It's so quiet! Why I went neanderthal

[Jon Crowley]

I started down the hand tool route and am finding it quite fun actually. Oddly enough, the reason I started is that my daughter is 6 months old, and is going to bed around 7pm. When she's up, I want to be with her, and when she is asleep, power tools are just too loud.

So I started messing more with the hand planes I had even before she was born, and have gotten much better with them... adjusting, sharpening... then a few weeks ago I bought some real chisels to replace my borg trashy ones: a set of Marples/Irwin blue chips. The combo of those and being better at sharpening... Wow. Call me a noob, but I'm surprised how easy it is to cut/shave with the grain with those.

That was about the point it became painfully clear that I need a proper workbench. Bought the Schwartz book, looked at many designs, and currently am building the base for the holtzapffel bench.

The crosscuts are done roughly on a new cheapo Stanley panel saw. Holes for dogs in the legs were done with an old brace and bit - forstners in the drill press weren't long enough. Flattening pieces of legs for glue up is by hand plane.

The rips, jointing, and planing are going very slowly since I have to rely on occasional loud power tool time on the weekends. I definitely don't have the skill or patience to make a 34" rip or make a leg coplanar by hand.

I started chiseling the large mortises after starting with the brace, and have the sides square. I'm nervous about the ends though... using a mallet to hit the chisel might be too loud for the baby. I even tried a rubber dead blow mallet, but I'm too paranoid to hit it hard enough. :o I feel like such a silent woodworking ninja lately. :D

The tenons seem intimidating to make by hand also since they are so large. Plus I don't have a miter box to make the shoulders square... or a nice tenon saw... or even a saw filed for ripping period.

The whole hand tool experience has been quite fun, and I find myself using them more even when I don't have to be quiet. A lot of times it is quicker than going through the setup/adjustment for a power tool. Guess someday I'll have to thank my daughter for making me more versatile. :)

So that's my neanderthal life story. :D What's yours?

[Jim Koepke]

Soft sounds of working wood by hand are seductive compared to the whine of a table saw.

For a lot of tasks, setting up for hand work is faster than setting up a power tool.

My story to others is mistakes are made slower with hand tools.

jim

[Tri Hoang]

My story to others is mistakes are made slower with hand tools.
jim

I'd second this as a beginner. However, what got me started was the fine dust and loud noise generated by power tools.

[Luke Townsley]

I have long wanted to learn how to work with hand tools, but my present shop situation pretty much wouldn't be possible with power tools. There would be too much dust, noise, power usage (our power is finicky at best), and not enough space.

Another issue for me is that I can't leave power tools in my carport or they would be stolen. Somehow, thieves don't seem too interested in my workbench or saws.

[Danny Thompson]

Four Broad Reasons:

Safety
Less dust, less noise, less current, less polution, less kickback, fewer spinning blades!

The Romance of it
A closer connection to the material.

The pure bliss of seeing, hearing, and feeling a long, cloudy, strip ribbon off of a long board.

The adrenaline rush of getting it flat, square, smooth, and tight.

Then, again, sometimes it's that hand-tooled look you just can't get with a machine.

The sheer fortune we have of living in the new golden age (?) of woodworking hand tools. The excellence of those tools. And the juxtaposition of the modern steel, innovation, and production quality that goes into those tools against the legacy of traditional woodworking methods.

Human Connections
The openness of and resulting connection with so many great neanders--some famous, some just getting started, some masters, some teachers, some comedians, some curmudgeons, some know-it-all's, some not-quite-all-there, and most a real pleasure.

The idea that my grandchildren will be more likely to prize there granddad's Gramercy Bowsaw than his Frued Combination Blade; his hand-scraped sitting bench than his machine made plywood bookshelves.

The Handtoolness of it
All that said, the most likely reason is much more basic.

My chisel is the Anti-Computer.

[Mat Ashton]

I made furniture for others for about 25 years. Now I only make things for myself. And since it's now all about me I've returned to how I started. I never had power tools, except a lathe and a bandsaw, when I first started so everything was pretty much by hand. It's nice to return to that and the relaxed and quiet pace that it embodies. I still have the bandsaw from when I was 12 (32 years ago) but the lathe has grown into a oneway 2436 - sorta wish I had kept the original...

[Jim Kountz]

Well Im by no means a neander but lately because of the project Im working on my hand tool useage has doubled and Im really diggin it. I did alot of handwork on the legs, frame and carving and its really nice to be able to hear myself think or listen to my radio in the shop if I want to. Again, Im still more of a power tool guy mainly because I have a lot to learn about the handtools but Im leaning more and more that way, its just nice!!

[Kees Heiden]

Great about the handtool use! But it isn't really neccesary for the baby. When my daughter was so young, she would sleep best when there was some hard droning noise nearby. We would vaccuum clean the sleeping rooms, or run the washing machine in the evening, when she went to bed. One night there was fire somewhere down the street and the firetruck with blaring sirenes pulled up under her bedroom window. She didn't wake up.

So I wouldn't worry to wack with a hammer on that chissel. :D

[Sam Takeuchi]

I'm for the less noise and dust as well. I have a bandsaw, router and drill press, but I don't use them at all. My next door neighbor had some sort of nervous breakdown a couple of years back and she was hearing things that weren't there (like she would hear someone walking outside of her door at 2 am...I know no one was there since my window face that way and I stay up until morning). In a way I thought maybe she was hearing some of my late night woodworking noise (like planing and worse...sanding!) and now when I plane or sand at night, all windows are shut. I think even neo-neander is too noisy. So I've mostly moved to day time woodworking routine except when I don't need to plane or sand. So chiseling, scraping and using block plane for small parts seem ok. I just have to be careful about dropping clamps. They make really loud noise since I work on the second floor and the floor is wood.

[Mark Roderick]

It's funny, but the one area where machines seem to create LESS dust is sanding.

I enjoy sanding much more by hand than with a machine. I like the quiet and feeling the wood under my hand. But sanding by hand creates a heck of a lot more dust than using my ROS with a vacum attached, which is practically dust-free.

[Chuck Nickerson]

True Confession: I started going Neander when my shop space filled up with power tools. I like buying tools, and only hand tools would fit in the spaces remaining. Once I had hand tools, I had to learn to use them (otherwise I'd have to admit my wife was right). An odd path perhaps, but I don't regret it.

[John Schreiber]

Four Broad Reasons:

What Danny said.

[Joe Cunningham]

I started with hand tools because I could start WW'ing without spending a lot of money, and have slowly added new tools as the need arose. I've found it is nice to have the radio going, no need for a DC, just a shop vac to pick up and saw or sanding dust. And the plane shavings make great kindling for the wood stove in the winter.

Never really worked much with power tools except in a class I took, but that was in a huge shop with a powerful DC system. I did recently get my dad's old SS bandsaw up and running, and man that thing tosses out the sawdust. So I only use for long rips, once in a while.

[Danny Thompson]

Plus, hand tools are so much cheaper . . . :eek:!

[John Messinger]

Great about the handtool use! But it isn't really neccesary for the baby...

So I wouldn't worry to wack with a hammer on that chissel. :DI concur. Once my two sons were asleep, absolutely nothing in the world would wake them for the next 6-9 hours.

But I'm with you all the way on the hand tools.

[Jon Crowley]

True Confession: I started going Neander when my shop space filled up with power tools. I like buying tools, and only hand tools would fit in the spaces remaining. Once I had hand tools, I had to learn to use them (otherwise I'd have to admit my wife was right). An odd path perhaps, but I don't regret it.

I'm surprised this phenomenon isn't more common. :D