Charismatic and innovative, woodworker Roy Underhill has been educating and entertaining people with his unrivaled knowledge of traditional hand tools and woodworking techniques for more than 30 years. This video download gives 13 episodes with Roy, including:
- The Dominy Shop - Roy takes us on a tour the Dominy Shop at Winterthur Museum. The shop holds the tools and shop items used by three generations of craftsman from 1750-1850.
- Spring Pole Lathe - Roy walks us through the steps to create a simple, but accurate and functional spring pole lathe.
- Ball & Claw Feet - Roy welcomes Wallace Gusler from Colonial Williamsburg, and he shows the process to create a cabriole leg with a ball and claw foot.
- The Wainscot Chair - Roy works with his daughter, Rachel, to create a child-size, 17th-century chair found in a book by Wallace Nutting.
- Tool Boxes & Chests - Roy explores the contents of a recently purchased tool chest, trying to determine something of the original owner. He then shows how to recreate the chest itself.
- Chip Carving - Mack Headley from Colonial Williamsburg visits the shop and demonstrates the chip carving techniques used to decorate furniture.
- Good Fences - Roy looks at the details of early-American fences, including lightweight and portable fences used for sheep herding, garden fences and more substantial post and rail "fences" used in forts built around 1620.
- Kitchen Gifts - When you're looking for handmade gifts, Roy recommends a number of wooden items for the kitchen, including spoons, a rolling pin, a collapsible goblet and a pie crimper.
- Raising the Shop - Roy pitches in with the raising of the frame-and-timber structure for Anderson's Forge at Colonial Williamsburg.
- Building A Boat - Roy builds a small rowboat using traditional tools and techniques.
- Rittenshouse Hygrometer - After discussing how humidity affects different wood species, Roy makes a clever and simple late 18th-century hygrometer to measure the humidity in the shop.
- Corner Cupboard - Roy recreates a classic pine corner cupboard.
- High chair - To celebrate his new nephew, Roy builds an 18th century baby's high chair with rush seating.