The Woodwright's Apprentice: Twenty Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop [Paperback]

Roy Underhill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 1996

For more than twenty years, Roy Underhill has taught the techniques of traditional woodcraft with muscle-powered tools. With his four previous books and his popular PBS series, The Woodwright's Shop, now in its sixteenth season, Roy has inspired millions to take up chisel and plane.

The master woodwright returns here with instructions for handcrafting an appealing selection of projects from the American woodworking tradition. The Woodwright's Apprentice begins with directions for building a workbench. Each successive project builds new skills for the apprentice woodworker—from frame construction to dovetailing, turning, steam-bending, and carving. Among the twenty items featured are an African chair, a telescoping music stand, a walking-stick chair, a fireplace bellows, and a revolving Windsor chair.

Designed both for woodworking novices and for more seasoned woodworkers looking for enjoyable projects, the book includes step-by-step directions, complete with easy-to-follow photographs and measured drawings, and an illustrated glossary of tools and terms. All of the pieces presented here are based on projects featured in past and upcoming seasons of The Woodwright's Shop television show.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Roy Underhill, former master housewright at Colonial Williamsburg, lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press (October 9, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807846120
• ISBN-13: 978-0807846124
• Product Dimensions: 11.6 x 8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,348 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book for fans of The Woodwright Shop, January 1, 2000

By 

D. Shookowsky (Downingtown, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Woodwright's Apprentice: Twenty Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop (Paperback)

This is a great book with many project ideas. It is not a book of measured drawings. If you've viewed "The Woodwright's Shop," you wouldn't expect to see them anyway. Each project highlights different techniques with hand tools. I've personally recreated the bellows from this book with much success (If I do say so myself!)

I still re-read the section on hand-cutting dovetails each time I attempt them.

All-in-all, it's a great book that demonstrates woodworking techniques while forcing you to improvise your projects around the basic themes presented in its pages.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Projects to Learn On, August 17, 2001

By 

Patrick S. Files "paxinakron" (Canfield, OH United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Woodwright's Apprentice: Twenty Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop (Hardcover)

When you read Underhill you begin to understand the tradition of woodworking--the heritage of anyone whose ancestors had to hew out a shelter and live off the land (in other words, every one of us). The former master housewright for Colonial Williamsburg includes projects with instructions specific enough to get you started but vague enough to challenge you to inject individuality into your work. As a still-green intermediate woodworker and a history student, I loved it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating #5, November 2, 2008

By 

Dick Johnson (Oklahoma USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Woodwright's Apprentice: Twenty Favorite Projects From The Woodwright's Shop (Paperback)

This is my favorite of the series in overall content. There are no trips to the forest or barn raisings here, just projects that can be built in any workshop. Unlike the others, this is not really a sit down and read through it book. Instead it's a true how-to book.