Basic Tools - Must haves

[Joe D'Attilio]

After some furhter research I may enjoy wood working with jsut hand tools..rather than speeding through w/ power tools

Can someone help me out?

What are the basic must haves to complete some small-medium projects.
(i.e types of saws, planes, chisels, mallets, gouges,rasps etc?)
Basically if you were going to make a must-have tool list of hand tools what would where would you start?

[Wilbur Pan]

instead of having a "must have" list, which can be overwhelming, I'd look at what hand tools you need based on the task you are trying to do. Off the top of my head:

For everything:
Good marking tools
Clamps
Sharpening stones

Gluing up and flattening boards:
Jack, jointer, and smoothing planes
Rip and crosscut saws
Scrapers

Dovetail joint:
Dovetail saw, chisels

Mortise and tenon joint:
Mortise chisel
Tenon saws, rip and crosscut

Cutting groove/dado/rabbet:
Router plane, rabbet plane, plough plane

Cutting curves:
Coping saw
Spokeshaves

Drilling holes:
Brace and bit

I'm sure there are things I've left out.

[Joe D'Attilio]

Thisis a great list for to start with...Thanks so anyone lese feel free to add - like I said I really think I would get more enjoyment starting out by learning and honing my hand tool skills before attempting to cross over into the power tool realm - not to mention it will be cheaper for me as the basic steps for any project will take longer and not require me to buy a new POWER tool every day LOL

[Steven Wilson]

A couple of items I would add;

scratch awl
parafin (screws, plane soles, etc)
marking knife (pencils aren't fine enough for marking out joinery)
a good heavy bench

[Robert Rozaieski]

It might be better to decide what you want to make first and then figure out what you need to make that project. You won't need every tool for every project so some tools could wait until a need arose. Some of the more specialized tools that come to mind include router planes, shoulder planes, plow planes, dovetail saws, etc.

I always suggest a small side table as a good starting project. If you make one in a shaker style with plain aprons and simple tapered legs, you would need very few tools to get started.

Take this one for example:

http://www.shakerstyle.com/img/_new/SSside-1.jpg

You could make this with very few tools. Make it without the drawer if you want a simple first project or with the drawer if you want a more challenging project. Here's what I would use for this table, with or without the drawer:

Marking Knife
Marking gauge
Combination Square
Crosscut & Rip Panel Saws
Rip Filed back saw
Bench Plane (probably a #5 or #6 size)
Mortise Chisel
Bench Chisel
Brace & Bit to peg tenons
Something to sharpen with (sandpaper on flat floor tiles works well to start)

You could make the beads with a shop made scratch stock (or leave them off altogether). Peg the tenons and you don't need clamps. Use hot hide glue to glue the top boards together and you can use a rub joint without clamps (you don't need a $100 glue pot either; an old jelly jar and a teapot will work fine). You can even just make do with the rip panel saw if you can't get a crosscut and a rip, just scribe the crosscut line deep with the knife before crosscutting.

You really don't need a lot of tools to get started. Just decide on something to build and get started. You'll figure out what you need when you need it. You may even find that you don't really need a lot of the typical "must haves".

[Don C Peterson]

Nice table Robert. I agree, one of the astonishing things is how versitile the basic hand tools really are. Sure, the special purpose tools might make things a bit easier, but you can do an awful lot with a good saw and a couple of chisels. Good measuring/layout tools are a must.

[Joe D'Attilio]

This arose before; what are good "layout", and "marking" tools; do you mean like don't skimp on scribes and gauges?rules?

PS thanks for all the great tips; a s a bare bones beginner I really think that a nice shop work bench would be a nice place to start and amybe after that a nice shop stool w/ a back...any plans or design ideas out there to get my innovative gears running?

[Thomas Knighton]

Joe,

Get Hand Tool Essentials: Refine Your Power Tool Projects With Hand Tool Techniques from the editors of Popular Woodworking. One of the most important tools one can have doesn't reside in a tool chest, but in your skull. I just received this book today, so it's far to early to do an indepth analysis of the book just yet, but it's already answered several of my hand tool questions.

Also, it's color coded on the top corner by section (like saws, planes, etc) to make it easier to reference.

If you're wanting to build a workbench, you should probably snag Christopher Schwarz's Workbench book as well. In addition to having a couple of workbench plans, it goes into specifics on what kind of vises you should choose based on what you perceive yourself doing, and what kind of woods to use as well. I got this book today as well, and I've already finished it! I honestly don't think any woodworker should build a bench without consulting Chris' book first!

Tom

[Michael Schwartz]

After some furhter research I may enjoy wood working with jsut hand tools..rather than speeding through w/ power tools

Can someone help me out?

What are the basic must haves to complete some small-medium projects.
(i.e types of saws, planes, chisels, mallets, gouges,rasps etc?)
Basically if you were going to make a must-have tool list of hand tools what would where would you start?




Well I would still get a few power tools. A midsized bandsaw, benchtop drill press, and a contractors thickness planer, and a router. They will speed up your stock preperation and allow you to rough out your joinery so you can get right down to the fine detail work with handtools.


To complement that you would need the following.

Set of bench chissles with as many sizes as possible
A few well tuned bench planes "manditory"
Starett 12" combination square. "if you want your work to be square"
Lie Neilson low angle block plane "or an old Stanley"
Veritas Marking Wheel
Mortise gauge "can do it with just a marking wheel"
Marking Knife "I use a 10 dollar scalpel"
Crosscut saw and dovetail saw
few skew and pairing chissles for working on dovetails
Coping saw
Drafting strait edge for checking planed surfaces for flatness.
probably a few other obvious ones I forgot to add.

Make a few shooting boards and learn how to use your planes.



A bandsaw is a very safe tool for ripping stock, great for cutting curves, template making, and extremly versatile for roughing out joinery.

A drill press is in my shop the way to go for hogging out the waste from a mortise that is to be hand cut. I don't use mortise chisels very often, instead I remove the waste with a drill press and use a regualr bench chisel to cut the rest.

A basic benchtop thickness planer is a good tool to have. Planing a board flat is easy compared to hand-planing a board to thickness.

In my shop the bandsaw is considered a handtool and paired with a small thickness planer, well tuned handplane, drill press, and a set of bench chissles can make alot of fine furniture.

As far as a first project keep it simple, make a bench with two through tennons joining the stretcher to the sides and dovetail the top to the sides. Or make a small shaker side table with tapered legs. Save the frame and panel, or drawer construction for your second piece. after those projects try working with some veneer, steam-bending, or bent lamination.

[Mark Stutz]

Depending on how long you've been hanging around here, you may have seen some similar threads over the past few weeks. Can't remember thread titles, but maybe someone will chime in. One of the repeating themes is that of mentoring. It doesn't seem as difficult, to me at least, to learn to use power tools by watching norm or reading the mags, or reading a forum...but hand tools, for me, required just a little hands on help. I would strongly suggest you check outhttp://www.philadelphiafurniturworkshop.com They offer classes that combine both power and hand tools, and you can see what part of each appeal to you, try out some nice benches and tools, and get some finished pieces while you're at it. The best part is it is run by Alan Turner, who is a member here. Good luck with your slide down the ever increasingly slippery slope!

[Ron Dunn]

I consider myself a Cro-Magnon woodworker ... one step up the evolutionary ladder from the Neanderthals, and a lot less bone-headed.

A lot of the advice you've been given earlier in this thread will make you poor and frustrated. You'll spend more than is justified, unless you're buying tools for pleasure. You probably won't have the manual skills to use those tools properly, either.

When starting out, design your work around standard dressed timber sizes commonly available in your area. The romance of dressing your own timber by hand sounds great, but the reality is that you'll turn several hundred dollars of timber into firewood before you get anything usable ... assuming that you stick with woodworking for that long.

If I was a relative novice, and wanted to build your example piece of furniture, I'd use the following minimal toolset from my workshop:

1. Nobex Mitre Saw (http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=4938&cookietest=1)

It is a handsaw, but the guide system cuts true and square. Learning to cut square in two dimensions with a handsaw is tricky. The Nobex takes that out of the equation.

2. Dowelling Jig (www.dowelmax.com (http://www.dowelmax.com))

Use this jig to join the legs to the rails, and to align the pieces of timber forming the top panel. That alignment will save you a world of pain when it comes to finishing the table top. Your joints will be more accurate and more stable/reliable than a beginner's M&T or other joint.

3. Smoothing Plane

You'll get a world of debate over which plane. I like ECE, others like (justifiably) Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen ... how much do you want to spend? If budget is an issue, just buy a Stanley 4 or 41/2. You'll learn to plane just as well, and you won't break the bank. Use it to finish the legs, rails and top ... and if you really want a taper on the legs (an advanced technique), try planing some stock by hand to a line marked with pencil. Just one plane is enough. One day you'll want more, but you don't need them now.

4. A measuring tape.

Use it to calculate your dimensions, but NOT to measure your stock. Use something called a story pole (look it up) to allow for error in the tape.

5. A Square

Use this to mark cut lines on your stock, and to align your table during assembly.

6. Some clamps.

At the moment some "Quick Clamps" or similar will suffice for what you are building, probably 5 is a good starting number, depending on how many steps you plan to take to glue and assemble the table. Just make sure they are big enough to hold the width of the table.

7. One chisel (OK, maybe a 4-piece set)

The most simple and reliable way to attach the top to the table is using figure-of-8 washers. Use a chisel to cut small rebates in the tops of your rails to mount the washers, and screw the other end to the table top. That'll take care of wood movement between top and base. If you only want one chisel, I suggest a 1/4" ... a small chisel can make bigger rebates, but not the other way around.

8. A Drill

Hand-drill if you wish. You'll need to drill holes for the dowels.

Now you've got enough tools to make the basic table, but we haven't really addressed the issue of tapered legs, and of drawers. They're both rather more advanced. Let's leave them for another discussion after we've got your basic tools sorted :)

Ron.
(now hiding from the grunting, sweating neander-dudes)

[Bill Houghton]

There are lots of good books on hand tools. Your local public library will have at least some of them, and your taxes are paying those nice librarians to make them available to you. Get out as many as you can. Read them all. They'll contradict each other. Make your best guess. As Robert Rozaieski suggests, start with fewer rather than more. You'll still buy tools that you'll find, five years in, you don't use; learning requires experimentation.

Systems analysts always suggest gathering more information than you need, then sifting it; it's not a bad practice. There are dozens of ways to do any particular process in woodworking. One or two of them will work best for you, but you need to know what's possible before you can decide what path to follow.

Philosophy rant button off.

Bill

[josh bjork]

A workbench.

[Jake Darvall]

Don't forget sharpening equipment. It won't be long before a lot of those blades dull.

[Steve Hamlin]

If I was starting from scratch, I'd start with a course. Something that covers tool preparation and basic techniques.
Along the lines of David Charlesworth, Bruce Luckhurst or John Lloyd's introductory courses (these are in the UK - but I'm sure folks could recommend similar classes in your area)
Armed with this, which will have confirmed whether WWing is for you, you can then buy select vintage tools, confidant that you have the skills and prior exposure to get them working reasonably.
Far cheaper than buying new tools you may not need, or old tools you can't tune.
Cheers
Steve

[Robert Rozaieski]

Nice table Robert. I agree, one of the astonishing things is how versitile the basic hand tools really are. Sure, the special purpose tools might make things a bit easier, but you can do an awful lot with a good saw and a couple of chisels. Good measuring/layout tools are a must.

Not my table but I've built ones similar to it and they do not require many tools, especially if you buy your lumber already dimensioned. Most any lumber yard will S2S (plane 2 surfaces true and parallel) your boards for very little extra money (maybe $0.20 per bd. ft.).

I did fail to mention a workbench, but you don't need a huge heavy cabinetmaker's bench to start out. You will eventually want one and if you stick with woodworking will likely buy or build one but a great starting bench is the folding bench in Roy Underhill's book "The Woodwright's Apprentice". It can be made from a single 2x10 or 2x12 and one 1x4. Granted it's not the biggest or heaviest but it will get you started in a relatively short period of time. Build your big bench later because you need a bench to build a bench anyway.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Joe,

I would also like to offer you the opportunity to try out a few tools at my shop if you like to see what you are comfortable with. I'm not that far from you and while I'm only a hobbiest and I don't have any machines or a big space (7 x 13), it seems to work for me. If you happen to be in the area or would like to visit, feel free to PM me and we can certainly arrange to do so.

Bob

[Rod Sheridan]

At the risk of being tarred and feathered in this forum, I suggest that a mix of power and hand tools is ideal to get you started.

Many people have a romanticised view of hand woodworking. My Father in Law is a retired English cabinet maker, who had the fortune to work for one of the largest companies in the area, I believe the company was several hundred years old.

He has a terrific assortment of hand tools, from the best English makers, and worked for 50 plus years at the trade. Whenever I make some comment that he takes as a bunch of romantic nonsense, he looks over his glasses and says " A true cabinetmaker understands that priority #1 is feeding his family, not going silly over something that a machine can do for you."

I would suggest that the ideal mix when starting out would be a combination of common power tools and some good hand tools.

Yes you can flatten and thickness wood with handplanes, however it may take you so long to develop speed and skill at it, that you give up on woodworking.

The romantic notion of the cabinetmaker doing all that by hand is incorrect. If the old cabinetmakers didn't have an apprentice to do all the donkey work, they would probably have leapt at the chance to have a jointer and planer. Then they could concentrate on the finer details of the work.

So, buy some machinery, don't go crazy, maybe a bandsaw, jointer and planer and some GOOD handtools to start.

Reward yourself by actually completing some items you can be proud of, as you develop your skills. It's tough to stay motivated when all you have to show for it is $1,000 worth of hand planes, and a bunch of sticks for the firewood pile.

As your skills develop you can do more and more by hand.


Regards, Rod.

[Thomas Knighton]

What I figure one needs to woodwork is equipment that meets the following needs (more or less):

1. Something that will cut the wood.
2. Something that will make the wood flat and square.
3. Something that will take off selective bits of the wood.
4. Something that will make the wood stay together.
5. Something that will beat the wood into submission.
6. Something to do these things on.

It's really up to you to decide what tools will meet these needs in a way that will be the most enjoyable to you. While a professional cabinet maker will go for the power tools every time, they need to make the best use of their time since time = money. For someone who is just looking for a pleasant pasttime, it's irrelevant so long as you enjoy the work.

In my opinion, there's no "right" tool for these needs. Only you can decide if you want/need a table saw, circular saw, jig saw, router, bandsaw, jointer, or planer. If you do, you're not alone. A lot of folks in this forum seem to use one or all of these tools. However, there are people who enjoy doing all the work with nothing but hand tools. Just $0.02 from a newbie :D

Tom

[Robert Rozaieski]

Rod, I agree and disagree :confused: at the same time. Allow me to explain my view and please don't take this as disrespectful of your opinion :D, afterall, we're all entitled to one ;). Also, Rod, this isn't directed at you, just some general observations I've made since I started working with hand tools that I'd like to share with everyone. I'm just using your quotes because this reasoning comes up often when the discussion is around hand tool work. In the end, there is no one correct way to do anything nor any one ideal way to work (hand only, machine only, blend of both). That is something everyone has to decide for themselves. :D


Many people have a romanticised view of hand woodworking.
I agree that many people have a romanticized view of working with hand tools, however, I'm not one of those people. Sure, maybe there is some "zen" aspect to it if you want to call it that (I enjoy the process more than the outcome) but that is not the only deciding factor in working by hand. And let me be the first one to say that it's not as hard as many people make it seem. If it were, I wouldn't be able to do it.


My Father in Law is a retired English cabinet maker, who had the fortune to work for one of the largest companies in the area, I believe the company was several hundred years old.

He has a terrific assortment of hand tools, from the best English makers, and worked for 50 plus years at the trade. Whenever I make some comment that he takes as a bunch of romantic nonsense, he looks over his glasses and says " A true cabinetmaker understands that priority #1 is feeding his family, not going silly over something that a machine can do for you."
A true cabinetmaker who is trying to feed his family with his work yes, but I would say that 99% of the people here are not making their living with woodworking and therefore may not see a big difference in productivity since most of us are making one off pieces and not production runs.



I would suggest that the ideal mix when starting out would be a combination of common power tools and some good hand tools.

Yes you can flatten and thickness wood with handplanes, however it may take you so long to develop speed and skill at it, that you give up on woodworking.
I don't completely agree with this. I don't think it takes that long to learn to flatten a board by hand and you would need to learn to do it anyway if you use stock wider than your power jointer (typically 6" for most home woodworkers).



The romantic notion of the cabinetmaker doing all that by hand is incorrect. If the old cabinetmakers didn't have an apprentice to do all the donkey work, they would probably have leapt at the chance to have a jointer and planer. Then they could concentrate on the finer details of the work.
Not entirely true. There were apprentices, true, but I don't think they just did all of the donkey work for the masters. Observe the cabinetmakers in Williamsburg and you will see them surfacing their own stock. They have apprentices but they don't necessarily just do the grunt work for the journeymen. And there are other accounts that suggest that apprentices weren't just "donkeys" and that the journeymen did do a lot of their own "grunt work".



So, buy some machinery, don't go crazy, maybe a bandsaw, jointer and planer and some GOOD handtools to start.
I agree that a bandsaw is a great purchase for a mostly hand tool shop. Long straight line rips in hardwood are not fun to make by hand. Believe me, I just had to make many in some 12/4 maple for a fireplace mantel I recently completed and it was serious work with a 5 point rip saw. In addition, curved work can be done with a turning saw but in anything thicker than 5/8-3/4" it is also serious effort much better suited to a band saw.

A planer is nice to have as well if you have a lot of stock to thickness. Taking 1/4" off the thickness of a 12 x 48" board can be tedious work as well.

I don't see the need for a jointer at all. You can avoid having to buy a jointer and planer by buying your stock S2S if you don't want to surface by hand. Most yards will do this for a minimal fee. Edge jointing a board by hand is quite a pleasure and not difficult at all.

If you buy your stock rough sawn, most of it will likely be more than 6" anyway so it will be to wide for the jointer to flatten and would need to have one face flattened by hand anyway before being run through the planer (unless you want to spend the $1k just for an 8" jointer which still limits you to boards 8" and under). When you do it by hand, you don't need to flatten the entire face of the board, just take out enough cup to have some flats on the outer edges to keep it stable when being run through the planer. It's really not as hard as it sounds. And if you glue up wide panels for cases or table tops, you will need to flatten the final panel by hand because it won't fit through the jointer or planer (you could use a sander here :eek: but that would require another tool as well as protective equipment for all the dust).



Reward yourself by actually completing some items you can be proud of, as you develop your skills. It's tough to stay motivated when all you have to show for it is $1,000 worth of hand planes, and a bunch of sticks for the firewood pile..
I couldn't agree more. But this goes for machines too. The best thing anyone looking to learn woodworking can do is pick something and start building it. Buy your first lumber S2S and get to work. Acquire tools as you need them. A jointer and planer are certainly not the first tools I would get, even if I did most of my work by machine. They are really only beneficial to people who buy and surface large quantities of lumber.



As your skills develop you can do more and more by hand.

I think this is a common misconception, and actually I believe just the opposite. Your skills will not develop if you do not do more by hand. If you don't try to do it, you won't gain the skills. Repeatedly using a jointer and planer to prepare your stock will not make you more skilled with a hand plane. This is why 18th century apprentices were given a single task to complete until they mastered it. Only then did they move on to something else.

If you don't care about developing certain hand tool skills (e.g. surfacing a board by hand), by all means, get a jointer and planer. It will definately get your stock to the dimensions you want it quickly and with little required skill so you can perform other tasks. But if want to learn hand too skills, you need to use hand tools.

Just my $0.02. :D

Sorry this ended up so long winded.

[Sam Yerardi]

Joe,

I do most of my work by hand but I use power tools as well. I would guess it's a 85-15 split. Like a lot of people have said here, what you want to start out with will depend on what you are making. I would take that approach and grow from there. If you look at the cabinet I posted a few days ago, I did that basically with the following:

Stanley #4 plane
Stanley #5 plane
1/4", 1/2" chisel
Ripsaw
Crosscut saw
Marking gauge
Marking knife
A few carving chisels
Spokeshave
A couple molding planes
Various scratch stocks that I ground out
Clamps
Drill

I did use a Stanley #45 to cut grooves and such for the drawers, but there are a lot of other ways you can do that.

I used a bandsaw to cut out the basic outline of the cabriole legs and a table saw to help with ripping heavier stock. I used it to cut a groove all the way around and then used a rip saw to do the rest of it. I would have used the bandsaw at the time but it was down while I was repairing it.

I do most of my surface planing by hand. I will use a machine planer from time to time but the noise and the dust is a killer in my shop. I really enjoy doing small panels (24" x 48" or smaller) by hand. It's quiet work. And it is tiring work but you feel like you're really accomplishing something. Anything bigger I would try to do by hand but depending on the type of wood I might take it somewhere and have it planed by a large planer. One good way to get some practice using planes is to make some panels.
One thing that becomes very apparent (at least it did with me) was that by doing most everything by hand you quickly come up to speed on ways that will work best for you. I have a frame saw like Tage Frid and use it sometimes but it never feels natural to me, but that's just me. A good, old, restored hand rip saw works best for me.

[Joe D'Attilio]

I feel better now; although I am a little romanticized by the idea of working all by hand, another reason is I don't need things to be completed "yesterday". One of my biggest reasons for the hand tool fixation is that i'm not in a financial position that I an go out and drop $1000 on tools. THe longer it takes me to learn and hone my skills the more time i have to save for the next "splurge" of advanced tools.

THanks Sam, the ist of tools you use don your cabinet is pretty much what i am coming up with for my "starter" tool list and ready to begin a project. SOmething small not too complex but also needs some challenge or I won't feel accomplished.

As far as losing interest over time, that won't happen - my wife often taunts me about my tunnel-vision(Once I start focusing and getting involved in something "wild horses" can not distract me). My mysterious inability to be distracted she would best compare to that "retard strength". :D

Forums and "online communities" I've joined in the past usually look down on the "nebies" so i was very reluctant to make this post, but after all the repsonse; I'm really glad I did.

Thanks again to everyone - see ya tomorrow Bob

Ok I have to get back to work then Im off to the MJWW class tonight w/ Matt Bickford

[Sam Yerardi]

Joe,

Don't feel bad about being a 'newbie'. There are a few that respond like you mentioned but I think you find the majority of people want to help. I haven't been on here very long but sometimes the help ends up being a heated discussion between guys that are trying to help but that's life. I have found in my hand tool work that I actually get by with a few tools. But as my work progresses, I see where this tool or that tool would really work better for me. The more I use planes, for example, the more it would be nice to have another plane. I'm looking for a scrub plane. So far I've been getting by with using a #5 on rough boards but I would really like to have more planes dedicated for specific purposes. I'm like you in that I can't go out and drop $1000 for tools, etc. I think of it like golf clubs. There are so many guys that try to buy their game. If they would take the time to just learn the basics, a lot of these high dollar items might not be as appealing. Yes, it would be wonderful to have a shelf full of Nortons, LNs, but I get by ok. The ironic thing is if most people had to use the tools that some of the greatest craftsmen ever lived had to use, they'd give up. People like the Goddards or the Townsends never had Lie-Nielsen tools.

[Sam Yerardi]

Rob,

Your .02 is worth a million bucks. I couldn't agree more. I use hand tools primarily (probably 85% hand tools, 15% machines). And I agree on hand ripping. I do it regularly but use a bandsaw and/or table saw if I have to. I'm not a purist. I have to admit though the romantisized vision people talk about here I do have to some extent. When I pick up a hand tool it inspires me to try to do the best I can. I think of all the gifted woodworkers before me that did just what I'm getting ready to do. I think of my dad. So yeah, I have a romantisized vision. If I didn't I probably wouldn't be using hand tools so much. If I'm shoving a board into a planer, all I'm getting for the experience is a surfaced board, a lot of noise, and in my case a lot of dust & chips. I use one but I prefer to have my hands on a plane, working the surface down by hand. That's just me.

[Billy Chambless]

It's really up to you to decide what tools will meet these needs in a way that will be the most enjoyable to you. While a professional cabinet maker will go for the power tools every time, they need to make the best use of their time since time = money. For someone who is just looking for a pleasant pasttime, it's irrelevant so long as you enjoy the work.

In my opinion, there's no "right" tool for these needs. Only you can decide if you want/need a table saw, circular saw, jig saw, router, bandsaw, jointer, or planer. If you do, you're not alone. A lot of folks in this forum seem to use one or all of these tools. However, there are people who enjoy doing all the work with nothing but hand tools. Just $0.02 from a newbie :D



That's exactly how I see it. Of course, practical considerations affect how what's enjoyable -- anyone who's felled a tree with an ax knows how cool a chainsaw is!

David Finck's wooden plane article in the latest FWW made me think about this. After extolling the virtues of wooden handplanes, he shows the reader how to make one -- using a bandsaw, router table, and drill press. There's a lesson in that. ;)

Everyone finds their own methods, based on some combination of goals and what process they enjoy. I enjoy hand planing a LOT more than power sanding -- I find the act of planing somewhat relaxing-- but the little tailed sander does come out now and then. Likewise, the notion of trying to resaw 10" thick oak by hand makes me sad.

I found this post
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showpost.php?p=477918&postcount=2
inspirational in terms of how power tools and hand tools can interact. In fact, my new apprentice is on the back deck right now (stealth gloat)!

[Mark Stutz]

Billy, you are very correct, in that practical considerations come into play. For the most part I use hand tools because it's fun. I can listen to music, and don't have to wear a mask. It's relaxing, and therapeutic...I know I'm not the only one to make shavings for shavings sake! Normally, it's the process, not the end result, that is important for me. On the other hand, my son has requested a simple desk/table for his apartment, and I'm on a close timetable, so I'm gonna try to find my power cords and get something put together. I'm still pretty slow with hand cut M&T joints, etc. This project is about the end result, so I'll concentrate on that.

[Sam Yerardi]

Mark,

I'm slow too. I decided like you that I want to enjoy what I'm doing, it's quiet work, I can listen to classical music or whatever, so I go slower and take my time. I still screw up all the time though. I sat there one day cutting out dovetails on a board while talking to my wife and, well, I'll just say I didn't cut them out right. I cut them out, but just not right if you catch my drift...;)

[Rod Sheridan]

Rob and Sam, all great comments, thanks.

I have a lot of hand tools ranging from Ec Emmerich wooden planes to a new scraping plane by Lee Valley.

I also like working with hand tools, and often will hand plane work instead of using the planer, or cut a few mortises by hand instead of using the mortiser.

Most of my work however is a compromise, I'll joint and plane material for a gable or table top using machinery, glue it up, and complete the flatening using a hand plane or scraper.

I guess I have three objectives with woodworking;

1) enjoy it as hobby

2) furnish my house

3) develop more skills.

To accomplish #2 in a reasonable time frame, I've chosen to use machinery to supplement the "Neander" philosophy.

I do find however that we do romantisize hand woodworking too much. I we were the guy on the bottom of the pit saw in 1700, we would be wishing for the invention of the powered saw with every stroke.

Once again I appreciate your comments, thanks for expanding my understanding........Rod.

[Sam Yerardi]

Rod,

I probably came across as sounding like a purist on hand tools. I'm far from it and really no different than what you've indicated. I have a 1938 Craftsman table saw that I use regularly, a Craftsman 12" bandsaw that gets used every day, a 10" Ryobi planer that gets used maybe once a month, a Craftsman jointer that I probably haven't used in several years but not because I'm against it. I've just gotten to where I love to use old hand tools. It's a challenge. I use them whenever I can. Like you say, if I had a huge project then it's Norm time. I'm remodeling a patio into a four season room and I am doing it in Greene & Greene style but mainly using power tools. I have arthritis in my neck and upper back so planing is a chore and it takes me longer but I still enjoy it. It's good exercise.

[Mark Stutz]

Mark,

I'm slow too. I decided like you that I want to enjoy what I'm doing, it's quiet work, I can listen to classical music or whatever, so I go slower and take my time. I still screw up all the time though. I sat there one day cutting out dovetails on a board while talking to my wife and, well, I'll just say I didn't cut them out right. I cut them out, but just not right if you catch my drift...;)

Sam,
Were they like these?:eek::Dhttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=17360
I call them sliatevod...that's dovetails, backwards!

[Mark Roderick]

Here's a memo I wrote for a close friend who was taking up woodworking. You might find it helpful.

[Matt Lentzner]

Here's a memo I wrote for a close friend who was taking up woodworking. You might find it helpful.

Great little write up. Thanks for sharing.

Matt

[Thomas Knighton]

Here's a memo I wrote for a close friend who was taking up woodworking. You might find it helpful.

I'm with Matt! Very nice write up you've got there. Thanks for sharing it!

Tom