Originally Posted by
Art Mann
I have seen many disparaging remarks right here on this forum in which people who used power tools were not regarded as real woodworkers. One side can be just as judgmental as the other. I am not familiar with the quote you highlighted but there are circumstances in which using hand tools would be lunacy. Have you ever run or worked in a production cabinet shop? A hand tool woodworker would go broke trying to compete with power tool shops unless he is building some high dollar specialty product. Are you saying cabinet shops aren't woodworking shops? If you are then your definition differs from that of most people.
OTOH, if someone gets great satisfaction using his manual woodworking skills or if he is building some specialty products that carry a high price then hand tools make perfect sense. There is a guy in my town who makes furniture by hand except for using a planer at times and his products command a higher price than I could ever afford.
Let me give you a good power tool example. I use a CNC router to carve images and lettering into trivets, coasters and inspirational signs. I sell as much of this stuff as I want to and the people who buy from me are proud of their purchase. It is absolutely true that a chip carver could reproduce many of the same things and the hand cut work might very well have more character. However, I can make things at a price that is satisfactory to me and a bargain to my customers. It takes a lot more knowledge and skill to set up to make these things than most people have. My wife is a graphic designer by trade and all of our work is original designs. Am I not a woodworker?.