The University of North Carolina Press

203 pp., 8.5 x 11, 262 illus.

Paper

ISBN  978-0-8078-4095-5

Published: April 1983

The Woodwright's Companion

Exploring Traditional Woodcraft

By Roy Underhill

With The Woodwright's Companinon, Roy Underhill continues to demonstrate “how to start with a tree and an axe and make one thing after another until you have a house and everything in it.” This volume features chapters on helves and handles, saws, the search for the whetstone quarry, crow chasers and turkey calls, hurdles, whimmy diddles, snaplines and marking gauges, candle stands, planes, window sash, riven shingles, and pit sawing. The final chapter offers a glimpse of traditional woodworking techniques still used by the Colonial Williamsburg housewrights. More than 260 photographs complement the text.

About the Author

The longtime master housewright at Colonial Williamsburg, Roy Underhill is the leading authority on old-time woodworking techniques. He created The Woodwright's Shop for public television in 1979. The series, produced by the University of North Carolina Center for Public Television, has aired nationally since 1981, with thirteen new programs introduced each year. Roy is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and holds a master's degree from Duke University.