Stumbled on an old PBS show called 'The Woodwright's Shop' from 1980s

I was flipping through channels last Saturday night, and landed on some public access station that was rerunning old episodes of this show where a guy builds furniture with nothing but hand tools and no electricity. It was so quiet and slow compared to everything else on TV today. He spent a whole half hour just explaining how to sharpen a chisel on a whetstone, and I was completely hooked. I grew up watching Power Rangers and cartoons so I never knew this show existed back then. It made me realize how much care went into making things before cordless drills and table saws took over. Has anyone else seen these old woodworking shows from the 80s and found them relaxing in a weird way?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarb712d ago

I found that exact same show on YouTube last month and watched like eight episodes in one sitting. The host Roy Underhill does all his joinery with just chisels, saws, and a brace and bit. There's something about watching him work a hand plane for twenty minutes that just slows your brain down. I actually tried sharpening a chisel with his method and it took me three tries but now my chisel actually cuts instead of just scraping.

adam_hernandez2d ago

Haha man that burr story is painful I've been there for sure. It took me three tries just to stop making my chisel worse before it got better lol. But once it finally cut right it was like a lightbulb moment, totally worth the frustration.

mason8472d ago

That three tries thing is exactly what I want to know more about. Was the first try just about getting the angle right or did you mess up the edge entirely? I tried sharpening a plane blade last week by copying his method and ended up with a burr on one side that took twenty minutes to grind off with a stone. What brand of chisel did you use that actually took an edge after that method?