Craft Films

"Not a lot of money in that is there?" "No, not a lot of money.... Still we've always done it... Money's not everything." Bodgers were wood turners who worked in the beech woods around the furniture-making town of High Wycombe in England.  They would cut, split...

I just stumbled upon this old Folkstreams video for the second time - it's well worth watching.  A poplar or basswood log and five tools:  scribe, ax, adz, drawknife and a knife.  No work-holding devices, but a neat way to hold the shovel using his feet...

I thought you all might like to see a fun, short video Roy Underhill and I did after we filmed a TV show last week: Bentwood Firewood Carrier FailHappy Woodwright Wednesday! Who's ready for some fresh video? It's blazing hot out there, so why not get a jump on winter...

Sunday in Portland, biking back from the farmer's market with a backpack full of berries, I stumbled upon an Estate Sale.  A turn-of-the-century house in a nice neighborhood, full of nice things.  Dozens of copper pots, hundreds of beautiful drawings,  closets of wool...

Filmed in 1954, this video shows a large cooperage in full swing. At this time the cooper's trade had been going uninterrupted for hundreds of years and we are watching the result. These guys move! I suspect chairmaking was once this efficient, but our trade died out...

My friend Bill Anderson just found this incredible film. A fellow and his wife are working outdoors making a chest using an axe, drawkife, hook knife and a few nifty brakes. They split a log into planks and work them down on the shaving horse - I wonder what's the...

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History - I'm on chapter two about Charles Macintosh, windshield wipers and umbrellas. In Japan, the book says, umbrellas were status symbols in ancient times. In the 19th century they became a popular accessory for the masses and...