oh yeah, that's why I prefer hand tools

[Paddy Roxburgh]

I've been making three Oak windows for a house boat this last week. two of them were simple enough but the third, replacing some badly masticed perspex,was a nightmare. the steel on the side had been partially overplated at some point in the boats history so the window frame had to sit on a totally uneven surface. this meant making the frame and then making stopped rebates (well,sort of rebates but not on the edges) where the overplated steel steel stuck out 4mm and the welds another 2-3mm. Yesterday I attacked the first piece of frame with a chisel and then a stanley router, doing some of the middle section with a non fenced rebate plane. The piece I needed to remove was nearly 1 metre long and 60mm wide, 4mm to 7mm deep. It was getting lateit was taking ages, there were three more pieces to do, I'm already way behind with this job so my price is looking more and more like minimum wage. I have a woodrat that I never use but couldn't figure out how to hold the frame under the router Eventually I did something I haven't done for a long time. In the corner of the dock is a cupboard full of tools I never really use, deep in there is a 1/4" makita router. Sod it I'll use it and get this thing done in a fraction of the time.

Well Luckily I didn't f@@k the work but boy it was a reminder of why I don't ever use these horrible things. dust every where , a couple of tilts that made a horrid uneven surface (which fortunately will not be seen), constant nagging fear at the knowledge that it was not really a safe operation (for me or the wood) and that high pitched scream of a fast running cheap electric motor.

Put it away and did the rest of the pieces by hand, didn't finish work until 9pm (I'd started at 7.30am) but it reminded me that an hour with a hand router and chisel is loads more bearable that 10 minutes with the makita.

I still use the planer thicknesser, bandsaw, table saw, track saw and pillar drill all the time, I have sanders but mostly they are for paint prep not woodwork, but the routers electric planes and biscuit jointers all live in the "don't use cupboard", I should just sell the things and the bl@@dy woodrat.
Paddy

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Many years ago, my 'workshop' was the dining area of the kitchen/diner of my little 3-bed semi. In the days before I'd made a bench and thus used a workmate, I had a few boards of mahogany to plane up for a lap-desk. Thinking the task would be beyond my limited skills and equipment, I went out and bought an electric planer. A Makita, as it happens. Had a dust-bag and all.

Well, I had to wait until the neighbours had gone out, and closed the doors to keep the noise down a bit, but then - with some trepidation - I set about the mahogany. I really can't say I enjoyed the screaming, and the thought of those whizzing cutters made me VERY careful where my hands where - but ten minutes work had the bulk of the waste off. With some relief, I switched the thing off for the last time.

At that point, I wondered why I was standing in a red fog. Cleaning my glasses helped a bit, though it didn't occur at the time that if that's what my specs were like, the rest of me must be about the same. But it was still foggy.

An hour later, it was still misty. I'd swept everywhere, twice in many cases, and there was still dust settling. I cleaned all the kitchen surfaces, the cooker, the cupboard doors with a wet cloth - and still the dust settled. I vacuumed the walls and ceiling. After three hours of this, I gave up. I did the whole place again the following day. Two years later when I redecorated, I was still finding red dust deposits.

The actual planing was undoubtedly quicker than it would have been by hand. Overall, including cleaning, it would probably have been quicker by hand - and now, 25 years later when I know about well-cambered jack plane irons and cross-grain planing, it would be MUCH quicker!

I have never used a power planer since.....

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I confess to using both 1/4" and 1/2" routers, but I agree with the comments on the planer. Nothing I have is quite so loathed as my 7 1/4" saw - I have to be desperate before I use it.

 

[Racers]

+1

Read the signature.

Pete

 

[whiskywill]

I once had an electric planer which I used for cleaning up rough sawn or pallet wood. It earned its keep until one day a blade worked itself loose when I was using it. I thought it had exploded in my hand. It was totally unrepairable and went in the bin.

 

[lurker]

I was given a really good quality one.
Nasty snipey thing!
Has been useful once or twice getting really rough wood vaguely flat
Can't remember the last time I used it though.

 

[lurker]

+1

Read the signature.

Pete

All my tools are really quiet ...... Seemingly :lol:

 

[rafezetter]

I've also hardly used my electric hand planer - maybe it's my technique, but I hardly ever manage to get even a semblance of flat I always seem to end up with something more akin to a v long doorstop wedge. Hand planing flat is far simpler.

 

[Bod]

I've got an electric plane, and one of those jigs/frames that convert it, to a miniature planer/thicknesser.
1/2 hr. to set up
10 minutes to use.
30 mins to clean up, if the hoover stayed attached, 2 hrs. otherwise. (by which time hearing has returned)

Bod

 

[Eric The Viking]

My next door neighbour was using a hand electric planer to trim MFC, shelves, I think, the week end before last in the garden. He must have notched the blades in seconds, but had at it all afternoon, smoke and screaming notwithstanding.

Straightedge, score with a Stanley knife, trim with a disposable panel saw, job done.

Normally we get on really well, but that was pushing it.

I have one of the things, but it goes literally years between uses. For a start it doesn't work very well, and then I can't imagine why, overall, it's any faster than reaching for a hand plane.