Untouched by Human Hand

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MikeG.

MikeG.

Established Member
Joined
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Location
Essex/ Suffolk border
My workshop is still very much in metalwork mode (ie filthy, tools and steel everywhere, massive project occupying all the floorspace), so I am quite pleased to be able to upload some pictures of a bit of woodwork.

Unfortunately, because of the state of the workshop, this was a machine-only project......an entirely skill-free zone, I'm afraid.

Still, from a few offcuts of ash, these didn't turn out too bad:

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So, there you are......not terribly exciting, but at least it is wood! Ash, with walnut plugs and a wipe of olive oil held together with Cascamite glue.

Mike
 
Mike

Good to see the off cuts put to good use. I've been meaning to make a new cutting board for ages, but can't seem to find the time, maybe next year.
 
[Unfortunately, because of the state of the workshop, this was a machine-only project......an entirely skill-free zone, I'm afraid.]

An interesting thought for Christmas, does the use of machinery imply a completely skill free zone? Is there not a different set of skills required to set up and use machinery? I don't know the answer, I am just asking the question. What I do know is that as a previously 'machine only' man I am beginning to find that the predictability and precision of machines provides far less satisfaction than achieving the same result by hand. I suppose it comes down to how much time you have available for each particular job.

Anyway Happy Christmas to you all, :D

Cheers,

Alan
 
Don't read too much into Alan's post, he is a great woodworker and has made more than a few good projects that many of us have copied once they have been published.
I have been an admirer of his work for a number of years and would wish and love to be counted as being on a par.
Derek.
 
Alan,

good question!

No, I don't think one implies the other.......however, in this particular case the project involved, OK, not zero, but very close to zero, skill. I believe I could pretty much have "talked a novice through it" to roughly the same sort of standard.

I should stop before I end up chucking these breadboards away in disgust!!!!!

Mike
 
Mike

Although the physical machining of them didn't stretch your skill level, there is still the design element to take into account, just a different set of skills.

If you are going to throw them then I for one would be happy to catch one for you.....:D

Cheers

Mark
 
Derek, thanks for your comments, I wasn't trying to be controversial, just to stir up a yuletide debate about the merits of machine v hand woodworking. I have always been a machine fan as in my opinion (and obviously Mike's) it allows you to produce projects far in excess of your handwork capabilities. But eventually you realise that this somehow doesn't generate the same satisfaction factor that doing the same job by hand does. As Mike says he could talk a complete novice through this to produce the same result, and to me that is the key, as my aim is to make woodworking accessible to everyone, and for many this can only be achieved with the use of machinery and power tools. But I still maintain that this requires a different set of skills.

Having got so far with mechanical aids though, the challenge is to get the same results using hand tools, a situation I find more and more enjoyable.

My hope is that the proliferation of cheap machines and tools gets more converts into woodworking who can then progess to reawakening their latent abilities in more traditional methods.

As I say, this is just my personal ramblings, no offence intended to anyone, I am just interested in other views as this is a bit of a mission of mine. :D

All the best

Cheers,

Alan
 
It's machines and powertools for me,and i will just have to admire those skills shown by those who do use handtools.
I do have little hand skill and do use it on the odd occasion and there is much more satisfaction at the end,but as Allan says there is also a skill, albeit a different skill,required i would say in using machines.If you see what i mean :?
I just know that my hand skills aren' good enough.So prefer machines :D
 
Thanks for all the comments, fellas. Much appreciated.

This project would actually be quite a test for hand-tool skills......hand-sawing the boards would be just a lot of labour, not very difficult, but planing them all up to the necessary precision.....days of work! The cleaning up after it was all glued wouldn't be difficult, and you would probably have to get the brace & bit out for the plugs. Theres a thought......how do you make the plugs by hand? Hmmmmmm

Mike

PS Derek, the bits of 2x1 box section I had weren't straight enough, but I have it logged away in the back of my mind........I'll do it one day! They would certainly have helped with this glue-up!!
 
For my part, I love machinery and the accuracy and predictability it brings and I have worked in metal all my life but have made woodworking my retiring aim and have bought and purchased accordingly, but one has to ask, how did the sheratons and chippendales of the world cope, obviously with great skill, I don't even know how to set up a plane correctly, I would love to see videos demonstrating this, I had planned to have a session with woodbloke in 2009 but things are a bit tight at the moment and visual aids would be handy as I don't know any woodies close to me, so if any decent planer feels like making a video, I'll be the 1st to watch. :D

Rich.
 
There was a time when I would have agreed that machines required less skill than hand work. Not necessarily now though. I find myself using machines more and more and using them for processes that would be difficult or impossible by hand.

Roy.
 
its probably true that machine work requires less skill than doing it all by hand - but thats probably just as well - certainly the possession of the biscuit jointer , morticer, bandsaw etc make it possible for me to make furniture when i struggle to even cut things roughly straight or square when using hand tools alone.
 
It's not just that BSM. I've just made two raised panels, some 110mm square, for these two clocks that were supposed to be finished some days ago! :cry:
Now, I can raise panels with a plane, but once an item becomes very small I find that it becomes progressively more difficult to produce an accurate result and any imperfections all the more obvious.
Then I start to look at machining.
Raising two panels of that size on a TS is not something to be safely done, IMO without additional aids, and there a new set of skills/learning curve begins, and a new level of satisfaction.
Horses for courses I reckon.

Roy.
 
I go along with Digit here. Raising panels with hand-tools is therapeutic for me.

Now I have my LN block-plane, with it's full-width blade and open cheeks, I can make smaller and smaller panels without a problem; and the cut has to be experienced to be believed!

When I get permission to go into the workshop, after the Holiday, I'll try a few. We do need a new set of place mats!



:ho2 :eek:ccasion5:
 
Mike,

Can I ask a daft question, what did you use to saw through the 4 high blocks ? Did you use a bandsaw ?

cheers


paul
 
Exactly that, Paul........indeed, some of the offcuts were glued together into a six inch high block, and the bandsaw sorted those really easily too.

To avoid compound errors, I planed the cut-end of the block after each band-sawing. This also meant that each board when it was finally joined had one planed face.......made the gluing up a whole lot easier.

Mike
 

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