Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker! – by Roy Underhill
by Roy Underhill
You can download an excerpt from this book here.
Roy Underhill of PBS’s “The Woodwright’s Shop” has written what could be the world’s first-ever woodworking novel: “Calvin Cobb: Radio Woodworker!” It’s a screwball comedy set in 1937 about a woodworker who heads the U.S. government’s agricultural “Broadcast Research” division.
Along with his staff of four women (all severely injured WWI volunteers), Calvin studies “broadcast seed, nutrient and amendment distribution technology and practice” – that is, what happens when the poop actually hits the fan.
But the four women are more interested in developing the world’s first supercomputer (using abandoned punch-card machines), and Calvin is more interested in woodworking…and in one particular woman: Kathryn Dale Harper, host of the radio program “Homemaker Chats.”
How best to woo her? Why, a radio show: “Grandpa Sam’s Woodshop of the Air!”
It’s an almost-overnight sensation (for measured drawings, write to “Grandpa Sam’s” and be sure to include a 3-cent stamp to cover the cost of duplication). But – as Calvin discovers – success breeds jealousy… a dangerous thing when one’s enemy has friends in high places.
Can Calvin and his friends save the world through woodworking, one listener at a time? Perhaps – but first, they’ll have to save themselves from Nazis, the clutches of the FBI, bureaucracy and wooden legs that break at inopportune times.
Like all Lost Art Press books, “Calvin Cobb” is produced entirely in the U.S. The 6" x 9" hardbound book is casebound with sewn signatures. It is wrapped in a beautiful full-color dust jacket designed by Canadian artist Jode Thompson.
And yes! It includes measured drawings for four projects that are essential to the plot of the book!
About the Author
Roy Underhill is a woodworker, historian, author, teacher, storyteller and TV host. Roy studied theater at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and environmental studies at Duke University. He was Colonial Williamsburg's first housewright. Roy is perhaps most well-known as the creator and host of “The Woodwright’s Shop," which aired on PBS for over 37 years. From 2009 to 2023, he ran the Woodwright’s School, in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Roy is currently working on a book based on his family during the Civil War.