Hand tool forum, is it about sharpening or using hand tools?

[mike40]

I've been reading some of the posts in this category and they seem to be mostly about sharpening and not about working with hand tools. Judging from Jeff's opening post, it seemed he intended to use it to talk more about using hand tools than just sharpening them. So here is my contribution in that spirit.

I started out my woodworking hobby with machines 17 years ago, but I  have taken much more interest in hand tools over the years.  I can't claim to be highly skilled with them, I have risen to a certain degree of mediocrity with some of them and I am more than willing to become more proficient with all of them. I find that working with hand tools to be much more enjoyable and satisfying than working with machines, due mainly to the lack of dust and noise, plus they are  more efficient for many tasks. That doesn't mean that I want to give up my machines which do save me from a lot of boring and tiring labor, but more and more I am thinking twice about whether or not I should use hand tools for whatever work I'm contemplating. I have to admit that when I do some good work with my hand tools it does make me feel more like a proper craftsman. I am not sure why this is so, because it does require a lot of skill to get the most out of  machine tools too.

So what can I say about my actual experience? Well, my biggest and most satisfying 'breakthrough' has been with hand planes. I have been getting better with them, but there is still room for a lot of improvement. The main things that have helped me in this regard are, learning how to properly tune up a plane, how to get the blade sharp and also learning proper hand planing technique. All of these things can be found in a multitude of books and on the web. I still struggle a bit with getting the appropriate mouth openings for the wood I'm planing, but that is improving too.

The hand tool I respect the most is the lowly chisel. Why? Because there is little in woodworking that can't be done with one. Yes, I know it isn't always the best choice for any given task, nevertheless it can do the work of many different hand tools. I even learned how to make a 1 minute router plane using a chisel from Paul Sellers, the English woodworker. I haven't actually made one yet, but I will do soon and  I'll show you how it works.

Wood carving has been my biggest challenge, and that includes sharpening my carving tools properly. Maybe the Tormek will solve that problem for me. I have had better luck with chip carving than other forms of the craft. I have a  very modest selection of carving tools. A couple of inexpensive sets of small chisels and gouges and 6 or 7 good quality carving tools. The most important thing I've learned is that carving involves 2 cuts,the 1st cut and the 2nd opposing cut., to always cut with the grain. You can learn this by clutching a handful of straws and try cutting in from the end, take light shavings, and last but not least, you need to keep your carving tools razor sharp or they are useless. Of course there is more to carving than just those basic points, but that gets you started. I don't do a lot of carving due to arthritis, but I still give it a go on and off. It's a great way to add a little extra to your projects and it doesn't have to be the center of attention.

Spokeshaves are also one of my favorite tools. I have only two. One for concave work and the other for straight and convex cuts. The blades are identical, it is only the sole of the planes which make them different, with one being flat and the other rounded. These tools can be pushed or pulled, whatever works best for the work you are doing. I'm glad I got a Tormek because they will be easier to sharpen now. Spokeshaves are great tools for a lot of tasks like making cariole legs or round something if you don't have a lathe or the workpiece won't fit on it. It's also handy to do a chamfer with, although I usually use my block plane for that.

If this is well received, I will post some photos with my next entry on this subject. Meanwhile I hope others will join the discussion and describe their own experiences with hand tools. Maybe we can learn a few things from each other?

[Rob]

Good work Mike....keep posting

I'm off "glamping" with the kids now for the weekend with a few other families in the village.....it's gunna be a hot one!!

[Ken S]

Nice post, Mike.  I think of the hand tool part of the forum as being for anything related to woodworking which does not specifically apply to using the Tormek. 

Quite a while back, I posted a thought on a tool I thought was particularly useful.  I hoped others would pick up on the idea and share their own experiences.

This part of the forum could be both interesting and informative.  I hope we will use it more.

Keep posting.

Ken

[mike40]

Thanks Rob and Ken for the positive comments. I suppose that most of us on this forum also post on other woodworking websites, but I thought it would be fun to do that here too. Now that I have my Tormek to do the sharpening drudgery for me, I believe it will be easier and more natural for me to do even more hand tool woodworking than before. While hand tool techniques seem straight forward, I have found that there are usually a great deal of not so obvious subtleties going on that make a huge difference work. Chopping mortises for example. There are quite a few ways this can be done, some ways much more efficiently and accurately than others, and I think that pretty much applies to any hand tool work, so it seems worthwhile sharing our own experience in the hope we can learn better methods or alternatively help someone else to improve on theirs.

[MakerUnknown]

I'm totally non-denominational in woodworking and do what it takes to complete something be it powered or by hand.  I've always leaned toward the thinking that it's often quicker and easier to do it by hand rather on one offs than it is to pull out a powered tool and using that so my hand skills are pretty good.

I have a Bridge City Tools JointMaker.  For those not familiar, this is an upside down japanese saw blade held rigid with a sliding table above.  The wood is moved across the stationary blade by arm power. 
http://www.bridgecitytools.com/default/tools/jmpv2-jointmaker-pro.html

I call this doing it by hand, some others think it's cheating. 

One of the projects I'm working on currently uses the JointMaker to cut dovetails.  For expediency sake I could have used the sublime and ultimately versatile WoodRat and the look would have been very similar but decided to cut them by hand.



Few more pics of them here
http://paulkirchnerstudios.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-dove-tail-joint.html

[Ken S]

Mike,  I don't happen to post on any other woodworking forums.  I did follow another Tormek forum a couple years ago, however, most of the posts seemed to be people selling things.  This forum easily fills my available forum time. I am sure there is no shortage of information at other sites.

Paul, noice dovetail work and nicely photographed.  If you happen to run across any of Pat Warner's first three books, I did the darkroom work for Pat.  I learned a lot from Pat.

All this talk about hand tools versus power tools reminds me of the reps who used to give seminars on new telephone meters.  Generally the new meters had some very useful features, but were best used as part of a team effort.  Your Bridge city outfit would seem to push the quantity limits of handwork quite a bit.  Thanks for sharing.

Ken

[mike40]

This Bridge city saw is quite an innovation and it would be a boon to many who like the the quietness of working with hand tools and without sacrificing precisions or productiveness. Your dovetails came out great.

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Nadia.  I'm not really a turner, so, beyond a few general recommendations, I really can't help you.  However, I believe you have a better chance of having your question answered if you let us know in what part of the world you reside. We are an international group.

Are you looking for a more local store or an online source?

Ken

[SharpenADullWitt]

Ken, your replying to a spammer.