27 Years of Green-Powered Craftsmanship on PBS
THE WOODWRIGHT’S SHOP WITH ROY UNDERHILL
New Season Premieres Saturday, September 29 (check local listings)!

Embarking on his 27th season on PBS, Roy Underhill notches another year of amazing longevity as host of The Woodwright’s Shop, one of the longest-running continuing productions on PBS and dubbed “the best how-to program since Julia Child started rattling pots and pans.” The all-new season premieres nationally Saturday, September 29, at 4 PM (check local listings), on PBS.

This season on The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill, our intrepid retro innovator of all things good and green goes in search of timeless ingenuity using the renewable resources of wood and will.

Join the original Woodwright for forays into the pilgrims’ progress at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, wise and wondrous works from Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg, master Moravian marvels from Old Salem in North Carolina, and glorious good old days at Greenfield Village in Michigan. With his winning, one-of-a-kind blend of wit and artistry, Roy again shares the wonder of woodcraft through an entertaining and eclectic mix of projects and personalities. This season see Roy and friends build boxes for Bibles and with secret drawers, make workbenches with a French Flavor, craft embroidery stands and crafty plant stands, turn out wooden screws, fiddle around with a learned luthier and explore Henry Ford’s land of yesteryear.

So wind up the wayback machine and see how to reduce your carbon footprint to an occasional measure-twice-cut-once pencil mark on your projects. Tune in this deep-rooted, long-running series every week and live well.

Visit The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill online at www.unctv.org/pressroom/woodwright/index.html for more information about The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill .

The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill is produced by UNC-TV and made possible through the generous support of State Farm Insurance, now in its 25th year of support. For more information about this show and other UNC-TV programming, visit UNC-TV online at www.unctv.org. UNC-TV’s 11 stations comprise North Carolina’s only statewide television network, made possible through a unique partnership of public investment and private support. UNC-TV is committed to producing and broadcasting programs for and about North Carolina, making it the state’s most important source of information about North Carolina.

—UNC-TV—

                             ABOUT THE WOODWRIGHT’S SHOP WITH ROY UNDERHILL…

The origin of The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill dates back to the day when Roy, dressed in his woodwright’s garb, dropped by the UNC-TV studios, introduced himself to bemused production executives, and announced that he intended to become the Julia Child of woodworking. The pitch worked and with UNC-TV’s help, Roy developed The Woodwright’s Shop for public television.

After its initial UNC-TV-only airing in 1979, PBS acquired the show for national distribution in 1980. Since its humble beginnings in North Carolina, The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill has taped in more than a dozen states and seven foreign countries with Roy creating one wooden masterpiece after another. Roy continues devoting a significant portion of his series to celebrating North Carolina’s craftspeople and traditions while educating viewers about culture, history and self-sufficiency of their forebears from around the world. A proven pioneer in the field of how-to programs, The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill laid the foundation for today’s wildly popular reality shows.

Today Roy still hosts, writes, and co-produces the show he created more than a quarter century ago at UNC-TV. More than 350 episodes later, The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill continues to delight millions of public television viewers in more than 200 markets around the nation. Embarking on its 27th year on PBS this fall, The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill remains an anachronism in many ways, including its status as one of the longest running of all PBS “how-to” programs.

ABOUT ROY UNDERHILL…

Raised in Washington, DC, Roy’s interest in tools began when his older sister introduced him to her Smithsonian career in American artifacts. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Roy put his woodworking skills to the test when he and his wife moved to the northern New Mexico mountains, nearly 17 miles from the nearest electrical line. The forced freedom of living in a remote area—combined with an environmentalist’s interest in self-sufficient technology—firmly established Roy’s love for the highly efficient tools of the past. Roy returned East a few years later to further develop his woodworking knowledge, studying colonial American technology at Duke University in Durham, NC. Following graduation he continued exploring woodworking and blacksmithing, becoming an expert on time-tested and true woodworking techniques.

While producing The Woodwright’s Shop, Roy spent nearly two decades at Colonial Williamsburg, first as master housewright then as acting as director of interpretive development. In addition to being a master woodworker, Roy launched another successful career as a communications consultant and speaker. Roy uses situations involving major public figures to illustrate how a speaker’s efforts to engage an audience can make or break a presentation. He offers advice on how to make interactions—even with large groups—personal, meaningful, and enjoyable.

Roy also authored scores of articles on early technology, five books in The Woodwright’s Shop series, and several books on early American architectural treasures. Roy published a book about public speaking, Khrushchev’s Shoe: And Other Ways to Captivate Audiences From One to One Thousand, in 2000.

Through lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on instruction, Roy shares his woodworking wisdom at events around the country—including home and garden shows, state fairs, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Conner Prairie Country Fair in Indiana, Cabin Fever Reliever Traditional Artists Retreat, State Farm® Classic Homes Fair, Heritage Village Museum in Cincinnati, Rochester Woodworkers Society, and Illinois Valley Woodland Expo. His lectures and workshops, ranging from interactive communication at the University of Indianapolis to music for home schoolers at the Home Education Conference, enthrall all types of attendees.

Each week Roy’s formidable woodworking skills, love of teaching, and irrepressible charm transform The Woodwright’s Shop into part history lesson and part entertainment show, making it more than just another “how-to” program. By engaging visitors from around the world in living history—and actually giving them the tools to discover the wisdom of their ancestors—Roy instills a passion for history and ingenuity in his devoted fans.

-UNC-TV-

THE WOODWRIGHT’S SHOP WITH ROY UNDERHILL
SEASON 27 EPISODE TITLES & DESCRIPTIONS…

Embarking on his 27th season on PBS, Roy Underhill notches another year of amazing longevity as host of The Woodwright’s Shop, one of the longest-running continuing productions on PBS and dubbed “the best how-to program since Julia Child started rattling pots and pans.” The all-new season premieres nationally Saturday, September 29, at 4 PM (check local listings), on PBS.

This season on The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill, our intrepid retro innovator of all things good and green goes in search of timeless ingenuity using the renewable resources of wood and will.

So wind up the wayback machine and see how to reduce your carbon footprint to an occasional measure-twice-cut-once pencil mark on your projects. Tune in this deep-rooted, long-running series every week and live well.

Visit The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill online at www.unctv.org/pressroom/woodwright/index.html for more information about The Woodwright’s Shop With Roy Underhill.

• 2701 Peter & the Box
  Master joiner Peter Follansbee of Plymouth Plantation carves a 17th century “bible box.”
  
• 2702 Ball & Socket Embroidery Stand, Part 1
  Turn the base and shaft of an 18th century embroidery stand from Colonial Williamsburg.
  
• 2703 Ball & Socket Embroidery Stand, Part 2
  Steam bent hoops and wooden adjusting screws complete the embroidery stand.
  
• 2704 Screw Box for Wooden Threads
  Down and dirty metalworking forges the cutters to make wooden screws.
  
• 2705 French Work Bench, Part 1
  This workbench from Provence uses puzzling dovetails to join the legs to the bench top.
  
• 2706 French Work Bench, Part 2
  A tool chest, drawers and vises complete the workbench from Provence.
  
• 2707 Violin Maker Joe Thrift
  Meet a modern luthier who works with tools and techniques unchanged for centuries.
  
• 2708 Candle Box With Secret Drawer
  A sliding side reveals the hidden drawer on this missionary’s candle box.
  
• 2709 Parallelogram Plant Stand
  Shelves that swing keep your plants in the sun on this Victorian contraption.
  
• 2710 German Woodcraft in America
  Explore woodworking traditions of the Moravian settlers at Old Salem.
  
• 2711 Woodworking With Tillers International
  Ox yokes and timber-framing number among the projects at a school dedicated to low-tech solutions.
  
• 2712 The Sordid Blacksmith
  A Williamsburg blacksmith forges hinges following instructions found in a 17th century manual.
  
• 2713 Henry Ford’s Museum Village
  Partake in a celebration of American innovation at Greenfield Village.
  

-UNC-TV-