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.
Some very good input Joe. Someone stated in a post here to use power tools when you have to and hand tools when you can.. Did I re-quote that correctly? I still have use for my power tools but if I have time or skill to do it with hand tools it’s much more enjoyable… While we are there… several years ago my father was out of work for an injury and he took on several projects for family members. One I remember was a Curio cabinet for his sister. It was about 50 inches tall, three shelves and glass panels all around. Sorry I don’t have a picture. He built it with an old hand saw, coping saw and a pocket knife. My aunt entered it in a “hand made” competition and the judges disqualified it. Said it was not possible to make this cabinet without the use of power tools… Just something I remember from my first exposure to wood working by hand.
I’m primarily hand tools, but I have a garage full of power tools that are collecting dust.
I plan to continue my woodworking journey with a bandsaw a thickness planer and hand tools. I may add a small drill press in the future. I work in my basement and don’t want any power tools in the house, so the bandsaw is outside. This means that it has to be a pretty seriously rip cut or re-saw operation before I go up to the garage, pull back up the car, pull out the bandsaw and make a cut. Maybe one day I’ll reconsider and allow a bandsaw in the basement – probably not.The planer and bandsaw make the heavy work of woodworking more feasible for me in the long run.
11 December 2013 at 7:19 pm #23650I have had no need to use power tools in the making of a selection of Paul’s projects and a number of other projects I have made, but this I think is in the main due to the fact that I have always started out with the timber used being provided at the least finished planed to thickness and very often also to width. I would be less keen to be only using hand tools if I had to rip and hand plane the timber required from larger section pieces.
Anyone who has attended one of Paul’s courses will know that paul will provide you with all the parts required machined close to the finished sizes.Paul does have a machine shop but not in the Castle.
So for me I will stick with buying machined timber and only using hand tools.12 December 2013 at 1:01 pm #23703Great post. I have been doing WWMC for about a year now and only use hand tools. However, of late I have been thinking it would be useful to have a machine to help provide the correct dimension of stock. But, I do not know what to get? For example, the boxes often needed a very thin piece for the base and I could not find it anywhere. It was a long and arduous task to saw or plane it down. Recently a friend gave me some old oak beam cut offs from a barn conversion. I tried to hand saw a piece but gave in after and hour and about 4 inches ( the beam was 6 inches by 8 inches by about 2 feet). So maybe a power tool for preparing suitable stock in the future, but not sure what would be best; bandsaw? But I do not foresee any of the joinery being done by power tools as I just love my time with my hands in the workshop.
Mick
Preston UKI have several ‘power tools’ (although I call them machines, not tools): drill press, bandsaw, tablesaw and power router. I also have a small Planer/Thicknesser (Jointer/Planer for our American members) that can handle stock up to 8″ wide. Ever since I started to use hand tools in the way Paul demonstrates, I find myself more and more reluctant to use these machines. It’s that same feeling you get when you know you have to take a bath but someone has used up all the hot water. It’s quite a faff to clear the space needed for the machine PLUS the dust extraction and set everything up. Then there’s the noise and the resultant micro dust that gets everywhere and requires you to do Darth Vader impressions with the amount of breath protection required. I’m finding that I’ll only use the machines for prop building or when I need to do a production run of lots of the same part – I built myself a little horizontal router table for cutting tenons on the ends of the 56 slats needed to make my sons bed for example. I got them all done in an afternoon; that’s 112 tenons in about four hours. When I started out working with wood, I wanted to become a woodworker not a machine operator. When I’m working with my hand tools, I’m more engaged with the wood and I feel relaxed. For me, the workshop machines are more about milling the rough cut lumber to ‘get the ball rolling’ so I can then move over to the hand tools and then the fun can begin.
12 December 2013 at 8:18 pm #23732I have six electric Routers, Flip saw, chop saw, cheapo table saw, 4 circular saws,two reciprocating saws, four jig saws nail guns, hobby band saw, mortiser, electric drills battery and corded, multi tool, four electric sanders, two belt sanders, my dreaded elu hand electric planer which I took the top of my finger off. Forgot I was using electric plane and went to use my finger as guide ouch.
I have not been in construction for the last two years so a lot of my electric tools just sitting in shed.
I had to hang a door a couple of weeks back at my firms office. What did I take to shoot door in frame ?
My No.5 record jack plane 🙂 blokes at work thought I was off my trolley.
I said just watch tried door in frame a couple of times loverly jubbly and none of those horrible electric plane marks.
I love hand planning from sawn timber it’s loverly to see what hides underneath all that rough looking stuff.
Hand tools have always been a bit of a hobby for me they are beautiful to look at and nice to have.I never really got to use them as much as I would have liked. Now I have started to change that.
With hand tools I’m honing my skills that I all ready have. Also I have been under a bit of stress and illness lately and is helping me get in the right place again. As I find it very relaxing.Thanks everyone for your stories and experiences. I’ve settled for more practice for a while before adding anything I think will improve my lacklustre dovetails and mediocre mortices. There is plenty I can get on with without them for now. Choosing wood that is already close to the dimensions I need, partucularly in terms of thickness, will probably make the learning process a little more enjoyable too.
Once again, thanks, and happy woodworking!
28 December 2013 at 12:20 pm #24700I have a few power tools, a router, drill press, circular saw and a cordless and powered drill for the press. The only one of these that I use regularly is the cordless drill. When I was building my bench the only power tool I used was the drill. My brother in law couldn’t believe that I was chopping out recesses with a chisel when I had a new router sitting on the shelf behind me. When I told him that I am new to the whole woodworking thing and just wanted ”chisel time” he looked at me as if I’d two heads.
I enjoy working with hand tools, if I’m using a power tool it feels as if it’s a chore to get the work finished. When I use hand tools to build something(like my bench) I get more of a ”I built this” feeling from the end result. Probably the thing I enjoy the most is planing wood with a freshly sharpened plane. I have a bit of a planing fetish, lol.14 January 2014 at 2:41 am #25906Hand tools only here except for thicknessing. Remember all the gorgeous furniture made before power tools existed. Nothing at all wrong with power tools. What Paul is trying to teach is that you do NOT need them.
14 January 2014 at 8:46 pm #25952I’ve been a wood machinist for years. I was interested in hand tools, but after reading what the gurus were saying it seemed that I would be spending more on hand tools than I was on my machinery. It also seem from my reading that it was very difficult to get the sort of accuracy I was used to with the machinery.
A couple of months ago, I was looking to learn more and after looking through some of the books in my local Lee Valley store, I luckily decided on Paul’s book and DVD series.
What a revelation! I didn’t need several thousand dollars of high end planes, saws etc. and the simple techniques Paul showed in the videos gave me good results fairly quickly.
I’m still mostly using the powered stuff for dimensioning stock etc. although I’m practicing doing that by hand as well. I make my own mouldings for picture frames and I can’t see making a hundred feed of moulding without the table saw and router table. And I will never give up my lathe.
So I guess my position is let the machines do the grunge work and I’ll do the fun stuff by hand.
14 January 2014 at 8:55 pm #25953hi peter that seems to be the best of both worlds i think if you still work with hand tools on part of a project it is better than just machines
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