For your entertainment and edification, here are some more British Pathe woodworking videos. If you watch one, watch the tennis rackets – it’s a pretty neat look at a mechanized shop that was still using a froe and drawknife.
Turners making chess pieces in Hungry in the 1960’s. They are flying, using a pretty big skew chisel.
Who knew making tennis rackets was so fascinating? A fellow paints the ends of the logs to prevent checking (this is the first time I’ve seen this in a period film). Then a worker splits the rackets from a log, just as if he were making chair bows. I like his riving brake, and the shaving brakes are cool too. I am disappointed that we missed the steam bending, but we do see a huge room full of bent rackets. Then the process goes ‘modern’, with totally unguarded shapers doing the work. The factory is a neat mix of green woodworking and modern machinery, a line many of us walk today.
Crisp footage of a cooper’s shop in 1949.