Thread: Do craftsmen use powertools for jointing

Originally Posted by hahnice

My question to the die hard woodworkers (from an amateur) is, would it be classed as lazy or cheating to utilise power tools for quality joints on furniture. Do craftsmen today still make mortice/tenon joint with hand tools or do you - like me use a router table to make the tenon and a pillar drill and chisel to make to mortice. I also use a dovetailing jig for drawer dovetails, but my son says I am cheating and should do it the old fashioned way.
There is an abundance of power tools available these days and I have most of them (Except an electric planer - Are you reading this LOML?) but is my son right? Would the craftsmen of old have utilised power tools if they were available - I think so. I know they used lathes very early on and this was a power tool.

Thanks
Stu

Not knowing the age of your son Maybe he could walk to school or to work. We have o keep up with technology and I for one would use any new tool to produce my joints and certainly no use hand tools.
Tom

I know kids are smart****'s, and at 16 he thinks he knows everything. Though by looking at his trigonometry homework I had better keep my mouth shut. I bet he couldnt do his sine, cosine and tangents without the super dooper calculator he's got.
Im glad Im not the only power tool nerd out there.

Stu

Would the craftsmen of old have utilised power tools if they were available

Absolutely! The people who use hand tools exclusively today do so because they want to out of nostalgia. There are still some jobs that a hand tool does best, but most of the grunt work is done by machines. Ask your son what he thinks you're cheating at, because if you end up with a finished product that does the job it is intended to and you're proud to say you made yourself, I don't see any cheating involved. Cheating would be paying someone else to do it for you and claiming it as your own

Originally Posted by hahnice

but is my son right? Would the craftsmen of old have utilised power tools if they were available - I think so. I know they used lathes very early on and this was a power tool.

Thanks
Stu

A point I have made before. If power tools had been available they would have been used. The craft we see and copy today would not exist if the previous generations had access to electricity and compressed air. My grandfather always said this and he was born in the late 1800's, later to become a carpenter and blacksmith.

I cut tennons on the bandsaw, but only because using a handsaw for extended periods is now too painful on my arms. I hollow windsor seats with an angle grinder and bore holes with a cordless drill (rather than a brace and bit) for the same reason.

I chop mortices with a chisel because it's quicker than drilling and then trying to hack out the waste (although when I had my shop, I used a dedicated chisel morticer in the latter years).

In general, I find power tools (at least, the ones I possess) to be no quicker in function than using hand tools, but I do use some powertools because they're easier on my body than their counterparts.

I've nothing against powertools, but I would strenuously encourage any newcomer to learn to use hand tools first before adopting any powertools.

Originally Posted by hahnice

but my son says I am cheating and should do it the old fashioned way.

Stu, did you ask your son which old fashion way he was talking about. Ancient Egypt who used hand powered lathes or the Victorian era with the start of the Industrial revolution or just back in the 50`s.

You only have to look at some of our great craftsmen, the likes of Krenov, Peters, Barnsley and the late Malouf etc, they all use machines, power tools as well as hand work. There is no need to do it all by hand unless it’s for so called Darkside nostalgia, or to learn the basic fundamentals and develop some hand skills.

Craftsmen use tools.

Originally Posted by Lignum

Stu, did you ask your son which old fashion way he was talking about. Ancient Egypt who used hand powered lathes or the Victorian era with the start of the Industrial revolution or just back in the 50`s.

You only have to look at some of our great craftsmen, the likes of Krenov, Peters, Barnsley and the late Malouf etc, they all use machines, power tools as well as hand work. There is no need to do it all by hand unless it’s for so called Darkside nostalgia, or to learn the basic fundamentals and develop some hand skills.

I agree - I think my son means - from watching Antiques roadshow, that old fashioned woodwork (from the 17th and 18th century) is what defines quality. I am sure if yoiu inspect this furniture closely it wouldnt be as good as todays furniture (Construction wise) but could I do it with the tools available at the time - certainly not. Especially cutting veneers so accurately.

Originally Posted by hahnice

I agree - I think my son means - from watching Antiques roadshow, that old fashioned woodwork (from the 17th and 18th century) is what defines quality. I am sure if yoiu inspect this furniture closely it wouldnt be as good as todays furniture (Construction wise) but could I do it with the tools available at the time - certainly not. Especially cutting veneers so accurately.

You'd be surprised. There are rough workers in every trade in every era, but I've restored some pieces of 17th and 18th century furniture and the quality of construction defies belief - especially given the tools of the period. I doubt if most people today could match the best of the 18th century with hand or power tools.

There is no reason why you couldn't cut veneers so accurately and certainly someone else could.

Originally Posted by Wongo

There is no reason why you couldn't cut veneers so accurately and certainly someone else could.

Its one thing I have in common with the Ancient Egyptians, we both cut our veneer by hand

My point was if they could do things in the past, so can we today. We don't do it because we don't have to.

Originally Posted by Wongo

My point was if they could do things in the past, so can we today. We don't do it because we don't have to.

I don't entirely agree; I would say the reason we don't perform many tasks today is because the ability (I hesitate to use the word 'art') has been lost.

Old craftsmen were masters of deception mass production was not an issue time constraints and they worked with greener wood than we do now.

I agree that if they were here now they would be into all that is modern for they were back then. Holtzapfle would be into CNC machines using Dremels, master carvers using chainsaws.

Imagine De Vinci painting the Chapple with an airgun using lasers to mark out his sketches.