Ben's Mill: An Excerpt

This film is available from Documentary Educational Resources at http://www.der.org/films/bens-mill.html. Ben Thresher's mill is one of the few water-powered, wood-working mills left in this country. Operating in rural Vermont since 1848, the mill is a unique link between the age of craft and the age of modern industry. In this 1981 documentary, Ben uses his machines and finely crafted tools to first adapt a neighbor's pitch fork into a sod turner, and second to build a wooden watering tub for cows (a task that he accomplishes in one day). The film evokes the quality of rural New England life, and at the same time provides a close, step-by-step view of Ben's woodworking processes.