Slow TV, but for woodworking

April 15, 2023 3:32 PM

I'm curious about all the little nuances that a craftsman does, sometimes without even thinking about it. Does anyone know of a video resource showing woodworkers doing projects from start to finish, with only minimal editing?
posted by SunSnork to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

I'm not quite sure if this thorough enough for your tastes, but The Art of Boat-Building handles wooden boat building in a fair degree of detail. There are still plenty of edits, but it's much slower-paced than, say, the New Yankee Workshop, in that he'll make tens of episodes about a single small boat.
posted by Alterscape at 3:41 PM on April 15, 2023

There are a LOT of episodes in this series. Not exactly fine woodworking, but still displays phenomenal skills. I hope
this scratches part of the itch for you.
posted by kate4914 at 6:08 PM on April 15, 2023

For woodworking with hand tools, and mostly carving, Zed Outdoors is a YouTube channel with long videos showing complete processes from start to finish.
posted by janell at 6:31 PM on April 15, 2023

Tips from a shipwright on YouTube. It took about 25 episodes to build a skiff. Louis goes into minute detail from time to time on such things as exactly how he makes a particular pencil mark, or gets his body weight behind a place or how he adapted an electric planer.
posted by SemiSalt at 7:29 PM on April 15, 2023

Ishitani Furniture should be right up your alley.
posted by ctmf at 12:38 AM on April 16, 2023

The trouble with "minimal editing" is that so much time in woodworking is spent just setting up for a cut, or making a jig, or doing a bunch of boring things that doesn't work on video.

I like this guitar building video. He shows a lot of those little things you're looking for. Very detailed.

Check out some of Kyle Toth's videos. Lots of turning of vases and bowls.

He's not strictly a woodworker but I think some of Jimmy Diresta's stuff might be what you're looking for. Here's part one of a boat build.
posted by bondcliff at 7:18 AM on April 16, 2023

My favorite YouTube is German builder/maker/creative extraordinaire Laura Kampf! She does all sorts of projects, many that include woodworking, and her videos talk about the highs and lows. She's restoring a 120 year old house near Cologne (here's a video of restoring a door!) and just finished building a cool tiny house. While it's not quite what you're looking for, I think you may still enjoy her videos.
posted by smorgasbord at 10:44 AM on April 16, 2023

Carl Rogers's staircase rebuild series (starts here). Really good "slowness factor," including lots of boring repetitive cuts, but still with a good narrative, and I certainly found it educational.
posted by mustardayonnaise at 12:30 PM on April 16, 2023