Why do you use hand tools?

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Larry Marshall

>I agree with most people's answers. I particularly second Jonathan's comments about his kids. My daughter loves 'working with dad' and yet when the table saw turns on, she takes two steps back and I'm grateful. Otherwise her limits are dexterity and muscle power, not fear, when it comes to woodworking.

What's sort of surprised me is that I haven't seen mention of something that's important to me about hand tools. If you know how to use both hand and power tools, you have more flexibility. If you need to make a hinge-pocket for a door, you don't have to take the door to the shop, get out the router, find a proper bit, set it up, route the pocket, put the bit away, put the router away, clean up the mess, and carry the door back to its location.

In short, there are a lot of things that are quicker with hand tools if you know how to use them. If I have one board to take to smooth and joint, I'm going to grab a hand plane. If I've got 20 to do, I'm going to start shoving them through my planer.

Another reason to use a handtool is to get a better result. While it's true that some machine operations are precise, many can't match the ability to take .002" off one side of a tenon to get it 'just right.' So, again, hand tool skills become useful, even if you've got an nice tenon jig and a super-ti-duper table saw for making tenons.

He who knows only power tools is a very limited woodworker. Heck, even Norm uses them occasionally :-)

Cheers --- Larry

Forgot to Mention...

Todd Stock

>...my dad would not let me use power tools unsupervised, although his and grandpa's hand tools were OK (I was allowed unsupervised use of a .22 from age 8, so go figure which Dad though of as more dangerous).

First project on my own was a small seaman's chest out of a Hervey Garrett Smith book - for first girlfriend (of course).

Still can't figure out how I cut double angled dovetails and rope molding...and not much filler either.

good point

Joe Piotrowski -Chicago burbs

>The long terms cost escaped me as my mind was on a task I just did.

I threw together a spreadsheet with all the tools I have and there book cost.I never paid list for most of the power tools :)

so that initial out of pocket cost was more or less on my mind whe I wrote that.

amortizing the total cost of ownership has merit.

while going though some old woodworking mags I noticed serval build a shop on budgets articles. it usually totals around the 5k mark.

For fun I want to put together a beigner shop on paper for 5k and see what you really get. most of these authors are in the clouds. they magically assume that all the extras come for free. I never see a cost for a real workbench, hand tools or even moblie basses the power tools.

no power tool has ever just cost me for the tool. There is always extras. some Hand tool do come with a need for some extra things but not like the money pit of a tablesaw!

You've been Hijacked Bill!!!!!!!!!!

Brad in Ottawa

>Bill,

I read your starting post and the first time I read it I got your point. Upon revisiting I saw the responses and thought that I had misread and responded with my answer on why I use hand tools!

I guess everyone here is really eager to contribute!

On Topic, I can relate to your message. I once asked on a different forum for specific advice on an aspect of jointing.

Everyone was generous on overall general strategies and advice but missed my main question. I did get the answer after reasking on the same thread. In the process though I learned a few other pieces of information that I took for granted or wasn't aware of!

Brad

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Stephen in Ottawa

>I agree totally with the point that we all have different objectives in our woodworking. Sometime ago I made a post about our expectations from our tools. We all have a different set of expectations so what is an excellent tool for one person may be totally inadequate for another which is what makes recommending tools to others so difficult.

- Stephen

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Alan Hamilton

>Larry,

I am envious of you with children who like little better than sharing some shop time. Alas.

In one of Saint Roy of Underhill's books he writes about his younger daughter who delighted in using a draw knife. He saw that she had absorbed the safety lessons, so he had no qualms about her using a sharp tool. She would sit on his shaving horse by the hour making nothing but shavings and memories. The only precaution he had to take was to see that she didn't make shavings out of his best stock.

Come to think of it, I'm envious of both you and your children.

Alan

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Larry Marshall

>It is a joy to have my daughter in the shop. At times it's also frustrating as she's still of an age where she has little concept of time requirements for projects. She'll work for extended periods of time making piles of wood scraps nailed together after she gnaws on each for a while with a spokeshave, saw, or block plane.

When we decide to make something functional, however, she often runs out of patience/interest. Nevertheless, she's very proud of some of the things she's made and enjoys working wood.

Cheers --- Larry

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Kevin French, Antrim, NH

>There is nothing sweeter then the sound of a plane working.

I haven't given up the power tools and planning the purchase of other one.

Some people get caught up in the pwer trip. After pulling a #3 and a 110 out of the scrap metal pile at the dump, I show them to the attendant that I knew did WW'n.

He responded, I know, I saw them, I don't use them, no need to with all the power tool there are now. Hand tools are the old way of doing it.

Some people miss the point. And that's OK too, I guess.

Re: Why do you use hand tools?

Dave Anderson Chester,NH

>I am like most here and use both power and hand tools. When building "one offs" and things for myself, friends, or family I use the hand tools because it's fun, quieter, safer, and often just as fast as the power tools. I also feel I have better control over the quality aspects since a power tool isn't removing the stock in a microsecond. On the other hand, as a part time maker of hand tools which I sell, I need to keep things affordable and need to be efficient. Since I batch process, power tools are both necessary and desirable for many of the operations. It's not quite as much fun, but it's a lot faster until I reach the point where the final work is done by hand.

As a personal summary, I use power tools for efficiency in repetitive operations and hand tools for the sheer enjoyment.