I here this all the time. Well I don’t do it that way because I am a traditionalist. Or I only use hand tools because I am a traditionalist.
What does this term mean? Handtools only, not wanting to change to new ideas or better procedures? Do you think that the if the great masters of old lived now or had had access to machinary and all the modern day things we do, that they wouldn’t have used them?
I think they would have.
Just wondering.
Replies
To think all woodworkers from the past would switch to powertools in whole or in part may not be accurate. People today are not all that different form those of the past. Which to me means there would still be some making choices form the gamut available to us.
I largely use hand tools for furniture nowadays, not necessarily from a perspective of being a traditionalist--whatever that means. I think the corollary would be "I'm a modernist because I [mostly or completely] use power tools because they are newer." That's a simple and foolish notion.
I don't personally think methods of work can be so tidily divided as you imagine--power and hand tools can peacefully coexist in a given shop and together can make for greater efficiency and quality of work.
Take care, Mike
Mike,
I would like to go on and on and on about tradition - its meaning, force and inescapability. Let's just say that any tradition is dynamic, as you imply, and preserves of the "old" that which continues to work, whilst creating the "new" in adapting to an ever-changing world. The old is inescapably the progenitor of the new (unless you are from LA, where "now" is invented from dreamstuff every morning).
Why would we want to forget the past when it has taught us all we know, including the very language that defines "us"? (Of course, we cannot do so, despite the exhortations of politicians and business managers to "start anew"). But why, either, would we want to pretend that some arbitrarily-chosen moment in the past somehow represents a perfect state which we should cling to or preserve in aspic?
The time is "now" and requires all we have learnt so far plus some clever new inventions, if we are to survive and prosper. Twas ever thus. We reject the past at our peril; however, those who fail to live in "now" will either perish, become museum exhibits or suffer the delusions of the post-modernists.
Of course, you know all this. But many who have woodworking religion of one sort or another do not. They deny themselves much.
Lataxe
Edited 1/6/2007 6:58 pm ET by Lataxe
Yes, Master Lataxe, yes.
As in all things, balance. Each person is most content when they find the fulcrum point with which they find their balance.
For me, that balance is ...
Take care, Mike
Well people, for most woodworkers who read and post here, woodworking is a hobby. So, why not do the hobby in the way that most satisfies the hobbyist?
Why should we care or criticize either the "Neanderthal or the power tool lover? We should be happy for all woodworkers that do their craft the way that pleases them the most. More power to them.
Billy B.
Billy,
You are exactly right. As Mike W says, we are lucky enough in this day and age to have a choice in the style of woodwork we adopt. Moreover, we can change or evolve that style because there are so many methods of achieving the same end now available to us.
To borrow the Prof's analogy, I like hamburger quiche. Some prefer to stay with unadulterated the burger (?) whilst others enjoy quintessential quiche. We should all be allowed to eat in the same cafe without the diners at the next table sneering at the contents of our plate. Why, it's only good manners, after all!
Amd who knows what will be on the menu tomorrow? We have rich and dynamic traditions in both the kitchen and the shed.
Lataxe, analogied-out and a bit peckish now
Edited 1/7/2007 6:51 am ET by Lataxe
I'm surprised that anyone still talks like this. I remember when this was 'the thing to say' in 1971. "I only work with hand tools."This is about status, about sweeping together a few grains of sand to form a mound to stand on. 'This is my mound.'I've done it in a variety of different ways, and I'm not proud to say so. I'll do it three more times before the cock crows, I'm sure.There are refined versions of this. Some "traditionalists" won't use sandpaper or any technology that abrades wood. For them, it's split and scrape only. That's their mound.Way over on the other side are people who can make things the way that Norm does, because they have every machine ever made. That's their little mound.How do you answer a 'traditionalist?' Make your own little mound, whatever it is. Hold up a bronze adze and look at the 'traditionalist's" iron plane and shake your head. What is the world coming to? Iron tools! What's next?Rp
Edited 1/6/2007 7:54 pm ET by Riverprof
lol
K, THE OLD TIMERS? HAH, they werre possibly the most practical craftsmen that ever lived. Of course they would have embraced power tools. On a practical note the purests of today do not as a rule have to make a living in the craft, they just flap their gumbs about the degredation of the craft. From a personal point of view I will at 65 years old panel saw, table saw, band saw, jointer true and power plane my stock. Why, when I have a bag and a half of respect for the old craft? Because it's more efficent and I don't need to see tool marks in utility pieces.
To clarify(and I have said this before) if I make a wall case for planes or chisels, it's going to the LV router table with the 3 1/2 Milwaukee but as simple as a stool for a grandkid gets a moulding edge stuck with a #45 or #55. Why, because that's where the soul is in making a one off for some one that you love dearly and want them to have a piece of you forever. Do you understand? All the best, Paddy
The "great masters' who made the furniture in our museums and fine home today were making for rich people of that era making products more similar to gallery furniture today than to manufactured products. But, because they worked professionally from apprenticeship at age 12 or 16, they had the opportunity to develop extraordinary hand skills. Consequently, only a very few jobs, mostly rough dimensioning, can be done now in "one off" production more quickly than could have been done by 18th. century cabinetmakers.
Steve,
You hit it right on the mark. I would say the same may be true today for the very elite studio furniture makers. The rest of us would probably love to pick up that hand plane rather than turn on the thickness planer. I, however, need to earn a living and that means using appropriate technology to achieve the fastest, best result. Back to your point, I have no doubt that colonial-era furniture makers would have laid off their apprentices had jointers and planers been at their disposal.
Cheers,
-Paul
I consider myself a traditionalist, not because I use purely hand tools (I don't) but because my joinery is traditional.
None of this biscuit nonsense ! No pocket holes !
Mortises and tenons, dove tails etc, "s'il vous plait".
Because I make a living of this I use a combination of hand tools and machines but if I was a hobbyist, I am not sure I would have only hand tools.C
Edited 1/7/2007 10:10 am ET by citrouille
I believe that everything in the woodworking industry has a purpose. Cheap tools are perfect for someone who makes an occasional bird house. MDF is the best material for many projects. Solid wood is not the best choice in lots of cases. And biscuit and pocket screw joinery are great for some applications. Its a lot like people who only listen to country music. I feel real sorry for people like that who are so narrow in their views that they can't enjoy a larger world of experiences. Please stop being a woodworking snob. We don't want to here it and you need to open your mind.
Viking fan,You are on this forum for five minutes and you already are saying what people here want to hear or not !
I expressed my opinion, as I am entitled to !
My customers expect time proven joinery, that's what they pay for, that's what they get.
No shortcuts, no compromises, period !C.
When you read, try to get the point that is being made.
No kidding, guys, I listened to a couple of graduate students have this argument in the student center at the University of Akron in 1971. - Nixon was president.
- The personal computer hadn't been invented yet.
- Paul McCartney hadn't thought of "Wings"
- OPEC didn't exist and gas was 19.9 cents a gallon on good days
- Retired people who did woodworking remembered voting for HooverThis argument hasn't advanced one micron since then.
After many years making sawdust I find that there arer THREE types of woodworkers... First, the professional, who must turn out quality goods in a relatively short time to stay in business. Yes, they will turn out an occasional 'all hand tool' item if it's what the client wants or is willing to pay. Second is the amateur or semi-professional. These guys can use all hand-tools or all machine or any combination they please. The thirds group is the 'bandwagon woodworker'. This is the guy or gal who sees a new style of work and jumps onto that bandwagon. If using water-stones is the latest fad, he'll toss out his oil-stones and proclaim that water-stones are the greatest thing since the invention of pre-sliced white bread. He'll miss the next two or three fads (scary-sharp sandpaper method, diamond-paste sharpening, Sharpton stones, cryogenic sharpening, etc) and after a LOOOONG time find a new fad to pronounce as his style.
So... If 'all hand work' is what turns you on, more power to you. But please, don't tell us that your style is the one and only pure and true method of woodworking, and I promise not to tell you that all machine is the only way to work wood.
SawdustSteve in 'spring-like' New York
Steve,
"If 'all hand work' is what turns you on, more power to you."
Very good-unintentional?Philip Marcou
I suspect Kaleo is a bit mystified at your response. His initial post said he hears some proclaim them self traditionalists and use only handtools, but that he thinks the great masters of the past would use powertools if they had them. He didn't say anywhere that being a traditionalist using only handtools was the only legitimate way to work wood or even that he was such a traditionalist.
Someday, I want a shop where 98% of the work I do produces no more than 50 decibels of sound energy. When I get there -- and it won't be this year or next year -- I'll call myself an acoustically superior woodworker. I will make all kinds of compromises to do this, and I'll probably get a great deal of rough milling done outside my shop, by someone else, so that I can sit down at my treadle-powered reciprocating bow saw and make quiet curves.Every tool will be chosen for the unique sound it makes when it does its work with wood, and the stock will be chosen for its acoustic qualities.Will I boast about how acoustically unique my shop is? You bet I will. Do I expect that production woodworkers will follow in my footsteps? Not even in my wildest dreams.It's a matter of taste, just us being a "traditionalist" -- whatever that means to any particular woodworker -- is a matter of taste.Arguing about it is like arguing about which is better: hamburger or quiche. It's a stupid argument, not worth having unless your particular taste happens to be stupid arguments.If you like hamburgers, eat hamburgers. If you like quiche, eat quiche. If you like both, each in its own time and place, good on you.
Kaleo,
Can you imagine:
1) the music that Mozart could have written if he had access to a synthesizer.
2) how lousy a chef that Julia Child would have been if she decided not to use refrigeration because the great ancient chefs didn't have it.
3) how dull computer games would now be if the game companies decided only to put the existing games (Parchisi, Game of Life, etc) on computer instead of developing the new games such as Sim Life.
4) Where the auto makers would be if they decided that they had enough technology in 1935.
5) Where medicine would be if research came to a halt and doctors decided to go back to using leaches
It would be far too easy to generate a list of 10,000 of these, but you get the point.
You have decided to limit yourself to the tools of the woodworkers of old. I can understand that. Heck, the people who play soccer have agreed to use only their feet, not their hands. Soccer is game. In games, we make rules to make things interesting. If you want to play "Traditional woodworking", that is a wonderful and fulfilling game to many. Enjoy! Games are fun. If you not only enjoy it, but can find people to pay you for the output of your game, "more power to you" (as someone already said so cleverly).
There are many fine woodworkers who enjoy doing what soccer players do, and limit the tools they use, to make life more interesting. IMHO, this is not a "higher calling" than being a Norm-ite. Power woodworking is a fine game. I played it for over three decades. As a result of Knots, I am now learning the ways of hand tools. I wish I had used them all along. I was never against them. I just learned one way and stuck with it because it worked and my output and my processes made me happy (which is why I do woodwork as a hobby). But a wider set of tools makes me happier, which is why I am learning the use of handtools. Heck I find that cutting dovetails is not only more fun by hand, but much faster and more satisfying than using a jig. But then again, I never make more than a few drawers at a time. I am under no deadlines or timetables. I do it only because I enjoy it.
But Kaleo, I wonder. Why not take your approach to hand tools a step further? Why stop at limiting yourself to fine, high quality planes and chisels and saws? Why not go back in time further to before those tools existed? Wouldn't it be a higher calling to make chairs and tables that do not look as nice, but are made like the original folks who used primitive axes and knives that couldn't be sharpened very well?
Actually I don't really mean what I said in the last paragraph. I am merely taking your idea of limiting your use of tools to a given set, and take your approach even further. If a subset of folks on Knots decided to do that, what would you think of them, would you see them as being the woodworkers of the Highest Ilk?
There are people who make cars that look like those of the 1920s and 30s. They eschew the modern style. Are these guys following a higher calling? Some are making big money at it.
Suppose you needed open heart surgery? Would you only go to a surgeon who used 18th Century techniques, because that was a great time?
My message is only intended to make you think. When I was raising my kids, I wanted them to open their minds and think -- what do you want to do and be? Why? I didn't push them in any given direction (except to lead good lives). I wanted them to be able to put their own ideas to the acid test of life. One became a civil engineer, one a roboticist and one is in business computing. They are happy, and I am happy with them. I am happy with you being a "traditional woodworker" if you have thought about it, and really put your ideas to the acid test, and still believe them.
The problem is those who don't think so well -- sort of like the 13 year old, who is "in love with love", so to speak. There are men who like to dress like women, people who like to dress in clothes from the 1950s (a great time), and people who run farms without the use of modern weedkillers and fertilizer. Those are personal choices. They are very limiting. If you are in love with the idea of "traditional woodworking" in the sense that a 13 year old is "in love with love", then you have a good deal of growing up to do. If you realize, after due diligence, that it is a conscious choice, with great limitations, great possibilities, and that it will open some doors for you, while closing others, then you are on the right track. Please put IMHO in front of all of the sentences that I have written.
I respect those who focus on what you call traditional woodworking. I look at the things that some of them develop and I am amazed. They are phenomenal craftsmen. The fact that my personal choice is different means nothing. I do it my way. They do it theirs.
I like the idea of people living up to their potential. If they can do things to increase their potential, all the better. You have travelled from near where I live, around the globe to learn your brand of woodworking. That shows great determination. Congratulations. While it is my opinion, not yours, I wonder why you artificially limit yourself by ruling out tools that are available. Please do not give me your answer to this or to any question I have raised. I have only given these questions to you, for you to ask yourself. If you are happy with your answers, then all is well.
Suppose my wife asked me to open a jar. That happens. And I put it in my left hand, and keep my right hand in my pocket (I am right handed). And I tell my wife, I just cant do it. She would throw something at me. USE BOTH HANDS!. I can just hear it.
I have read many of your posts. I have seen your work on your website. You are, IMHO, very very good. (That opinion and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee). But I do get the sense (possibly incorrectly) that you see the "traditional approach" as a "higher calling" than being a Norm-ite (Abrams, that is). If that is not true, then I misread you. I think it is more appropriate to see it as "a different calling". Limiting yourself to handtools does not make you better or worse, or more important or less important than those who use all tools. It is just a personal choice. Some make it. Some don't. Some people are Presbyterians. Some are Buddhists. Some are agnostics. etc.
You said in your message that you wondered if "the great masters of old" would have used modern tools if they were available. To me, there is only one answer to that. OF COURSE. They had to make a living. In my career, I have been lucky enough to know a number of entrepreuners. Some made it big. Some made it ok. Some are struggling. All use everything then can get and use to become successful. The only people who decide to not use their hands when trying to get the ball in the net are players of the game called "soccer". Chippendale was an entrerpeneur. He also stole (borrowed, adapted, assimilated) many if not most of his ideas in design.
But why try to emulate the Old Masters? Aren't the New Masters just as good as the old masters? Maybe better? Would you be better served if you wore the clothes of the time all day, and only ate food that was available and prepared in the old way, and not used a car or a truck because it was not available to the Old Masters. Would it be better if you do not go to the dentist or to the modern doctor because they were not available to the Old Masters? There are many groups of people who live like this today, by choice. The Amish are one of these groups. They are wonderful farmers. They are happy with their lives. I admire them. I have chosen differently.
Where does it stop?
Then there is this idea of "copying".
There is a long thread on copying designs. BAD THING, say many.
So why would you "copy" the tools and techniques of the ancients? Isn't that just as bad as copying the designs of others? Or is it ok because they are dead?
Kaleo, instead of copying the tools and techniques of the dead folks, why not be creative and develop your own tools and techniques? Why be a "plagerist of tools and techniques"?
You started this. You asked for ideas. Here are mine. I am not saying they are correct or that they are the best. They are just my ideas. I hope that you enjoy thinking about the questions that I have raised.
As long as you have thought about these fundamental points, that you brought up, then you are on the right track. I wish you happiness and good fortune, no matter what woodworking game you decide to play.
Enjoy. Good luck. Keep thinking. Keep woodworking. Be creative. Do great woodworking, whatever you think that is. Don't blindly follow my ideas. (FAT CHANCE). Don't blindly follow anyone's ideas. Be independent. Read widely. Analyze. Come to your own conclusions.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Can anyone read? Kaleo did not advocate using only hand tools nor did he say that he used only hand tools. He answered the question as to whether the great masters would have used power tools by saying he thought that they would use them.
I, not he, will say that for furniture built one or two pieces at a time, there is very little that a professionally skilled worker can't do more efficiently with hand tools than with power tools after the wood has been flattened and thicknessed.
I can't knock out a thirty minute dovetailed drawer, but I suspect others could. Starting from scratch, the making and inlaying a oval fan paterae with filled ends,surrounded by stringing, is a task requiring less than two hours, by a skilled early 19th century worker. Even I can take a machined board and get it ready for finishing faster using a handplane followed by a card scraper or sandpaper, than by using a ROS.
I can't chop accurate mortises nearly as fast as I can use my mortising machine, but its a pretty close race for a skilled person. Of course the machine wins when large numbers of identical mortises need making on many identical parts.
SteveSchoene
I am a third generation woodworker with a forth generation that has followed me. The previous generations were from Europe and used whatever equipment the European cabinet shop would have. When I told my father that I was continuing in the trade, but that I was only gong to be using hand tools he laughed at me and said - learn how to use the machinery. If you know how to build using machinery you will also know how to build using hand tools. I didn't believe him, but many years later I see he was right...because building quality furniture requires both machine work and hand work. In the end I also had to learn the hand work and today I still use a combination of the two.
My son has a well equipped professional shop, with all the machinery that he needs and all the hand tools that he needs. He turns out great work. JL
I certainly agree that there is a place for machinery as well as for hand tools in most professional crafts shops (as opposed to manufacturing operations). I would think that it makes at least as much sense to progress from hand tools to machines as the otherway around. But even better is a balanced approach. Machines where they excell--rough dimensioning and making multiples, and hand tools where they excell--specialized joinery (dovetails) and preparing surfaces for finishing (planes and scrapers).
On one-off furniture those methods are likely to be the most efficient, but on manufacturing operations--like building box after box for kitchen cabinets, not so much.
..and as you say, balance is critical no matter what type of shop we have. JL
Ok, this may sound dumb but am I the only one reading this thread that keeps thinking about a farmer in Russia singing "Tradition, tradition"?
Doug Meyer
"If I were a rich man..."I wouldn't need to even have this conversation because I could buy what ever I wanted. Who cares how it was made."La dee da dee da dee da dee da dee daaa..."J.P.http://www.jpkfinefurniture.com
Sorry I am a bit behind.
Steve,
I have done large production runs, and it is true that the idea is to avoid doing any corrective operation during assembly, after the machining is complete. However, the hand plane and the handsaw and a sharp chisel (and other tools) always seem to be on the bench and they are definitely used. It is a little like the wood filler that is never used in a professional shop, but is purchased by the case. JL
You might want to reread Kaleo's original note.
I have no doubt they would have embraced every new technology. The old masters weren't in it to massage their ego, they had to make a living, and as such would use the latest techniques. This is evident even in period furniture, where in the early 1700's much use was made of riven wood, but later in the century it was rarely used, because saw technology had improved. This same improvement lead to finer dovetails over the course of the century.
I'm somewhat of a traditionalist because the furniture I make is traditional. Then again, at the risk of contradicting myself, even if I were making modern "gallery' type furniture, I may not change much about how I work. Hide glue is a great adhesive, hammer veneering is an efficient method, and hand planing is by far the best way to prepare a surface for finishing, no matter what you are making.
I guess I'm the most traditional in the materials I use; plywood has no place in my furniture, MDF is an abomination, I'm leerly of water based topcoatings and it kills me to have to use imitation ivory for knobs.
Rob Millard
Back in the days that the Traditionalists try to emulate, there probably were no Traditionalists, but there were lots of guys trying to make a few bucks making furniture. To think that they would chose not to use a more productive tool or method doesn't make much sense to me. I think that the whole concept of being able to be a Traditionalist would be very foreign to them. I doubt't that the economy they worked wouldn't allow anyone, except rich hobbyists, to chose to work that way. I think the people worked way harder than we do, and for way less. I think that it shows how times and the economy has changed, that this discussion has arisen, and then goes where it has. I love traditional methods, but I'm not going to scrub plane 10 rough cut 6' 2x10s when my planer is still working.
This is perhaps all a bit silly. Pretty much as it was in times past as this discussion arose in pretty much any endeavor of man.
There are those will will embrace the past or race to the future. Always have been, always will be. In each age this discussion will be battered around.
When I made things for money, many/most decisions were driven by the bottom line. But there had to be a compelling reason to make a change. I never had the latest and greatest machinery, woodworking widgets, and largely no subscriptions to magazines telling me I needed those things.
If I needed to process sheetgoods, I would be the first to investigate, review and based upon real and future anticipated volume, made a purchase. Whether our woodworking forefathers would have? As I wrote earlier, many/most in the same situation would make the same decisions as I, or you, would. That too was part of my point. Just as we do not all make the same choices today, neither would they. We really are not any different than they.
Take care, Mike
Mike,
I agree with with your overall assessment. As the scriptures say, there is not much new under the sun.
Reminds me of the lady who cut the ham down to 9" everytime before she cooked. Someone asked her why. She said her mother did it. They asked her. She said because her mother did it. They went to grandmother and asked her.
She said because the biggest pan she had was 10".
Alan - planesaw
exactly
Of course they would have used them. Do you think for 1 minute that the old craftsmen were doing it for fun? It was a bussinnes to them. Anything to save time and material.I think anyone that can build any of the old masterpieces with strictly hand tools is fantastic, but the notion that the old timers would not use them is ridiculous.
mark
I'm from the school of appropriate technology. Use with a clear conscience whatever you have to make your work look like you want it to looklike. You can't get the same results using unappropriate technology. For example you can't get the effect of a hand carved acanthus leaf pillaster or mantle with a router. But if your too tired to carve one after ripping 24' of maple or walnut by hand thats no good either. Thats where the table saw comes in handy. Also if you have 150 night stands to get out by next friday you don't want to be french polishing them, thats where the spray laquer might come in handy. Its different when you have to feed yourself in this bussines as opposed to the hobbiests whom I have the greatest respect for. As for people who have to do this for a living like me, you know there's just no money in it, but what else can you do when your hooked. My first coffee table was snatched up by Christofer Loyd, who saw it in a Santa Fe shop. It was different enough for him I guess, that was about 25 years ago. I didn't make any thing then and I'm still not, but I have a lot of fun.
The name "Christofer Loyd" rings a bell. Would you mind telling me who he is?
I think for the “traditionalist” it is about feeling as though they have created a work of art by doing it all by hand. I think I would enjoy doing more by hand but I lack the artistic talent. Also it is not uncommon for a traditionalist to spend many months, if not years on a project of any real complexity and I don’t have the patience or the time for that.
They may be referring to using "traditional" constructions methods. Traditional joinery has some benefits - you can often dry fit what you have, measure directly what's needed to fit between what with slip sticks and cut to that length - no tape measure to misread, no transposing numbers etc. "Traditional" joinery, done right, accomodates wood movement without coming apart. In some cases, even with CNC machines, making the joint with hand tools is the only way some joints can be made. Google "chinese joinery" and you'll see what I'm talking about. Complex joinery because it's required - not to show off. Most of the really complex joints don't show from the outside.
As others have noted, power tools do a lot of grunt work that apprentices used to do. But when it comes to fine tuning things, hand tools are often the best choice, in some cases - the only choice. If you're making flush front drawers and want to tune the fit - a block plane will get things done quickly and easily.
If you want to tune the sides of a tenon to fit a mortise just so - a rabbet block plane will do what can't be done with power tools. Want to tune a less than perfect miter joint - try a shooting board and a hand plane. Want a smooth burnished surface - a cabinet scraper will do what a random orbital sander can't.
Hand tools work also involves a completely different speed. With power tools, things can go to hell in a handbasket in an instant. With hand tools you work at human speed. That often gives you more feedback about what's happening. You can hear when a handplane's cutting sound changes, see the change in the shaving, feel that minute change in resistance to the cut before tear out gets going.
I'm a tool phreak so I play with a lot of power tools as well as hand tools. Both have their uses and in many instances - both are required. But I've never had an "Ah!" moment with power tools. I have had the "everything works together just so - the wood, the hand tool and the loose nut operating it - me. I do woodworking for the fun of it - and it's often a whole lot of fun.
charlie b
I'm new to woodworking, so I have had some of the "ah" moments working with power tools but I understand what you are saying. In time I'll probably use more hand tools.
Charlie,
I have to disagree with you about the degree to which power tools can be used to make precision joints. To consider some of your examples:
* I have made plenty of piston-fit, flush-faced drawers using the TS, Woodrat and big belt sander only - not a plane in sight. And those drawers really do whoosh and align beautifully.
* An RO sander can produce a very fine finish, especially if you can also switch it to polishing mode and use a bonnet. I would claim "burnished" for some of my tabletops.
*A woodrat can make and fine-tune a tenon (and a dovetail, finger joint, you-name-it joint) to a very great accuracy, which all but the most experienced sawyers & planers will fail to reach.
* If you perservere, a Woodrat can also cut some incredibly complex joints, very accurately (but that does take a lot of learning and setup so I confess that I avoid the Chinese joinery).
You are right to say that handtools give satisfaction and are safer to use in terms of avoiding accidental overcutting or sanding - although as a handtool novice I am still making the odd blunder. The enjoyment factor of handtool use is also very high. I'm not sure I'll ever get good enough to make joints with the rapidity and accuracy that I have found possible with machine tools, though.
Still, you never know - another 100 hours of mortise choppin' gnd tenon-sawin' might get me somewhere near. :-)
Lataxe
Kaleo,
I am a tradionalist!!! I use the best joint for the purpose. I use whatever tools are necessary to make said joint. Whether they are hand or power tools makes no difference to me. What matters are the looks and integrity of the finished product. I'm pretty sure that most of the old timers would have used power tools if it suited their purposes. By the way, I was joking about being a traditionalist, and nice pics on your site.
Thanks for checking out my site. I to use traditional joinery for mostly everything that I make. But I also use every tool that I can to make the job as fast and easy and clean as possible.Kaleo
http://www.kalafinefurniture.blogspot.com
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