How much...

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all,
I am quite in the shadow, I can't give any advice because my little, very little, experience does not permits me to express any advice. I am learning.
I have seen you have and you speak a lot about hand tools, but when someone posted pictures of his workshop, I have seen that there are power tools also.
Well, in which task you mainly use power tools and hand tools.
I hope with your answers, to understand which tools I will have need.

Thanks in advance

 

[radicalwood]

Hi GEPPETTO,

Your not the only one don't worry. I have not done too much woodworking, I have started from the opposite end to yourself, I have bought some power tools (table saw, band saw and router table) but I still struggle with the hand skills. Being and engineer I started out treating wood in the same fashion as metal and expected the types of accuracy from the machines. I have found the hand skills are what is really required to produce a good result.
My best advice is to read whatever you can get your hand on and try everything, thats what I am trying to do.

Not much help on the tools front sorry I think you just get bits when you need or can afford and build slowly.

All the best

Neil

 

[Alf]

I have seen you have and you speak a lot about hand tools, but when someone posted pictures of his workshop, I have seen that there are power tools also.

Terrible hypocrites that we are.

Well, in which task you mainly use power tools and hand tools.
I hope with your answers, to understand which tools I will have need.

The main jobs I think power tools are best at are sawing, especially rip sawing (along the grain) and stock preperation. That is getting wood square and flat ready for the joinery. Definitely the two machines I'd miss most are the bandsaw and the planer/thicknesser. You can do without any of course, but I consider them my apprentices - doing all the back breaking, labour intensive, boring work so I can devote my time to the fun, er, important things like the joinery, finishing of visible surfaces with a hand plane etc

Don't worry about asking question, Geppetto; we all started out needing to learn, and we all still keep learning. One day you'll be so full up with what you've learnt it'll start to overflow and you'll get there first with an answer for someone else.

Cheers, Alf

 

[GEPPETTO]

..... I have found the hand skills are what is really required to produce a good result.

I agree with you!

.....
My best advice is to read whatever you can get your hand on and try everything, thats what I am trying to do.

It is what I am doing.
Unfortunately I can't find reviews here in Italy, I have to see beyond the Alpes :roll:
And, I am lucky because I have Internet which does life more easy.
And more the "to speak" in english enriches my inner, and it does permit me to know folks of other nations.


For the moment I have bought:

"The Complete Guide to Sharpening"
Leonard Lee;

The Workbench Book (Craftsman's Guide to)"
Scott Landis;

Making Traditional Wooden Planes
Whelan, John M.

Wooden Plane: Its History, Form & Function
Whelan, John M
But now I must brake me (for now) because otherwise my wife will put me out :roll: :wink: to part the jokes I spent long time to read these. :roll:

 

[GEPPETTO]

I am forgetting: thanks Alf too.

 

[Pete W]

I don't yet have a lot of experience but I'm happy to share my thinking so far...

When I first became interested in woodworking, I just assumed you needed a lot of power tools/machinery. As I researched the tools, I grew increasingly unhappy with the the amount of noise and dust that seemed unavoidable.

The more I read and learned, the more I came to realise that hand tools were/are still a practical, workable way of doing many of the things I wanted to do.

So my plan - and I'm getting close now - is to assemble the right mix (for me) of power and handtools. Like Alf, the powered tools I see as most useful are the bandsaw and planer/thicknesser, and I'd add a drill press, together with a circular saw for cutting down sheet materials.

The single biggest requirement I have is for more time :roll:. I bet I haven't managed 10 hours in the workshop in the last 10 weeks!