Why are you a Neander?

[John Coloccia]

I use hand tools a lot, but it's mostly because for the work I do it's often incredibly inconvenient to use a power tool. Also, I find in many instances that the hand tool will give me that little extra bit of control to get exactly what I want. That said, I think the work I normally do (instrument building) is pretty specialized and doesn't really cover the typical woodworker. Anyway, there's also a certain romance around pushing a blade through a piece of wood that gets my juices flowing when it works just right. I have plenty of power tools, but taking off that perfect shaving is just very satisfying to me.

I'm curious of the various reasons people are drawn to hand tools. We seem to be living in the renaissance of hand tools! I personally know some that do it simply because of space or noise requirements. Some because of cost. Some are just tired of breathing in dust.

I guess I know how and why I've been drawn into the dark ages of woodworking, and I'm curious if anyone has an interesting story as to how they were sucked in.

[Russell Sansom]

I started mostly because I inherited my grandfathers shop when I was 13. A wretched table saw, a small sears band saw, and a lathe. Plus a few dozen boxes of dull files, dull cast-steel chisels, and battered metal objects that he used for creating things. I became a good woodworker just before college, when I started wanting one musical instrument after another. Dulcimer, guitar, violin, banjo, flutes, crumhorns, harps, and eventually harpsichords and clavichords. Not having the money to buy them, I was left with no option but to make them for myself.
There are a couple reasons I'm mostly by-hand...because the harpsichords I was emulating were made by hand, I couldn't imagine making them by power. Originally I was trying to reverse engineer harpsichords and violins and others, so doing them by power would have masked that discovery.
These days I'm doing hand work because of all the reasons you mention. Dust and noise + danger. I can get 1/100" accuracy any time I want it by hand. So the main reason I'm doing it in my retirement is because I can!. The quiet, the safety, and sometimes the accuracy that's gained is paid for with time. It's a good trade for me.

[Tim Tyler]

Hey John,

I started getting into woodworking in 2008 when my grandfather's old table saw and router were handed down to me. I was fully intent on using power tools. My first project was to build a bench. Set up in my garage and went to work. I used a mask, earplugs and safety glasses. Spent 2 days banging out parts for the bench. I work in a manufacturing environment and listen to that crap and have to wear safety equipment 40 hours a week. I didn't enjoy the process of creating the bench, too much like work. I like the bench, but not the process. That was the first and last project I used machines to build. I now use Hand tools only. It takes longer to dimension stock, rip boards, etc. but I am not depending on my projects to put food on the table so that's not a critical issue. It's a hobby to enjoy. I enjoy the process AND the completed project now. I really unwind when I get in the shop now. No Loud screeching machines and choking dust. I even enjoy a few tunes while I work. I am happy that my young son can go out into the shop with me and I don't have to run him off because of dust and safety issues. I think most everyone hates sanding. I just don't do much sanding now. I plane and scrape just about everything. I think I probably have spent as much on hand tools as I would have on machines though. I slid down the slope at break neck speed. LN and LV really wounded my budget the last couple years. Up next: Carving... Ashley Iles should be smiling.

Tim

[Mark Baldwin III]

I found two of my Grampa's planes. Then I tripped and fell down the slope. I just wanted a couple of cutting boards for the kitchen! Like Tim said, I spend all day around noisy equipment too. I like the quiet. There is an elegance about hand tools, not to mention the history, and closeness to the work. I knew I was completely hooked into this when I bought the 4 E.Baldwin planes that are in my shop.
I also enjoy the myriad of skills there are to learn. Every day I get to read something on here that makes me want to learn something new. It goes on and on.

[Robert Culver]

I just want to know if there is some kinda prize invalved here if so am i the winner. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Greg Labacz]

I'm a new neander because of the noise, sawdust and need for saftey equipment like Tim said and sometimes the danger of power tools if your concentration wanders for a second. My wife always says a prayer when I turn on my TS,router etc. I was given a Stanley #7 by my cousin which started my interest in planes and since have bought some books and dvds and picked up some nice old Stanley's on ebay. I'm also taking a course on hand planes at a local woodworking school near me.

[David Gilbert]

I wish that I was more of a Neander but do love making things with hand tools. I really like hand tools for three reasons. First, I can do things by hand that I can't do with a power tool. Second, with hand tools it takes me longer to destroy a piece of wood. And third, it takes me longer to seriously injure myself. For example, I usually stop sawing myself after the first or second stroke.

Cheers,
David

[John A. Callaway]

because i had to start my hobby in my dining room of a townhouse. It just took off from there. I take pride it knowing the only power tools I use are a cordless drill ( brace and auger bits will replace it soon ) , a table saw ( gonna keep that one in the back porch utility closet ) and a router ( plow plane will be ordered friday, router to be kept , but stored away ) .... any sanding is done by hand.

For me, I find it makes me pay more attention to the details of the work. I have a long way to go, but I am happy with my progress and skill level thus far.

[Harlan Barnhart]

Hi John,
I started using hand tools because I needed furniture and the options were buy cheap garbage or stuff priced far beyond my budget. I had no shop so I started working in my kitchen and in the backyard if the weather was nice. Also the initial investment was quite low. I started with very cheap ebay stuff. The most important woodworking tool is between your ears. As long as that is working, you can build nice stuff with very little investment.

[Jonathan McCullough]

That's an interesting question. I started out with power tools because I didn't know better, associated hand tools with craftsmanship and ability beyond my own, and a high initial investment in tool scholarship. With power tools, I thought, you take it out of the package and it works. It is a consumerist and bassackward sentiment, but why learn which kitchen knives are useful, invest in the stones to sharpen them, learn how to use them . . . instead of just dicing vegetables in a Cuisinart?

Why learn what to look for in a chisel, a saw, or anything else, when a power tool will do everything cheaperfasterbetter?

Well it turned out that anything you can do with a power tool, you can do with a hand tool, and there are many things you can do with a hand tool that a power tool just cannot accomplish. Got to take a hair off the top of an already-constructed chest lid? You can't put it through the planer! You need a hand plane for that. Putting storm windows in while hanging halfway out a second-story window? A Yankee 41 will drill pilot holes with one hand. Someone should put a sticky at the top of this forum with stories from people about what they can do with a hand tool that you can't do with a power tool.

Another thing I've discovered are the psychological effects of certain power tools. Since fixing up a table saw with a 3 hp motor I've discovered I have an acute case of digitophilia, combined with ergalilektriphobia.

I also get a sense of satisfaction from fixing up old tools like planes, saws, and eggbeaters and the like. It's a pleasure to turn something rusty into an operational tool that's useful and can do someone some good. But this is a distraction from actual wood working.

Now I associate hand tools as being something part of a craft I'm learning but will never fully know, that almost always do things faster, cheaper, and better with finer control, and that I enjoy so much more than a process that requires safety equipment, dust collection, shut-off switches, etc. I associate stationary power tools as industrial equipment mostly suitable for professional production work and tailed tools as mostly junk.

[Tom Scott]

As many others, I started with hand tools as a matter of cost of entry. I wanted to make things, but didn't have the space or money for a lot of power tools. With a #4 plane, a 1/2" chisel and a hand saw, I was up and going.
Ultimately, though, I'm sure there's something in my DNA that puts a preference on hand tools...just like I prefer sailboats over motor boats, and bicycling over motorcycles.

Tom

[Roy Lindberry]

I use hand tools a lot, but it's mostly because for the work I do it's often incredibly inconvenient to use a power tool. Also, I find in many instances that the hand tool will give me that little extra bit of control to get exactly what I want. That said, I think the work I normally do (instrument building) is pretty specialized and doesn't really cover the typical woodworker. Anyway, there's also a certain romance around pushing a blade through a piece of wood that gets my juices flowing when it works just right. I have plenty of power tools, but taking off that perfect shaving is just very satisfying to me.

I'm curious of the various reasons people are drawn to hand tools. We seem to be living in the renaissance of hand tools! I personally know some that do it simply because of space or noise requirements. Some because of cost. Some are just tired of breathing in dust.

I guess I know how and why I've been drawn into the dark ages of woodworking, and I'm curious if anyone has an interesting story as to how they were sucked in.

Three basic reasons, in no particular order:

1. Financial/space limitations. High quality power tools are far more expensive than their high quality hand counterparts and take up far more room. Maintenance can also get spendy on the power side.

2. Craftsmanship. I find that anybody can cut a board to length and mill it to thickness with machines, but there is an aspect of craftsmanship to doing these things by hand which, while I haven't really arrived, I am trying to attain. I realize that there is craftsmanship with power tools as well, and many people are far beyond any skill level I will ever attain with them, but making a high quality handcrafted piece is far more satisfying to me than doing it with power. Having spent years in a commercial furniture shop, I have found that machines can do work for me that I'm not skilled enough to do by hand, but with hand tools I am forced to develop those skills.

3. Peace and quiet. Working with saws and compressors all day long, it is nice to be able to go to the shop and not have to wear ear protection and worry about breathing fine dust.

All of that said, I still have an assortment of power tools, which I use unashamedly when I feel it suits my purposes. I am certainly not a purist when it comes to neanderthalling.

[Gary Hodgin]

I guess the proverbial bottom line is that I enjoy working with hand tools more than power tools. I don't have to worry about noise, electricity, motors, heavy equipment taking up valuable space, and I'm more likely to keep all my fingers. Plus, the traditional hand tools and methods are more fun. I have a basic set of power tools but they're seeing less and less use. I still use a band saw, planer, or table saw on most things but finish with hand tools.

WW is a hobby for me and I simply enjoy it more when working with hand tools. I also believe the quality of my work is higher.

[Chris Fournier]

I am a Neander. I started out woodworking because I wanted to build guitars. Truth be told, those first guitars didn't see many handtools unless sandpaper qualifies. I just knew that handtools would help me build better guitars but I didn't really know how...

I started out with nice bench chisels which worked okay even with pretty crude sharpening and I got hooked. A couple of Record handplanes put me back on my heels as they protested in the figured maple, rosewood and ebonies that I was using. This was a real set back as I thought handtools were over talked.

A shiney handplane advert caught my eye in FWW one day. Pricey but I orderd it. Right quality, wrong plane - a LN #140. A pretty useless handplane in my opinion as its heavy, large and awkward to hold, and the mouth is very coarse so fine work really didn't seem to be it's forte. Another setback for this wannbe Neander.

I finally tripped on success when I ordered the LN 102! It fit in my hand, was easy to control and sharpen and in use it felt like a part of me doing everything that my heart desired. This plane was the drop that turned into a flood; I have since earned my Mammoth skin tunic. I am a Neander.

As a Neander I do enjoy the silence, the ability to reach for a humble cutting edge tool and tweak a piece just so in a way that I could never do on a machine. I also appreciate the look that my handtools apply to my work. I could not live without my Neander tools. Aside from being tools I have a goofy revernce for them as objects - bad habit but I can't help it.

But like Mr. Hyde, I have another half which would never give up the machines - not ever. I enjoy my machines as much as my handtools. Together, the machines and handtools add up to a sum greater than the parts.

A couple of last thoughts about handtools: I have never thought that they addressed any financial limitations - the handtools that I would own cost a small fortune. Good handtools are expensive, not cheap. Lastly, I would gladly have a guest in my shop to use my equipment, no holds barred. I've got some pretty nice equipment too. This same guest will not be using any of my handtools; I just can't do it. My handtools are personal.

[Garrett Ellis]

I grew up in a house with a 2 car garage and a good sized back yard/patio which made it easy to work on projects and use lots of space. I inherited my grandfather's contractor saw, 6" jointer, drill press, lunchbox planer, 4" belt sander, and other various tools that are all still in my parents garage. For years I have been looking forward to getting my own house with a garage/shop and slowly upgrading those machines to bigger/newer/better ones.

Well, I graduated last May, got a job, and now live in an apartment 5 hours from where I grew up. I became so frustrated with browsing this site and not being able to build anything myself that I finally set up 'shop' in a 4 1/2' x 11' tiled nook in my apartment. Most of that space is taken up by my particle cored door 'bench' on 2 sawhorses, but there is enough room to access the front and right side of it, which is all I really need.

I've always admired handtools and the work that people can do with them, but I figured it would be a long time before I really got into it and learned those skills. My living situation has accelerated that. I still look forward to a real shop with a combination of power and hand tools. As much as I love woodworking, I have always hated the noise associated with it. However, I will use machines to cut out the repetitive, monotonous work.

I think I may be spoiling myself now by being able to work in a climate controlled room and watch TV or listen to music in the background.

[george wilson]

The older I get,the nicer it is to run a board through a machine. I love my machines,but they can only do so much. The carving,filing of variable bevels on curves and other finer finishing touches can only be done with hand tools. I cannot make a good saw handle with machines. Their varied amounts of curvature require hand rasping and filing. Machines can't get that subtlety,at least not any that I have. Beyond bandsawing them out,I use hand tools. I cannot make a violin neck with machines,can't carve a lion's head,or put in violin purfling with a machine.

[JohnPeter Lee]

Why I Neander.

The tools are infinitely more beautiful. Less IS more.
The tools are quiet.
The processes are elemental - mark the line, cut to the line...

I spend 10 hours a day in front of a computer. Time at the bench with my good friends is precious.

JPL

[Jim Koepke]

My first real project was an adirondack chair for the back yard. I had a saw, hammer and sand paper. The wood came from old pallets. That project got me hooked.

After that I bought a few power tools, saber saw and circular saw. I still have them, but they are seldom used.

There really wasn't enough space for power equipment in our small garage. Also, my schedule had me working on wood late at night, noise was not an option.

Since I do not like noise, that is fine by me.

So now I tell people who ask why hand tools instead of power, my "wise crack" answer is because mistakes are made slower.

For real though, for me it seems easier to maintain the hand tools than the power tools.

One of my coworkers used to always rib me about using hand tools instead of power. Then when his planer blades got nicked, he was out of business until he could afford to replace them. He also wanted me to sharpen his jointer blades for him. I offered to teach him how to sharpen, but he wanted someone else to do the "non-woodworking stuff" for him.

Sharpening saws, chisels and plane irons is "woodworking stuff."

jtk

[Chuck Tringo]

Far less noise (I hate earplugs/ear muffs)
Less Dust (my entire family has allergies of some sort)
Less space/weight (The Army only allots me so much weight and moves me often)
Their puriter
Some tasks are far simpler (angled tenon...most power tool users will spend hours figuring out and making a jig, neader marks to the line and cuts)
I screw stuff up much slower than with power tools

[harry strasil]

I started out neandering or galooting during my blacksmith apprenticeship in my father and uncles blacksmith shop rebuilding wooden wagon wheels, replacing wooden axles, reach poles etc for farm wagons, with my grandfathers tools and I just kept at it till I got married and had a house of my own (rented) with an almost full basement with a walk out door. I got my first router a small Stanley in the early 70's as well as a cheap circular saw, a saber saw, and belt sander. Then I made myself a table saw which I still use and got an import bandsaw and an old small camel back drill press. I spread the work between power tools and hand tools which ever is better for the task at hand, I use a lunch box planer for thicknessing most of the time.
I actually have 2 woodworking shops, one in my basement and another totally hand tool shop in a 6 by 10 Cargo trailer, which I use for live mid 1800 demos at living history and steam shows.

The power goes out, and the weather is nice, I move out to my driveway and work out of my trailer.

[Andrew Gibson]

I have been infatuated with woodworking since a very young age.
My grandpa likes to tell a story about doing a basement remodel when I was about 3 years old. I wanted to help so he gave me a hammer, a box of nails, and a 2x4 scrap. He says I drove every nail on the box into that 2x4.

I built my first piece of furniture at about age 10 or 12. The wood came from an old upright piano that was trashed. The coffee table is sitting in my Grandparents living room.

I hate electric routers, anything I can do to eliminate the need for one I embrace with open arms.

Hand tools add soul to the work that a machine simply cannot.

[Deane Allinson]

I bought my first plane in the 1980's Corian was a pretty new thing then. They recommended using a low angle block plane for touch-ups and planing off excess adhesive. I bought an English made Stanley G12-060 at the hardware store. It worked like a dream. I then picked up a set of Sheffield made Greenlee bench chisels and learned to sharpen on Arkansas stones (lived there most of my life, the stones were common and cheap then. Then like most I built my on maple top, white oak Base work bench. I was making cheap melamine commercial store fixtures and wasn't exactly proud of the end product. I think that my hand made solid wood furniture was just reactionary to the crap that I had to make to earn a living. That was in the 1980's. I have recently started back with hand tools and making furniture again it seems for the same reason. With the current economy and a couple of places that I worked that had to close, I find my self back making crap store fixtures out of melamine again. I am engineering them in stead of making them but it is still the same. It makes me feel that at least I can please myself with what I perceive as quality and good design. I enjoy the challenge of hand, eye, body and brain required to do hand wood work. It's kind of like shooting snooker but you have something left over when its over.

[Tristan Williams]

For me its simple: My shop is my balcony. I live on the 8th floor of an apartment building, and there are strong restrictions on noise. One upside - the view from my "shop" is pretty damn hard to beat!

I must say though, I love working with hand tools. They're so quiet and peaceful, almost meditative. I feel a real connection with the material as I work it quietly and patiently. That said, I do wish I had a bandsaw for rough stock prep..

[john brenton]

I became a neander in the trades. Not only were hand dies, saws, mitre boxes and brace drills more affordable and portable, but they allowed me another option in certain spots where a power tool wouldn't work or there was no power. I still used the pipe threader and hole hawg on commercial jobs, but kept my neander on the truck just in case, and eventually all my work in homes was done with hand tools.

For me, not only are hand tools more enjoyable, but doing things the hard way makes you better at everything. My first plumbing guru made me pipe a McMansion with a hand die because I went back to the threading machine to recut pipe too many times. That taught me a valuable lesson.

[Brian Atkinson]

My reason is pretty simple. My 7 year old son (almost 8! if you ask him) has really liked watching me work around the house and fix and build things and wanted to help me with projects and be shown how to do things. I looked around and realized there was no way I was letting him touch the table saw, router, chop saw, etc. I didn't want to wait until he was older and maybe have him lose interest so we started with some small projects using hand tools (a bird feeder was his first project). He's had a great time, I found I really enjoy (maybe love?) working with the hand tools too.

Embarrassingly, when I first picked up a handsaw I realized I didn't even know the best way to secure the work piece or even the best way to get a straight cut. For the past 6 months or so I've embarked on my own journey of learning how to use hand tools and I've loved every minute of it.

I haven't forsaken my power tools. When Ibuilt a patio cover in the back yard recently I did most of the work with my powertools, but I've found myself more and more drawn to the hand tools, especially for the smaller projects. My next projects are a couple of side gates for the house and I may tackle these as a pure hand tool project.

[Matt Radtke]

I made a simple project, I can't even remember what I was now. . . maybe a mirror or something. Anyway, the wood I got, from Menards, was pretty flat and straight, but not good enough. I forged on anyway. After that experience, I started looking for a jointer and planer, but I quickly realized I don't really have the space for them (really, really don't now that I put up enough basement walls to enclose my shop area) and SWMBO would KILL me with the kind of dust those make.

So I ask, "How did they do it before jointers and planers." SMC was actually one of the top hits of my googling. Then ebay. Then the antique store just down the road. I needed a jointer and fore. . . and its only got worse (just picked up 3 bell system braces for less than $15 a brace)

After that, it's something of a reaction of how I grew up. Dad is a degree-carrying professional engineer (with the stamp) and tried to start his own company once long ago. His shop had a vertical mill, lathe, 2x drill presses, and a metal band saw not including his woodworking tools, and absolute SH** hand tools. He comes over to help me on the house and he's amazed what I can do without burning electrons. He's (finally) consented to let me sharpen his chisels.

[Pat Barry]

The name Neanderthal doesn't do a lot for me. I'm thinking the name should go away. Maybe change it to Woodwrights' Corner in honor of Roy Underhill.

[Robert Culver]

other than the main reasons which are kinda to persnal to post I can tell you I enjoy the peace and quite. I love the way a handplane feels as you plow it through some nice hard wood. its good exersise to scrubing down a board just gets the blood flowing. I have a hard time working slow but had tools force you to slow down a bit. I feel like I have more control to of the cut and the tool. I have some power tools and pla to buy more so I cant say Im 100 % hand but I can say I do 90 % of my work now by hand

[Leigh Betsch]

I'm not really a neander. I just like to make things, including neander tools. I use every available form of tool I can afford. I like to use neander tools when I can but I am totally happy using anything that does the job. Sometime hand tools, sometimes a big ol electron burner. I built a few boxes as Christmas gifts, I used a router but I would really have liked to use a molding plane, I just didn't have one. I'd love to build a CNC router, but I'd also love to build a set of hollows and rounds. Gosh so much fun, and so littel time.........

[Bob Jones]

I got into hand tools by accident. I decided to buy a bunch of power tools on on bit of a whim because I wanted to build my own furniture. I was not an informed consumer. Anyway, on my second of third project I realized that my power tools were not big enough for the projects I was choosing. I finally talked to someone who knew something, Scott Banbury. He is a local ww.
I asked him how to work a large board and he handed me a handplane. I had never seem one before. I now have a few and I have since sold my jointer, and am trying to sell
My tablesaw. I love handtools because they are more fun. FYI I still use my bandsaw for ripping.

[Mike Olson]

I enjoy the act of building something more than the feeling of accomplishment when it's done. I'm kinda sad when I actually finish a project because i don't get to work on it anymore.

I used to have a pretty nice power tool shop but whenever I used it I always felt rushed even if I had plenty of time. Power tools are for people who need to complete a project ASAP.

Hand tools are for people who want to really enjoy their time producing an item.

Because of my background with power tools I brought some of that thinking into the Hand tools when I first went neander. I tried to get the bevels perfect, the backs of all my irons perfectly flat, and going down to 8000 grit sandpaper so everything looked polished. I also used a honing guide. but after about a year now i realized none of that is all that important. I now free-hand all my sharpening and just flatten the backs of new "old" tools on some 120 grit paper. and guess what, my tools work just as well and I can spend more time using them and less time setting up to sharpen them.

Almost forgot. The reason I picked up Neander was so I could build things while my 2 young children were underfoot, near by, or sleeping.

[Stephen Kazmierski]

why handtools? very simple... I like making all my mistakes in slow motion...

[Federico Mena Quintero]

A combination of factors, I guess, led me to Neandering.

When we were teenagers, my brother built himself a simple bookcase from 2x1s and boards. I was always a bit jealous of that. Years later, when my brother and I "re-connected", he confessed to always having wanted to learn proper woodworking. He's a doctor, so he doesn't have time.

Then my wife and I had the opportunity to build a second floor for our house. I started learning about architecture and construction from Christopher Alexander's "A Pattern Language". The discussion of traditional trades made me realize that I ought to learn how to do something with my hands. I'm a software developer by day, always have been, and I realized just how disconnected I was from the physical world when we had to design the staircase for our house. I made a design on paper and helped the builder lay it out. I had no idea of how to start, and the builder kept laughing - on paper or on the computer it is very easy to draw points in space, perpendicular planes, floating vectors... which is perfectly useless when building something in the physical world. I was asking my builder, "how do we find this midpoint right here?" and pointing somewhere in space.

When that second floor was livable, I had to build some shelves for my office. I had some very basic tools - a little crosscut saw and a dull chisel. I built a few things with those - some basic shelves, a CD rack, etc. Then I started learning "real" woodworking and started buying tools.

Then I started reading about Peak Oil and became a doomer convert. I realized that I'd better learn a hand trade. Not wanting to use energy-guzzling machines, being too much of a cheapskate to buy them, anyay, and having little space for machines at home led me to using only hand tools.

And then I realized just how much I like them. I guess this started when I found out that it's so much easier for me to use a brace than a power drill - just the chucking mechanism is so much nicer to use. I'm averse to noise. And then, the dust... every time I use the orbital sander I curse a lot. That's when I learned about planes and their joys.

Then I got involved in a project to resurrect traditional arts and crafts, and I'm doing my part with woodworking. I'm getting into toolmaking. There's just so much momentum built up in this slippery slope, you know...

[john brenton]

Great point Fico...the fragile world around us was a big reason for me too. I didn't want to get hooked on machines then find them utterly worthless if access to energy is cut off by our "elites" or we have check box bureaucratic goons checking our meters for "irregular" energy usage. Yes, probably unlikely in our time, and a highly paranoid projection...but you never know.


I realized that I'd better learn a hand trade. Not wanting to use energy-guzzling machines, being too much of a cheapskate to buy them, anyay, and having little space for machines at home led me to using only hand tools.

[Billy McCarthy]

Like a lot of other people on this thread, I have limited space. A 1 car garage than needs to hold my motorcycle, the big freezer, and still have access to the storage space off of it. Oh and the ceiling is about 6'6" tall.

Aside from the pragmatic reasons, I really like the skill and artistry involved in doing things with hand tools. Not to say that there isn't any of that with power tools, but a lot of power tools seems to be using jigs to get things just right instead of just working with the wood until it's ready.

Plus, saying you built something yourself is awesome, saying you built it without using any power tools is awesomer.

[Sean Hughto]

Generally speaking, humans react positively to the aesthetics of objects rendered by the hands of others. The attention lavished on a handmade object shines within the object - gives it a bit 'o soul. The translation of intent through the hands guiding the tools gives the object personality - the maker expresses something unique in the result. Electrons are not the dividing line, but hand guidance is closer to one. Jigs, including fences, for example, eliminate the element of "hand." A bandsaw, while powered, allows for lots of "hand" (See Maloof). Jigs make for certainty and ease, but a piece made exclusively by such methods will often be rather sterile. In short, tools that allow for "hand" in the work, allow for very direct expression and for a dialogue in the creative process between the maker and the piece. A jigged effort is a dictation and not a dialogue - a predetermined result is imposed upon the medium - wood - as though each piece were plastic and interchangeable ("hand" work leaves room in its dialogue to deal with each piece of wood's distinctive characteristics and personality).

[john brenton]

Dang, Sean, that was a startlingly thoughtful and adroitly stated comment . That should be the greeting to the Neanderthal Haven. If your work is as artful as this comment I'll take a dining room set and an entertainment center.


Generally speaking, humans react positively to the aesthetics of objects rendered by the hands of others. The attention lavished on a handmade object shines within the object - gives it a bit 'o soul. The translation of intent through the hands guiding the tools gives the object personality - the maker expresses something unique in the result. Electrons are not the dividing line, but hand guidance is closer to one. Jigs, including fences, for example, eliminate the element of "hand." A bandsaw, while powered, allows for lots of "hand" (See Maloof). Jigs make for certainty and ease, but a piece made exclusively by such methods will often be rather sterile. In short, tools that allow for "hand" in the work, allow for very direct expression and for a dialogue in the creative process between the maker and the piece. A jigged effort is a dictation and not a dialogue - a predetermined result is imposed upon the medium - wood - as though each piece were plastic and interchangeable ("hand" work leaves room in its dialogue to deal with each piece of wood's distinctive characteristics and personality).

[Bob Strawn]

Perhaps, it is because I can sharpen.

There are small tangible advantages to hand tools. It is nice, very nice to be able to spend a while using a shooting board under dappled shade, look up and notice that a deer is watching you while munching acorns less than twenty feet away. Playing Rick Wakeman while planing is nice too. Doing work during a power outage can lead to feelings of smugness and snugness. There is a certain quality of a nice power tool that is enjoyable, but it fades while the intimate contact of hand tools continues to delight. Being able to shape a small section of wood without it firing back at you is another nice quality.

On the other side may be some convenience and speed. The ability to cut straight without a learning curve was very attractive at one time.

With hand tools, some limits that power tools have, just go away. A hand tool user is never at a loss cutting a 4x4, flattening a table, or needing an extension cord. A hand tool user may have some dogs, bench hooks and shooting boards, but this is nothing compared to the jigs a power tool user keeps handy. Precision work with a power tool may well mean building a jig to help you build the jig that will allow you to do the task you where planning to do. For a production environment that may be fine, but it is pretty inefficient if you are doing a prototype or just one example. As a power tool user, getting a new table saw may make a truck load of jigs unusable.

Then there is the odd jig hanging on the wall. Lots of track and knobs. Odd angles of MDF well glued and shaped. Even to save my life though, I cannot remember what the thing did. Years back I made it and it clearly mattered at the time. I should have written what it was for, along with all the now cryptic magic marker lines and and letters. Being able to use a handsaw lets me skip right past an amazing number of jigs.

Bob

[Matthew Dunne]

Electrons are not the dividing line, but hand guidance is closer to one. Jigs, including fences, for example, eliminate the element of "hand." A bandsaw, while powered, allows for lots of "hand" (See Maloof). Jigs make for certainty and ease, but a piece made exclusively by such methods will often be rather sterile. In short, tools that allow for "hand" in the work, allow for very direct expression and for a dialogue in the creative process between the maker and the piece. A jigged effort is a dictation and not a dialogue - a predetermined result is imposed upon the medium - wood - as though each piece were plastic and interchangeable ("hand" work leaves room in its dialogue to deal with each piece of wood's distinctive characteristics and personality).

Yes, nicely stated. Certainly recalls David Pye's distinction between the workmanship of risk and the workmanship of certainty.

[Kevin Lucas]

Simply the wife said "Get a hobby and get out of the house". After a cheap table saw and small jointer I kept looking for a scroll saw. The man I found on craigslist also had a #3 plane and I couldn't pass it up. From the first shaving I was hooked on planes. I have a planer also so I don't use planes to dimension much but they get hit with a plane just to smooth and the quiet enjoyment of it. I have a few handsaws as well and may never be able to cut a straight line but that won't stop me. There is just something peaceful about hand tools. Plus I need the exercise )

[Terry Beadle]

My reasons are speed, accuracy, and I also like the quiet. I use machines to do initial stock prep unless using a plane for a really twisty board will speed the use of the machines.

Wood planes give me the ability to control stock to less than a thou over a distance of 3 feet. It would take a huge amount of time to get that kind of trueness off a machine setup. A project even if its the nth one off the production plan is unique to itself on some level ( tight tolerances or surface finish ). Chisels and planes make the adjustments to the rough dimensions via machine-ing a pleasure and precise to match the uniqueness of the project IMO.

[Bob Glenn]

I think using hand tools allows for the utilization of more of your senses.

I remember reading an article about a blind woodworker. After reading that, I realized my sense of touch was sometimes more important than looking at the results of my cutting and fitting.

The sound of my plane cutting along a board tells me a lot about the wood, and direction of the grain and sharpness of the blade. If the sound of the sharp blade of my No. 8 jointer is intermittent as it cuts, I know the edge is not yet flat and straight. When driving home a wedge in a tapered tenon in one of my Windsor chairs, I know the wedge is fully seated when the dull thud of my hammer turns to a sharp rap.

A crisp report from my hand saw tells me the blade is sharp and clean.

The feel of my sharp chisels paring away wood can not be replicated with a machine.

Focus your mind on the cutting edge where it meets the wood controls the cut. Be the blade, be the blade. Move the tool across the wood rather that moving the wood against to tool. Let your hand guide and control the tool. This gives the wood a finish and feel that is alive and interesting, not machine finished. Workmanship of diversity as David Pye put it. Leave your tool marks, they make the piece yours.

[Mike Holbrook]

Lots of good answers here, here is mine:

When I grew up there were no computer games to keep us kids busy all day, out of our parents hair. I don't know how many times I heard "go outside and play", as the door slammed behind me! So I spent large amounts of time in the woods with not much more than a pocket knife. So what do you do with a pocket knife in the woods anyway, well you make little sticks out of big sticks, of course: spears, pipes, clubs anything you can think of. I guess I was part of the rear end of the whittling generation. I got very interested in knives as the most basic of man's tools. In high school and college I developed an interest in art, particularly sculpture. For me, the proximity and feel of my hands against the wood is integral to the enjoyment. I was commenting on an old friend and artists wood sculpture on Facebook just the other day. I told him one of his pieces looked like he was trying to release something from the wood. My friend agreed and claimed to take his lead from Michelangelo, who apparently unlike many of his contemporary masters did not work from drawings or use helpers to do the early material removal. Mich apparently felt he was discovering something in the stone that involved personal contact with the material.

Later when I started doing construction projects and building things I rediscovered my appreciation for creating things with my hands. My only regret in fast paced construction was the lack of intimacy with the material. For me my growing interest in "hand" tools has largely to do with a closer relationship to the wood and the actions of the tool working the wood. Wooo! a little spooky & esoteric maybe but it is what it is. Then there is the fact that I can dis my even older buddy for his reliance on those complicated mechanical devices that I know bug him ;-)

[John Sanford]

Okay, I'll 'fess up. I'm not a Neander. I'm a hybrid. I use whichever tool that will get the job done according to my mood. More often than not, that's a power tool, but I don't think I've done anything for years that doesn't involve some handtools as well, if only my block plane. My current in-progress project started with a jigsaw, then a jack plane and scrub plane, then the lunchbox planer, then jointer, tablesaw next came the bandsaw, spokeshave, sanding block. When I take it up again, it'll be with the router, then tablesaw again, drill press, chisels, and finally hand planes. There is a pleasure in using a sharp chisel, sharp blade, etc, that differs from the pleasure of a power tool, but ultimately, it comes down to having a vision of the end point and using the tools available to get there.

I do enjoy edge planing, but the claims of "no dust" is a myth. Scrubbing the [B]dry[B] rough poplar for this project created plenty of dust. Much less dust, yeah, I'll buy into that, but not "no dust", not out here.

As far as the noise of power tools goes, I usually wear earplugs when I'm going to be using them. For a single cut, I'll often skip the hearing protection, for just a few, I'll go with ear muffs. But ear plugs are "da bomb" for me. I use them on my motorcycle as well, and find them much more comfortable than ear muffs, in large part because I also wear glasses. I did have opportunity to observe though that a Rotozip is a hellacious howler.

Sharpening though, that's a key element of hand tool use, and it's something that I don't do often enough. I'm sure that if I did more sharpening, I'd turn to the hand tools more often.

[Matthew Dunne]

Here's an answer I haven't seen yet, but I doubt I'm the only one:

I do my hobbiest woodworking at night, usually after dinner when the kids have gone to bed.

I also like to have a beer--in fact homebrewing is another hobby.

I feel confident doing some hand-planing or -sawing while I have a beer, but I'm way too paranoid to turn on the table saw. I just don't risk it.

[Jim Matthews]

Like Matthew, my freetime is after dark. The planes and handsaws make little noises that I like, but don't ring through the house.

Chopping dovetails is another story.

As with other Neander-tools on this board, I use power equipment in the garage, on weekends, when I can open the outer doors.
I shudder at the expense incurred for those few minutes versus the cost to set up for the majority of my time.

I exchanged a great deal of money to make sure I never resaw by hand again. *UGH*

[Mark Roderick]

I really enjoyed reading all these responses. Each is a little different yet all are alike, and similar to my own experience.

I use hand tools because:

--- I enjoy the peacefulness and quiet.

--- I love the feel of a sharp blace slicing cleanly through wood.

--- Sharpening and using hand tools gives me a greater sense of achievement that I get from using power tools.

--- I can achieve much more accuracy in my woodworking.

--- The accuracy and the flexibility of hand tools gives me feel of mastery over the project, translating into calm.

Nevertheless, I absolutely use power tools. I've always used a power planer and I plan to buy a power jointer now that I've jointed enough wide boards by hand!

Like many others, I started woodworking when I inherited some tools from my grandfather, who was born in 1899. I still use his Delta benchtop table saw and a cast iron drill press that was built who knows when and will last forever. I've achieved greater hand tool skills than he had, but I wish I had a third of his skill at furniture design.

[Jared McMahon]

I've ranted about this is another post or two, but here's the short version:

I live in a townhome and have to get any non-trivial changes approved by my HOA. I had every intention of using power tools but the power in my garage can't accommodate them. After a long time going back and forth with the HOA about installing higher amperage circuits, I got fed up with the red tape and decided to go the handtool/neander route. This has the added benefit of being able to do more work at odd hours, as well as store lots of smaller tools vertically, whereas machinery would take up quite a bit of floor space. And since my workshop is a one-car garage shared with a dog kennel and a bunch of patio furniture, floor space is at a premium.

I don't know if this is inverted sour grapes, but I really enjoy working with older tools and older technology, making wispy shavings, and being able to focus down on the small details and get them just the way I want them using my own two hands.

[Johnny Kleso]

Truth is I am not a neanderthal the same as the power tool users are not all techno geeks..
Seems SMC like the name better than Hand Tool fourm, I'm just a woodworker that uses the best tool I an afford to do the job..

I would bet there are very few hand tool pruest on the fourm if any at all..

[Georg Zudoff]

I would like to tell one more reason to use hand tools. Yesterday I went to my garage were I hope to dimantle a wooden pallet. I've took from home small rip saw with no any thoughts to use it - I have a sabre saw in garage.
But I've didn't took into consideration the weather - about +5 Celsium degrees.
So what I get. In the process of installation of sabre saw blade (you know, there is a nut for hex key) one blade was crashed. I've took another - this one was crashed too.
The third blade, of course, was crashed as the first two blades.

I understand that here in Ukraine the people try to spend less money and to buy cheapest and not always good tools (these were made in China and cost for me near $ 2,5 - local street price), but all blades worked fine when the temperature was near +12 Celsium degrees.

So I took my hand so and go on...

The hand tools will work every day and any time and not inlfluenced via weather.

My apologises for the language mistakes.

Georg Zudoff

[Dhananjay Nayakankuppam]

I use a bandsaw with some regularity. A jointer and corded drill see occasional use and a router sees next to none. Having said that, why do I use hand tools?

In no particular order....
1) Because I am not a professional - I only have to justify my time to myself and am not trying to put food on the table/make a living/any of the arguments that make efficiency trump effectiveness and curiosity.
2) Noise - hate the power tools. Can't listen to music.
3) Slower, more contemplative pace. Let's me be comfortable and happy. See point 1.
4) Can see the wood for more than another pallet of raw material like so much pulp or cement slurry. For me, that is easier with hand tools, more difficult with power tools.
5) Space - need a bench and a couple of tool cabinets. That's it. Power tools devour space like Godzilla going at Tokyo.
6) I'm clumsy. I know bleeding on your work is good but I manage that fine with chisels and saws. The good thing is it stays at the ritual offering to the Gods level and does not escalate into a full-blown orgy of blood letting. Oh, and table saw tables are at just the right height for kickback to fling a piece of unyielding wood at the more yielding parts of my body.
7) I develop some skills with my hands. With power tools, it feels like a more cerebral exercise, while my feeling self is relegated to merely pushing/pulling.
8) I get some exercise - given my slow descent into middle age and beyond and my increased resemblance to the Rock of Gibraltar, anything that makes me move a little more is good.
9) I can usually recover from my mistakes with hand tools. Machines made mistakes happen too fast and go too far.
10) And the number 1 reason to be a Neander - you can fondle your tools happily (no spellchecker could catch that one...). Brass and wood calls to be held, but a cast iron behemoth has all the aesthetic appeal of a Mack Truck.

Cheers, DJ

[bob blakeborough]

I am a newbie who started out with nothing but handtools on the brain. I wanted to learn something that in my mind was functional yet artistic. I wanted to complete something and say that it was built exclusively by my own 2 hands without any assistance from anything that wasn't 100% my own skill or screw up. I must admit now that I am seeing the benefits of power tools for certain jobs for sure, especially just starting out and being impatient enough to want to complete some small projects quickly just to feel like I am seeing faster progress. I still have the goal of doing everything by hand that I can do with a power tool though.

I guess I am saying that I aspire to be 100% electricity free, but I don't not feel the need to be strictly a purist through and through just yet!

[Paul Incognito]

I'll play...
It's interesting to read other's take on this. Here's my story:
I've been employed as a carpenter all my adult life, so over the years I've gotten pretty good with the power tools. When I first found SMC I checked out this forum and it seemed interesting, but not really of value. I had some planes in the shop that were given to me 10-15 years ago that have sat on a shelf all that time. I decided to blow the dust off them (with a compressor, of course), sharpen them as best I could and try this out.
You know what? I sucked at it. I didn't know how to sharpen at all, had never heard the concept of flattening the back of the blade and certainly didn't have a clue that a flat sole was helpful. So I decided to muddle along and maybe I'd learn something.
Fast forward to today. Yes, I still use my power tools, but learning how to use the hand tools has made me a better carpenter. I've learned that sometimes going a little slower is actually faster, and that there is always another way to do a task. My eye-hand coordination is better, I can get my edge tools sharp, have learned how to sharpen and use hand saws and I get more excersise pushing a plane or sawing by hand than pushing wood through a table saw of planer.
Then there's the peace and quiet. That's nice too.
I'll always have to use power tools and air guns at work, but it's nice to be learning a quieter, more peaceful way to work when I want to.
Thanks for bringing up this topic, it's good to reflect on the why sometimes instead of focusing on the how.
Paul

[Edward Miller]

I started with a shop taking up half the second bedroom in a 40-year-old condo in Chicago; power tools were simply not an option. A couple years later, I've now got the space for some power tools, but I really don't feel that my enjoyment would be increased by having them. So, it started out as a necessity; now, I enjoy my quiet, it's a good way to get exercise, and the chance of my losing a finger are low.

[Neal Wells]

As a full time blacksmith for over 30 years, I have been a living anachronism anyway and many of my tools are over 100 years old. Don't see any reason to modernize for woodworking.

[Jack Dickey]

I love the lack of noise and speed , we seem to live life at 200 miles an hour and it's nice to just slow down ..

Much easier on the wallet to find old tools and refurbish them your ownself and then use them ..

I was born 250 years too late ..

[Dan Andrews]

I have a lot more fun and get more satisfaction out of making shavings than sawdust.
The more I learn to sharpen, the more I enjoy my hand tools.

[Jonathan McCullough]

This is a very good observation from Paul:


I've learned that sometimes going a little slower is actually faster, and that there is always another way to do a task.

Ever seen a workman track out of a house to use a lunchbox table saw, cut a piece, go back in, fit it to his work, go back outside to the table saw, nibble a bit off, go back in, discover he's taken too much off, swear like a sailor, go to get another piece of wood, and repeat the process over and over again, all because learning how to saw to a line with a hand saw would "just take too much time," or learning how to sharpen a plane iron and use a block plane seems impractical and time consuming? I watched a professional do renovations like that on the ground floor apartment of a Brownstone in Brooklyn while I waited for someone to join me where my car was parked. The workman certainly looked industrious, and I remember thinking to myself, wow, that's really hard work.

[Bobby O'Neal]

Add this to the list...

I just realized that you can keep your glass of sweet tea right on the bench without getting sawdust in it. Maybe if you're sawing, you set it on the other side of the bench.

[Mike Henderson]

Generally speaking, humans react positively to the aesthetics of objects rendered by the hands of others. The attention lavished on a handmade object shines within the object - gives it a bit 'o soul. The translation of intent through the hands guiding the tools gives the object personality - the maker expresses something unique in the result. Electrons are not the dividing line, but hand guidance is closer to one. Jigs, including fences, for example, eliminate the element of "hand." A bandsaw, while powered, allows for lots of "hand" (See Maloof). Jigs make for certainty and ease, but a piece made exclusively by such methods will often be rather sterile. In short, tools that allow for "hand" in the work, allow for very direct expression and for a dialogue in the creative process between the maker and the piece. A jigged effort is a dictation and not a dialogue - a predetermined result is imposed upon the medium - wood - as though each piece were plastic and interchangeable ("hand" work leaves room in its dialogue to deal with each piece of wood's distinctive characteristics and personality).
I've thought of that, also, but then I encounter a problem. When the item is finished, how is anyone to know whether it was built by hand or by machine? If I'm good with my hand tools, there's little to let the viewer know how the furniture was made. I may choose to leave marks, such as scribe lines for dovetails and thin pins, but only someone who knows woodworking will know that they mean "hand made". In fact, we do these things to mark the furniture as "hand made".
What's really important, in my opinion, is the design of the furniture. Is it pleasing, functional, and unique - no matter how it's made? That's what we should concentrate on, not whether a power tool or a hand tool was used to cut a board.

And, sadly, good design is what's often lacking in furniture. Most woodworkers want to concentrate on the process (being a craftsman) because that's so much easier than being a designer.

Mike

[Glen Johnson]

Decibels. I still don't mind using quieter power tools.

[Bobby O'Neal]

I've thought of that, also, but then I encounter a problem. When the item is finished, how is anyone to know whether it was built by hand or by machine? If I'm good with my hand tools, there's little to let the viewer know how the furniture was made. I may choose to leave marks, such as scribe lines for dovetails and thin pins, but only someone who knows woodworking will know that they mean "hand made". In fact, we do these things to mark the furniture as "hand made".
What's really important, in my opinion, is the design of the furniture. Is it pleasing, functional, and unique - no matter how it's made? That's what we should concentrate on, not whether a power tool or a hand tool was used to cut a board.

And, sadly, good design is what's often lacking in furniture. Most woodworkers want to concentrate on the process (being a craftsman) because that's so much easier than being a designer.

Mike



Well said, Mike.

[Jerry Thompson]

I am a Neander because my knuckles drag on the ground.

[george wilson]

Much of the musical instrument making requires hand work. Especially violins. Unless you have sophisticated equipment,everything is curves,arches,scroll,etc.. Even if you have the means to machine carve the tops and backs,they still need to be carefully tuned by using small violin planes and scrapers.

Good carving and inlay work is best accomplished by hand also.

I don't use hand tools exclusively by any means. I'm too worn down to hand thickness boards,for example,but a lot of my work just has to be done by hand. Even the plumb bob I just posted has elements that were done with freehand turning tools though I used a metal turning lathe.

[Halgeir Wold]

I think I'll have to agree with George here. Unless your work is purely "therapeutiqe", meaning you only make stuff purely for the sake of making it, I cannot see why one would not use table and bandsaws, planers and routers, where required and if accessible. Of course there are situations where less noise may be required, and so on, but I personally I cannot see the point in ripping lumber by hand if a TS is available, drilling with an egg beater and so on. Routers lend themselves to specific tasks where they do the job profoundly better than chisels - PU cavities in guitars is just one such case.

While I truly enjoy the sound of a sharp hand plane cutting thin slivers of wood, I also enjoy "making noise" from time to time. Just wear the proper protection....... OTOH - we should all respect the ways and wishes of each other. To each his own is certainly a valued saying in this context.

PS: slightly off topic, but George - PLEASE keep'em pictures coming! They are truly an inspiration to all of us!

[daniel lane]

What with the flurry of activity yesterday bringing this thread back up top, I figured I would throw in my $0.02. The primary reason I've been moving neander is because I enjoy the "hand" aspect of it - like Sean and Mike's comments. I take great pride in the ability to do things, and especially if I can do them well. I might eventually get as good as George or others on this forum, but in the meantime my skills limit my high-quality output to simple things, like the step stool I made for my son. I keep working at skill building because I want to know the pleasure of building a houseful of furniture, and I'm not quite there yet. Also, without rehashing everything, I agree completely with Chris Schwarz' anarchy philosophy, and hand tools add a level to that philosophy that pleases me.

Like many, I started by buying power tools, but I started by buying only one tool at a time - whatever was needed for the job I was doing. When I needed to cut plywood to board up my windows before a hurricane (I lived on the gulf coast for a while), I bought a jig saw. When I needed to refinish a sewing machine table I'd just bought at auction, I bought a 1/4-sheet sander. When I needed to do some trim work when refinishing the bathrooms in the old house, I bought a router. When I replaced the engineered wood flooring in one of those bathrooms, I bought a used table saw. Sometimes the job was an excuse, but it always made sense at the time. :) When I had collected enough tools to actually complete a project from scratch, I did. I think the first big project I did was a combination outfeed table and workbench, made from plywood. Used lots of power tools. It looks good, and I really like how it turned out (except the design doesn't really allow for a vise, which I regret), but I drilled the pilot holes with an eggbeater and cleaned up the rabbets with a shoulder plane and at the end of the project I realized that I enjoyed those activities the most. Thus beginneth the slippery slope!

Overlapped with the above came the growth of the philosophy. When I first joined SMC, it was to ask advice on tools/etc. I started mostly with the power tool forum, but I read the neander forum to get info on which planes/etc. I should consider buying. The more I read, the more the philosophy started to sink in. Hand tools are quiet, so I can work when my infant/toddler children are asleep on the other side of the wall and I can listen to music while I work. Hand tools don't make the fine dust, so I can breathe more easily and don't need to install dust control in our rental house. (Hand tools don't require I do an electrical upgrade on the rental house garage, either.) Hand tools are generally safer, and my wife and I are much more comfortable when I'm alone in the shop. And hand tools are fun to collect, so I can buy more tools!

Seriously, one reason I started moving neander was because of the cost. I believe in the long run it will cost me more than if I stuck to just power tools, but generally the items are individually cheaper and I can afford to buy more frequently and move faster toward having enough for projects. I believe in buying the best tool I can afford, but I temper that with Admiral Gorshkov's motto, "better is the enemy of good enough". (Having written that, I can now see that my philosophy is really to buy the second best tool.)

Finally, I echo Jim's recent comment in another thread about the fitness aspect. I like hand tool woodworking because I feel like I'm exercising and it's fun!



daniel

[Tristan Williams]

Coincidentally, I just wrote a post about this on my brand new blog, here: http://tinkerscave.blogspot.com (http://tinkerscave.blogspot.com/)

To summarise, it began out of necessity but these days I stick with it simply because I enjoy it more than using machines!

[randall rosenthal]

i'm an avid surfer and snowboarder. the feeling of carving a clean line through snow or water is very satisfying..............so is carving a clean line through wood. not as big a stretch as you might think. hand tools are far more intimate and enjoyable and given the choice i always choose a hand tool over a power tool for my work.

[Trevor Walsh]

I use machines at work, I teach model making and shop to college students in product design. I'm thrilled with the volume of wood one can mill with a joiner and planer. I love coming up with jigs and fixtures and setups to accomplish a certain goal. But when I get off work I want something more than doing intensive set-ups and then turning into an assembly line worker to push stuff through it. I equate machinery to mass production, and though I usually do stock preparation with power, I like the calm quietness of doing the rest without it.

Students will ask me about old tools, they all know I build furniture and woodwork mainly by hand on the side, "What's better a power drill or a spiral ratchet screwdriver?" I explain the costs involved, a commercial power drill that dies after 3-5 years, the batteries tossed in the landfill, more dollars sent to a growing Asian power, compared to the sinewy iron forearms from eggbeatering and screwdriving by hand. I know of the old time contractor of a classmate who installed kitchen cabinets/remodeling, guy refused electric screwguns. Drove every screw in a kitchen with his hands. To me that was inspiring.

[Harold Burrell]

I don't really think that I am quite a real "Neander" yet.

I'm probably more "Cro Magnon"...