This question is aimed at those of you prefer to use hand tools for most or all of your work. Why?
I don’t want to start a pro/con debate. I’m trying to understand the many reasons why folks prefer hand tools; philosophical, procedural, practical, nostalgic, whatever.
I have done extensive searches on this topic and have yet to come up with any good articles on the subject. If such articles or discussions exist, a link would be most appreciated.
Talk to me.
JH
Edited 3/30/2009 2:44 pm ET by jhard
Replies
More relaxing... Less noise, slower, more thoughful and considered pace.
Safer, generally... You can cut your finger off with a handsaw, but you have to commit to it. :-)
Good thread topic, I'm looking forward to reading the other responses.
Peter
I'm a hybrid -- I'll use all hand tools on an occasional project. When I do it, I just do it 'cause I think it's fun. Also, for some reason, I enjoy the finished piece a bit more. Kinda like I know I paid my dues to get it.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
When I started out in woodworking, I had very little sapce and very little money to devote to it. Handtools have much smaller footprints than big stationary machines like table saws, planers, jointers, bandsaws, etc.
Necessity bred my use of handtools, and I got hooked.
Even now, when I have a much larger shop and all the machines, I tend to use my handtools a great deal. I'm drawn to a lot of things about handtools:
- they are less dangerous
- they are less dusty
- they are quieter
- they involve less futzing around with machine set-ups
- they allow a more direct feeling of fitting the wood together
- they suit my tastes as far as the results they produce (hand tools produce different characteristics than machine made)
- they are fun
- the nostalgia plays a small role - I particularly like using old tools that were used by prior generations of woodworkers
People choose ways of working that fit their needs and experiences.
I work mostly with hand tools for the following reasons:
They are generally safer, quieter and cheaper.
I feel closer to the wood. It slows me down. I enjoy the woodworking process as much as the end result (if not more).
Much less dust. They take up less floor space than power tools.
But most importantly, I don't need to earn a living from woodworking. :) If I did, I would have different priorities and would make some different choices regarding ways of working.
More relaxing for me, I can work at night when the kids are asleep But best of all and my boys (3&5) can "hang out with dad" in the shop..
Besides they love playing with the shavings in their toy tucks...
I have not plugged in anything (except a drill) for over a year now..
I have only recently started pushing myself to use hand tools and one thing I have found is once you develop some of the basic skills there are times when it can be faster to grab some hand tools vs. making a jig for a specific task. Now I dont think I would hesitate to complete the joinery by hand for a project whereas in the past my first thought would always be, "how can I make this on..."
Another benefit I see is you do learn the wood grains better by removing the stock slowly by hand. I was cleaning up some tenons yesterday and one side of the stock cut perfectly crisp, yet the other side I had to be very careful not to tear out the stock.
It also forces you to learn how to sharpen tools. Maybe this is not important to many since so many things are simply replaced when dull, but I found it handy yesterday to shapern my hollow chiesels.
In the end, its just pretty darn cool to be able to make tight fitting joints with hand tools just like they did in the old days.
Brad
Thoughtful accuracy.
T.Z.
jhard,My reason for using hand tools would be primarily practical. Our machinery is fairly cheap, wood is variable, its not reasonable to assume quality outputs all the time without an awful lot of futzing on the setup...or a little hand tool work afterward. Also, I'm not crazy about investing tons of money on machinery that gets used for about 5 mins of a projects life so I'll use hand tools. Lastly, when I attend a wood working show I'll study the pros and their handtool technique/protocol, invariably I'll pick up some nuggets that really help with outcomes..they can usually talk when using handtools.
Why do you use hand tools?
A local power failure?
I have to agree with most of the responses you've received so far, but I'll add this -- there are things you can do by hand that are all but impossible with the kind of machinery most of us have in a shop. The twisted dovetails in the attached photo would be pretty tough to cut by machine; I've thought about it, but have never conjured up a way to do it.
PS. Sorry about the size of that photo -- have to work on making them smaller.
Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!
Edited 3/30/2009 7:10 pm by Thorvald
Here's a better version of that photo.Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
Verne,
Did you make that box? Double twisted on all four corners?
Nice one. I have done a few varients on the double twisted and one box with it, but getting a fit like that takes skill and patience. Both of which I'm still working on.
Kudos.
Got more pics of that?
I built it for a show in Anchorage years ago. The box is twisted all the way around, and the sides are all from one plank matched end-to-end so the grain flows around the corners. It was a tad challenging since you can't really test fit the joints if they're cut properly, and all four corners have to be pulled together at the same time. Patience is definitely required -- not the sort of job you can hurry. I don't have more pictures at the moment, but all four corners are exactly alike, so there isn't much more to show. The top is a book match with a heart shaped pattern that turned out rather nice.
Thanks for asking. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
Verne,
I found out you don't need to put all four corners together at the same time when making a box with double twisted dovetails. You can assemble the two opposing corners making "L" shaped pieces, then put those two pieces together. Much easier that way.
Gonna do any more double twisted anytime soon?
David.
Aye David, you can do it that way, but if things go wrong, it's really tough to straighten it out. If you do a really good job of cutting to start, pulling them all together at once does work pretty well because you can exert equal pressure all around and they'll all square up nicely. When you try to put two Ls together, things can go cattywhampus and it can be hard on the first two corners when you try to adjust.
In any event, since you and I may be the only nuts who've ever tried this, I guess we can each claim our own school of thought on the matter. I'm just glad to meet someone else who's looney enough to have attempted it! (Actually, I'm sure there are others because it's just too tempting, but you're the first I've run into.) I may build another one some day, but I'm breaking ground on a new shop and house addition any day now, and I'll have my hands full with finish work, cabinetry, and furniture projects for quite a while. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
As far as I can tell, no matter how you assemble it, if things go wrong there is no going back to fix or adjust it. The lines have to be scribed and cut perfectly the first time. Every angle on it must be a perfect match. It doesn't really matter what angle you choose to start with, but that sliding t-square absolutely must be able to hold the angle solidly. Then you must scribe it perfectly, then cut it spot on. Any attempt to shave or adjust things if you go wrong somewhere will not work, since every angle must match every other one for it to go together right. You can't fudge one of them.
The assembley trick was given to me by the master himself:
http://www.eurus.dti.ne.jp/~k-yazawa/english.html
I love his exposed tenons here-http://www.eurus.dti.ne.jp/~k-yazawa/jointwork.html(the "new" chair)but I wonder if the tenons are really exposed as is his reputation, or actually stopped short and the "emboss" is merely a near perfect ebony inlay. It would seem to be extraordinary amount of work on a left with the risk of error in breaking one small part of the exposed character at the last minute. I know it's hard to do on the boxes and that's how he does cut the dovetails but to risk the chair? The mortise length is very long in relationship to the delicacy of the tenon end. Alignment and all. Perhaps he puts the tenon in on the loose side with final strength/fit being brought to task by below deck hidden keys.Makes one wonder.
Also wonder what his finishing schedule is relative to the "ebonized" tenon.Boiler
boiler,
are you suggesting that those characters are actually through tenons? how does one even think about maybe, one day, hopefully, possibly practicing the beginning stages of learning that???
eef
His PR has long implied just that. It's what he's most famous for. Possibly unique in the woodworking world. I would never have the patience.I think somewhere in the archives, there is a piece on him.
Oh Ye' of Little Faith,
Kintaro's work was featured in F.W.W. in June of 2007 in issue 191. In the "How They Did It" feature on p. 110 Kintaro shares exactly how he does his through-letter-tennons and the Hawk's Nail Tenons featured on a chest on his website.
Follow this link to see how it was done:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesPDF.aspx?id=28539
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ProjectsAndDesign/ProjectsAndDesignArticle.aspx?id=28736
For an audio slide show of his work by the editors of F.W.W.:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/AudioSlideshow/28736/index.asp?slideshow=28736
To get back to the original question of this thread: "Why do you use handtools?"
My answer is to strive to achive what Kintaro Yazawa has.
To pursue it is a form of meditation in the pursuit of perfection through craftsmanship.
Edited 4/4/2009 1:15 am by labolle
Edited 4/4/2009 1:21 am by labolle
Edited 4/4/2009 1:25 am by labolle
Edited 4/4/2009 1:26 am by labolle
"you and I may be the only nuts who've ever tried this"
Not quite true Verne, but never used to make a box. Slainte.richardjonesfurniture.com
'Twas the box I was speaking of, but only tounge-in-cheek of course. I don't doubt that there are quite a few folks who've tried it. It is, as I said, entirely too tempting a challenge. That said, I hadn't run into anyone else who has until David admitted it here.
Have to say I'm just a tad proud of the outcome, and I maintain that it can't be done with common machines alone like a conventional DT can. Even though I see you use a router for some of the cleaning up, I don't think it's possible to do it without hand tools. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
I don't see why a cnc machine couldn't crank those out quickly.
................................................
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
why don, you old stick-in-the-mud.
eef
Ah, gee, why didn't I think of that! I could have just fired up the old CNC to knock that out. Lack of inspiration strikes again.
Sort of reminds me of the argument I've given my wife that it doesn't make any sense to go out and suffer the elements to clear the snow from the drive when I could do the whole neighborhood from the comfort of the living room if I had a remote control Bobcat. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
I have tried to invision a CNC that could crank out the double twisted dovetail. I don't see how.
The compound angles of the it just could not be done with a single bit. And changing between bits then re-calibrating where to start or continue from would rule out any human internention.
Think I'm wrong? Knock out a few with a CNC or router and show me.
I think it would be very feasible with a 5 axis mill. Link Watch a couple of the videos and see if you don't think so too.
................................................
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
Don,
I suspect (don't know) that a woodrat or similar 3-axis jig could be used to make those DTs.
It would still require accurate marking out by hand and also a lot of user-input to orient the workpiece at the required angles in the 'rat to make all the necessary cuts. I suspect that it would almost certainly be easier using handtools - with achievement of a woodrat-style precision to the joints only being limited by the user's handtool skills. However, one thin, straight bit might do the job (laboriously).
In this case, then, it might be easier to get the handtool skills that it would be to figure out and correctly apply the multi-angled woodrat cuts! And they claim machine woodwork is less skillful. Cuh! :-)
Lataxe
Sir Lataxe;
I have neither the hand skills to cut those by hand nor the desire to contort the Rat into making those joints!
I was mainly taking issue with his statement that some things can only be done with hand tools. I can't think of any but will concede the possibility exists but certainly not the example given.
Many far more difficult things are manufactured daily with multi axis cnc machines.
As far as the other posters assertion that they do not have the positional accuracy to do the job, that is just ludicrous. Even the lower priced models have at least .001" repeatability after changing tools.
I would venture to posit that machines as they exist today could even convincingly reproduce the imperfections introduced by working with hand tools.
I would also say that there is no purpose to that joint other than a curiousity, no significant strength advantage and certainly no commercial viability. I would say it falls more under the heading of primitive art, which has no inherent creativity and can be easily machine replicated.
It is most certainly a testament to the skills of the one who executes it. Were there any other reason for it's existance it would be mass produced by machine. I would doubt that it has any viability as a curiousity or as art .
In short I would say that rather than demonstrating something that can only be made by human hand skill he has only demonstrated that he is willing to use his time and great skills to produce an otherwise useless and easily machine replicable joint.
................................................
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
Well Don, I guess that means a lot of us ought to just pitch the whole works and start collecting machine made doo-dads.
If you go back to my original response, you'll see that I opined that, "there are things you can do by hand that are all but impossible with the kind of machinery most of us have in a shop." Most of us don't have a multi-axis CNC machine that would do the work I used as an example, and many of us wouldn't find much joy in trying to do the job that way if we did. I never expressed any doubt that the job can be done by machine -- if that were true, Boeing would still be building them by hand. However, if I wanted to be a machinist, I'd be working with steel rather than wood.
Apparently, you believe that anything that can be done by machine, should be done by machine because doing it by hand is a waste of time. Also, based on your statement, "Were there any other reason for it's existence it would be mass produced by machine. I would doubt that it has any viability as a curiousity [sic] or as art," you feel only things that can be or are mass produced by machine have practical or artistic value. I don't doubt that the world is full of cretins who will agree with that assertion, but I don't expect you'll find too many of them working wood, blowing glass, throwing pots, or dabbing paint on canvass -- but then that stuff's all worthless I suppose.
The other important aspect of the discussion that you've completed discounted is the inherent value in accomplishing something that is difficult. You may generate a sense of accomplishment by grinding away with your CNC machinery all day, but some of us get more out of the hand tool approach. Then again there are folks who like to climb big mountains -- not that there is anything up there, they just enjoy overcoming the challenges, and that's ok, but a warm shop with a bench full of saws, chisels, and planes is more my idea of a good time.
Finally, I have to say I don't really appreciate having my work described as, "primitive art, which has no inherent creativity," but thanks for your opinion for what its worth. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
Thorvald,
Great thread. Love the references to Kintaro's work. He is truly a master. I think he might be the Grand Master of woodworking today, but there are others. The other Grand Master who comes to mind is Patrick Edwards. Please look at the two tables in:http://www.wpatrickedwards.com/Html/Table.htmObviously I am not knowledgeable in the methods that Patrick uses. I believe he uses a foot-pedal controlled "machine" in doing the cutouts of the marquetry pieces. I guess that "foot powered" is the concept, but the pieces are cut by moving them around by hand. So I am guessing that we can say that Patrick uses mostly handtools. If my guess is wrong, I am sure someone will set me straight. I would guess as someone has suggested for other pieces, a CNC machine could be used to make a thousand tabletops like Patrick's. If so, that would be fine with me. I just want to say that I like em as Patrick has done them. So who besides Kintaro and Patrick are the Grand Masters of hand woodworking? (of course, I include all of the contributors to this thread as Grand Masters). I was thinking of "other than us".MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Hi Mel! Was wondering when you would show up.
It is a good thread. Jhard started a few days ago with the question of why we use hand tools rather than machines and it has, of coures, run off in some interesting directions. I expected to see a lengthy and philosophical response from your end of the world. Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
Is it the journey? Or the destination that is most important to you? How you establish your priorities with regard to these two questions will inform your preference for hand tools versus power tools.In general, hand tools have a longer, steeper learning curve and their very use has intrinsic as well as extrinsic satisfaction. Power tools get the job done quickly and efficiently (for the most part) but their satisfaction comes from the destination (the finished piece).Say you have one of those Steinway grand pianos that will faithfully reproduce key strokes. Now, say you wanted to sit down and relax to Beethoven's third piano concerto (the emperor). You could take piano lessons and practice, and eventually you will be able to play the piece. Or you could just pop in a CD and listen to your piano play itself (the musical equivalent of a CNC machine). The rewards and pleasures are totally different. One is an example of the journey being the object of the exercise; the other the destination.It's tempting to see one as inherently superior to the other, but that would be a mistake. It all depends on what you want to accomplish.For many woodworkers it is the journey and that becomes the destination.Hastings
H,
I confess that it's mostly the journey for me, although there also has to be stopping points where one pauses to enjoy the fine cabinet produced otherwise the journey would be pointless and shallow tourism.
But I believe it is a mistake to think that handtools somehow provide a superior journey-experience. There is this constant assumption made by handtool fans that power tools take no skill to learn or use, are somehow anti-human and give no pleasure-of use nor pleasure from learning. That assumption is just wrong, as many a happy powertool user will tell you.
Even learning to drive (and then driving) a CNC machine would, I imagine, provide a great deal of pleasure to one taken with software control and the design of 3D processing. From personal experience I can tell you that I get a lot of pleasure from learning how to best use all kinds of power tools, from the router to the Domino; not to mention the TS, BS, woodrat, etc..
*****
Why is there some kind of underlying need within some handtool users to belittle power tools and their users, one way or another? Is it just a habit of mind, engendered by the various tribal behaviours endemic wthin human societies? It certainly has nowt to do with the instrinsic virtues or vices of the tools and their modes of use.
Lataxe
Lataxe:"But I believe it is a mistake to think that handtools somehow provide a superior journey-experience."To read the posts in this thread, I think many might disagree. Personally, I feel somewhat ambivalent. The wife and I have just beaded and rabbeted some 110 staves for ship lap backs to the kitchen cabinets. I don't think this would have been any fun with a rabbeting plane (even one by Phillip). Easy job with the "ole Felder".I do think the answer to the boast, "this took more skill to produce" is, "so f**king what". Regardless of what prompted it!H
Verne,
I have been in Sunnyvale, CA visiting my oldest son and daugher in law. Wonderful visit. Both work at Google, so my wife and I got a tour of Google. Quite impressive. Visited the short towns of Pacifica and Half Moon Bay yesterday and saw the surfers, and walked the beach. Too laid back for a philosophical treatise on woodworking. We hop on the plane home in a few hours, and then it is back to normal. It was a great visit. Daughter in law will have our first granddaughter in June. Can't wait.
Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Well I'm sorry your little feelings got hurt.
After all you did manage to expertly execute the most inefficient, expensive and time consuming way to join four sides of a box.
Maybe you can sell it at a flea market for $10 to some cretin who thinks that everything handmade is art.
................................................
Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
dgreen,
You wrote:
Well I'm sorry your little feelings got hurt.
After all you did manage to expertly execute the most inefficient, expensive and time consuming way to join four sides of a box.
Maybe you can sell it at a flea market for $10 to some cretin who thinks that everything handmade is art.
----
Most expensive?
I think a hobbiest buying a five axis cnc machine and taking the time to learn to use it...
"to make a box"
would be the most inefficent, expensive, and time consuming way to join four sides of a box.
To each his own.
D.L.
P.S. dgreen, <!----><!----><!---->
If you are so put off by craftsmanship for the sake of craftsmanship, then perhaps you are on the wrong site. <!----><!---->
It seems to me that by belittling the craftsman who chooses to use handtools for such difficult joinery as being 'inefficient and time consuming' whose work is fit only for purchase by a 'cretin' at a 'flea market' a cretin who mistakes anything handmade as art, you, Sir, belittle all of us who are here in the pursuit of fine woodworking.<!----><!---->
May I recommend to you that next time you need a box, you browse a site more suited to your love of technology and efficently made boxes:<!----><!---->
http://order.tupperware.com/coe/app/!tw$shop.p_category
Edited 4/6/2009 8:01 am by labolle
Edited 4/6/2009 8:02 am by labolle
Edited 4/6/2009 8:28 am by labolle
Edited 4/6/2009 8:32 am by labolle
Edited 4/6/2009 11:01 pm by labolle
Not to worry Don, my feelings aren't hurt, but I think your sense of aesthetics may be damaged beyond repair. If it turns your crank to go about trashing other folks stuff -- particularly things you've admitted you don't have the skill to accomplish -- I guess you've got your reasons. If you do it just to yank someone's chain, then I suggest that you spend your time in less productive ways than I do with my occasional box. In any event, your opinion isn't going to ruin my day, even though it might limit your ability to enjoy yours.
Happy machining!Verne
If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is there to cut it up and make something with it . . . what a waste!<!----><!----><!---->
Slainte.
One nut here that tried and failed.
I used the The wizard’s secrets B Y J O N A T H A N B I N Z E N from FineWoodworking. A PDF...
I only tried my initials on a hunk of scrap Jatoba. If I was a reasonable carver I 'think' I may have pulled it off.... Maybe, when I was a kid, and made model Ships and Airplanes I would have had the patience to finish.
Thinking back, I guess I should have tried my first attempt with Cedar or Boxwood.
"I used the The wizard’s secrets..."
I've never come across those WillG. Back in the the 1970s or 80s I'd heard people discuss the idea of dovetails that dovetailed in both planes at once, but I'd never seen an example. It came to me one day that maybe such a joint was possible, so I invented a method. It took two or three goes to get it right. That would have been back around 1989 or the early 1990s probably, but I don't really recall. At the time I didn't know the joint had been done before, and even had, for me anyway, an unpronounceable Japanes name, ha, ha. Slainte.richardjonesfurniture.com
jh,
the enjoyment mostly. it's wonderful to hand-cut dovetails. all mortise and tenon work is cut by hand. i have yet to get my hand miterbox and shooting board up and running. although this is not for lack of trying. and then there is always hand carving...
eef
1. Quiet. You can listen to music.
2. Less Dust. Shavings and chips instead. Easy, simple cleanup and shop maintenance.
3. The tools and techniques connect you with people that have done a lot of work with hand tools before, in previous eras and centuries... That's kind of neat and inspiring.
4. You can be very reflective while working with hand tools. I'm generally thinking about and working on something else while building something with hand tools. It's not that I'm not paying attention or unsafe - that is not the case. It's just that when you get into the repetitive tasks that really connect you with the wood - your mind can work in other directions, and maybe actually be inspired or influenced by what you are doing with the hand tools. There's a connectivity and simplicity that expands to other things you have going on. Does that sound too zen-like? Probably does. It's hard to explain. I feel like I need my Buddhist prayer-flag and my dharma meditation mat, now. Maybe a little incense and a hit off the hookah pipe.
Take care, Ed
ed,
if i was voting, your four points would get mine. i do not think pt.4 is too "zen-like". it describes one of the most pleasant states of mind that, i think, we woodworkers get to ascend to. thanks for posting.
eef
JH,
You want to know "Why use hand tools?"
The answer is simple. Power,
the power that comes with the ability to control your mind and body to do things that other people just dream about.
To attain that power, one must exercise self discipline, to learn processes, and to to teach one's hands and eyes the skills necessary to turn what were previously only dreams into physical realities.
When the skills are attained, one has the power to control the evolving shape of the wood with a higher degree of sensitivity and precision than one can with machines.
Machines increase the distance between one's fingers and the workpiece. One can change the action of a handplane or a carving gouge in a microsecond. Try that with a router or a tablesaw.
With handtools, you are closer to becoming one with the wood. There is a melding of the mind, the eye, the hand and the wood. The feeling that ensues is analogous to a "runner's high". One becomes elated with one's ability to control the evolution of the shape of the wood. Take a set of carving tools and carve an acanthus moulding. Try that with a router. The gouges, together with the ability to use them well, enable a degree of sophistication in the resulting woodwork that Norm Abrams can only envy.
Then as one's inner-self attains levels of awareness of the design possibilities that hand tools enable, one has climbed to the highest levels of Maslow's heirarchy. One has attained the ability to create what the world has heretofore not seen.
But even if one is not interested in the creation of new designs, it does not take long to realize what handtools enable that limiting oneself to power tools cannot produce - a Chippendale highboy, or a nicely carved Boston blockfront.
There is a problem in explaining the passion that comes with the use of handtools. It is like trying to explain the concept of color to a person who was born blind. Therefore my attempt at an explanation was a fool's errand - doomed to failure before it began.
SO, it is time to eschew these verbal excercises, and to descend to my workhop and to try out my new Mujinfang.
Have fun. Keep posting difficult questions. I love difficult questions.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Good topic. When I started I only had hand tools so that is how I learned and I’m glad I did. It made understanding the machine operations easier. I still try to build one piece a year with only hand tools from stock prep to finish and no sandpaper either.
Chris Schwarz has written an excellent article where he talks about how hand tools complement power tools. I've found I do most of my sizing and thicknessing with power tools, but do my smoothing and shaping with hand tools.
http://popularwoodworking.com/article/Coarse_Medium_Fine/
The biggest reason I have to use hand tools is that they are easier to maintain, especially their cutting edges. Sharpening them is within the capabilities of any shop, whereas most power tool cutter need to be sent out or at least replaced more often. Also, it's more enjoyable and a better workout and I feel I have more control over the end result. And yes, it's very relaxing and quiet.
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
(soon to be www.flairwoodworks.com)
- Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
JH and all
Fifteen years ago I would have said that I used 80% power and 20% hand tools. These days it is the other way around.
It is not simply the dislike (!) of dust and noise that limits my time with power tools. It is the experience of using hand tools in a quiet, peaceful cave, where I can listen to music and take in the surroundings without the sensory deprivation caused by mouth/nose and ear protectors. Handtools are intimate. One fondles the wood, caresses it with a chisel or plane, studies slowly the grain and figure, and feels the result with fingertips sensitive for plane blade ridges and tearout. The chisel looks for loose fibres, smoothing it away with a deft stroke. Paring a dovetail adds one's mark as each is slightly different from the thousands that came before, and carefully you match it with a mate.
Handtools may be modern or ancient, shopmade or purchased, new or secondhand .. but they all connect one to the history of craftsmen, all of whom used similar technique, all who took pride in developing their technique, and who recognised handwork as a mark of the craftsman.
Something to aspire to ..
Regards from Perth
Derek
Jhard,
for me woodworking is a hobby, a means to relax.
I find the use of hand tools more relaxing, so I use them whenever possible.
Simple, personal, preference.
Mike
JH,
Play; tool lust; a certain "look" to the furniture; learning/increasing skillset (play).
No idealogical "reasons", which just limit the opportunities to play with other ways and means of making the cabinets and such.
Lataxe
Wow!
This has to be the most congenial and insightful thread I have ever read in an Internet forum!
I want to thank you all for your very thought-provoking responses, and look forward to many more.
JH
Edited 3/31/2009 5:28 pm ET by jhard
I have nothing thought provoking to say other than my opinion that hand tools offer the opportunity of precision and accuracy from the hands of a craftsman that no power tool can offer. And, the peace and quiet is quite enjoyable.
Edited 4/1/2009 10:10 am ET by Walnutz
W,
"...the fact that hand tools offer the opportunity of precision and accuracy from the hands of a craftsman that no power tool can offer".
Shurely shome mishtake, as your proposal is not a fact but a partisan opinion.
But perhaps there is a fact or two to support your case? Pray lay them forth in the style of evidence. Perhaps also you might care to be more specific....
* Which hand tools better which power tools to provide what kind of superior precision and accuracy?
* What degree of craftsmanship is requird for the magical ability of handtools to come to the fore? (A couple of weeks practice; a 7 year apprenticeship; a lifetime of use)?
****
My experience leads me to exactly the opposite conclusion from yourn.... Handtools offer a look and feel to furniture that evidences the hand of the craftsman and the actions of the tools, which manifest as something other than "precision and accuracy". In fact, if they didn't that would be one less reason to use handtools. (I'd stil use them for play and to acquire new skills, not to mention the satisfaction of my tool lust).
Conversely, I can easily achieve an excellent accuracy with power tools that I would never hope to get with handtools - not without years of practice (and probably not even then). I have learnt thaat such "crispness" is not always desirable as it can resut in a piece that looks rather soulless. So I use handtools for many WW operations these days.
There are one or two things that can only be achieved to a good standard (currently) with handtools - much of carving for example. However, I would contest that any but the most fastidious and experienced craftsman could produce, say, an M&T that is as precise and accurate as many machine-made (or assisted) M&Ts.
***
Next you will be telling us that handtools are faster. :-)
Lataxe, who never puts tools on a pedestal.
Shurely shome mishtake, as your proposal is not a fact but a partisan opinion.
You are correct. It is just my opinion, and please note that I have corrected my response to reflect said change.
Which hand tools better which power tools to provide what kind of superior precision and accuracy?
There are many examples of this. I offer the easiest and first thought that comes to mind. A planer is nothing more than a wood muncher to get to proper thickness quickly. Once there, the smoothing plane prepares the surface for finish. You just can't build anything with a quality finish straight from the planer.
What degree of craftsmanship is requird for the magical ability of handtools to come to the fore? (A couple of weeks practice; a 7 year apprenticeship; a lifetime of use)?
I guess you'll know when you get there. The road is paved differently for all. I believe you have stated that hand tools are a reasonably new adventure for you. I've been at this a while.
My style of woodworking consists of a combination of machines and hand tools. I do all my rough work with machines, and fine tune with hand tools. From smoothing, right down to the joinery, hand tools are necessary to get everything I build ready for finish, and out the door so I can feed my family.
Personally, if I were doing this as just a hobby, I don't think I'd turn a single machine on in the shop, until I was ready to spray. See, I hate finishing, and consider it a necessary evil. Spraying just gets the miserable job I detest done much faster, with much better results. If I could afford it (which I can't), I'd send everything I build to a professional finishing shop.
W,
Well, a handplane is certainly an efficient way to smooth the final surface; but not the only one. I used both belt and RO sander for years as my smoother. I'd be surprised if you could make a more accurately and precisely flat surface with a plane. I used a hard pad on the RO and/or a sanding frame on the belter, so no dips or bumps and no rounded edges where they should be square.
For many surfaces I now use the plane, partly because it's quicker but also because it doesn't leave a dead flat surface but one that (even after a final handsand) evidences the fact that a plane has been used, in "shadow of a track", "cambered blade grooves" or similar faint trace. That hand-of-the-maker stuff.
I notice another chap mentioning the sprung joint, saying it can't be made with anything other than a plane. However, I've made very many using the belt sander with a rightangle fence attached. Light pressure and a fine grit makes very nice spung-gaps; and the edges do remain flat and square, no rounded corners. (Machine-skill you know). :-) Again, a plane is faster and probably less prone to a minor disaster from user-error.
Yet another chap mentions houndstooth dovetails as being produceable only with hand tools. True to a point but I have produced many very slim (and variable-spaced) DTs using a woodrat and it's ultraslim HSS DT bits. The necks are just over 1mm wide, houndstooth enough for me: But the bit length does forbid the making of those great tall houndstooths, it's true.
http://www.woodrat.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=9641&Category_Code=DC
These days I mostly cut dovetails with saws and chisels. It's a lot slower, inherently less accurate but satisfying. If I had a great many to do in a relatively utilitarian piece, the woodrat would get the dust blown off it.
So, handtools are quiet, satisfying, leave maker-marks, require different skillset from machine-tool skills and are sometimes (not often) faster. But machine tools have their own set of virtues. The vast majority of WW operations can be done successfully with either. They aren't mutually exclusive and one is not always inherently superior, more accurate or precise than the other - or so my expeience tells me. Of course, that experience is just one bloke in his shed buggering about.
I enjoy all tools and never have felt the need to exclude one sort in favour of the other. I imagine, as you say, that a professional will be much more critical about what suits his or her work and personal proclivities.
Lataxe
In the end, it's all about whatever floats your boat, Lataxe. Especially for lads like yourself, who are in it for the sheer pleasure of it all.
I await with open arms the day (if it ever comes!) when I can go out to my shop and build things for the sheer joy of it. For me, alot has been lost in the romance I once had with woodworking...it is still there, but not as it once was. Deadlines, finish samples, change orders, and the occasional idiotic customer get in the way of all that is good. Perhaps, someday, it shall return. When it does, I plan on making as little noise as possible.
Have a great day.
JH - David (Lataxe) has alluded to it, but I'll be more explicit. I use hand tools because what I make (colonial American reproductions) require it. There's little doubt that there are lots of furniture makers that make "reproductions" of the form solely by power tools - Glen Huey (now with Popular Woodworking) and Norm Abrams are a couple of more famous examples.
However, and this is just my opinion and not widely shared, what they make in my view are representations, not reproductions. A reproduction absolutely requires that there be no evidence of machine tool use on any of the final surfaces. I can concede the use of a machine to roughly cut lumber to size; after all, it's pretty much impossible to get pit-sawn wood in this day and age (but I would buy it if I could get it!). Nevertheless, there is a slight imprecision in an authentic antique that does not occur with furniture that is made by power tool means, even if the final show surfaces are hand-planed. In my view, that doesn't cut it - there needs to be slight variations in thickness of components, roughly chiseled mortises in the back to capture drawer runners, and everything else that goes into making a piece of furniture with hand tools at speed.
Without this, one is competing with a factory, and that's a losing battle, and a bit of a conondrum - if you accept the use of power tools to cut the joinery and prepare the surfaces, where do you draw the line? One could easily argue in such a case that the wide-belt sander, despite the linear scratches and perfectly parallel surfaces it leaves behind, is considerably more efficient than a hand-plane, particularly if one has multiples to do.
In my case, this even extends to cross-grain construction and nailed-on moldings. My objective is for someone looking at something I've made 100 years from now to have no way to distinguish it from a piece made around the time of the Revolutionary war (other than my signature).
There's a book by Anthony Guidice - the seven essentials of woodworking. It makes a very strong case for using hand tools. He's overly obsessive in my opinion - one doesn't need to hear 100+ times how much better hand tools are. But what he says makes a lot of sense.
He discusses, for example, how to spring a joint when gluing up a flat panel by taking a couple of shavings from the middle of the edges of each board prior to glue up. In essence there's a tiny gap tetween the middles of each of the edges. I tried it this weekend - wow! Glue lines totally disappeared. As he says - how could you do this with a power tool?
I also work in a very small basement area in my house - I guess that what happens when you have 4 kids! Noise and dust are a big problem, and living in Chicago means the garage is out of commission for most of the year. I use power tools as much as my circumstances allow me to, but hand tools always seem to provide a higher satisfaction level.
Finally, my grandfather was a cabinet maker, and my father knew a lot about tools so always spoke about handtools, leaving me with an emotional satisfaction in learning how to use these tools.
Because Black and Darker doesn't make a power spokeshave :-)
Mainly because power tools can't do it.
Boiler
There are some things power tools won't do — Cut a square cornered mortise or square rabbit in a box or frame. Another is fine dovetails with a pencil thin pin end.
I prefer a mixture of power and hand tools.
Hand tools give a custom crafted feel and look. It's good that every surface is not flat and straight to within 0.0001".
Greg
•••••••
Exo 35:30-35
I find that often its the only efficient way to get the job done.
The above, and I strongly feel that with the understanding of hand tools you'll have a better understanding of what power tools can and cannot achieve for you!
Chaim
I use handtools for the challenge, and It also gives me a better feeling of accomplishment and success when I finish a project.
Maybe someday the woodworker robot will be invented, and we won't even need to leave our chairs.
For me, it would be for practical reasons. Sometimes a hand tool is the best choice for a task. Other times they don't make sense. Here's a pic of some applied edge beads I recently made. Could I have made them with hand tools only? Would my customer want to pay for my choice of using hand tools only? Could I have the same consistent results with hand tools only?
When I first started in the trade it was as a carpenter. We built houses, frame to cabinetry, with hand tools only. There was no electricity on job sites. Once plywood became a common material, it didn't take long to provide a source of juice on site. Cutting up plywood with hand saws didn't make practical sense. I think that holds true for whatever task a woodworker is faced with.
It is a good topic. I am a hobby wood worker. I don't like that word "hobby". I am on the learning curve with hand tools but I love it for a lot of the reasons mentioned else ware on this thread. I going to add one more. When I buy a quality hand tool, I know I am making a "investment" that will last the rest of my (hopefully long and happy) life. 300 - 400 dollars for a good plane or a new router and I know the value is in the plane. Power tools ware out, burn out, get loaned out. Hand tools taker up less space closer to the bench.
But the real reason is this:
Last Thursday after a stressful day at work, I was starting a small project to make a tray for my tool chest, to relax. iPod on with some Grateful Dead, I started preparing the stock from some scrap cherry. I used hand tools. I got towards the end of the task and started to check the quality of my work (six sides square). I was shocked! I held each of board op to the light with my square. Dead on in every way! and then I test fitted the sizes to the chest. Perfect! End grain smooth as glass. I know I could not have done better with a machine! I never used a ruler or measurement. I only marked fit from chest. This simple task has set a new standard to what I can do!
Small experiences like this over the last few years, that is why I love hand tools. The skills I can learn! The quality of results has no limits from where I stand, at the beginning of this learning curve!
Will
Jhard,
For myself it is a combination of both, The machines allow me to spend more time on the hand tooling , Dove tailing, hand shaping with rasps, Router plane for hinge rebates and such, Spoke shaves ect...
I have no issues fortunately with space confinement and noise issues. I truly admire those with the full set of hand skills, The Ray Pines , Rob Millards and such . Great thread .
Tom.
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