This could be its own thread
Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
>Within reason, every edge tool fancier than a knife is an attempt to increase efficiency, through general physics and body mechanics, and guard against disaster such as grain splitting into the good section. A similar statement could be made about boring tools, and, to a degree, about saws. I recall an old FWW article about boatbuilding that showed a student shaving a board with a hatchet with the caption that students used these (VERY refined) hatchets for practically everything in building the boats.
But it should be possible, though unbelievably time consuming, to make almost anything with a handful of tools. It might be a refreshing challenge from time to time to make something with as small a kit as possible.
More difficult operations can be accomplished by more and better equipment coupled with better skill; often, still better skill can compensate for the lack of more equipment. The best gear in the world can't compensate for a lack of skill.
A lot of us own way more tools than we need - even we bottom feeders who pride ourselves on not spending much on tools. I was out in the shop the other night checking which transitonal Stanley plane I own (No. 36) and realized that I've got seven bench planes, which is about four more than I need (need would be the No. 4, either No. 5 or No. 6, and the Big Bertha No. 8), but I paid little for them (the $55 for my No. 8 is the most, with $10 for the transitional being second highest), and am holding onto those I don't need until I get a chance to experiment with them and determine whether they're useful enough to keep. But I occasionally find myself embarrassed when I think about how many tools I own and how few tools my revered grandfather used to make the furniture he did, much of which is still in great condition and active use 70-80 years after he built it from Doug fir and fir plywood, all he could afford.