Rough to ready...with handtools.

[Rob Luter]

So even after milling on power J&P, some finish work will need done via a smoother to clean up the surfaces?

I find that the mill marks left by the planer really need to be smoothed out or they show after finishing. The application of any kind of stain really makes them pop. While the difference isn't visible to the casual observer, if you compare two surfaces side by side where one was smoothed after power surfacing and the other wasn't, it's really obvious. Some rely on sandpaper and elbow grease. I like a few whispy thin cuts with a 4 1/2 or a little time with a cabinet scraper.

[Marcus Ward]

There's a point beyond which doing it by hand is just deliberate masochistic oddness (at least for me it is). I can s4s by hand and do when I'm in the mood, but I have a huge Grizzly jointer for cranking 300 bd ft of stock through when I need it done. The object is to produce the piece, not to measure your manhood or womanhood by the amount of complexity you can add to the process.

[JohnMorgan of Lititz]

Wow, you guys are making this tough. There are so many ways to do things.

From a few of the last comments, I can see holding off on a jointer, but using a power planer. I know I can flatten a board and joint an edge by hand and it really doesn't take much time...but where i struggle and take time is thickness planing down to the scored line. Naturally, some parts of the board are thicker and I seem to monkey around more.

I may have to think about that some more. I could save about $1100 bucks that i would have spent on the Grizzly 8" jointer by continuing the face joint by hand and then have a thickness planer to just chug through down to size.

I can see a solid workbench is a must have...need that tail vice.

[Mark Roderick]

20 Projects in 2008? That's terrific. I'm lucky if a finish a few each year.

[Joe Close]

Robert Rozaieski's note above said it best. Essentially, do the work the way "you want" to do it. Personally, I enjoy using handplanes. There is something relaxing about using them. I get a bit more sense of accomplishment when looking at the finsihed product, knowing what it took to build it. So I use every oppoutunity to use the hand tool. But this is just how I feel about it. Each to his own...

[Marcus Ward]

Yeah don't take my statement to mean that anyone who does it entirely with handtools is engaging in some sort of non-useful enterprise. I admit a bit of jealousy for people who can do that. It's very satisfying. I just have to balance satisfaction with expediency (as do we all). Do what works best for you, anyone likely to judge you for your method of working is probably not worth being friends with anyhow. Amirite?

[John Schreiber]

Lots of great comments above. I'm in the position where I have little money to spend and I have chosen to spend most of it on hand tools.

I have a skill saw, which is good for long rips and a 2nd hand lunchbox planer which can remove a lot of wood, but which also wastes a lot of wood and still leaves a surface which needs to be planed. My router helps a lot too, but it is so easy to screw something up with it.

I enjoy doing work by hand and take pride in the fact that I can saw to a line and tune the fit of a joint with a hand plane. It's also sometimes after 10:00 pm when my family is asleep before I can get out in the shop and I can't make much noise at that hour.

BUT, when I have the money, I'll hire a bunch of those "tailed apprentices" to do the grunt work. I could turn out more work faster and still do the final joinery and surfaces by hand.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Like many here, I'm mostly a hybrid of hand and power tools except when I have an exceptional amount of time. I will say however, that I personally believe that every woodworker who aspires to hand tool use should at some time go through the exercise of making a lidded box or small piece of furniture like a Pembroke table entirely by hand. by this I mean starting with rough stock and 4 squaring, doing the joinery, and every step up to the final finish with hand tools. Even if you only do this once, you will learn a huge amount that will improve your skills and your ability to "read" the wood. I would do all my work by hand more often, but having the tool business demands on my time and having a day job prevents that for now. Ah, maybe when I retire.

[Adam Cherubini]

I'm curious how many Neander's out there are still milling by hand or if most have crossed over to the power tool side.

I don't think there are a LOT of guys who work entirely by hand. I think the overwhelming majority of woodworkers don't even have the basic tools required to do the job efficiently. I don't want you to have the impression that lots and lots of guys are building furniture without power tools. Also, I think there are more folks working by hand now than there were just 10 years ago.

I'm ready to buy the power jointer and planer I think. I am a weekend woodworker, so I spend a lot of time milling lumber.

I don't know jack about power tools. But if I were to choose a power tool for my shop, I think it would be a band saw. I think you could do a lot of great work with a band saw. Planes work pretty well for edge work. I think I'd put off buying a jointer and planer.

Table saws seem to be designed and marketed to people who work with sheet goods. I draw the line at sheet goods. I'll never work with them. And the table saw seems like such a commitment.

Adam

[Jim Koepke]

I'm curious how many Neander's out there are still milling by hand or if most have crossed over to the power tool side.

My main reason for not using power tools is that I do not have them. Until just recently, I was resawing with a handsaw. That is a pain. Finally put together a small band saw. It takes almost as long to resaw some pieces, but that is because if is a bit on the wimpy side.

Do the work in what ever way you find suits your pleasure. When all is said and done, does it really matter to you if you say to friend, "I built that myself, or "I built that without the aid of power tools?"

jtk

[Marcus Ward]

I agree with Adam on the bandsaw. A buddy of mine put a flea in my ear about using a bandsaw instead of a tablesaw in the shop and after a year of thinking about it I sold my table saw and bought a big bandsaw. The funny thing is, now I rarely use my planer and only occasionally the jointer. The bandsaw leaves a great finish that I can clean up in just a bit with a hand plane. Hooking the DC up to the planer takes longer than that. I could get rid of all my other power tools, but I like my bandsaw.

[JohnMorgan of Lititz]

Thanks again, guys. An incredible amount of food for thought.

I'm in a situation right now where I could afford to buy a really nice setup of J&P and bandsaw, but I'm not the type of person to just go blow the money on cool tools - as cool as that would be, I'm just too frugal. I can see where a bandsaw could really complement hand tools far more. I hadn't really thought about it...resawing to thickness after flattening, jointing by hand would save wood and be just as accurate and easy to clean up with a handplane afterwards.


How do you neanders do things like dado's ? Or do you construct things in such a way so you avoid them? For example, simple drawer bottoms. I see my table saw as the best way to accomplish that.

[Marcus Ward]

How do you neanders do things like dado's ? Or do you construct things in such a way so you avoid them? For example, simple drawer bottoms. I see my table saw as the best way to accomplish that.

Something like this:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...78&cat=1,41182

Although I'd probably use a stanley 45, I can't afford one of those.

http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan6.htm

[Johnny Kleso]

I dont have a apprentis so I use my planer and jointer any job bigger than a small box

[Chris Schumann]

Something like this: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...78&cat=1,41182

or their: router plane for dadoes.