Seeking advice on transitioning to hand tools

[SteveM]

I've been a Norm fan for a long time and have been slowly building up tools; a table saw, dust collecter, and jointer. While researching a quality block plane to purchase for trimming oak flooring boards for an upcomming flooring installation project I started to ponder the advantages of hand tools. For me the biggest advanatges are minimal noise, low dust, small footprint, and a ready supply of new and used quality North American made tools.

My small power tool collection was built up slowly by waiting and searching for good deals so I'm very hesitant to sell them all to fund a wholesale switch to hand tools all at once. I had been planning to keep an eye out for a planner so I was thinking that I could keep the power tools for now and pick up a Fore and Try plane to process rough stock. At that point selling the jointer could provide the funds needed to buy the saws needed to replace the table saw and so forth. Eventually I could then make the decision to sell the table saw and dust collector or keep them for home improvement projects.

Any input and suggestions from those who have fully made the switch would be appreciated. If you tried to switch and found you just couldn't get rid of a power tool or two then I'd appreciate knowing why you chose to do that as I'd just as soon not have to buy tools twice.

My thanks to Bob and Shannon for your excellent blogs and podcasts.

[Bob Rozaieski]

My advice is to pick up a few hand tools BEFORE you sell anything and build some stuff. See what you like doing with hand tools and what you don't before selling off any power tools. You may find that even though the reasons you stated above for making the switch make sense to you, you might hate doing stock prep with hand planes, or ripping with a hand saw, or ..... The only way to know is to build stuff using a mix of methods and see what you like doing by hand and what you don't.

Your idea of picking up a fore and try plane is a good one since you don't yet have a power planer. Tune up a couple of planes and try bringing some boards from rough sawn to joinery ready by hand. You might enjoy it, but on the other hand you might hate it. In either case you're not out a ton of money and can probably recoup most of it to put toward a power planer by selling the planes if you hate doing it by hand.

Same for ripping. Pick up an inexpensive rip saw, have it sharpened properly (dull saws are the #1 reason for frustration with hand sawing) and try ripping the stock for a few projects with it. If you like the work, that's great. If not, you still have the table/band saw going forward and you can easily unload a well sharpened rip saw.

Most folks enjoy doing the detail work with hand tools. That's the easy part to enjoy though. The brunt of the work is in the stock prep before the joinery is even layed out. Planing 150 bd. ft. of hardwood by hand is a lot of work. Ripping through 20 feet of 12/4 stock is a lot of work. I enjoy the work, and if you enjoy this kind of hard work then it might be for you too. But I for one wouldn't want to sell off any power equipment until I knew that I enjoyed the work.

[duckkisser]

are you forced to move or make your work area smaller? if not then why change things up? powertools have there place and so do hand tools. learn to combine them that way when you need to rip some boards down to build a side board you can then you can break out your scrapers and chisles and to do the extra work. i find that sanding is the noisest work because you spend so much time sanding.

when you get done the ringing in your ears is bad from sanding a large piece of furniture.

[rodger.]

I dream of going all hand tools, and all the perks that go with it: the quiet atmosphere, lack of dust, smaller space requirements, the feel of the tools, etc.

What I would miss is the speed and accuracy that machines provide for preparing rough lumber for use. This is why I would not be able to do a 100% switch-over. I agree with Bob, I really enjoy doing joinery and finish work with hand tools. This is the most enjoyable part of the craft, in my opinion.

[RenaissanceWW]

As usual, I agree 100% with Bob, sooo, ditto.

I have more emails than I can count from people who have made the switch and are now really frustrated. It is tough because essentially the best way to do it is run in parallel with the tools and capability to build by hand and with power. Like Bob I enjoy the hard work, but I still have not sold my power planer. The reality is that I am often on a deadline for video releases for the Hand Tool School. Not quite the same as a pro builder who needs to deliver a piece of furniture, but still a deadline. So there are times when I need the "shortcut" in order to meet a deadline. I have even expressed this notion to my members that sometimes, the power planer is the way to go.

What I would do is take a long, hard look at your current tooling and figure out what efficiencies you have now. Do you have a spindle sander that doesn't get much use and could be replaced with a sanding drum in your drill press? Do you have a scroll saw that never gets used anymore, etc? You can sell the superfluous stuff to finance a few hand tools to get you started on this path. You also don't have to spend much to get started. Buy a used Jack plane, camber the iron and practice on some rough stock. Don't worry about the sole flatness or mouth condition, it doesn't matter. Don't spend more than $20 on the plane, it isn't necessary. In my opinion, with only a little practice, the power jointer becomes unnecessary very quickly.

A well tuned saw is probably one of the most important things because honing your sawing skills will help you time and again whether you choose to break down rough stock in the long run or not. Being able to consistently saw to a line will improve and speed up your joinery greatly as well as your rough stock prep. Buy a beater for a few bucks and invest some sweat equity to clean it up, then send it to Bob to have it sharpened properly. Now practice.

I have been blessed with a lot of very nice, premium tools. That's what happens when you make good money and don't have kids. I didn't spend my income on TVs and other man toys, but instead bought very nice tools before I had the skill to use them. Now I changed jobs and industries and cut my income by 2/3. If I had to start all over, I would buy all vintage to get started. Don't get me wrong, I love my Lie Nielsen and Veritas tools and they work great, but in many cases they are overkill for what is really needed.

[SteveM]

Thank you all for your advice.

duckkisser -

My power tools must be pushed against the wall when not in use and to do any work requires backing out the car then setting up the tools for work, when done it all has to go back. Given an hour of time to work I can only do actual wood working for about 40 minutes of that. In order to have a proper wood working bench I'd have to put right where all the power tools are being stored (I do have another general purpose workbench though).

Bob and Shannon -

I'm going to do exactly what you have both suggested so I'll be looking to get some cheap but quality hand tools that can be tuned up. I'm no stranger to hard work, but I decided to earn my living by using my brain rather than my brawn so now I'm finding myself looking for things to do to keep me active while at home. Maybe prepping rough lumber by hand will prove to be more work than I want, but if it causes me to break a sweat and gets my heart moving a bit then it beats going to a gym to stare at a TV while sweating next to a bunch of strangers.

For planes I was thinking a Stanley #5 would be easy and cheap to find and press into service as a fore plane. For a try plane would a #7 or #8 be a good model? I know Bob likes wood planes and I'm not adverse to them, but it seems like it would be easier for me to find a metal plane in good condition (eg. purchasing from Patrick Leach or Brass City Records). For a rip saw perhaps a 28" Disston D-8 with thumb hole? I don't doubt Bob's saw sharpening skills, but I just talked to Mike Wenzloff and he said they sharpen saws and it is easy and cheap for me to just drive over there and drop it off.

[Bob Rozaieski]

A #5 is a good fore plane. For the try plane both a #7 and a #8 will work fine so get whichever one you can find cheaper and in decent condition. For saw length you want to size the saw to your frame. That's about the length of your sawing arm from the inside of your shoulder to the first knuckle up your fingers or basically to the end of your closed fist when your arm is straight in front of you. A 28" saw is pretty long unless you are very tall. I use a 24", but I'm short. For most average height folks, 26" is a better fit but you should measure yourself and fit the saw to yourself.

[RenaissanceWW]

I have a 28" saw and I am 6'4". Even then it is just a bit too long for me. I use it for resawing when I clamp a board vertically. If I use it with my sawbench, I invariably bang the toe on the floor once or twice during the cut.

[SteveM]

Thanks to the above advice and some vacation time to allow me to search eBay regularly I was able to get the following four planes in a single auction for about $30 including shipping. My wife barely glanced at me when I gleefully informed her of the purchase, but I'm sure telling her about buying a LN plane would get more attention.

The big one is 26" long with "D.R. BARTON ROCHESTER" stamped on the iron, but "W.H. Blye DeRuyter" stamped on the toe. The handle is loose so I need to find out how to get it properly set.

The next one is 21" with PROVIDENCE TOOL CO" stamped on the blade, but no name on the wood body. It appears to have seen a lot of use and has been flattened many times and the throat patched. I would say it is in the best working condition of them all.

The little guy without the "D" handle is 8" long and stamped "SARGENT & CO" on both the iron and body.

The smallest one has a saw handle nailed to the body and is 7" long with L&H SORBY Stamped into the blade, but no markings on the body.

All of them have cap irons except the 7" long L&H SORBY and all have some degree of cracking in the wood bodies and are in need of a tune up as described in Bob's podcast. But that's not going to happen for a while as I'm in the middle of installing hardwood floors and the plumbing is trying to fall apart on me at the same time so my "to do" list is already full.

Does anyone have any thoughts in using the 26" as a try plane, the 21" as a fore plane and either the 7" or 8" as a smoother?

[Bob Rozaieski]

All will work well for the tasks you intend to use them for. Clean them up, give them a good coat of paste wax, sharpen the irons real good and you'll be in business. Don't worry about wide mouths. All of my old woodies have wide open mouths, including my smoothers, and it's never been a problem. Just get the irons real good and sharp and you should be good to go.

As for the loose handle, see if you can remove it completely. You might need to help it out with a mallet. You don't want to do this by hitting the handle directly though. That's a sure way to break it. Most loose handles will come out with a little wiggling, but if it's really stuck, I like to clamp the handle securely in a wooden handscrew clamp and use a mallet to tap on the handscrew and lift the handle up and forward, towards the toe of the plane. This should gently lift the rear of the handle up and out, allowing you to remove the handle. You have to remove it from the back first because the front of the handle mortise is often undercut like a dovetail, locking the front of the handle down so it cannot lift out. So lift the handle out by pivoting it up at the back. Once the back is clear, you can pull the handle backwards out of the undercut mortise.

Once the handle is completely removed, clean away any loose grime and dirt, make any necessary repairs to it and glue it back in with hide glue. The liquid kind is fine if you are not set up to use hot hide glue. The Titebond liquid hide glue is readily available at several hardware stores (the old Ace by my brother's house used to carry it before they closed down) and can be ordered or bought in store from any Woodcraft. PLEASE DO NOT USE YELLOW GLUE (or any modern adhesive for that matter)! I've seen way too many of these old planes ruined with yellow glue when the handle comes loose again, which it will at some point. It's a natural thing to happen when the wood expands and contracts with the seasons.

If you use yellow glue, you or the next user will have to remove all of the old glue before making the next repair. This will result in removing some wood and making for a very loose fit, which no amount of glue will fix. They you are stuck with making shims from plane shaving to take up the extra space, or making a whole new handle. With hide glue, you simply clean away the loose gunk and add more hide glue. New hide glue reconstitutes the old and it all mixes together to form a nice new bond. Can't do this with modern glues. Hide glue also does not need to be clamped to bond well, unlike most modern glues. Just coat the handle well with new hide glue and push the handle into the mortise until it seats. If you want to add a clamp or tie it down just to hold it in place you can, but it's really not necessary. So please use hide glue to fix any loose handles. And whatever you do, don't drive screws through the handles. I've seen far too many of these kinds of repairs as well and they never end well .

[Chuck M]

Bob,

Thank you for the info on how to fix a loose handle, I wouldn't have thought to use hide glue, but the reasons you list make complete sense.

[SteveM]

Thanks Bob, I'll be sure to use liquid hide glue. I didn't see a mortise, but it does fit very snugly in the hole, that is until I picked up the plane by its tote only. There is some epoxy I'll need to clean up first, but the handle is already patched with epoxy and appears to have holes eaten in it by bugs so I wouldn't rule out making a new handle some day.

[Bob Rozaieski]

I didn't see a mortise, but it does fit very snugly in the hole, that is until I picked up the plane by its tote only.

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse you. I am referring to the hole as the handle mortise.

[SteveM]

Gotcha, the handle is mortised of course, but no undercutting at the front. I'm still working to get a handle on all of the terminology.

[duckkisser]

Gotcha, the handle is mortised of course, but no undercutting at the front. I'm still working to get a handle on all of the terminology.

uggg realy that is a bad pun good luck with the planes i had a few wood ones but honestly i never cared for them my heel always seemed to be a little bowed so when i went to push the plane it rocked back and forth a little so it ended up diging in more in one spot then in others. i just stick with my tried and true stanly planes that i picked up from garage sales.

[HoboMonk]

First, a rhetorical question: Is this another "hand tools" versus "power tools" discussion that assumes there are two distinct categories of tools/tool users?

Why does this notion persist? Is it the woodworking publications, bloggers and talking heads that echo this theme?

In the real world of serious woodworking, there are no barriers between tool types. You use what is convenient, what matches your skills and what is available.

I predominately use Japanese and other Asian handtools, but I love my electric drills and jig saws.

I can see a band saw in my future and if I buy one I doubt that it will cause a rift in the space/time continuum.

I still drill the occasional hole with a Japanese gimlet or a Western-style brace and bit just because I have the acquired skills to do so and it keeps me in touch with working close to the grain.

Also, I have decades of experience using a coping saw, so I don't automatically reach for a jig saw when it is not convenient.

I typically have others prep my lumber, using their power tools and their acquired skills. That's simple delegation - a real world choice.

My sawyer uses an industrial size power plane to dress my lumber according to my specifications.

I don't see the value in spending hundreds/thousands of dollars to buy tools to do simple tasks.

However, I occasionally harvest my own wood, then rive and adze it to give it that rustic look that you can't buy.

I apologise to no one and I completely reject being labeled as hand-tool or power-tool user - I'm a tool user!

I admit to being biased toward my family's seven generation experience in the wood working industry and my decades of training and experience in Asian woodworking.

My clients don't care to label me nor do they seem to be aware of the aforementioned tool-based labeling "echo" that pervades forums like this.

Acquire skills, not tools.

Blessings,

Bro. Tenzin

[SteveM]

Duckkisser:

These planes seem to be fairly flat already so I probably won't even try to flatten the fore plane. The try plane and smoother planes are the ones I'll try to spend a little time flattening. I've got an 8" Grizzly jointer and am not afraid to use the bed to hold sandpaper for flattening or even run the try plane across it to get a flat surface. Who knows, maybe these aren't for me either, but it's a $30 risk I'm willing to take. As my mother-in-law pointed out, if all else fails they look good as display pieces.

HoboMonk:

This isn't about electrical/pneumatic versus sweat powered tools, it's about me not liking the shop environment created by the big power tools and dipping my toe into the hand tool waters to see if I like that better. I've got a lot of smaller power tools I'd never part with as they are very useful around the home, but in the end its about the best tool for the job at hand and for fine furniture I think I need to broaden my horizons and wouldn't mind losing the ear muffs in the process. Maybe these categories exist because for many years on my local PBS station every Saturday was a half hour of Roy followed by a half hour of Norm. All I know is that when I pull into the parking lot at work I see that everyone either drove a Ford truck or something else.

[HoboMonk]

Here's my ordered list of some of the criteria that I use in choosing/using tools. Notice that "Skill" is number one:

1. Skill

2. Design

3. Safety

4. Cost

5. Environmental

6. Productivity

7. Maintenance

8. Space

9. Storage

10. Power

Blessings.

Bro. Tenzin, OFI

[CessnaPilotBarry]

Steve,

If there are any opportunities within a decent distance from you, I'd suggest a weekend class around hand tools before you buy much of anything.

You can learn LOTS from video and internet forums. However, at the very beginning, someone moving your hands or body into proper position, explaining common gotchas, providing feedback on your technique, and providing you with properly tuned tools, can be worth it's weight in gold.

Once you have the basic muscle memory and body position feel, you'll learn much more from video and text description. Having access to sharpened and tuned tools eliminates a big part of the equation.

I've been working wood for ~ 17 years. Somehow, after many classes, books, articles, videos, etc... I never really learned to handsaw well. I often thought it was the saw, so I bought more saws. During a trip to Tools for Working Wood in NYC, Joel Moskowitz positioned me at a bench, moved my hips, shoulders, and arms into place, and moved my arm. That five minutes made everything else suddenly make sense.

[nateswoodworks]

Here's my ordered list of some of the criteria that I use in choosing/using tools. Notice that "Skill" is number one:

1. Skill

2. Design

3. Safety

4. Cost

5. Environmental

6. Productivity

7. Maintenance

8. Space

9. Storage

10. Power

Blessings.

Bro. Tenzin, OFI

Where is joy, pleasure, and thrill? Those are the top reasons I grab my handtools instead of my powertools. I am a hybrid woodworker and that will never change, the line where one starts and the other stops may but I always see there being both in my shop:)

[HoboMonk]

Where is joy, pleasure, and thrill? Those are the top reasons I grab my handtools instead of my powertools. I am a hybrid woodworker and that will never change, the line where one starts and the other stops may but I always see there being both in my shop:)

Why vs How.

The "Why" is the Zeroth criteria and is different for everyone. It's the reason we are here.

Blessings.

[SamV]

I was forced to make the switch. Being in the Army on Active Duty for me as a woodworker means three years living on the opposite coast from my garage and it's powertools. After one year in my home away from home studio apartment .I haven't used my colt router, my skil saw, and I only used my 5" sander when I had xmas presents and a looming due date to get them shipped by. I have a large eggbeater drill and brace and auger set but I find i use a cordless drill for small holes more often.

The two tools I wish I could have brought with me: drillpress (sometimes 89 degrees won't do) and my bandsaw (made a bowsaw wishing I had a bandsaw to make it). I'd make a spring pole lathe if I had the room so I bought a tiny Harbor Freight lathe to make do mostly as ballast for my workbench. And I've borrowed use of a wide belt sander for my larger projects with rough lumber. But that's it, and it's been better knowing I have most of the big powertools and being forced to use the scrub plane instead.

Hope this is helpfull