making YouTube videos, I posted them on a channel that bears my personal name “Todd Clippinger.” 

I suppose that I did just what many popular YouTube content creators have done: start sharing on a channel with their personal name, then realized a brand, and then made changes due to the need for establishing that brand. 

Starting Over and Moving Forward

Now I am at a point that I want to start posting more video, and take things a bit more seriously. So, I have started a new YouTube channel titled “American Craftsman Workshop.” 

I only have a little over 6,000(+) subscribers on my “Todd Clippinger” channel with 784,400(+) views. I can’t say that I am in too deep as I switch things to “American Craftsman Workshop” and I really figure this is the best time to do it.

As I look at my situation, I think it is pretty exciting to take what I have, shake it up, break it down, and start building it back up, only to be better. 

I know some people will be annoyed and not want to move over to the new ACW channel, but I will not let that stop me from doing what is best as a business. It can’t be any more annoying than me posting video sporadically through the years. 

Rebuilding A Video Library

I went through the videos I have on my hard drive, picked the ones that I felt were of higher quality and posted them to the new ACW channel. 

I know that as I make more video, I will become more skilled and I will probably feel these videos are not very high quality. But I am not going to allow myself to get hung up on this issue. 

We have to realize that, no matter what interest we have, be it woodworking, making videos, etc., what we start out making in the beginning will not be as good as what we make in 6 months, a year, or in 5 years.

Each piece that we produce will be a benchmark of where we are with our skills at that moment. But, I figure that I have some decent videos to start with as a base, and I am not going to fuss over it too much. 

One Thing To Consider For Your Videos…

One thing I realized about making video, is that it’s a bad idea to label episodes on videos if they are considered evergreen content. If you are doing a VLOG, it is a chronological record, so dates or episode numbers are OK. 

But if the content is the type of information that will be as valid in 5 years as it is today, then just give the episode a title but do not date or number it. If people see a date, they will dismiss the video thinking it is outdated information.

Stay Tuned!

That is the latest from the ACW. I am starting over on YouTube with a new channel as American Craftsman Workshop and I will be posting new videos soon. 

As I post this, I have 1 subscriber, so I hope you will subscribe and be a part of building the American Craftsman Workshop channel!

Until next time - Be safe in your own shop. 

Your friend in the shop-

Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love-Share the Knowledge

Work Published in Magic City Magazine

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One of the remodeling projects that I had been working on for the last few years got some nice coverage in the Magic City Magazine. 

Magic City Magazine is a pretty slick publication that covers stories of design, fashion, food, and the happenings around the Billings, Montana area. (Billings is known as the Magic City, hence the magazine name.)

The story covers 2 remodel projects of smaller homes that had some creative and higher quality remodel work done to them. Usually, any of the stories covering homes and design always feature the biggest, most expensive homes, so it was nice to see that smaller homes can also showcase high-end work. 

As you read the article, I know it is difficult to know what I really did in the remodel, but to summarize: I built the arch in the front of the house, built & installed cabinets, did custom built-ins, rebuilt the stairs going to the basement, framing, removed walls, built walls, sheetrock, mud work, built under-stairs storage, built a custom door for that storage, installed doors, trim work, and blew my back out moving sections of bowling alley for the yoga studio floor (that was brutal.) 

The clients and I were both a bit disappointed that the bathroom did not get any coverage, it was pretty sweet. I vaulted the ceiling to follow the roof, installed a skylight, and built a cool modern cabinet for storage out of black walnut. 

 

It was great getting a mention and having my work covered in the article. A big thanks goes to my clients who gave me the opportunity to work on their house and become friends along the way. They had a great sense of creativity and were great to work with. 

Check out pages 25 through 29 of the digital edition of Magic City Magazine. 

You can follow my latest projects on my Instagram feed and, stay tuned, I am working my way back to producing more video;)

Your friend in the shop-

Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love - Share the Knowledge