Skyrim’s Woodworking is Shoddy and Confusing

#skyrim #woodworking #criticism #commentary #review #breadboardend

Eden's pronouns are they/them. Intentional misgendering will get you permanently muted.

[edenK]

Hey y’all, I wanted to make a couple clarifications/responses to some of the more common comments in seeing! These are just my thought processes - feel free to disagree.

BALGRUUF’S CHAIR

A lot of people are pointing out that the arm could be connected via a dowel, which is true, and I said right at the end of the section (though I said “rail” when I meant “stile”). Austin and I had discussed this further but it didn’t make the edit. I don’t see evidence of a dowel on either side of the joint so it would have to be entirely internal, which isn’t very common in this kind of furniture, and seems like a pretty weak joint for such a prestigious seat, compared to lapping or mortising the arm into the stile. But like I said in the video - it’s possible !

A few people have also pointed out that what looks like nails on the back splat could be holding the upholstery in place. I don’t have much experience with upholstery but I’ve never seen a historical (or modern for that matter) example like it. I would assume that having the nail head in contact with the fabric would be important as to more evenly distribute pressure and increase friction to keep it taught, and that simply having the shank of the nail pass through the fabric would not provide much actual holding power and could lead to tearing. But like I said - not really my area. If any upholsterers can confirm or deny I’d love to hear !!

SOLITUDE BEAM

Firstly, that’s definitely a post and not a beam - my bad. Secondly, some folks are positing that the brackets are connected to eachother and joined the top of the post via a bridle joint. As far as I can tell, the grain is running parallel to the post, so the entirety of the bridle would be in the short grain and therefore very weak, which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me personally. That being said, one comment arguing that they’re sandwiched together in opposing grain direction like plywood and pointing to the use of “hanging knees” by shipwrights is very interesting and compelling to me !!

EXECUTIONER’S BLOCK

It’s not stone ! Running an axe into stone would immediately dull - if not chip - it. Also there’s a lot of historical precedent for end grain executioners blocks, but they’re much less wide than the one shown here. Executioners axes would have been thinner than most woodworking axes so splitting would not have been a issue.

RANDOM NAILS

A TON of comments are saying that the random nails are evidence of reused lumber. I don’t agree for a couple of reason. Firstly, nails are valuable, especially in a time when they’re hand wrought by a smith - why leave them in the board instead of reusing them as well as the lumber ? Secondly, working with lumber that has nails all through it is not only dangerous, but would make a lot of planing and sawing operations impossible. Thirdly, having nails sticking out of the walls in your house is a great way to get poked by a nail.

MEEKO’S CABIN/THATCHED ROOFS

The cabin’s roof being an undergird for thatching makes perfect sense ! Thank y’all for pointing that out. I’d be curious the look at the interior roofs of other thatched buildings in the game to see if they match up with Meeko’s.


All in all I’m really happy to see the general response to the video and the discussion popping up around it ! And thank you to Austin for having me on.

[hb-robo]

This bureaucratic realism approach to games is the funniest thing I’ve seen on youtube in a while

[SIK_Mephisto]

I love the idea of 2 people breaking into a random man's cabin in the woods to rate the house's craftsmanship while he sleeps in the bed they're inspecting.

[nateotts]

As a structural engineer, I really appreciate pointing our the poor integrity of most structures in Skyrim. I think the building code council and building officials need to be investigated. The quality of general contractors and tradesmen in the region must be abysmal.

[NickSuda]

My dad is a finish carpenter. I grew up watching him like, scrutinizing the inside of any McDonald's we were sitting in or whatever and just going "man what the hell were they doing here??" This is some more of that energy for me lol thanks 🙏

[CheeseJuggernaut]

As a traditional shipwright/craftsman, I think these triangle pieces at 3:00 are meant to represent "hanging knees". 'Knees' being the shape of the piece and how it attaches, and 'hanging' indicating that it braces underneath the load.

The nails often really do go all the way through the wood as shown, using really long bolts/rivets/nails.

As for how it looks like 3 pieces attached, this could be done for grain stability, like how plywood works. Knees are very commonly made from more than 1 piece of wood l due to the grain being fragile on at least one of the longer arms.

Google "hanging knees boat" to find something similar, I don't think it let's me post links to images here.

[TheVikingDoctor]

This is the way that Skyrim was meant to be played.

[tgod]

This is the most unnecessary Skyrim analysis I’ve ever seen and I love it

[BoomBoxtheToaster]

Fun fact: Nords use superfluous nails to indicate wealth, as stated in the official art book from 2011~ I love content like this, keep it up!

[kneesturnedvelvet]

Aside from the grain texture on the top surface, the executioner's block having grain running up and down makes perfect sense-- ax blocks (for wooden spoon/bowl/etc carving) tend to be made of large logs, with end grain facing upward. I think the theory is, it allows the ax to enter and exit the grain without damage.

[ewak.]

From a 3D modelers perspective, this is the most fascinating and hillarious thing

I assure you, the artists were absolutely just randomly placing nails so it sells the look without any thought where they're going

[daniel]

Roofs in isolated cabins in Skyrim don't make any sense at all, especially when you have real historical Norse roofs made of reeds and dirt and whatnot. It feels like Bethesda just forgot to finish those roofs and pretended not to notice it afterwards.

[FirstnameLastname-mopu]

As a hobbyist wood worker, this is the kind of content my life needed

[orinblank]

9:07 Those little nubs on the sidewalk are actually for visually impaired people. Same as the metal parts on the corner of the sidewalk at crosswalks. They allow people who use a cane to navigate to know where they're going. In Japan they are particularly noticeable, and all of the train stations have them moving in lines right up to where they get onto the train. I also used to think they were more for grip and it confused me, but it makes a lot more sense when you think about it as a way for blind people to navigate

[warbearin]

9:17 the comment about a potetntial tradition for getting up on the bench and doing a little dance was funny lol

[dusksentry]

the "shitty" roof in meeko's house could be the bare skeleton left over after all the thatching like...rotted, or got stolen or something

[TheHussar]

This is one of the best channels that can pull THIS off and still be fun.

[AhavatYisraeI]

Just a small fun fact, when you mentioned the texture on the concrete being there to make sure people don't slip, it's usually actually there to help sight-impaired people be able to tell where they are, such as at a crosswalk. :)

[Dynamic]

Please make this a full series, I loved it. Maybe even find a stone mason to weigh in on the masonry work of games.

[OwlMoovement]

For any woodworkers interested in the square nails (called cut nails), Stumpy Nubs has a great video on why they were square and how, once they were perfected, they are supposedly superior to modern wire (round) nails that we are used to.