Thread: Finding the intersection between power and hand tools in our workshops

I had a late 18th century panel raiser (may have been early 19th) years ago from a philadelphia maker. It never got out of the state. 3" wide iron and I thought I was set to make some doors, but it never fed well and it was a single iron plane, so tearout was a problem. I'm guessing a plane like that was for architectural doors. I made mine so that it would field a panel, but then decided I don't really like the look vs. more plain beveled panels, so It's out.

For a shop that would've been making a lot of cabinets or interior doors, I could understand having a dedicated plane or three so that all of the door panels looked identical, but didn't find it to be a time saver in this case (it works fine without fielding the panel with a lip if you just fill the fixed depth stop, but doesn't end up being any easier to use than any other plane).

Fun to make the plane, I guess. I learned a lesson about skew planes (not more than about 20 degrees or the abutments will split). It's the only plane I have where the abutments and cheeks are held together with screws. Only on one side, the acute angle side is the one that will obviously split.

It takes me about 5 hours to make two doors entirely by hand from rough stock. Can't say I'd want to do 30 of them. Five on the most recent cabinet is enough (it's wide and one of the ends will be a door also to make it easier to stow and retrieve large pots and pans.

(fairly sure the next person who has my house will remove the kitchen or paint the cabinets, so no need to get too attached to them).

My 'intersection point' is moving in the opposite direction to many of the other responses above. My dad has been a furniture maker in Southwest WA for as long as I have been alive and so I grew up on the shed floor making things from scraps and off cuts. After school graduation I moved to the city and lived in rental share accommodation which does not really lend itself to woodworking and so spent ten or so years without making anything. After I got married I too started reading and watching Paul Sellers do his thing and became interested in hand tools. My dad is really a machine and power tool maker, but he only uses solid wood, so he did impart a real appreciation for the look and smell and feel of wood to me but I didn't learn a lot of hand tool skills in his shed. The first house my wife and I lived in after we got married was a small two by one with a one car garage just back from the river in Mt Pleasant. I wanted to be able to make things and not receive any noise complaints from out neighbours. I decided I'd put a workbench in the garage and make us an outdoor table as a woodwork project. I had no tools at this point, so i bought a green bosch 14v drill, a set of craftright chisels from bunnings, an irwin tenon saw, a second hand made in England Stanley number 4 smoothing plane from swapmeet, and a two sided combination stone. For wood I waited for ex demolition jarrah on gumtree. I loved using hand tools from the very first moment, and was forced to learn plane and saw because I had no power tools to use. I loved (and still love) working up a sweat planing down boards to a scribed thickness line.

A few years ago we bought our first property in Gosnells which had a brand new two car detached shed in the back yard. Since moving in to my new space, I have acquired a 16 inch bandsaw, 8 inch jointer, 16 inch thicknesser, sliding mitre saw and 12 inch cabinet saw. I bought all these second hand and they have made the build process for projects a lot faster. I still use a lot of recycled wood. Breaking thick stock into boards and gluing into panels is where my machines really help. I plan to add a router exension wing to my table saw and beef up the dust collection system in the near future.

For me, I plan to really lean into using my machines to do fast and accurate work. I plan to make most of the furniture for our house (currently making the bedroom suite from Marri) and I can't spend an eternity doing all the stock prep by hand. A baby, finishing studies and working enough hours to stay afloat really limits my shed time. Hand cut joinery is still a must though and I design my pieces around showing this aspect off.

I've loved reading all the other experiences other users have shared in this thread. Thanks guys.

Zac.

Interesting thread. For me, woodworking is a destresser and my hands-on creative outlet outside the office job. Doing things by hand, developing manual skills etc is a big part of that.

However, I also have limited time and a need to get projects finished in a reasonably timely manner, so doing everything by hand just isn't viable. I tend to use power tools for the time-consuming, repetitive work like dressing timber, ripping boards etc. Joinery (mortise and tenon, edge jointing etc) and finish planing I do with hand tools. That's the stuff that shows, so there's a need to apply a bit of skill to get it right.

Equipment is a factor as well. I don't have a table saw, but I do have a bandsaw, which means cuts need finishing with planes etc.

I agree. Hand tools are more enjoyable to use.... if you can use them without breaking you back. I see all the time people who are new to wood working who go out and buy a bunch of power tools. I think the best way to go about it is to acquire a good set of hand tools first and learn how to use them. Then you can come to a better understanding of what advantages each type of tool has (and maybe a greater appreciation for power tools). Plus it's much cheaper to go about it this way.

Someone else resurrected this thread and back April I wrote this

Originally Posted by BobL

My take on pottering is more like the following; start by going down the shed to fix something that's not shed related, make some part of a gizmo, pee, move onto a bit of sharpening, stare vacantly into space, sweep up a messy corner of the shed, throw ball for dogs (or dispose of 7-8 balls brought into shed by dogs), tidy up the screwdriver rack, stare vacantly into space, have a pee and a coffee and check out the forums, put a few things away, make a bit more of said gizmo, empty the shed rubbish bins, pee, sort out a box of screws from dad's old shed, one rolls under the bench where I notice a drill bit and unusual UNF wing nut I have been looking for for some time, stare vacantly into space, tidy up a the drill bit rack and replace missing ones from my stash, pee and a drink of water, replace broken socket on and test extension cord, put a few tools away, throw ball for dogs again, and by then its time for a nap or the whole day has disappeared. Not much has been created but it's been satisfying enough. Yes I have a peeing disorder.

For the record I no longer have a peeing disorder. I started seeing an endocrinologist who ran a bunch a tests across my raft of medical problems and as a result changed my meds - presto, sleep is much better, no peeing disorder. Still have some other problems but generally much less going to the loo so more time to spend staring into space and projects.