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The Woodwright’s Guide: Working Wood with Wedge and Edge
For thirty years, Roy Underhill's PBS program, The Woodwright's Shop , has brought classic hand-tool craftsmanship to viewers across America. Now, in his seventh book, Roy shows how to engage the mysteries of the splitting wedge and the cutting edge to shape wood from forest to furniture.
Beginning with the standing tree, each chapter of The Woodwright's Guide explores one of nine trades of faller, countryman and cleaver, hewer, log-builder, sawyer, carpenter, joiner, turner, and cabinetmaker. Each trade brings new tools and techniques; each trade uses a different character of material; but all are united by the grain in the wood and the enduring mastery of muscle and steel.
Hundreds of detailed drawings by Eleanor Underhill (Roy's daughter) illustrate the hand tools and processes for shaping and joining wood. A special concluding section contains detailed plans for making your own foot-powered lathes, workbenches, shaving horses, and taps and dies for wooden screws.
The Woodwright's Guide is informed by a lifetime of experience and study. A former master craftsman at Colonial Williamsburg, Roy has inspired millions to "just say no to power tools" through his continuing work as a historian, craftsman, activist, and teacher. In The Woodwright's Guide , he takes readers on a personal journey through a legacy of off-the-grid, self-reliant craftsmanship. It's a toolbox filled with insight and technique as well as wisdom and confidence for the artisan in all of us.
Beginning with the standing tree, each chapter of The Woodwright's Guide explores one of nine trades of faller, countryman and cleaver, hewer, log-builder, sawyer, carpenter, joiner, turner, and cabinetmaker. Each trade brings new tools and techniques; each trade uses a different character of material; but all are united by the grain in the wood and the enduring mastery of muscle and steel.
Hundreds of detailed drawings by Eleanor Underhill (Roy's daughter) illustrate the hand tools and processes for shaping and joining wood. A special concluding section contains detailed plans for making your own foot-powered lathes, workbenches, shaving horses, and taps and dies for wooden screws.
The Woodwright's Guide is informed by a lifetime of experience and study. A former master craftsman at Colonial Williamsburg, Roy has inspired millions to "just say no to power tools" through his continuing work as a historian, craftsman, activist, and teacher. In The Woodwright's Guide , he takes readers on a personal journey through a legacy of off-the-grid, self-reliant craftsmanship. It's a toolbox filled with insight and technique as well as wisdom and confidence for the artisan in all of us.
- GenresWoodwork
192 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 18, 2018
The knowledge and skills part of the book - great.
The historical perspective and stories - great.
The writing style? Mr. Underhill writes like he speaks. I think it works better when you can see him and the things he's doing. Sometime you have to read descriptions of how things are oriented spatially or the order of operations several times to work out exactly what he's doing. Still - the man is a legend as far as I'm concerned and his quirky nature is a big part of what sets him apart.
The historical perspective and stories - great.
The writing style? Mr. Underhill writes like he speaks. I think it works better when you can see him and the things he's doing. Sometime you have to read descriptions of how things are oriented spatially or the order of operations several times to work out exactly what he's doing. Still - the man is a legend as far as I'm concerned and his quirky nature is a big part of what sets him apart.
October 20, 2011
Excellent book, and highly recommended. Talks about all manner of working wood with hand tools. It is organized generally from coarse, close to the forest work (starting with felling a tree) all the way through refined cabinetmaking. Along the way it covers log building, hewing timbers from logs, timber frame carpentry, sawing boards from timbers, joinery, woodturning, and furniture making.
It also has several appendices: two with plans for dies to cut wooden screws (one by Andre Roubo and the other by Bergeron, both 18th century French authors), two workbench plans (one by Roubo again, and one by Hasluck), and finally two foot-powered lathes of the authors design.
It is basically a history lesson for how things were before power tools came along (or a how-to manual for someone who want to do things the really old school way).
It was sort of a slow read for me, but only because it covers so much information.
It also has several appendices: two with plans for dies to cut wooden screws (one by Andre Roubo and the other by Bergeron, both 18th century French authors), two workbench plans (one by Roubo again, and one by Hasluck), and finally two foot-powered lathes of the authors design.
It is basically a history lesson for how things were before power tools came along (or a how-to manual for someone who want to do things the really old school way).
It was sort of a slow read for me, but only because it covers so much information.
April 19, 2015
Roy Underhill presents a bevy of hand tool wood working techniques, while also teaching the history of some of the artisans in the woodworking trades. On every page, there are multiple hand drawn illustrations of many of the techniques. This is really interesting stuff and well worth the time.
At the end of the book there are several appendices which show how to make tools to make wooden screws (useful for bench vises and other things) and two varieties of human-powered wood turning lathes. These are really excellent and my only wish would be for a little more detail.
At the end of the book there are several appendices which show how to make tools to make wooden screws (useful for bench vises and other things) and two varieties of human-powered wood turning lathes. These are really excellent and my only wish would be for a little more detail.
October 31, 2013
Excellent advice for woodworkers with the stress on traditional woodworking and carpentry. I gave it a three star rating because the sections were random collections of observations and much of the subject matter was not relevant to hobbyist woodworkers like myself.
August 5, 2019
A book so good you’ll want to read the appendices...seriously, read them.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews