Thread: What came first? The tools or the skill?

Originally Posted by Clinton1

I'll make a change to the equation: Good work = Perseverance squared + (Skill x 2) + (tools/2) + (tools fettled and maintained well) + appropriate materials.

Crikey.

Originally Posted by chook

...... And that is what this forum is about, or should be about.FUN.

You have brought up a very vaild point. As most here are hobbiest this should be a fun activity. I will leave it there as I might disgress a little too off topic.

Originally Posted by IanW

Ian - I have to wonder if the person making the claim about A2 vs O1 wasn't exaggerating just a little, to make his point? A2 is not that much better at holding an edge that you wouldn't still get a good deal of sharpening practice over a course of a year or two! And because it is a bit more difficult, they should have gotten better at it. However, perhaps having less-keen tools was simply because, being more of a PITA to sharpen, they constantly used them past the 'best-by point, to avoid going to the stones as long as possible.

Cheers,

Hi Ian
as I recall the tone of the entire article, the point the writer was making was that compared to users of O1 chisels / plane blades, A2 users had not needed to practice sharpening as much as O1 users had so were not as proficient. There was no discernible difference in the quality of the work completed by O1 or A2 users -- something you would expect if an A2 user was pushing a chisel beyond it's "needs sharpening now" point.

The current issue of FWW has an article by Jeff Miller (who started life as a musician) that carries a similar message -- practice, practice -- not so much to develop skill as to develop muscle memory so that when you come to use a tool the user is concentrating on where the cut is, not how to use the tool to make the cut.

If you read some of Toshio Odate writings, you will come across a related message -- as an apprentice's skill develops the ability to appreciate the quality of a tool also increases.

Ian - I certainly don't disagree with any of those sentiments. Particularly that as your skill & knowledge increase, you are in a better position to judge quality of tools (& work!). It's just that having owned several A2 blades for some time now (including a set of LN B.E. chisels) I wouldn't have thought there would be so much difference in the number of times sharpening was required that you wouldn't do some learnin'. I'm not disputing that they hold an edge longer (once you get it ) but I would put that in the order of 50% to maybe 100%. I suppose my thinking is biased because I use tools on some very hard, dulling woods like the She-oaks, where the time difference between sharpening goes from 10 minutes to 15. If you were only cutting woods like Cherry & Walnut & Pine, the time would spin out quite a bit more. In any case my point was that even if you had to sharpen only half as many times, that's still a lot of sharpening to be done in a full-time course lasting a year or two! Anyway, I think I'm labouring the point, it was just a passing comment, really. I've decided over the last couple of years that there really is no such thing as a free lunch - harder steels have benefits and negatives. For years I chased harder steels, but lately I've decided that on balance, I like my O1 & (older) HSS blades better, for general work.

Chook, I don't doubt for an instant that any newbie or many 'oldies' for that matter, would gleefully load up with every tool they could lay their hands on if given free run of a LV or LN store for 10 minutes. However, I'll make a bet that three quarters of what they grabbed would either end up unused, or at best, under-used, and they'd soon discover that while it might help, even the best tool is no instant path to skill. For us amateurs, it can seem like a handicap that the tools are acquired slowly (painfully slowly, as you & I and most others have experienced!), but for me the tools & skills have come along at about the same rate. And very importantly, as Ian says, you have a much better appreciation of both, as time goes by......

Cheers,

Ian you are right when you say that they would end up with a lot of unused stuff. I already do! I have a whole cabinet full of old wooden planes waiting to be done up one day. I can by no means part with them but at the rate I am going I will wear out before they do.