Roy Underhill

Roy Underhill (b. 22 December, 1950) was raised in Washington, DC and was the first master housewright at the Colonial Williamsburg reconstruction. Since 1979 he has been the host of the PBS series ’’The Woodwright’s Shop’’. As of 2004, the show was the longest-running PBS “how-to” show.

Underhill was introduced to traditional woodworking by a sister who worked at the Smithsonian. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned a degree in Theater. In the early 1970s Underhill and his wife moved to Colorado to form Homestead Arts to pursue a career in acting. But when that failed the Underhills moved to a remote area of New Mexico where traditional woodworking was one of the few means of survival.

In the late 1970s Underhill moved back to North Carolina and Duke University pursuing a multi-disciplinary course of study including engineering, forestry and history and was subsequently awarded a Master of Forestry in 1977. At the birth of his first daughter, he approached the UNC Center for Public Television with an idea about a traditional woodworking show. Initially rejected, the idea was finally accepted and in 1979 filming began on “The Woodwright’s Shop” at West Point on the Eno in Durham, North Carolina. Around the same time he also took the job as master housewright and later director of interpretive development at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

More recently Underhill also works as a communications consultant. He is the author of several books, including ’’The Woodwright’s Eclectic Workshop’’ and ’’Woodwright’s Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft’’.

Many handtool aficionados hold Roy Underhill in extremely high regard and may refer to him with the shorthand “St. Roy.”

Publications

• Roy Underhill (2000) ’’Khrushchev’s Shoe and Other Ways to Captivate an Audience of 1 to 1,000’’. Perseus Publishing. ISBN 0-7382-0672-5
• Roy Underhill (1996) ’’The Woodwright’s Apprentice:Twenty Favorite Projects from The Woodwright’s Shop’’. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4612-0
• Roy Underhill (1991) ’’The Woodwright’s Eclectic Workshop’’. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4347-4
• Lisa C. Mullins, Roy Underhill (1988) ’’Styles of the Emerging Nation (Architectural Treasures of Early America, 13)’’. Historical Times. ISBN 0-918678-35-8
• Roy Underhill (1986) ’’The Woodwright’s Workbook: Further Explorations in Traditional Woodcraft’’. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4157-9
• Roy Underhill (1983). ’’The Woodwright’s Companion: Exploring Traditional Woodcraft’’. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4095-5
• Roy Underhill (1981). ’’The Woodwright’s Shop: A Practical Guide to Traditional Woodcraft’’.University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4082-3