Hand tools only

[Jason Buresh]

Jason,

What may sound odd is my consumption of sandpaper has gone down considerably since learning more about using planes. My tendency now is to use planes, scrapers or rasps before using sandpaper.

jtk

Jim,

I have also found this to be true. I bought a good card scraper for less than half the price of a pack of 50 sheets for my random orbit sander.

I have also found a properly sharpened plane blade leaves a superior surface to sandpaper.

All in all I prefer using a plane or scrapers over a sander. No noise, no vibration, no sandpaper, less dust, and a better surface finish. And by the time you sand through all the grits I don't think the hand tools take much longer either

[Jak Kelly]

I am not anti-hand tool, I kind of figure that all tools serve their purpose in time. I do know that the most common power tool in my shop that I reach for the most has got to be my 1/4" cordless impact gun, commonly referred to as a zip gun by me. Man is that thing ever handy, I find myself reaching for it to help perform a variety of tasks; household projects, tightening things up, automotive applications.............works well for lug nuts, I only use it to snug up lug nuts or remove them, then the torque wrench comes out. That is one tool that I would hate to lose, so handy, light, very powerful. My next most used tool might be either my drill press or my miter saw, which I have a cheapy 10" Ryobi miter saw that is over 20 years old, don't laugh, that Ryobi miter saw was worth every penny and the jobs, tasks and projects it has performed over 20 years............I probably cannot remember half of them. My next thing would most likely be my table saw, well also need to include a good, bag-able, shop-vacuum. The shop-vac serves double duty. When you put the bag inside of the canister hardly any of the fine dust goes out of the exhaust port, if any at all, so it works really well inside of a home to, for dusting, or if you have hard-wood floors......tile floors.....no way I could survive without my shop-vac either.
Then there is going to be a lot of tools that people really do not think about, like saw-horses, vices, clamps.............if you have a good set of saw horses then you can easily come up with some sort of work table or a project table when needed, but can also be easily stored out of the way when not needed. And I am not suggesting that a saw horse table will or can replace a good wood working bench either, it is just that there are times when a person needs a cheap and effective table top area that will provide adequate working space for maybe painting, staining, sanding..........just to get the work off the ground. Sorry I hate bending over and working in uncomfortable positions if I do not have to, I am too old and fat I guess.
Last but not least is a good area to work in, an area that you know, where you can reach and access whatever items are needed for the task at hand. My dad has a barn that I'd just love to have, hell if it was on my property and mine I'd probably be in it all the time. I hate working on stuff at my dads house because he has no idea where anything is anymore, it's not him, it's just his age. But I do get really frustrated when it seems that I spend a lot of time looking for stuff that if I were at home and in my environment I'd know exactly where to look!

[Mike Wilkins]

By necessity I was forced to utilize hand tools to continue any woodworking. The cable company cut the feeder cable that feeds my shop from the house when they were laying a new cable line. Hand tools in daylight hours like in the old days.

[Jim Koepke]

By necessity I was forced to utilize hand tools to continue any woodworking. The cable company cut the feeder cable that feeds my shop from the house when they were laying a new cable line. Hand tools in daylight hours like in the old days.

Isn't there any recourse to get them to repair your cable?

Surely they would expect to take it out on you if there cable was cut when you repair your feeder line.

jtk

[Norman Pirollo]

IMG_0524-1800.jpgInteresting discussion! Lately I have been focusing more on methods to do tasks using hand tools only. Getting away from the jig and multiples mindset, focusing on one-offs. This allows me to get re-acquainted with hand tools and the quiet, dust-free environment they create. Although I have the fullrange of machines, I would only use them early on in lumber prep and dimensioning. Just finished adding the infill portion to my two hand tool cabinets. To hold plow, #45, #078, etc.

Norman

[ken hatch]

IMG_0524-1800.jpgInteresting discussion! Lately I have been focusing more on methods to do tasks using hand tools only. Getting away from the jig and multiples mindset, focusing on one-offs. This allows me to get re-acquainted with hand tools and the quiet, dust-free environment they create. Although I have the fullrange of machines, I would only use them early on in lumber prep and dimensioning. Just finished adding the infill portion to my two hand tool cabinets. To hold plow, #45, #078, etc.

Norman

Norman,

A thought and a question: First is you are a sick puppy, that beautiful tool cabinet is just too organized to work out of . Second, where are the chisels and if your chisel rack/cabinet are as nice as the first I may be forced to do something about my shop.

ken

[Brandon Speaks]

I use what I feel like at the moment. I tend to gravitate to hand tools more often than not but it depends on what I am doing. Of power tools my bandsaw and lathe tend to get probably the most shop time followed by a job site table saw. My grinder comes in somewhere close as does my drill press. My miter saw, routers, belt and disc sanders, dont see much time off the shelf. Cordless drills and whatnot see plenty of use for household chores but less in the shop. I dont own a joiner or planer and likely wont until I have a bigger shop.