Reply To: Hand tools only?
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I to want to thank everyone who is continuing to post on this hand tool thread. I personally would like to hear from more of our members. I hope no one will just discard their hard earned power tools in frustration because there will always be times when they serve a useful purpose even if infrequently used. I have sold off those I ‘never’ use for better hand tools recently however as a personal choice. It’s all down to what a persons expectations are.
We have to learn to separate in our minds the differences between construction-production work and artisan work. Sometimes we are required to stand in both places particularly if you are making your living out of production. A living can be made out of artisan (hand made) work too (Paul continues to do this) but this is where you must understand that it is not generally production oriented. It’s more akin to making art,..fewer pieces, individually and finely crafted, and as a result higher priced to make profit.
My background has been in art where we survive off of individual pieces and projects in basically just the same way. It’s all down to what you are planning to do with what you are learning right now. I am here to bring my wood working skills and techniques up to the level of my art skills. This I will then translate into a particular set of crafts such as guitar making, or bowl turning, or cabinet making or maybe even canes.
My power tools have assisted me in all manner of construction work over the years, everything from buildings, to sheds, to dog houses. So if you are looking to make bird houses for a living you may need to have the power machinery to crank out hundreds each week to remain profitable. Or maybe you should make 20 hand made ones a week that look like Victorian houses with fret cut ginger bread trim that sell for an equal amount of profit per week. So what I’m saying is that ‘hand work is artwork’ and should be viewed in that light. Then you’ll begin to experience what artists and musicians feel when they are absorbed in their work. When that spoon appears out of a piece of firewood, or those bench scraps become a jewelry box or simply the happy feeling of that plane humming in your hand.
Start thinking like an artisan and you will be amazed at what you can do.
Joe B.