Quote:
Originally Posted by beran earms
Interesting to hear opinions of "old" tools being next to worthless and slow , inefficient and inaccurate. I'm a professional woodworker with a shop full of equipment and I find properly set and proper use of hand tools to be way faster and more precision than lots of machine work. I have big equipment too. My son is wrapping up school and works with me now, he has been making commissioned pieces of his own since he was 15, started at 12-13, and he prefers almost all hand tools. He has just started to accept using one of the larger bandsaws to help rough out lumber especially resaw quicker. We can knock out dovetail boxes in less time it takes to set something up. If we're comparing that to commercial work which I've done for decades then ya you cant do that, but for quality heirloom pieces almost nothing can compare. McDonalds vs homemade!
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Amen,
I have both power and hand tools; they both have their place.
I was in charge of making wooden trophies for our woodworking guild’s annual show and a newly retired gentleman who had bought a shop full of high end power tools volunteered to help out. We were working on them in my shop one Saturday and we had the shape cut out and needed to clean up edges. I pulled out a hand plane and he let out a big laugh and said he would use a power sander- I took two passes with my plane and handed it to him... next day he ordered a hand plane! Sander would have taken several grit changes and several passes per grit and likely would have rounded over edges and left a less than straight edge.
I also find that since I do woodworking as a hobby, the journey can be more important than the destination, so I sometimes choose a slower process for the satisfaction of mastering a skill.
Rutager