Thread: which hand tool are you most skillfull with?

I think it would have to be a pencil. learned to sharpen it when I was about 4 or 5.

Closely followed by a hammer. ( although now I prefer a nailgun.


Peter.

Pretty crap with all of them really.

G'day,

I fit into the same category as Craigb.

I spent my childhood and youth helping my Dad in the shed, now he's passed away and my interest in w/work has only really kicked in earnest - so it's all trial by error for me as I have no one to teach me the stuff I want to know - the forums here help out and Gumby has helped a bit.

Didn't pick any - I want to be proficent in them all. Got no idea what a slick or scorp is.

Right now among others I'm wanting to get in some darkside stuff. I have a $17 piece of carp plane from India I bought at Bunnies (needed one for something at the time and my wallet was pretty bare), a real nice tiny rabbit plane (something like that) that shaves oh so nice. So to try and find some you'll see me at garage sales on Saturday mornings trying to find planes etc.

I said chisel but I'm really a hammer man.
If it don't fit use a bigger hammer

Chisels are the only hand-tools that I use much; I use planes, and compass planes, and sometimes rasps for rough shaping, fairing, and smoothing, but I produce smooth surfaces with a ROS. I was happy to see that an article in the current FW concludes that surfaces produced by planing, scraping, and sanding are virtually indistinguishable, when the finish has been applied. So I no longer need to feel guilty that I have not spent years honing my planing and scraping skills.

Rocker

Wrecking bar?

Chisels work for me!
Rhys H.

G'day Ryan!


I answered handplanes - because I like them so much; they really can be a pleasure. However, I have to admit a love chiselling away too.

I used to be a dab jand with a spokeshave, but I really need more practice with them to get back into the groove, so to speak.

Ok with handsaws for little cuts, such as in cabinet work, but spectacularly lousy with a big handsaw

Cheers!

I think I prefer tools that produce a curve..... cutting to a straight or square line has never been my forte! 0.3mm my bum!

However, I could spend hours with a drawknife and spokeshave, and do best with a rasp and a range of files.

Good question Ryan

Cheers,

Hand trolley for me.


Al

The humble pencil and ruler, always been good at drawing/designing objects... art, maths, tech studies were the only subjects at school I got "A+" on.

I went drawknife although ive only recently begun using it and man do I love it... but also love using my spokeshaves... cant abide my planes will become proficient when I start to remember to sharpen the bleedin things and learn to set the buggars properly... love my new jap Kabota saw for trimming the ends from the canoe strips nothing better... hammers well hammers are hammers but if you had have said mallets well thats a whole different kettle of fishes! I love my mallets simply cause I made them Tuart handles with Jarrah heads different sizes and faces for different uses right weight and heft handles turned by spokeshave and block plane to fit my hand... beutiful to use... I use chisels constantly and am gathering quite a few to me must have a magnetic thing happenin!
I really should have bought one of those ships planes when I was shopping but well at over 300 snapperoos for one I decided I had other ways to achieve the same result
Gotta get into scraping to get that mirror smooth finish Im searching for!

Hand tool most skillful using ????

ummm,,,,me old fella. Just ask the lady's ,,,,, well, at least my wife, well,,,,, actually, don't ask her.

Handplanes.

I wouldn't claim to be truly proficient with any of them - despite a good deal of practice. However, in trying to be objective, I have to say I find it relatively easy to cut a straight line with a decent handsaw. I think this is a purely personal thing. Cutting a straight line with either a Western backsaw or a Japanese saw was something I managed to achieve quite quickly.

I'm still working on my chiseling and planing skills and I've only very recently got my hands on a couple of spokeshaves (great little tools!).