I was just watching a old Roy Underhill show on PBS. Steve Latta doing inlays with Holly in walnut with homemade tools for cutting the holly and the grooves..
Using a roldering iron to bend the wood etc…
AMAZING!…. I got to get the video of that show!
Replies
I'll second that motion.
If there was a website where we could order DVD's of each season of Roy's The Woodwright Shop, I'd be all over that. I have some of his shows on VHS, but the local PBS stations are hit and miss with his show. If it aired on a more regular basis around here, I would definitely get TiVo and then maybe a DVD burner.
I'll be third in line to agree. I live out (way out) in the boonies you could say making my own tools and doing things the old ways gets things done.
The University of North Carolina Press (see link below) has some video tapes of selected projects and shows but not a complete selection. I remember watching Roy a good twenty years ago so to have all the shows would be quite a feat. One would think they'd have come out (or will come out) with a DVD version, it seems like an easy money maker.
And on a similar note, I have a hankering to make a treadle lathe and have been looking for his article on making lathes called, "Lathe from a Loft". It was in an Oct. 2000 issue of Popular Wodworking. The issue is out of print, anyone know where I can get a copy?
http://uncpress.unc.edu/woodwright/
Edited 4/24/2005 7:48 am ET by pqken
Edited 4/24/2005 7:49 am ET by pqken
It's a shame that old Roy doesn't have the marketing muscle behind him that Norm does -- with Morash and WGBH."I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
-- Bertrand Russell
OK, I have to admit: I don't "get" Roy Underhill. That is, I fail to see why some idolize him so. Aright, he has this apparent Amish-like aversion to electricity. Maybe that has some appeal from a quaint, couriosity point of view. 'sorta like taking a weekend drive through Lnacaster County, PA. But I've never seen him make anything on his shows that I'd call "fine furniture", or that I'd want to have in my home (I have to admit I haven't seen one for several years, though).
To me, Underhill's avoidance of power tools is as silly as Norm's obsession over them.
Let the flaming begin. ;)
Roy's a neat guy.But I still remember him as a JROTC cadet that never quite got right shoulder arms executed smoothly.Ta,Leon Jester
I have never seen any of the TV shows here, they wont ever be aired either. I did however love his books.
If a DVD was available I would love a copy. Heres hoping......
Everything, 100% of it, depends on how you look at it.
DW
Barry,
I am with you. In the past I haven't found his show helpful in teaching things I want to learn- and there is so much I want to learn about the craft. That's purely a personal observation, and will be a dead-right observation for some and dead-wrong for others.
Jim
No flaming here, even though I do call him St. Roy most of the time. I'd say his show (a) gives folks a different way of looking at woodworking; (b) always focuses on the physical characteristics of the wood he's working; (c) provides specifics on using hand-tools for basic operations and (d) provides historical perspective on many of the items made, tools used and milling of the wood (notably when he goes on "field trips").
And, of course, he's entertaining and probably entices many people to try working wood by hand. However, can you imagine how many episodes would be required to show the building of a large piece of furniture! Too many for most of us.
The most impressive episode I've seen was the one on marquetry, with a guest WWer who used some rare old hand-powered machine. Two or three years ago?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
I was just thinking about his show when making a work bench.. He halled out this hunk of oak with a dark stain on it.. He said it was from BLOOD when he cut it! ... LOL
Ya ever take a close look at his hands/fingers during the show? Another LOL...
Last year, which was some sort of anniversary for the show, they did an episode of bloopers and outakes from over the years. He's had his share of "Oops!"
A living example of a body type that isn't susceptible to such things as carpal tunnel syndrome or any of those other modern maladies that afflict many of us.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
If you get nothing else out of Roy's show but an appreciation for the historical techniques then you have not wasted a moment of your time. Too many of us take for granted the power that we have in our shops. He may not be making fine furniture but you have to remember that he is doing everything real time.
I also saw that show and loved it but I forgot about it. This thread reminded me of it and I just ordered a VHS tape of it for $15 and $5 shipping. See
http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=1438035
I built a treadle lathe based on that Roy Underhill show. My only significant caveat would be to use one inch diameter shaft material for the headstock and tailstock. Then if you wish at some point to get a live center or a commercial driver center, you can easily find a shaft drilled to accept a Morse taper.
DANG and me with just a DVD player!
Will,
I get Roy's books and build his projects with my kids. Great family time, and they might even learn something. So far we've made a broom from a pine branch, a rake from a beech sapling, a wooden scoop from a piece of maple from the woodpile, and maple malets also from the woodpile.
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