friends insisting I start using power tools

[thetyreman]

Hi, I got into a bit of an argument today with a friend who completely failed to see why I use hand tools only,

has anyone else had this problem? he knows very little about woodworking though but it was an interesting conversation.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

Good luck buddy,that's fine if you only do some small projects-sometimes for some tasks its faster/easier to do it with handtools, but this isn't 1900 anymore..
Not even a drill driver? What's the point exactly to be so stubborn about it?

 

[n0legs]

No matter what you do, professionally or hobby, someone else will always know a better way.
They don't/won't want to understand why you do it and will try all kinds of argument to persuade you to stop/do it their way/change your ways.
Unless what they're saying is some very good safety based information, on points you hadn't yet spotted but come to realise they were possibly right.
Politely as you can tell them "thanks for your input, but I'm happy they way I'm doing it".
If that fails, I'm sure you can come up with something :lol:

I've got a mate, a really nice guy and we've been friends for 30 years or more. He's the most cackhanded bloke you could meet. He's got this freaking annoying habit of questioning everything you do. I reckon it's because he can't do it, so he can't see how someone else can.
It's "what if this happens?", "what if that happens?", "do you think we should call someone, maybe a professional?".
If he turns up at mine and I'm down the shed, I come in and lock the shed up. It's just so much easier than him bombarding me with his negative ways :lol:
Give him a court room to perform in and he's like a god, give him a screwdriver and he'll have his eye out :lol:

Go the way you want, if it makes you happy then all is good.

 

[AndyT]

I came across a nice response to your mate's attitude on the Old Tools List recently.

"Woodworking's like sex. You don't think you are supposed to get it over with as quick as you can, do you?"

 

[RobinBHM]

There is huge skill involved with using hand tools and I imagine a very satisfying way to make things from wood.

Certainly a very different hobby from just using power tools which are noisy and dusty.

In a way Im rather envious of the forum members on here that make things by hand. Having spent so many years looking for ways to make things by machines to earn money, I could never convert to hand making woodworking as a hobby, my mind is too set on the need for getting it done fast.

 

[sunnybob]

I use power tools whenever its humanly possible to now, but then I have arthritis in my hands and cant flex them enough to use most handtools anymore.
But even before that, I took the view that Power tools are a great way of saving me energy as much as time.
If I had to choose between hammer and chisel, and a mortising machine to make a dozen joints, then the chisel would never leave the drawer.
But if it was a single joint, then maybe I would enjoy bashing the thing a lot.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

If you are enjoying yourself,have plenty of time and doing a good job,then carry on with what you are doing.There is a beauty in working with whatever tools you choose to use and although I love them power tools are very noisy.

 

[MrTeroo]

he knows very little about woodworking though

Isn't this your answer?

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Another hand tool worker here. If it is your hobby, do as pleases you. I much prefer the pace, peace and tranquility of using hand tools. I could probably be said to be a bit "stubborn about it". I used to use all manner of power tools, now rarely any. Even turning I do under my own steam.

I did resort to a cordless drill the other day assembling my chair; the brace and bit was not making a clean result with angled holes into turned parts. I suppose I could have dug out one of those old Stanley breast drills I have somewhere ...

 

[t8hants]

There are only two considerations as I see it
1, If you are a professional are you making sufficient money for your requirements, and hopefully enjoying the work.
2, If a hobbyist are you enjoying your hobby.

The 'friend's' question is rather like asking a cyclist why he hasn't got a motorbike.

 

[Droogs]

Tell your friend to "haud his wheesht". It's entirely up to you how you decided to make hamster bedding. If you want to learn the skills that go with using hand tools, then that is your perogative. If it brings you joy and satisfaction then carry on using them, after all if you are doing it as a hobby then you are an amatuer - someone who practices or studies a subject for their love of it. If you are a profesional on the other hand and are able to make sufficient income without using modern power tools and their coresponding skills set and work practices then good for you. In the long run your overall general health will be better off for it without the long term exposure to power tools and the resultant conditions that can arise. Remember though that working either way should lead you to enjoy what you're doing and making in whatever capacity. Lastly the consideration of cost is mute as regardless of which way you work they all have the same overall relative costs.

 

[custard]

I've met a few well healed hobbyists who have filled their workshops with equipment, but are then disappointed to realise that even fairly simple pieces of solid wood furniture usually requires at least some hand work. And if you're going to make really good solid wood furniture then it normally requires quite a lot of hand work. The fact is Dominos, Dovetail Jigs, and all the rest are pretty tyrannical; many woodworkers hope power tools like these will liberate them from needing to learn hand tool skills. To an extent they do, but they also restrict you to certain dimensions and trap you in a limited range of jointing options.

I hear the argument that declining physical abilities means it's power tools or nothing, but I'm not entirely convinced. Sure, hand surfacing a dining table with a bench plane and card scraper is hard graft, but sawing a dovetail by hand requires no more manual strength than changing the bit on a Domino or Router.

Hand skills will also do a superior job in many cases. A well executed hand cut dovetail will always have more grace than a jig cut version, and even though you can joint boards together straight from a power planer the glue bond will always be stronger if the job is properly finished with a bench plane.

Over my life I've had a lot of training in furniture making, and I often wondered why the instructors were so adamant about learning hand skills. There's a well known interview with Alan Peters that illustrates the point when he has a bit of a rant about many woodworkers being scared of cutting dovetails straight from the saw with no paring. I think this emphasis on hand tool skills is partly to do with something I'll call craft courage. Let me explain. It's an inescapable fact of furniture making that the point will come in any project where you have to put at risk all the work you've invested up to that point. And the further you progress in the craft the greater that "at risk" element will become. Think about sinking 600 hours into a project and then having to form a gun stock moulding or inlay some 1mm wide stringing. You risk destroying that 600 hours of effort and application with one slip. That's what I mean by craft courage, the confidence in your own abilities that you're willing to take that chance. And in my opinion you'll only develop that courage and confidence by first earning your spurs mastering hand tool skills.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I think a good book for you to read to emphasise Custard's point is by David Pye,it explains the difference between the craftsmanship of risk as opposed to the craftsmanship of certainty,I'm sorry but I forget the title of the book,but I'm sure Custard will have read it and can perhaps enlighten us.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

Just Googled Pavid Pye the book is called The nature and art of workmanship.I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the way a craftsman thinks and executes their craft.

 

[AJB Temple]

I pretty much agree with Custard. When I am doing building work on our house, power tools are the way to go. But even though my workshop is quite well equipped with machinery, much of the time I still work by hand. I enjoy it more. And that is, in the end, why I do things myself rather than paying someone.

 

[iNewbie]

Hi, I got into a bit of an argument today with a friend who completely failed to see why I use hand tools only,

has anyone else had this problem? he knows very little about woodworking though but it was an interesting conversation.

Sounds like he has a problem.

Don't make his problem, yours.

Knock him up a set of chopsticks and tell him you've also done away with all your cutlery. :mrgreen:

 

[RossJarvis]

I think this emphasis on hand tool skills is partly to do with something I'll call craft courage. Let me explain. It's an inescapable fact of furniture making that the point will come in any project where you have to put at risk all the work you've invested up to that point. And the further you progress in the craft the greater that "at risk" element will become. Think about sinking 600 hours into a project and then having to form a gun stock moulding or inlay some 1mm wide stringing. You risk destroying that 600 hours of effort and application with one slip. That's what I mean by craft courage, the confidence in your own abilities that you're willing to take that chance. And in my opinion you'll only develop that courage and confidence by first earning your spurs mastering hand tool skills.

Excellent point Custard and sometimes you do destroy that 600 hours of effort, but that's what Cascamite and sawdust is for

I've got a couple of wooden boxes on the window cill, made when I was first at college, all I can see is the gaping gaps round the dove-tails and that on one the dove-tails are placed totally different at one end from the other. Visitors seem blind to these obvious faults and somehow appreciate that they contain some kind of "spirit" of the making.

 

[rafezetter]

I came across a nice response to your mate's attitude on the Old Tools List recently.

"Woodworking's like sex. You don't think you are supposed to get it over with as quick as you can, do you?"

I share a house with a builder who's answer would be "YES!!!" He's always busy, but I wouldn't have him in to do any "bespoke" work if I owned a house. He doesn't have much in the way of female companionship either in the 11 years I've known him.

Maybe related... maybe not

He's always lecturing me on my speed, and although sometimes he's right, we both know he couldn't do the things I've produced either.

 

[No skills]

I'm sure there's another sex and woodwork line in there somewhere.. Along the lines of using battery powered tools in the bedroom rather than your own attached bits...

But I won't go there

 

[MusicMan]

I'm one of those who moaned about the problems of age, arthritis etc. The heavy jobs of getting wood to size and square I do by machine. But I still do as much as possible by hand and enjoy it; and as Custard says, most work has to be finished by hand anyway, and you need the skill in order not to ruin the work. Doing precise work by hand is fine, and pleasurable. Putting too much strain on certain fingers is not on.

Anyway, that gives me a nice excuse for buying a veritas shooting plane . A No. 5 indeed works perfectly well in my shooting board. But holding a plane and pushing it when it's on its side is damaging and uncomfortable.

As a hobbyist, you can also design projects around your limitations.