Bill Houghton, sunny again in Sebastopol, CA
>when I could shave an edge smooth and to a line with the knife alone - well, and the nervous sweat dripping on the wood to lubricate the cut. I prize the memory of those moments, and hope to acquire more (memories, not drawknives - I think I probably have too many as it is). Still, I won't be selling my planes and don't plan to build a breakfront china cabinet using a drawknife alone.

I own some publication of the Taunton Press with a picture of a woman using a hatchet to shape and smooth the wood of a Scandinavian sailing vessel; apparently, this is the dominant tool in that particular tradition. In the picture, she's planing an edge or smoothing a surface, if I recall correctly. On the other hand, I believe most hand-tool-oriented wooden boat builders have a kit of planes on which they depend.

I suspect this subject will remain a discussion forever among hand tool users - there's a vast continuum of ways to make a cut in wood, each with its tradeoffs, and each worker finds a personal balance among the tradeoffs.