Machine to Hand finished…
If you’re a professional, or a competent amateur, then excuse this post. However, for other ‘amateurs’ out there who are a bit newer at this than me, hope it helps you avoid some of the errors I had to muddle through.. Noely ‘prodded’ me to write it because I foolishly implied that I could improve on machine finished work…
The post will be in 3 parts: Some general observations about the process of finishing with hand tools (like, 'why bother??'), then a list of the required tools, and then my sequence for success. All comments and observations gratefully received.
General Observations
This post is written with the enthusiastic amateur in mind. By this I mean that I’m not talking about woodworking for profit to deadlines, but about being able to proceed at your own pace on a piece of work. I am not a ‘doctrinaire neanderthal’: I use hand tools where appropriate, but happily use machine tools where the return in terms of speed/effort is worth it. It is a common misconception amongst beginners that machine tools are inherently more accurate than hand tools. Not so: they give consistently ‘pretty good’ results, which will be fine for (eg) site carpentry or building a deck. But for the sort of joints on furniture that you will want to show people with pride rather than embarrassment, they are not really good enough. (Before the dispute starts, I accept that professional grade tools can (possibly!) get there if tuned, and properly used: but few amateurs are spending that sort of money…I’m talking about sub £400 tablesaws and bandsaws here, not £4000…)
Providing you are confident in their use, bench planes and chisels will give 2 major benefits: precision fitting/surfacing, and a superb ‘surface’ for glue and finishes. This is because the wood fibres have been cleanly cut, not bashed/smashed or scrubbed by machine blades. The other advantage is that mistakes tend to be recoverable, rather than proceeding at 20000 rpm… A properly tuned smoothing or shoulder plane will consistently and controllably remove wood at around one thou per pass…
That said, I am also not advocating some sort of ‘mega finicky perfection’…. I have both of David Charlesworth’s books, and admire his exquisite workmanship. However, the ‘perfection’ he strives for is a goal that needs to be crept up on slowly, IMHO. While I try to make my work good, there is a balance between this and actually finishing the wretched thing – or at least, there is for me… Start simple – don’t try and make complicated joints for the hell of it: make furniture with appropriate joints. My initial reaction to reading comments like the above about ‘one thou per pass’ was ‘where do these people come from??? – this is woodworking, not aerospace engineering!!!’ It took me a while to realise that this was missing the point: while finished furniture may well shrink/swell up to ½” each year with the seasons, and (certainly in my case) often ends up an inch or so bigger or smaller than I had planned, the joints really do need to be as good as you can get them. This is because almost all joints rely on the mechanical strength provided by a combination of the glue and the physical mating of the surfaces. Any slop in the joint is a weakness that will create problems in due course. And this is most easily achieved with hand tools.
I try to finish all visible surfaces with a plane. If I can’t, I use a cabinet scraper happily. I do try to avoid sandpaper. This may sound a bit ‘fussy’; rather like the point about working to a margin of error of ‘one thou’ above, I originally thought that those who said ‘ooh, ooh, don’t use sandpaper’ were indulging in a little posturing at the expense of us noobs, but when I got confident enough to do this, I was frankly amazed at the difference in the quality of the finish.
Finally on ‘general observations’, there were 3 ‘breakthrough points’ in my woodworking adventure that significantly raised my game: the first was getting to be a confident/competent sharpener. Although it’s a moveable feast, and depends on your individual work habits, I would say that when I’m in the workshop, I will now sharpen or ‘touch-up hone/strop’ a chisel before each joint it cuts, and a bench plane at the beginning of each day. Provided the backs are properly flat, this is a 2 minute job (I’m a waterstone and jig / leather strop user). For enjoyable/accurate/safe work, they really do have to be ‘mega-razor-samurai-deathomatic’ sharp, and when they are, you can sense the blade dulling as you work.
The second was remembering that making the piece includes finishing it… Blinding glimpse of the obvious, but I used to concentrate so hard on cutting and ‘building’ stuff that I’d get to the end and realise that I was only half way there, and that it was difficult to finish now the thing was assembled. I now try to think the sequence all the way through before any cutting starts, and I really try to have all surfaces ready for finishing (eg planed/scraped or sanded) while they are still ‘flat plates’. It is much, much easier, and much, much quicker. If possible, I’ll also put the finish on, and then mask/ avoid glue etc in assembly.
The 3rd was my planer thicknesser. It’s the one machine I actually gritted my teeth and spent a serious ‘wodge’ on. (serious for me, anyway…) It’s the Axminster 3 knife combination job with cast iron tables. I’ll talk more about why I say this in the next post – that’s enough waffle for now: hopefully this strikes a few chords out there…
If you’re a professional, or a competent amateur, then excuse this post. However, for other ‘amateurs’ out there who are a bit newer at this than me, hope it helps you avoid some of the errors I had to muddle through.. Noely ‘prodded’ me to write it because I foolishly implied that I could improve on machine finished work…
The post will be in 3 parts: Some general observations about the process of finishing with hand tools (like, 'why bother??'), then a list of the required tools, and then my sequence for success. All comments and observations gratefully received.
General Observations
This post is written with the enthusiastic amateur in mind. By this I mean that I’m not talking about woodworking for profit to deadlines, but about being able to proceed at your own pace on a piece of work. I am not a ‘doctrinaire neanderthal’: I use hand tools where appropriate, but happily use machine tools where the return in terms of speed/effort is worth it. It is a common misconception amongst beginners that machine tools are inherently more accurate than hand tools. Not so: they give consistently ‘pretty good’ results, which will be fine for (eg) site carpentry or building a deck. But for the sort of joints on furniture that you will want to show people with pride rather than embarrassment, they are not really good enough. (Before the dispute starts, I accept that professional grade tools can (possibly!) get there if tuned, and properly used: but few amateurs are spending that sort of money…I’m talking about sub £400 tablesaws and bandsaws here, not £4000…)
Providing you are confident in their use, bench planes and chisels will give 2 major benefits: precision fitting/surfacing, and a superb ‘surface’ for glue and finishes. This is because the wood fibres have been cleanly cut, not bashed/smashed or scrubbed by machine blades. The other advantage is that mistakes tend to be recoverable, rather than proceeding at 20000 rpm… A properly tuned smoothing or shoulder plane will consistently and controllably remove wood at around one thou per pass…
That said, I am also not advocating some sort of ‘mega finicky perfection’…. I have both of David Charlesworth’s books, and admire his exquisite workmanship. However, the ‘perfection’ he strives for is a goal that needs to be crept up on slowly, IMHO. While I try to make my work good, there is a balance between this and actually finishing the wretched thing – or at least, there is for me… Start simple – don’t try and make complicated joints for the hell of it: make furniture with appropriate joints. My initial reaction to reading comments like the above about ‘one thou per pass’ was ‘where do these people come from??? – this is woodworking, not aerospace engineering!!!’ It took me a while to realise that this was missing the point: while finished furniture may well shrink/swell up to ½” each year with the seasons, and (certainly in my case) often ends up an inch or so bigger or smaller than I had planned, the joints really do need to be as good as you can get them. This is because almost all joints rely on the mechanical strength provided by a combination of the glue and the physical mating of the surfaces. Any slop in the joint is a weakness that will create problems in due course. And this is most easily achieved with hand tools.
I try to finish all visible surfaces with a plane. If I can’t, I use a cabinet scraper happily. I do try to avoid sandpaper. This may sound a bit ‘fussy’; rather like the point about working to a margin of error of ‘one thou’ above, I originally thought that those who said ‘ooh, ooh, don’t use sandpaper’ were indulging in a little posturing at the expense of us noobs, but when I got confident enough to do this, I was frankly amazed at the difference in the quality of the finish.
Finally on ‘general observations’, there were 3 ‘breakthrough points’ in my woodworking adventure that significantly raised my game: the first was getting to be a confident/competent sharpener. Although it’s a moveable feast, and depends on your individual work habits, I would say that when I’m in the workshop, I will now sharpen or ‘touch-up hone/strop’ a chisel before each joint it cuts, and a bench plane at the beginning of each day. Provided the backs are properly flat, this is a 2 minute job (I’m a waterstone and jig / leather strop user). For enjoyable/accurate/safe work, they really do have to be ‘mega-razor-samurai-deathomatic’ sharp, and when they are, you can sense the blade dulling as you work.
The second was remembering that making the piece includes finishing it… Blinding glimpse of the obvious, but I used to concentrate so hard on cutting and ‘building’ stuff that I’d get to the end and realise that I was only half way there, and that it was difficult to finish now the thing was assembled. I now try to think the sequence all the way through before any cutting starts, and I really try to have all surfaces ready for finishing (eg planed/scraped or sanded) while they are still ‘flat plates’. It is much, much easier, and much, much quicker. If possible, I’ll also put the finish on, and then mask/ avoid glue etc in assembly.
The 3rd was my planer thicknesser. It’s the one machine I actually gritted my teeth and spent a serious ‘wodge’ on. (serious for me, anyway…) It’s the Axminster 3 knife combination job with cast iron tables. I’ll talk more about why I say this in the next post – that’s enough waffle for now: hopefully this strikes a few chords out there…
