Cut the cord and throw the battery away

[Denny Tudor]

I have 4 power tools - a ryobi table saw, a 30 year old Sears RAS, a decent delta bench press and a Milwaukee 18v set predominantly used in home repairs( except for the drill. No planer, sander, jointer, router.----- most of what I do is by hand.

i was was wondering how many of you cut the cord and threw away the batteries COMPLETELY. In your shop . Would be interest to hear you tales. I am remodeling a corner of the pole arm for new on our new place and am close to doing it.

Looking forward to hearing you tales of withdrawal.

denny

[Mike Henderson]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking here but I would not be without my battery operated drill and driver. It's just so much easier to grab one and take it to the work - compared to grabbing a tailed drill and finding a place to plug it in, and then dealing with the cord pulling on the tool when you're using it.

Other tools are corded. You don't have much choice on the table saw, jointer, planer, lathe, router, etc.

Mike

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Denny,

My main power tools are a drill press, band saw, lathe and an 18v DeWalt drill. The RAS is mostly used by my wife and the portable belt sander is used for metal about as much as it is used for wood. There are a few others stowed away that seldom get used.

I really do not have 'tales of withdrawal' since most of my work was always done without power until a few power tools were acquired.

For some aspects of woodworking power tools can be handy. For others they are just a noise generator.

For projects outside the shop the only power tool is usually the battery powered drill.

One of the most useful non-power tools in those situations is a good pair of sawhorses.

jtk

[Denny Tudor]

I guess i wasn't as clear as I thought . Figured posting on this board it would be understood that by saying " cut the cord and throw the batteries away " mean going totally hand tools no power what so ever!!

perhaps there are as many true Neanderthals as I thought or hoped for. NINO's


Jim you got that right about saw horses. In fact I use mine so much i am thinking about just thick plank bench top on top of two Japanese style trestle saw horses in the new shop.. Lot of flexibility there .

[Frederick Skelly]

There are a lot of True Neanders on this board and I'm sure they'll chime in. In fact, Warren Mickley is a pro who - as I understand it - uses only handtools.

Speaking personally, I prefer to let my machines do the "heavy work" (preparing and dimensioning stock) and use my hand tools for "fine work" (joinery, finishing work like fitting inset drawers, final smoothing). I don't personally enjoy ripping boards to width by hand. But many guys here do.

Good luck Denny.
Fred

[Jim Koepke]

My planes and chisels do a lot more work than any of my power tools. It is handy to be able to rip a piece in quick order on the band saw instead of moving things around to rip it by hand.

jtk

[Normand Leblanc]

My woodworking for furniture making is entirely unplugged...even the grinder is manual. It's obviously much longer than to power plane a board but I like it quiet, safe and no dust (or hardly). On top of that it's a hobby and I don't even need furniture, I have what I need. So, going faster with power tools is out of the question.

I do have some electric tools for general purpose work but I find myself doing most of that work with my manual tools. A 3" swing brace is a wonderful screwdriver.

[paul cottingham]

I do grunt work (long rips, removing large amounts of material from boards etc.) with power. If my hands were in better shape, I would do everything Neander, it is definitely much better suited to my temperament. So I use a bandsaw, a mortiser, a planer and an old delta drill press when I use power. I still have a table saw, but don't remember the last time I used it.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I have not used a power sander in a very long time (except in grinding knives). That used to be my power tool cheat but I learned to get a better finish EASIER with hand tools. I have done numerous small projects all by hand, but ripping is where I stop. I use a circular saw for any large ripped dimensions.

[Brian Holcombe]

perhaps there are as many true Neanderthals as I thought or hoped for.

Hi!

Perhaps give it a few hours, being a holiday weekend and all...

[Brent Cutshall]

Uh-oh, another hand tools/power tools thread. But who am I kidding, I can't wait to hear the stories that will churn out of this. My story is that I can't afford power tools, but I don't think I would use them if I had them.

[Pat Barry]

You can easily unplug those machines and set them in a corner of your pole arn for a year and do everything with hand tools. I fail to see why anyone with a decent battery drill driver would think about throwing that away though. Thats borderline insanity - LOL

[Mike Allen1010]

Bandsaw for re-sawing, dril press and cordless drills. I started w/ TS and all power tools many years ago but have come to appreciate dimensions stock and joinery w/ handsaws and planes.

Caveat; I like hand tool friendly woods and probably spend too much time keeping edge tools sharp.

I could live without the drill press, but it is a time saver when I have lots of mortises.

I'm sure all Neanderthal is easily doable, but for an old, fat, impatient guy like me, not 100% preferable.

More important: on behalf of a grateful nation, THANKS TO ALL WHO SERVE !

See the the classifieds for tiny gesture.

"only easy day was yesterday "

Cheers, Mile

[Denny Tudor]

Bandsaw for re-sawing, dril press and cordless drills. I started w/ TS and all power tools many years ago but have come to appreciate dimensions stock and joinery w/ handsaws and planes.

Caveat; I like hand tool friendly woods and probably spend too much time keeping edge tools sharp.

I could live without the drill press, but it is a time saver when I have lots of mortises.

I'm sure all Neanderthal is easily doable, but for an old, fat, impatient guy like me, not 100% preferable.

More important: on behalf of a grateful nation, THANKS TO ALL WHO SERVE !

See the the classifieds for tiny gesture.

"only easy day was yesterday "

Cheers, Mile

i agree but today is not Veterans Day . It is Memorial Day - a day To thank those that gave the full measure .

[Phil Mueller]

Nice Mike...and thank you for your service!

To the OPs question, I'm moving in that direction. All crosscuts are now handsaw then shooting. Rip is a mix of handsaw and contractor saw. I dimension/square one face and both edges by hand; final thickness usually comes from a lunch box planer. Joinery is now 100% hand tools, with the exception of the large mortises for my work bench...combo of drill press and corded drill used there. Most drilling/counterboring by hand. Larger curved work gets roughed out with a jig saw. Tapered legs and such come from the contractor saw. A palm sander is still in the mix. Getting better at using planes, spokeshaves, scrapers and the like to finish up what the power tools left.

Frankly, I hate the noise and dust, and the effort to pull out and set up power tools (my shop is small, so pwer tools are all tucked away and need to be pulled out for each use). In some cases it's just a matter of efficiency...in some it's weighing the risk of ruining a piece from lack of hand tool skill.

My next goal is to become a better hand sawyer for rip cuts and resawing...