Comments on: What’s Your Favorite Roy Episode?

By: Tom Robb

Tom Robb — Tue, 14 May 2013 17:39:56 +0000

I watch the show because I like the hand tool stuff.
What I don’t like is the single camera/no editing, scrambling to find the next tool, bit of timber or whatever – the chaos is absurd. Don’t the producers plan ahead?
I also get really annoyed with the way he grabs things from guests hands. It’s rude at best. I don’t understand why his guests put up with it.
Feel free to forward this to him or his people.

By: geppetto425

geppetto425 — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:23:07 +0000

I love all his shows and his command of hand tools and how easily he makes it look always astounds me. But I’ll always remember the first show I ever saw, he was in the middle of making a log cabin and he was using a two man large bow saw by himself to cut the opening through those thick logs for the door! Not knowing he was just a hand tool guy I still remember screaming at the TV “Chainsaw, chainsaw!”

By: akrouse

akrouse — Sat, 11 May 2013 19:07:51 +0000

I too, like Rpy. I have watched him for the past 30 years. The PBS station here has quit airing the show for some reason, but I am glad I can still watch on the “net”. Roy got me started in traditional woodworking, and I almost shut the power off to my shop because of him, but i realized I needed to see after it got dark.
I really don’t have a favorite episode. I think that the one that i am watching at the moment would be the favorite.

By: degennarod

degennarod — Sat, 11 May 2013 16:29:11 +0000

My favorite episode has always been Roy’s tour of Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s home. I used the video for many years when I taught sixth grade history. Roy’s narration, his choice of segments to focus on (the tiny upper window beneath the dome, as seen on our nickels), his reflections on the meaning of a man’s life, etc., still call up feelings of deep nostalgia. I’ve also met Roy several times, and you’re right, he’s the same in person; warm, very funny, and best of all, he lets you try out his tools!

By: akrouse

akrouse — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:42:16 +0000

I have been watching Roy for about 30 years or more, and have enjoyed every episode i saw. I have recorded them, and watched them so often that I have worn the tapes out, (yes the TAPES, Remember the VCR tapes!).
Roy about had me convinced to turn the power off to my shop, and i almost dit, but I realized I needed to see when i worked after dark. ( I guess i could have used a candle!!).
Our PBS station here in Houston has quit airing Roy”s shows, so I am glad to be able to see them again on CDs. I havn’t bought any yet, but Fathers Day is coming.

Later,

Alan

By: tpobrienjr

tpobrienjr — Sat, 11 May 2013 15:12:31 +0000

My favorite Roy episode wasn’t on TV at all. When our kids were 6 and 8, respectively, we took them to visit Colonial Williamsburg, and who did we see but Roy Underhill, the Housewright, in the Carpenter’s Yard. He let the kids work a pole lathe, and then put them to work with a two-kid saw, slicing a big slab off the end of a white oak log. If I remember right, that’s when I heard the best-ever Roy joke – about the fate of the saw pit when steam-powered saws came along: they were cut up and sold for post holes!

By: navy1

navy1 — Wed, 08 May 2013 21:27:48 +0000

I have enjoyed just about everything that Roy has built, or talked about. What stands out the most to me is his methodology is very much like that of both my grandfathers, and my own father. They were all “old school”, no power tools, just very old, and well used hand tools. They also made some very beautiful work, out of recycled wood from barns and other old buildings. The ancient chestnut wood that they used was so beautiful, and stable. Most of it was at least 150 years old from the first usage, plus however old the tree was when cut. I am weaning myself from depending on so many power tools, and find the hand planning, jointing, and sharpening to be almost therapeutic. It also fosters the connection with my ancestors when I take up their old tools, and build with them. When hand planning with a well sharpened and keenly honed antique plane, it is sometimes almost hypnotic, hearing the tool do it’s job, and see the shavings accumulate, and with a thickness so fine, that I can read a newspaper thru it.

By: dkemp

dkemp — Tue, 07 May 2013 18:49:45 +0000

We just returned from a month long vacation in NC. We stayed at a place out near the beaches but I worked things out so that I could attend a one day session at Roy’s Woodwright School. I am a relative newcomer to woodworking and took the dovetail and mortise session hoping to build a solid foundation of hand tool skills. What a great experience it was and I recommend it to any one who gets the chance.

Roy was entertaining, informative, patient, and many other traits that we see on his show. I came away a much better woodworker with a better understanding of how hand tools work and are most enjoyable to use. I used portions of the remainder of our vacation to build a Shaker style clock entirely using hand tools (full disclosure the parts were rough milled using power tools before we left home). And I used the “milkman’s bench” clamped to a patio table to do all the work.

As for my most favourite episode I am still catching up on online ones and can’t decide as of yet. I must admit The Spirit of Woodcraft did bring a smile to my face, especially the hand puppet portion.

Cheers, Dave

By: Dan Farnbach

Dan Farnbach — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:43:04 +0000

Awesome work. That’s an amazing cause.

By: Dan Farnbach

Dan Farnbach — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:42:12 +0000

Keep us posted on the class you’re taking! Sounds fun.