Book of the Week: The Woodwright's Companion

24 Dec 2014

Roy Underhill has a PBS show called The Woodwright’s Shop that shows traditional woodworking techniques. The Woodwright’s Companion is a book he wrote. Woodworking Woodworking appeals to the inner creationist in me. It’s about taking a tree and turning it into a piece of functional furniture. Using your hands without electricity to do that is pretty amazing. It is more than thinking of wood as a building material, but rather bringing out the beauty of the wood in your piece. One has to really pay attention to the wood to know how to work it. It expands and contracts with the weather. I’m used to working with cold, unfeeling machines, but wood is alive or at least it used to be. The book is not a how-to for woodworking, but more about telling a story and sharing some history.