I've got to quit watching Saint Roy

[Jerome Hanby]

Watched a tivo'ed episode with Christopher Schwarz demonstrating three classes of saw cuts and started getting the itch to actually do some hand sawing!

[Chris Griggs]

Now go to the PBS website and watch all the episodes going back to 2006. Then you're really in trouble.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've collected most of the episodes or the last 5 years or so. Been putting off getting them converted into the common format I use until I build my new media/file server, Think I may go with unraid. Kind of hate having a linux distro dictated to me, but it looks like a pretty clean solution and it appears that my media server will run on it...

Kind of funny, I can recall seeing his shows when I was a teenager. At the time, I had him classified in my memory banks as that crazy guy doing everything with stone age techniques <g>. He sure got smarter over the years <eg>. My parents did too. Must be common with old folks <g>.

[Zach Dillinger]

My dad used to watch Roy, back when I was a kid. Man I wished I had paid attention then. Now I'm struggling to find the old episodes so that I can watch them. I even posted a Craigslist ad looking for old tapes. Got the entire 1988 season that way (was 5 years old then so I don't remember them), but nothing else so far. Kinda cool to see him actually build a lot of the stuff from The Eclectic Workshop. Man, I would pay a lot of money to be able to download the old episodes from iTunes or something like that...

[Chris Griggs]

. Now I'm struggling to find the old episodes so that I can watch them.

Yeah, I wish they would make ALL the old season available, I never saw Roy's show until I got into woodworking a few years ago. I feel like there must be so much great stuff that I missed.

[Zach Dillinger]

Yeah, I wish they would make ALL the old season available, I never saw Roy's show until I got into woodworking a few years ago. I feel like there must be so much great stuff that I missed.

Yes, indeed. Of course, I love Roy's show, but there is a lot of repetition. I was watching an episode from 1988 where he makes a tavern table. In the beginning, he's reading some historical references to tavern tables. On the table, holding the book, is the Roubo bookstand he made in a previous episode (season 7, I guess). He talks about it a little. But I guess after 30 years or so you'll have some repeats.

[Jim Koepke]

Watched a tivo'ed episode with Christopher Schwarz demonstrating three classes of saw cuts and started getting the itch to actually do some hand sawing!

That is why I like to watch it before going out to the shop.

Of course, if I am reading SMC late at night and someone mentions a new technique or idea there is a strong urge to go out and give it a try. I often give in to my urges.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Amazon recently added a bunch of PBS stuff to their video download service - you can get Mr. Rogers episodes from the early 70's . . . but no Roy yet. I keep crossing my fingers.

[Albert T. Tappman]

I really liked that episode, but because of Christopher Schwarz, not Roy. Roy was hamming it up and generally making a fool of himself, pretending that he didn't know how to saw and mocking Schwarz's "3 classes of sawing" and his expensive saws. It was over the top. But I learned more from that episode than from any of the others I've watched recently. Roy doesn't really teach in an organized, logical way like Schwarz does. It always looks like Roy is using stunt wood, he's so good at what he's doing. But he rarely explains his technique in a methodical way.

[Zach Dillinger]

I really liked that episode, but because of Christopher Schwarz, not Roy. Roy was hamming it up and generally making a fool of himself, pretending that he didn't know how to saw and mocking Schwarz's "3 classes of sawing" and his expensive saws. It was over the top. But I learned more from that episode than from any of the others I've watched recently. Roy doesn't really teach in an organized, logical way like Schwarz does. It always looks like Roy is using stunt wood, he's so good at what he's doing. But he rarely explains his technique in a methodical way.

That's part of why I like Roy... hobby woodworking shouldn't be so serious / logical, it should be fun. He can poke a little fun at himself, but everyone knows he can saw circles around just about anyone else. Roy doesn't teach in a logical / organized way for the same reason he doesn't do measured drawings or really even give dimensions of the things he makes. He wants us to think for ourselves and figure things out, not spoon-feed it all to us. I like it that way.

[Matt Radtke]

Amazon recently added a bunch of PBS stuff to their video download service - you can get Mr. Rogers episodes from the early 70's . . . but no Roy yet. I keep crossing my fingers.

I'll say it again. Once I can buy entire season of 'The Woodwright's Shop" from Amazon, iTunes, or similar, I will suffer from a severe case of "Shut up and take my money."

[Jerome Hanby]

That's part of why I like Roy... hobby woodworking shouldn't be so serious / logical, it should be fun. He can poke a little fun at himself, but everyone knows he can saw circles around just about anyone else. Roy doesn't teach in a logical / organized way for the same reason he doesn't do measured drawings or really even give dimensions of the things he makes. He wants us to think for ourselves and figure things out, not spoon-feed it all to us. I like it that way.

You know, I can't recall ever falling asleep watching one of his shows. Can't say that about the Woodsmith Shop or NYWS. I have run screaming from the room while trying to watch Rough Cuts, but that's an accent thing <g>

[Tom Vanzant]

One thing that Roy does that drives me up the wall is his incessant reaching in... Steve Follansbee (sp) had to warn him at least three times about keeping out of the way of the hatchet and whittling knives during Steve's demonstration on carving wooden spools. It's part of what he does, I guess. Other than that, I enjoy his programs.

[george wilson]

Roy always has his hand or a finger in any closeup of something his guest is showing.

[Jason Coen]

That's Peter, not Steve.



Roy always has his hand or a finger in any closeup of something his guest is showing.

That tends to happen when moving or orienting objects to make sure they are in frame. If the show wasn't shot in one take this wouldn't be necessary, but IMHO the show would lose some of its charm.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I always get nervous when he's got someone else's vintage piece haphazardly tossed on the bench - like the episode with William Andersons bowsaw - I was always nervous that the original was going to get knocked on the floor or hit with a tool . . .

[James Carmichael]

OK, dumb question: who is St. Roy? Never heard of him.

[Dan Hulbert]

I watched the episode on the English Framing Square a couple of weeks ago. Now I have 4 of them and am looking to make some more tools. That show should come with warnings.

[Joe Bailey]

OK, dumb question: who is St. Roy? Never heard of him.
He is Roy Underhill, host of the PBS Series "The Woodwright's Shop" and pioneering old hand tool user/teacher/afficianado.

[David White II]

My local public library has volumes ii-iv of the Woodwright's shop, copyright 1985, so at least some of the old stuff is out there. Unfortunately, I have no way to watch VHS anymore.

ps It's the Knox County public library.

[Zach Dillinger]

My local public library has volumes ii-iv of the Woodwright's shop, copyright 1985, so at least some of the old stuff is out there. Unfortunately, I have no way to watch VHS anymore.

ps It's the Knox County public library.

I'd be buying a $20 vcr and skipping work the next couple of weeks...