To unplug or not to unplug?

[James Phillips]

That is the question.

I will never entirely unplug. I love most of my power tools, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of my hand tools as well. For example I have just started using hand saws for breaking down stock and for croscutting small parts. I also do my dovetails by hand.

I have really built up a pretty nice collection of quality chisels and hand planes that I really enjoy using. I am thinking of getting rid of my power jointer. It is a 6 in long bed with helical cutter. With my #7 I can flatten anything I that I can get on the jointer plus wider stock. The #7 will give me a straight glue joint quality edge. I also get a little workout using it. So what say you all, should I sell the jointer and go Neander in that aspect of my work?

[john brenton]

I'm only a novice, but I opine that I wouldn't get rid of anything unless you had to. I think sometimes we can focus on the process, and sometimes on the product. When it comes to the process a neander build is particularly satisfying. When it comes to the end product the machines make it easier to focus more of your energy into the details.

I have a completely neander shop and I can't wait to get machines. A router is definitely #1 on my list, if for anything easing the process of dados and sliding dovetails. If I could get a shopsmith I would get that too.

Doing the heavy lifting on the machines and adding the professional touches with hand tools seems to be the most pragmatic and professional approach.


That is the question.

I will never entirely unplug. I love most of my power tools, but I get a lot of satisfaction out of my hand tools as well. For example I have just started using hand saws for breaking down stock and for croscutting small parts. I also do my dovetails by hand.

I have really built up a pretty nice collection of quality chisels and hand planes that I really enjoy using. I am thinking of getting rid of my power jointer. It is a 6 in long bed with helical cutter. With my #7 I can flatten anything I that I can get on the jointer plus wider stock. The #7 will give me a straight glue joint quality edge. I also get a little workout using it. So what say you all, should I sell the jointer and go Neander in that aspect of my work?

[Mark Wyatt]

You'll probably get many responses beginning with "depends on what you are intending to do..."

I recently replaced all of the windows in our craftsman style house and custom built all the replacement casing and molding where it was needed. There was no practical way I could have done this using hand tools, given time constraints. The table saw, router table, and jointer were critical tools. I have more work to do on the house.

However, that's my issue. What are you intending to do?

[James Scheffler]

That is the question.
I am thinking of getting rid of my power jointer. It is a 6 in long bed with helical cutter. With my #7 I can flatten anything I that I can get on the jointer plus wider stock. The #7 will give me a straight glue joint quality edge. I also get a little workout using it. So what say you all, should I sell the jointer and go Neander in that aspect of my work?

I have pushed my jointer into a corner and I'm not sure I will ever use it again. I think it's the most dangerous of the major power tools. Mine is rather old and has accuracy problems, so that's another strike. (Yours sounds much nicer). Also, like you said, it's common to have a work piece that is just too big for the jointer. That's three strikes....

On the other hand, I inherited it from my grandfather and I have trouble getting rid of anything, so it will likely gather dust for quite some time.:D Maybe that's the way to go. See how much time passes before the next time you want to use it.

Jim S.

[Charlie Stone]

I am there with you. I have a nice jointer but I prefer to pick up my #7 and just enjoy doing the work. That said, I dont think I would do anything as hasty as sell my power tools. There are a lot of times where I need to remove just 1/16 of an inch from something .. and I dont feel like resetting my tablesaw. It also is handy if I want to flatten out one side of a log before resawing. So it has its uses. If I ever get to the point where I havent used it in over a year, I might cover it up with plastic and use it as a drink holder.

[Dan Andrews]

I am kind of in the same position that you are James. I have used primarily power tools for many years and hand tools only when the job required it. I now am using more hand tools for the fun, quietness and dustlessness of them. Still there are times when I use power tools to speed up the more tedious and repetitive processes such as ripping several boards to width. I also do not plan to buy a whole set of molding planes when I have several good routers and a great router table. I now use hand tools much more than I used to. I will not be selling any power tools, but may not replace some of them (such as my small jointer) if they die.

If you have the space for power tools you don't use often, just store them. If a tree falls on your house are you willing to take 3 times as much time doing the repairs with all hand tools, or will you wish you had the power tools to get the job done and the house livable again? That is just an example of the unexpected that can happen. You won't get as much money from selling power tools as their replacement will cost, and if your power tools are older they may be better than the new ones you would have to buy for replacement.

[Don Dorn]

While I'd like to claim neander, the truth is that I'm a hybrid and am happy with that. I still use a RAS to cross cut, my TS to rip, planer to thickness and jointer to get a basic edge. For any finer work than that, I turn to the handtools. To each their own - for me it comes down to enjoyment and the mixture of techniqe works for me.

[Steve Branam]

The way my thinking evolved over time was that I would think about doing a project with my power tools, and start going through it in my mind, and the machine setup for all the operations would start to bog me down. Setup machine. Make this cut. Change setup. Make that cut. Change setup. Make another cut. And so on.

As I started learning hand tool skills, I realized I could just pick up the tool and go. No setup, no fiddling with jigs or adjustments or fine tuning cuts. Just do it. I found it a much more pleasant process. I can do many of the operations with a hand tool in the time it takes me to get a machine setup. Even in the cases where the power tool might be faster, I enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that it was me and my skill that got it done. It's much more personal.

Now, if I was making multiples of things, then it would be a bit different. Setup machine. Make 10 cuts. Change setup. Make 10 cuts. And so on. For production like that, where the setup time is amortized over multiple pieces, I wouldn't find the machine setup so annoying.

But as a hobbyist, that's just not the type of work I do. It's mostly just one off, each item individually crafted. If I really go into production mode I make two!

[John Coloccia]

I do mostly hand work, but use power tools to do the heavy lifting. Table saw for ripping, bandsaw for resawing and cutting out rough patterns, drum sander, planers etc. I usually use the jointer to get an edge close, and then I finish it off with a hand plane. I do find the jointer quite useful to get the face of a board flat before planing it, but you can do the same with a hand plane. It doesn't need to be perfect...just close enough so the board doesn't wobble.

I wouldn't dump anything just yet. I use it all, yet I still do a lot of hand tool work. I just do what makes sense for any particular step, my mood and time constraints. For example, I have a chair that I need to knock out for my wife. I will probably do mostly machine work because I want to get it done and out of my shop.

By the way, how lucky is this: some friends of mine have a Stickley Morris chair that they bought some years ago. My wife just absolutely loves it. "Hey sweetie, do you think you could figure out how to build one of those". LOL. "Uhm, sure, I can figure it out". Maybe I'll build her a dozen Adirondack chairs too while I'm at it :D

[James Taglienti]

Using solely hand tools is nice and relaxing... sometimes most effective... but sometimes laborious and painfully redundant. I just duplicated 6 pieces of 1890's door trim and a piece of baseboard for a fellow in town here... all sorts of Victorian details and nooks and crannies. I used mostly machines. The only reason that type of trim exists anyway is because of industry, why should I try to put 6 handmade pieces in a home full of machined trim?

Regardless... I wouldn't trade my machines for anything - I would have done it already. Without my tablesaw or jointer I'd be up a creek. To me, hand tool woodworking isn't some exclusive club or way of life or something... it just happens to be, in many instances, the best way for me to do things.

Just thinking about not having a jointer gives me the creeps! Most of my lumber comes roughsawn from a local fellow and sometimes he isn't the most precise guy. .

[Zach England]

I love me some power tools...

[Roy Griggs]

Is it worth selling? Will you get enough of your original investment back?
What if you decide later that you should have kept it; will what you get for it get another one?

I hate buying the same tool more than once...

I've kept mine even though I seldom use it. There "are" days when my old joints say it is the prefered option. Mostly used now days for one quick straight edge...a reference edge.

[James Phillips]

Lots of good responses. I think because the jointer has a spiral head I could get a decent return on what I paid.

I think my plan is to do a furniture project start to finish with out it and then decide. I will never part with most of my power tools since as many of you have said I do use them for the heavy lifting. The Table Saw is the center of my shop and I am by no means a neander in all my work. I have a shop full of heavy iron and would only consider parting with my jointer. Since it is only 6 inches it does have some limitations that hand tools do not have. This would force me to get proficient in this aspect of my hand tool work.

[Tony Zaffuto]

You need to do a small project or two totally unplugged to decide. Adds a new dimension to your work, forces you to think things through a bit. Then decide.

Either way, you'll be a far better woodworker! Personally, I use a mixture of tools most of the time, but every now and then, I do something completely unplugged. Don't think I've ever done anything completely plugged, though!

[Keith Gwin]

I would unplug, buy a hybrid, and move to San Francisco!

[Casey Gooding]

There are some power tools I don't think I would ever get rid of, like my bandsaw. I was in a similar situation and did sell my jointer after it didn't get turned on for nearly three years. I like using wide boards too much to have much use for a 6" jointer. Now, if I had the $$ and space for, let's say a 16" jointer, I may re-think things.

[harry strasil]

To me its rather funny, its akin to the question, "Is it a Rebate Plane or a Shoulder Plane. A lot say they are going to sell their Jointer, then pick up their jointer and face or edge plane a board. I realize that people most often use tools for things other than what they were designed for. To Me a tailed jointer is just what its name implies, its for making a nice glue joint on the edge of a board. I think its almost impossible to get a decent surface wider than the cutting width of the blades and get it to match perfectly. I know I am probably clouding the issue, but I have an old 6 inch craftsman tailed jointer and that's what I do with it, Joint the edges of boards. When I want to plane a board down to a specific thickness, I used a tailed thickness planer.

Sorry for the Rant.

[Jon Toebbe]

For me, this is a hobby. There are three main tasks I don't care for much:

Thickness Planing
Ripping rough stock
Resawing

For (1) I have a lunchbox planer. Some earplugs and a mobile stand to take the mess outside, and I'm good to go. For (2) and (3) I'll add a bandsaw as space and money permit. For now, I'll borrow a friend's or work in standard thicknesses. Face jointing a board clean enough to send through the screaming yellow demon is fun. Edge jointing is fun. Smooth planing and finish scraping is fun. Joinery is fun. All with handtools on the porch when the weather's nice, or in the living room when it's not.

[Chris Griggs]

For me, this is a hobby. There are three main tasks I don't care for much:

Thickness Planing
Ripping rough stock
Resawing



Couldn't agree more. For now, I have the little Dewalt jobsite table saw for ripping and limited resawing (although it sees less and less use these days). However, I can tell you that when I someday get a dedicated workshop space the first two (and perhaps only) big machines I'll get is a powerful bandsaw and a thickness planer. Jointing one face of a board by hand is pretty easy, so as a hobbyist, I probably would bother to spend my money on a jointer unless I could afford a pretty wide one. Than again, if I already had one, I probably wouldn't sell it either.