Thread: Do craftsmen use powertools for jointing

a 16 year old boy can he prompted the thread

What? He wasn't responding to you, so what has his starting this thread got to do with whether I can be bothered trying to work out what YOU are on about. I asked you what your point was and you just want to play silly guessing games, so I'm opting out. And I don't feel it will be any great loss either.

Originally Posted by jimbur

jeez you blokes like a stoush

Can you understand what he's on about?

Originally Posted by silentC

Can you understand what he's on about?

Uhhh...ummm....

7 pages in a single day! Hot topic? Nup, just another squabble over what is basically nothing. (Is this the Thursday version of the Friday thread? )

It's totally irrelevant what tools a craftsman has used, or how they used them or when. He could've sharpened a screwdriver for use as a chisel for all I care... or cut dovetails on bandsaw. The important thing is that whatever tools are used have been used skilfully.

It's the eye for detail, choice of materials and the quality of construction that makes a craftsman.

Geez, I missed all this good stuff over the last day or so.

Since stopping woodwork - well, pretty much - and now into wood turning, I don't check this section regularly enough.

So keep at it guys, it makes for great reading.

For myself, I admit to buying as much machinery / tools (including some great non-turning chisels and hand planes for the inevitable fine-tune) to make the task:

- easier
- more pleasurable
- less physically demanding.

But more importantly, to make up for my lack of skill. Like many others, self taught (except for turning, where the lessons have been fantastic).

No shame in that. In my other life, I didn't work with my hands. So be it. I now just love making things with wood.

If I'd been born last century, was indentured for 6 years to a quality cabinet making firm, I reckon I'd have been in heaven.

But just look at the poor apprentice cabinet makers these days. Most make kitchens. Or robes. I reckon, nay know, that I have more tools etc for working "real" wood than many so-called cabinet makers. I can and do the panel stuff as well, but it's not the same. Nowhere near it. Nothing quite like getting a panel door with butt hinges to fit so, so sweet.

And I also think some of the best work comes from non-professionals. Like quite a few here on the board that are happy to spend tens or hundreds of hours on a project. It's not a question of money either. Just pleasure.

If you think I'm wrong on that, check some of the back issues of Fine Woodworking. There's a lot of dedication there, whether the pieces were made entirely by "hand" or not, it doesn't matter. Don't knock a bloke for doing his best with what he has.

Any interesting discussion. Keep it coming.

Jeff

Would any craftsman who only uses hand tools please put your hand up

This has been a great thread with lots of great replies. Basically my son who is 16 thought I was lazy using power tools as he prefers using hand tools which I find unusual. It is great to see a teenager who is proud to continue with the tradition of hand tools but I feel he is going to be very disapointed when he starts working only to find - the majority of time that most jobs come down to time, and to make things commercially you have to use power tools.
Personally I get great enjoyment using power tools and my projects always look better for using them which gives me more satisfaction in my hobby.


Stu

Maybe you should give your son a tree and tell him to make a cabinet out of it without using any power tools or machines.

It is great to see a teenager who is proud to continue with the tradition of hand tools

Sure is and that's got to be worth something.

Originally Posted by echnidna

Maybe you should give your son a tree and tell him to make a cabinet out of it without using any power tools or machines.

Chippendale would have been horrified too

This is a very interesting discussion.

I enjoy all of my woodworking. That includes taking a rough sawn piece of wood and putting it over the power planer, face then edge, thickness, then taking another piece and trying to get a nice grain fit.

Even the sanding, I like it. It may seem boring to some, but I do love the sound and smell of fresh shavings, either off the machine or the hand plane. And power tools working hard.

Things get a little tricky after that. Cutting square (which by hand is in itself an art), cutting mortices, damned glue-ups, to say nothing of finishing and all the stuff that goes in between.

One day, perhaps, I will invest the time, effort and $ on a no.7/8 plane and a decent hand saw and do it all from scratch, but for me life is too short. I'm not 20 anymore.

Sure, someone with the right attitude and skills could fell a tree with an axe, use hand saws to cut boards like our forebears did not so long ago..... Then hand plane and all of that before they even got close to starting a project.

All I can add is that hand skills are essential, especially at the fine tune stage (nothing is rarely if ever perfectly square with wood). But for those that aren't 20 any more, seeing some major part of the overall scheme of things from live tree to finished table / chair / book case is plenty.

But I will not ever belittle those that can do it all from scratch. That's almost a lifetime of experiences - from felling timber, drying it, working it and putting it all together. There are quite a few Quaker museums in the States that show what others did in a time and age when beliefs and technology were quite different.

We shouldn't forget it either. But as my son keeps telling me, time moves on.

Jeff

Originally Posted by silentC

Nah I really can't be bothered mate. I've no doubt it wont be worth the effort, based on past experience.

I am with you Silent It means nothing to me either!
Seems to me he is just trying to stir you up some.


Ross

Originally Posted by Woodwould

I couldn't answer that as I've never heard of him.

Perhaps you knowledge of all things relating to furniture is not so broad as you would like to think!
Perhaps you stopped learning and being interested in what other people were doing a long time ago!
Perhaps your love of all things ancient has blinded you to the exquisite works of this time!


Ross

Originally Posted by hahnice

My question to the die hard woodworkers (from an amateur) I also use a dovetailing jig for drawer dovetails, but my son says I am cheating and should do it the old fashioned way.


Thanks
Stu

I'm one of the die hard old fashion ones. However ask your son which he would rather pay for to get a close result from. For Dollars, Machine For Dexterity Hand tools. I prefer them because they are quite and allow one to to contemplate.

As one of my old tutors once said " Bet if Chippendale had a router he would have used it!"

In closing to quote a bumper sticker "Old Age and treachery will overcome youth and exuberance." They know so much yet learn so little.

Do what you want to!

Cheers

Steve