Hi All,
What Neander techniques do you use in carpentry type projects you do, those where Neander approaches work better for you than more typically power tool techniques?
In my case, we are remodeling our house, after moving here following my retirement. Getting all of the needed supplies has been a disaster, but at least my part has been not hampered in that regard.
I am currently working on building shelves for my wife's kitchen pantry. Having sharp hand planes has been a big help. Many years ago I would have tried to do the same tasks with belt sanders, etc. I used a good grade of soft wood plywood for the shelves, and have cut up dimension lumber 1X8s (mostly) for cleats to support the shelves and for edge trim to cover the edge grain of the plywood.
For the cleats I cut the 1X8s into 2&1/4 inch pieces, working around knots to get good stock. To smooth out the rough saw edges, I used a sharp old Stanley #4, and it did the job great. I had to watch for reversing grain, and switch plane directions more than once on some pieces.
Next I used a block plane to take off the bulk of the material for chamfering the edges, followed by using a hand block sander to do the final rounding and smoothing. The block plane speeded up the chamfering process a lot over using just the block sander alone.
In a few cases I had to straighten an edge on the 1 by lumber prior to using the table saw, and a Stanley #5 did a great job of that. I don't have a jointer.
To cut up the plywood I used a 12 point hand saw. By careful saw work I got a straight enough edge to add 7/16" 1 by stock to cover the edges of the plywood shelves with no further preparation other than a small amount of edge chamfering to prevent splintering.
The dimension lumber I ripped to 7/16" for edging the plywood was thicker than the plywood, so after biscuit joints and glue up I used a Stanley #4 to plane off the extra thickness, followed by a block plane if grain direction of the ply vs dimension lumber were in conflict.
When I was young many carpenters (typically older guys) carried hand planes, typically a #5, and used them, a few others, typically younger guys, had power planes. Some didn't carry any type of plane at all. I don't know a lot of carpenters now, but at least some don't even own a hand plane. I was visiting with one the other day and mentioned that a sharp and tuned up hand plane was a joy to use. His reply was, "if you can find one."
Carpentry techniques and power tools have improved over the past several decades, but I find that Neander type hand tools and techniques greatly help the home projects I do that are carpentry. Being able to get chisels and plane irons pretty sharp is a huge help,
Regards,
Stew