Thread: How to hold it, once you're naked

Clever title

This video proved to be priceless for me but its funny to see how tool makers and woodworking stores will never tell you how you can live without their products and it's also funny to see how schools will always stress upon the point that you don't need to spend a lot of money to start which is true and they show you all the tricks of the trade on how to work without vices or make your own tools etc but they'll charge you $450 for weekend class or $900 for a week etc.

I'm not trying to make a point here it's just something I've noticed that's all, I guess in the end you get more bang for your buck if you find a good school like Paul Sellers Masterclasses than spending thousands of dollars on pretty tools that you don't know how to use.

This video got me thinking what I used to do as an apprentice and how times has changed.

I'm the first to admit that modern tools especially battery tools and SCM saws make for an easier life but are we any better skilled for them or simply that the tools replace our manual dexterity and diligence of accuracy and care.

hear, hear

Originally Posted by rwbuild

.....I'm the first to admit that modern tools especially battery tools and SCM saws make for an easier life but are we any better skilled for them or simply that the tools replace our manual dexterity and diligence of accuracy and care.

I hear this refrain in just about every profession, rw, including my own. My take is that the younger generation are, on average, just as skilled in what they do with what they have, as we were with what we had. Diligence & care is another matter, & they have probably suffered more from the increasing pressure to produce quickly than the tools used, wouldn't you agree? So I think we need to make a clear distinction between skills and less than perfect products that are largely the result of economic forces.

When lamenting the loss of old skills (& I do more than my fair share!), I try to be fair & consider if the old skill is still relevant, and often enough, I have to (grudgingly) admit it probably isn't. Sometimes a technological aid has made it possible for a semi-trained monkey to do a particular job, but perhaps just as often, the need for it has disappeared entirely. Being a born pessimist, I do worry a bit what is going to happen when the Chinese have dug up all their lithium, and they can't make a motza producing zillions of batteries any more. Let's hope there's still a few old codgers around to show these youngsters how to use a breast drill or an ordinary screwdriver, eh?

Cheers,

As for me I love my brace but the youngsters may need a bottle of red bull to start the bore.

To get back on topic. I do enjoy seeing stuff like this viseless bench. It's amazing what can be done with a few bits of this or that plus a good dose of ingenuity. I like to file the ideas away for possible future use. It's handy to have a number of alternative methods for holding work while we attack it with various tools, because sometimes one way works better than another, or it may be the only convenient way to hold something odd. But I don't think any but the most obstinate adherent of things medieval would disagree that vices make working with wood more convenient. Since the screw vise was invented, the take-up of its various incarnations has been enthusiastic & darn-near universal, which must mean something. I keep a little shrine in my shed (aka a bench) and make daily obeisance to the bloke wot invented the screw thread! So while I should probably give up a few of my vices, I'm darned if I'm going to give up any of my vises, Paul.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

To get back on topic.
snip
I keep a little shrine in my shed (aka a bench) and make daily obeisance to the bloke wot invented the screw thread! So while I should probably give up a few of my vices, I'm darned if I'm going to give up any of my vises, Paul.....

Cheers,

if it helps ...

a hold down is just a vice that is yet to find its screw

Interesting thanks Paul

I would not like cutting dovetails bending over like that though. Not for more than one draw side .

Gee that's a low bench for such a tall guy

Originally Posted by ian

if it helps ...

a hold down is just a vice that is yet to find its screw

Ok, smartypants, I should have said vises with screws.

I like my hold-downs, too, but I managed to live without any until not much more than a year ago (ignorance is bliss & all that..). So if you want to take anything away from me, I might part with those, but I won't promise not to sneak off & make another couple if you did.......

Cheers,

Paul

Thanks for putting up this video. As well as the bench and it's distinct lack of vices I loved the old plough plane he used. I was trying to get a squiz at the saws too, but I couldn't screw my eyes around at the right angle!

At times people on the Forum have asked how they can get into woodworking on a small budget and this just epitomises that path.

Regards
Paul

Thanks for posting the video Mr McGee - really illustrates that the most effective wood working tool is human ingenuity. And it always was so!

Just add a few bench dogs and some parallel wedges to his setup and you have a very versatile workshop.

However, his metal plane stops did make me nervous - my planes have a built in metal seeking feature.


Fair Winds

Graeme

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Paul

I was trying to get a squiz at the saws too, but I couldn't screw my eyes around at the right angle!


Regards
Paul

You must have had your back to the screen if you missed that saw he used to cut a tenon - it was bloody massive.


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