George's press screw on Woodwright's Shop

[Ryan Baker]

I was watching Season 6, Episode 1 (1986) of the Woodwright's Shop, where Roy was doing an episode about wooden screws. He was standing next to a huge one, which he later confirmed was made by George. (There can't be too many of those in the world.) Here's a pic:
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I'm curious whether the one that is in the closing sequence of all the shows is the same screw too? (It certainly looks like it.) George, you posted a photo of your screw in a press frame sitting in a warehouse. Do you know if someone built it into the structure shown? Maybe i'll just have to wait for the episode where Roy is working on that structure and see what they say.

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[Gary Herrmann]

George! You're famous-er!

[george wilson]

The housewrights made the big frame for the press. The large 8' wide nut made the top of the frame. I adzed out the base,so they made the uprights and did the joints at the corners of the nut. I cut giant dovetails in the base.

[Ryan Baker]

That would be a fun backyard accessory, next to the grill. :)

[george wilson]

I didn't know Roy put the screw on his program. How can I view the program?

[Andrae Covington]

I love that giant cider press screw. It tickles me every time I see it.


I didn't know Roy put the screw on his program. How can I view the program?

Ryan has probably purchased the DVD or streaming video of that season via PW (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/woodwrights-shop-roy-underhill/the-woodwrights-shop-season-6). But there's a preview on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxnEiLX1Nzg) which shows the first ~5 minutes of the program.

[William Adams]

Isn't it here:

http://video.pbs.org/program/woodwrights-shop/

[george wilson]

William,sorry,I cannot use Adobe flash player. The show is S6 01(Season6,1st. show). Does anyone know how to pull that up so I can see it on my Mac?

By the way: On the movable(top) jaw,I made steel plates 1" thick,and about 2'+ square (assembled) to go in the groove at the end of the screw's bulbous part,so the jaw wouldn't slide off. It is more massive than it looks from a distance.

This project took me all Summer. Then,I adzed the bottom jaw at the Housewright's yard,leaving nicks in the edges of my costume shoes' soles from the sharp lipped adze I still have. The bottom jaw was about 18" thick,and 3 feet wide(near as I can recall. I sawed a single giant dovetail at each end of the bottom jaw. The dovetails were over 12" wide at their large ends.

The housewrights fitted the upright members into the bottom jaw,and the ends of the upper beam,which was the threaded nut. The nut was about 16" thick and about 3' wide and about 8' long.

This was in about 1985 or 6,so I'm a bit hazy on measurements.It took a crew of several men to screw the screw into the nut as everything was made from green wood,loaded with water. It dried out of the screw without splitting as I had drilled a 2" hole up through the center of the screw,and thoroughly soaked beeswax on the external parts of the screw. This way,the moisture was forced to go out through the bored out central hole,and the screw never did crack open. The nut was made from an old,gray 3' diameter log with the bark fallen off. Turned out to be hickory,and vey tough to saw !! The nut,being drier than the screw,never shrank more than the screw,so it never seized up on the screw,and all still work to this day.

It took some thought for me to figure out how to make this work out as I only had green wood to make the screw. Water ran around it as it was turned on the lathe.

That "thatched roof" you see in the bottom picture above was a shelter the Housewrights made at Carter's plantation,then owned by Col.Williamsburg. Unfortunately,you could see the blue sky through it when standing under the roof!! Real thatch is at least 2 feet thick,and made of reeds,not straw. A good thatched roof would last 50 years,I have read. Big fire hazard,though.

[Karl Andersson]

Roy also included a description of how it's made and a still photo or two in one of his first 3 books - i think Woodwright's Shop. The description says "we" (as in Williamsburg) built a cider press and screw, unfortunately doesn't mention George.

[David Posey]

On page 42 of The Woodwright's Workbook there is a picture shot through the nut with Roy and the screw at the other end. It is captioned "The hickory helix - George Wilson's cider press screw." He does talk about cutting large screws in that section of the book, but the process is different from what George described, so it might be a different book that Karl is talking about.

[george wilson]

Thanks,David. I haven't read any of the books mentioned.

[Ryan Baker]

George, Yes, I have the DVD. The preview video on Youtube that Andrae linked to also shows it. I can't help much with the Mac/Flash issue. You could try the HTML5 version of youtube (http://www.youtube.com/html5), but I have no idea how well that works. There are add-ons, downloaders, and alternate browsers available, but you may not want to mess with them. But you already know all the details about the press screw anyway.

There are a bunch of George Wilson items making appearances on Roy's show. He has had planes on there a number of times, and other things "borrowed" from Williamsburg. It's kind of like a game to "spot George's creations".

[george wilson]

Roy had permission to use anything made in Williamsburg. He didn't even ask to use the screw. Not that I cared.

Ryan,they want me to sign in for all kinds of things to use the site. I don't like giving all that information,but thank you anyway.

[Ryan Baker]

I was afraid they might ask for too much stuff. As I said, I haven't tried it. Oh well.