Woodworking in The 1940s

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They sure don't make 'em like they used to, and here's where you'll find out why. OUTSTANDING footage of home construction in the 1940s. The first two things to notice about home building is a) how much hardwood was used, and b) how many people were employed.
It's interesting to see an entire house being sheathed in heavy planks instead of Celotex, and to watch men using hammers instead of nail guns. And although there is already prefabrication of elements like windows and doors, there is still on-site construction of kitchen storage units by skilled carpenters.
Getting back to the point of the film, the first half uses the house under construction to demonstrate the difference between rough (basement joists and cross ties) and fine (windows, doors and cabinets) carpentry, and then goes on to show how other woodworking jobs exist in factories supplying the construction trade. It shows the processes (and jobs) involved in creating plywood,laminates, and fine furniture, although it makes a point of mentioning that because of the added cost, there is a limited market for the latter. It also shows the woodworker's role in making molds for metal parts like flywheels, and shows in some detail how a sand mold is made and metal is poured.
It ends by advising young men to spend as much time as possible in their basements doing woodworking projects and building their own collection of tools with their spending money. There is a considerable amount of suspense in the final minute of the film as the young man saws vigorously through a thin flimsy shaking piece of plywood using a large cross-cut saw, apparently unaware that his left thumb appears to be directly in the path of the blade.
Notable for the view of mid-20th century social norms, where work crews consist of young as well as older men, and no one needs safety goggles or hard hats on site, or respirators or gloves in the factories when they are working with glues and stains.

[@geraldstark5592]

What manual skills have been lost, and a generation who will never have a chance to learn them. I was once a fourcutter and spindle operator in a british sawmill in Plymouth Devon , in1972 I started my apprenticeship. Now there are no saw mills in the southwest any more as I remember them .

[@Goldsmithexile1960]

Cutting the herringbone strutting @ 1.53 Brilliant, so simple quick and effective...

[@louishampton9532]

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[@jackwittlich8409]

That was fun to watch. I served the five year patternmakers apprenticeship in the 1960s and later bought the shop. We did amazingly accurate work, mostly by hand, but eventually I had to install CNC equipment to stay competative. Back in those days, pattern makers were some of the highest skilled craftsman because they had to understand the characteristics of wood, interpret 2-D drawings, work to close tolerance, be able to operate wood and metal working machinery, and they tok great pride in their work. It was an art that has disappeared.

[@jameswil7687]

Jack Wittlich i agree. im only 19 but I help a older guy build a house. We cut and milled the trees with hands saws and wedges. Built the whole thing by hand and not one electric tool. Used hand tool and a level. Took 3 months but it was worth it.

[@jameswalters8155]

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[@qwadratix]

Lol, I was born in the 40's. This was my early life and education. Children were mostly all taught these skills at school and beyond.

[@thephilosopher5799]

Born in the 40s and uses terms like lol, wth

[@qwadratix]

@@thephilosopher5799 Also uses the internet. Go figure.

[@brucewelty7684]

This is an absolute duplicate of one I watched yesterday.

[@RevivedBuilds]

Iowa State! Yeah that was great to watch! thanks for sharing.

[@TheXdmsify]

Great video Period 3 Woodworking represent

[@trcmf]

No power tools, I love it!

[@lampoon154]

Great video. Thanks!

[@RobertNims]

Not Ikea,

[@Rotwang72]

yes at 0:50

[@ronatholl]

good that thanks

[@onlywood1483]

If these masters of true woodworking spotted the sad workmanship coming from people now days with there fancy cnc machines the would possibly start crying it shame of what we have become

[@raymond06]

Actually, I think they would appreciate the accuracy. There were many high end hand made Italian sports cars where the left side would be slightly different than the right side because the metal work was done by hand. Yes, a work of art, but you have to accept and appreciate the limits of it.

[@bradleyyoung4553]

good

[@j5892000]

Peckerwood!

[@chefdale9759]

Who is watching this in 2016

[@acanadianwoodworker]

I'm saving it for 2020 *bookmarks

[@goognamgoognw6637]

2018

[@the_eminent_Joshua_E_Hrouda]

Where almost every man wore a hat!

[@jokopdill9942]

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[@tomadi2772]

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[@Duraganthelion]

What a fastinating time it was: All men wore only flat caps and not a single high-vis or safety harness to be found.

[@jim-hn7ko]

"Arthur P. Twogood". they don't make names like that any more!

[@TheJimsock]

Oh my, not any safety PPE to be seen anywhere. Imagine that. How did we ever survive as a species? The horror! Back when men were men and women knew enough not to get in the way. Thanks for the vid. I know where to send all the safety nazis now.

[@tycoon9201]

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[@nizmojoeblows]

in the past 65 years work related deaths have dropped by over 700%........if some of the very common and very simple devices were around back then, a lot of people would have come home from work instead of dying on the job. Back when doctors endorsed smoking and herion was a suitable medical prescription for a multitude of ailments. Ah yes, those were the times.

[@nizmojoeblows]

never understood how someone can hate on someone else for wanting to do something safe and smart. Things go wrong in an instant and no level of experience excludes you from those incidents.

[@TheJimsock]

nizmojoeblows 700% WOW That's a lot. But, what about the quality? Back in the 30's and 40's, for instance...it took ONE year to build the Iconic Empire State Building. It took the Allies just over 4 years to conquer Europe back from the Nazis and Asia back from Imperial Japan if you accept that the full bore counter attack began in 1941. It took less than 20 years to rebuild. The Ground Breaking for the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan was 1966. One was completed in 1968, the other in 1969. What do we have now as a result of Safety and Environmental OCD? It took a full 5 years of just conception and certification for the replacement Freedom Tower to even start construction and was not opened until 2013. Additional construction won't be done until 2016 (estimate) 1 and a half decades after the disaster of 9-11. The art of craftsmanship is dying if not already dead in favor of the "safety" of writing code, media and consulting. Safety OCD has turned us all into a bunch of boring, benign, banal turds. The constant barrage of safety warnings on everything from ball point pens to cell phones has stripped us of our ability to be safe intuitively and stripped us of the dignity associated with being responsible for our own actions. Instead of being embarrassed by doing something stupid, we are empowered to get a lawyer to enact retribution on a third party Safety OCD is just that, cowardly, clumsy, frightened people exacting power over normal people through a third party, that being, the Fascist Government Regulators. Safety OCD is diluting our Gene Pool. Nobody wants what we are now so everything is being created, marginally, behind the Bamboo Curtain. We will end up having 20% of our population doing little else than running around after the 80% trying to keep them from killing themselves, each other or us. Some people are just meant to fail. Darwin had a point.

[@rep-turd]

+TheJimsock You sir are an angry sexist old fuck. I know how to write code, and I know how to work with wood, there's more safety stuff now because nobody knows how to use a drill, or a table saw. But to say that we shouldn't have things that say "Danger you may die if you use your equipment the wrong way" is fucking stupid, get over it we have higher standards now, I don't like how many fucking codes there are now but they save lives so I'm for it, what fucking problem do you have with people being safe? And to say that Darwin meant that people will fail is like comparing a sock to a cow. The point of Darwinism and evolution is to create a mulititude of genes and variations so that we can have MULTIPLE VIEWS as a species, we can learn new things from ourselves, but according to you we should just go right back to 40s right? "When women knew enough to not get in the way" Look at you. You disgust me. You're the reason my generation kind of hates yours. You talk to us like were retards, but we can think for ourselves :) I realllllly hope you respond.

[@j-kane5922]

I didn't know they had flat carpenter pencils back then... I learn something new everyday

[@jaimeclifton9078]

So basically everything was done with a hammer.

[@m101ist]

And saw and plane. 😳

[@Balenza345]

Does anyone know the name of the cathedral right at the beginning?

[@bigredc222]

FYI 2:15 you can see an example of balloon framing.

[@trentonpass]

great video , i work in a pattern shop and we do the work much the same today .

[@Holzpacker]

A very nice video, great pictures! Grüße aus Deutschland von einem Zimmermann!

[@goognamgoognw6637]

A-MA-ZING ! And i think any of these wood working specialities made for rewarding work unlike technology factories today.

[@user-ty2fd5nu6u]

Shut up boomer both technology and this are fine

[@waveranger4974]

That was so cool

[@Rotwang72]

yes at 0:50

[@jbratt1082]

@ 1:30 That guy needs to grab that handle closer to the end...

[@stayjit1]

Did you see one power tool in this video? Oh, the good old days.

[@666mhbc]

Did u watch the video I saw them

[@Exiledk]

05:33 Someone using a router...

[@DavidNorthUK]

Spindle sander for one.

[@ernestoglez6725]

0:46 circular saw

[@thephilosopher5799]

Power tools make things easier and faster. The real problem is the using of cheap materials and taking too many shortcuts these days

[@chavirawiser5010]

Thousands of lifetime projects with Woodprix plans.