Thread: Ruminations on the Dark Side/Light Side divide

Fasinating read Rocker.
I can empathise with you, give me the easiest and quickest way to make something so it is made
BUT....
Since I will soon be a Manual Arts teacher, my interest in the darkside has increased since I will have to be teaching hand skills to the students.
So I have to come to a trade off. I don't want to be working on projects for years, but I feel I have to do some darkside skills in my work for the self-reassurance that I know what I will be teaching.

But so long as it involves a piece of wood somewhere, I really don't mind!

G'Day Rocker,

An interesting statement, nay postulation!.

For myself, I enjoy and pursue with vigour the adoption and enhancement of my (still elementary) traditional skills (the process as you refer to it) as much as turning out a well balanced and well made item (the goal).

Some of my efforts have been more successful than others, but gradually I am acquiring the skills necessary and attendant to the production of respectable items of furniture, etc. In this I am enjoying hugely both the process of learning and the outcomes (mostly of that.

In this journey I have ventured into the darkside, but also make enthusiastic use of aids and gadgets (some of which are even powered ), so I suppose that this makes me a bit of a penumbral woodie...

As the woodworking is, for me, a hobby rather than a profession, I will try and use the methods and tools that provide the best results commensurate with the level of satisfaction that, in my view, can really only be achieved through the use of more traditional means. For example, the use of a manual router plane to cut a trench for an inlay is hugely more satisfying than using an electric router. By the same token, if I need to cut a dado, then the powered machine will be the tool of choice.

We all have our own preferences, and mine includes the use (including the fettling) of nice hand planes & chisels. Whilst I have and use an electric jointer, there is much to be said for hand planing a board's primary edge and face indices ready for surface planing; nonetheless, this is not a task I would wish to contemplate for a large run of boards for a bigger project.

If I have but a couple of dovetails or mortice/tenon joints to make, I will invariably choose to do these wholly by hand; if I have a series to make, then I will choose a more mechanised means.

It's a curious thing, but in the professional life that I lead, I am constantly working with or faced with leading/bleeding edge technology, and am frequently responsible for selecting the ones most appropriate for use. Perhaps the satisfaction that I gain from more traditional WW methods is simply a balance to this.

Very interesting thread Rocker!

My journey as a Darksider didn't start out as choice, more due to the limited tools I had. Once I caught the woodworking bug, I realised I wanted to learn both the new methods ie powered tools, but also be able to use the more traditional methods as electricity or cordless tools mightn't always be available or even suitable, and it's a huge shame to lose the knowledge of the traditional methods. It was also a way to understand what I was doing, or trying to do, e.g. if you run it through the machine you'll get this, but if you do it by hand, you'll appreciate and understand the whole process much better.

Being a Darksider is also due to me being slightly lazy and not wanting to bother lifting my power tools in and out of the shed each weekend.

Either way, it's fun learning to use the tools whether they are powered or not.

cheers
Wendy

Well said Auld!

While I enjoy doing some things by hand, I do look for the easiest way to do things.
My workshop is not just the place where I pursue my hobby but part of the journey in woodworking. Therefore it will never be complete to my satisfaction - a tool still in the making/refining.

For me output ranks VERY LOW on the list of priorities when I'm pursuing my hobby. It's a lot like sailing, where the journey is the skilled part & the result is a by-product. I experienced this when I was a commercial photographer, the art & science was always pushed aside to make way for productivity & profit. Now it's simple, any fool with a electronic camera can be a photographer.

I think & hope I span both sides of the equation when it comes to woodwork.

I think most of us fall somewhere in between. I have most of your list of darkside impedimentia, but also a full complement of power tools and machinery.

I'm very much outcome oriented, but also enjoy the journey.

Basically, I just like pizzing around in the shed, using tools (metalwork included) and making stuff.

I think that having always worked in a business where there's nothing tangible to show, at the end of a day, it's my creative side taking over after so many years of repression.

You are right about some of the old tools, my 50 year old, pristine 'hags tooth' plane, is yet to be exercised.

I just want to become a good woodworker. It is a source of eternal frustration that I haven't got the time to develop the skills, and my only sources of instruction are books and videos (and the web obviously).

My limited perspective means I look at powertools as coarse, quick, and easy, and conversly handtools as fine, slow and bloody hard to master. I still think back to days at school where I got to do woodworking, and it was all handtools. The emphasis was on accuracy and I was turning out better results than I am today, which I think is the source of my perspective.

So as I gravitate to more and more expensive machines, I wonder if I am getting further and further away from my final goal?

I tried to use hand tools but I couldn't work out how to plug them in.

I've seen Wood Borers workshop. It was messy and he produces lots of stuff. Mostly by darkside methods.

Originally Posted by Grunt

I tried to use hand tools but I couldn't work out how to plug them in.

I've seen Wood Borers workshop. It was messy and he produces lots of stuff. Mostly by darkside methods.

Kennels, too

Like the Major, whichever is the most efficent
rip hardwood with a handsaw.........in yer dreams lads (having said that, as my Dad did for I, this week we bought & taught my Son to use a handsaw
joint with an lectric jointer............don't need one, don't want one #7's do me fine, and are far quicker to setup and sharpen and infinitely safer

WOW Rocker, ya don't think this thread is kinda inflamatory do ya? :eek: :eek:

Originally Posted by MajorPanic

........Now it's simple, any fool with a electronic camera can be a photographer..

Not quite - any fool with an electronic camera can take a picture, but photographic skill will still prevale.

It is an interesting point. Darkside vs Power, and comparing it to photography.

I dearly miss my darkroom. I was getting better quality from it, and it was a lot of fun, and I'd spend hours trying to get the best photo. But now, I can do all this and more in the computer- it still requires skill and practice, but the process is no longer satisfying. The end result is an acceptable level of quality, and I can generate a lot more output, but the satisfaction from the process is lost. However, being digital, I have an output again, even if it is just a personal website. Better than the photos stuck in a drawer.

There is a quote on Foxtel - are we making things better, or just more complicated?

I'm at a crossroads - do I yearn for the simpler times represented by the darkside, or the franticly paced future of power tools, jigs etc. Do I make the heart of my workshop a tablesaw (or bandsaw for those who prefer that), or a workbench? Strange - first time I've asked myself this question, and already massive shed redesigns are filling my head.

My reaction to Rocker's comments : How fortunate we are to have the choice! Col, a carpenter friend needed to make all his planes (a box full + the box) and his father did so before him. Given the choice, Col would have chosen a router and a box of bits to assist him supplying bread for the table. The beading on those architraves would not be hand done, but who would know the difference under 3 layers of lead based paint?
Many of us have a foot in each camp. What a luxury!!!
Carry Pine

I wouldn't consider myself in either camp. I prefer the right tool for the job... and my journey seems to be working out what that is.

Power tools for the bulk of the work, sure. I don't hear of many darksiders ripping logs by hand, for example. But there are times when power tools just aren't appropriate... such as my current nightmare: cutting dadoes inside a half-pipe for example. Similarly, I've yet to find any power tool that'll form a chair seat as quickly and with as little need for touching up as a simple spokeshave or drawknife!

I can't say I'm outcome oriented (except for the paying jobs of course, but they're a whole different kettle of fish.) as many of my "favourite" pieces are really pretty terrible. The journey is the thing... a good holiday is measured by the memories of the experience, not the quality of the photos.

I must confess to being so far in to the light that I have to wear sun glasses.

I think it stems from being a tradesman. Ever since I was an apprentice, jobs need to get done fast. Hence power tools are the tools of choice.
The problem is letting go and relaxing into a "hoby" state of mind. Occasionaly I do find myself using hand tools because of noise restrictions. It is certainly relaxing to spend an evening handplaning a board flat.
Next morning out comes the thicknesser to do the remaining 27 boards. Handplaning is fun, but not that fun.