Watch these historic films about the carpentry and lumber industry and see how wood production and woodworking practices have changed in the last 65 years. For one thing, there were no nail guns and the materials used to build the homes were much sturdier. You cant find this compilation DVD anywhere else.
Included Films:
The Woodworker
The Woodworker
Produced: 1940
Length: 11 Minutes
This vocational training film explores the world of woodworking, including jobs, training, and qualification requirements. First, the narrator explains that carpenters are needed even for building stone and brick buildings by showing workers making scaffolding and concrete forms. These, along with farm buildings and a frame house are all given as examples of rough carpentry. Other types of carpentry requiring more skill, known as fine carpentry, are shown as well, including windows, doors, hardwood flooring, and cabinet-making, also characterized as a dying art. The film shows carpenters making wooden patterns that are used to make sand molds, into which molten metal is poured. There is a sequence set in a mill, where men work on doors with planers and sanders, or carving panels. The film claims that apprenticeship with one of the older masters of the trade is the best way to learn furniture-making. Overall, this is a fascinating examination of woodworking in history.
Wood for War
Wood for War
Produced: 1942
Length: 6 Minutes
Brandishing the slogan, Wood for war. Wood for peace, this 1942 US Forest Service film discusses the importance of wood and wood products for the war effort. Illuminating many seemingly strange uses of wood, such as clothing and plastics manufacturing, the film strives to increase awareness for the importance of lumber. Each scene documents, in color footage, valuable and interesting information about the logging industry: American forests, loggers harvesting trees, and the mills where those trees are taken and made into wood products. As a final word from the United States Forest Service, the narrator warns the audience that it is imperative that everyone learn about forest fire prevention to protect one of Americas greatest commodities. Wood for War is an intriguing stroll down the lush path of logging industry history.
