Roy Underhill (born December 22, 1950)[1] is an American woodworker and television show host. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he 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. Along with This Old House, which debuted the same year, it is the longest running PBS "how-to" show.
Underhill was introduced to traditional woodworking by a sister who worked at the Smithsonian Institution. 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. When that failed, the Underhills moved to a remote area of New Mexico where traditional woodworking was one of the few means of survival.[2]
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; in 1979, filming began on The Woodwright's Shop at West Point on the Eno in Durham, N.C.[3] 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. In 2011 he gave a presentation at TEDx Raleigh, sharing the value of ingenuity and living in the present.[4]
Underhill was teaching traditional woodworking in a classroom environment he called "The Woodwright's School" until August 2023. The Woodwright's School website is still active as of September 2023 and indicates that Roy is taking a break to work on a book and plans to resume teaching at a later date.
A workbench at The Woodwright's School, 2010
Many hand tool aficionados hold Underhill in extremely high regard and may refer to him with the shorthand "St. Roy."[5]
^Woodworker's Journal, "Roy Underhill: A Quarter Century of Subversive Woodworking". Retrieved January 7, 2014
^The Woodwright's Shop. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
^Mother Earth News, "Have Broadax-Will Time Travel". Retrieved January 7, 2014.
^"Have Broad Axe Will Travel". YouTube.com. TEDx Talks. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
^Christopher Schwarz. "An Interview with Roy Underhill". Popular Woodworking Magazine, posted September 30, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2019.
RoyUnderhill (born December 22, 1950) is an American woodworker and television show host. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he was the first master...
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PMC 1181943. PMID 15024688. Underhill, P.A.; Myres, Natalie M; Rootsi, Siiri; Metspalu, Mait; Zhivotovsky, Lev A; King, Roy J; Lin, Alice A; Chow, Cheryl-Emiliane...
is discovered to have been shot three times at close range. DCI Tony Underhill (Gary Beadle) suspects that Bill's brother, Tommy (Lee Ross), who has...
Dracula impersonates Bentley's deceased uncle, calling himself "Mr. Underhill", and schemes to make her his vampire bride. A German immigrant couple...
Ehrenfels Jürgen Andersen as First Officer of Ehrenfels Bernard Archard as Underhill Martin Benson as Mr. Montero Faith Brook as Mrs. Doris Grice Allan Cuthbertson...
Ashirbekov et al. 2017. Underhill, Peter A.; Myres, Natalie M.; Rootsi, Siiri; Metspalu, Mait; Zhivotovsky, Lev A.; King, Roy J.; Lin, Alice A.; Chow...
later Neolithic in the central Yellow River valley, c.4000–3000 BC", in Underhill, Anne P. (ed.), A Companion to Chinese Archaeology, John Wiley & Sons...
Shah Aga Temori, Mait Metspalu, Ene Metspalu, Michael Witzel, Roy J. King, Peter A. Underhill, Richard Villems & Jacques Chiaroni , 2013, “Afghan Hindu Kush:...
America Zach 2003 Pauly Shore Is Dead Himself Dreamcatcher Lieutenant Owen Underhill 2004 Paparazzi Rex Harper 2005 The Nickel Children Freedo No Rules Kain...
Castleton ? Edwin S. Underhill Democratic 33rd March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913 Bath ? 37th March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1915 John Q. Underhill Democratic 16th March...
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