Confessions of a Neanderthal

[bois]

My name is Rob, and I use power tools. There, I said it. I've been loitering around TWW forums and chats for quite a few years now, and have always remained a pretty strong advocate for hand tools (especially those shiny bronze ones). I've always claimed to be a hybrid woodworker, but when it comes to finish prepping solid wood, I have always been squarely in the hand tool camp. I just love the way a piece of cherry shimmers after a pass with a sharp card scraper, and find the whoosh of a well tuned smoothing plane to be one of my favorite experiences in woodworking. So I feel a deep sense of guilt after the last project I worked on (which involved gluing up six 30" diameter hard maple laminations) forced me to explore alternative means. I ended up getting a Jet/Performax 16/32 drum sander to help me quickly level out the glued-up panels, and the tool performed magnificently. However, I could only reasonably get down to 150 grit, and the linear drum does leave noticeable sanding marks. now I'm back working on a sideboard with a 60" by 24" cherry top, leaving me a flat but somewhat scratched product out of the drum sander. Not wanting to lose momentum, I finally broke down and bought a Festool 6" random orbit sander to get me from drum sander to finish grit. And here's the worst part; I don't know why I didn't buy one sooner.

Yes, it's noisier, but the dust collection is second to none, and the finish even at 320 grit is possibly even better than I get with a card scraper. This weekend I was working on some frame and panel doors, and the ROS got me to the same point in about 10 minutes that my plane and scraper would have taken 2 hours. Those pesky rail and stile intersections were no problem for the random scratch pattern, while I always seem to have some small cross-grain scratches when I do this operation by hand - no matter how careful I am.

Now before I get carried away, I can assure you I won't be putting my bronze beauties out on the curb any time soon. There are still many places I'll still use hand tools over power tools, but my fear of sanding has diminished significantly over the past month. If I can spend more time fine tuning my joinery, cutting dovetails, or experimenting with new finishes, I'll gladly turn over my prep work to some helpful electrons. So how about you other Neanderthals, any skeletons in your closet?

[mlehikoinen]

I had every intention of learning how to dimension by hand as I didn't have a jointer. But a recent Craigs list score put a 6" into my shop for $100 (with new blades to boot!). I can't see myself doing it completely by hand in the near future. My shop time is limited, so the efficiency of a jointer is too powerful to resist.

Some would say the dark side has corrupted me ... others are welcoming me back to the light

[Vic]

My name is Rob, and I use power tools. There, I said it. I've been loitering around TWW forums and chats for quite a few years now, and have always remained a pretty strong advocate for hand tools (especially those shiny bronze ones). I've always claimed to be a hybrid woodworker, but when it comes to finish prepping solid wood, I have always been squarely in the hand tool camp. I just love the way a piece of cherry shimmers after a pass

with a sharp card scraper, and find the whoosh of a well

tuned smoothing plane to be one of my favorite

experiences in woodworking. So I feel a deep sense of

guilt after the last project I worked on (which involved

gluing up six 30" diameter hard maple laminations) forced

me to explore alternative means. I ended up getting a

Jet/Performax 16/32 drum sander to help me quickly level

out the glued-up panels, and the tool performed

magnificently. However, I could only reasonably get down

to 150 grit, and the linear drum does leave noticeable

sanding marks. now I'm back working on a sideboard with

a 60" by 24" cherry top, leaving me a flat but somewhat

scratched product out of the drum sander. Not wanting to

lose momentum, I finally broke down and bought a Festool

6" random orbit sander to get me from drum sander to

finish grit. And here's the worst part; I don't know why I

didn't buy one sooner.

Yes, it's noisier, but the dust collection is second to none, and the finish even at 320 grit is possibly even better than I get with a card scraper. This weekend I was working on some frame and panel doors, and the ROS got me to the

same point in about 10 minutes that my plane and scraper

would have taken 2 hours. Those pesky rail and stile

intersections were no problem for the random scratch

pattern, while I always seem to have some small cross-

grain scratches when I do this operation by hand - no

matter how careful I am.

Now before I get carried away, I can assure you I won't be putting my bronze beauties out on the curb any time soon.

There are still many places I'll still use hand tools over

power tools, but my fear of sanding has diminished

significantly over the past month. If I can spend more time

fine tuning my joinery, cutting dovetails, or experimenting

with new finishes, I'll gladly turn over my prep work to

some helpful electrons. So how about you other

Neanderthals, any skeletons in your closet?

For this, ye shall surely burn hell;o). You know I've always felt that power tools are simply our modern day apprentices. I HATE dust, so will always try to do as little hand sanding (power routing also) as possible. But, I've found the same thing when it comes to a scratch free surface. Maybe I'm not quite getting my scrapers tuned as well as possible. I'm still trying to use them to get to the next to final step in finish prep.

[muddlermike]

we've known it all along. it's about time you came to grips with who you are. Besides, real planes don't have bronze

[wilburpan]

Those pesky rail and stile intersections were no problem for the random scratch pattern, while I always seem to have some small cross-grain scratches when I do this operation by hand - no matter how careful I am.

Could it be that your plane blades are not as sharp as they could be? Your description here makes me think that your plane blades might have very tiny nicks in them, maybe because you're not sharpening all the way to the edge.

A while back I use a tip from Christopher Schwarz, and got a 21mm 20x jeweler's loupe. They can be found on eBay for $12, with a built in LED light, delivery included. I thought I was getting a good edge on my tools. Looking at them under magnification was a real eye opener. What I thought were sharp edges, although quite sharp, definitely needed some improvement. I had the same scratch issue you describe, and after I figured this out, the scratch issue went away.

[jlloydparks]

I hate doing any type of curved cutting with hand tools. I haven't found a bow saw or coping saw that gets along with me. Therefore, I will admit that I broke down and bought a bandsaw recently. I still use spokeshaves, rasps and drawknives for final shaping, but it has made life much easier.

[hhanger]

Yes, the age old discussion of technology vs. the old ways. Do we think for one minute the old world craftsmen wouldn't have given their eye teeth for a RO 150 FEQ? or a TS55? Hell ya they would have! They used the best and most modern equipment available at that time. They did fantastic work for sure but they were in it to make money and had they had today's technology they could have turned out a lot more, made just as well, and provided more for their families. I have a few hand tools, luv my Veritas 4 and a half smoothing plane, but I would have to practice hundreds of hours to learn how to flatten a board when I can run it through my Dewalt 735 in 30 seconds and never look back. I guess that doesn't make me a purest but I don't regret for a minute taking advantage of anything that makes my projects results better, at least to me. That doesn't mean I still can't admire the craftsmanship of a rocker made with hand tools or finely executed hand cut dovetails but then again, I don't miss living in the days before we invented air-conditioning either.

[bois]

Could it be that your plane blades are not as sharp as they could be? Your description here makes me think that your plane blades might have very tiny nicks in them, maybe because you're not sharpening all the way to the edge.

A while back I use a tip from Christopher Schwarz, and got a 21mm 20x jeweler's loupe. They can be found on eBay for $12, with a built in LED light, delivery included. I thought I was getting a good edge on my tools. Looking at them under magnification was a real eye opener. What I thought were sharp edges, although quite sharp, definitely needed some improvement. I had the same scratch issue you describe, and after I figured this out, the scratch issue went away.

No, plane sharpness is not an issue here my irons are all surgically sharp (I hone to 8000 grit before stropping). The problem I am describing is smoothing out the intersection between a rail and stile where the two grains meet perpendicularly. As careful as I am planing with the grain, invariably the iron wanders over to the cross-grain and creates scratches (since I am planing across the grain at the edge). Even scraping and hand sanding, it can be very difficult to stay only with the grain and get a nice flush and smooth match. The only way I've ever gotten a perfectly smooth transition from rail to stile is with a ROS. Since the scratch patterns is totally random, there is no concept of with or against the grain. Anyone else find a good technique for getting a smooth transition of a butt joint like this just with hand tools?

[nateswoodworks]

I am also a cheater with power tools and both power and hand tools hold a spot in my sawdust heart. One thing I have found is that how much I like the project I am building some what determines how I go about things as well. For instance soon I am going to be starting on a jewelry box for my daughter, I will handcut all the dovetails (and there will be a lot of them) but when I built our kitchen cabinets I used the jig.

As for hand tools with cross grain, I do the same as you-Festool sander.

Nate

[jon003]

No, plane sharpness is not an issue here my irons are all surgically sharp (I hone to 8000 grit before stropping). The problem I am describing is smoothing out the intersection between a rail and stile where the two grains meet perpendicularly. As careful as I am planing with the grain, invariably the iron wanders over to the cross-grain and creates scratches (since I am planing across the grain at the edge). Even scraping and hand sanding, it can be very difficult to stay only with the grain and get a nice flush and smooth match. The only way I've ever gotten a perfectly smooth transition from rail to stile is with a ROS. Since the scratch patterns is totally random, there is no concept of with or against the grain. Anyone else find a good technique for getting a smooth transition of a butt joint like this just with hand tools?

When it comes to the transition, I find the ROS to be the best tool for that. I haven't managed that turn-around-the-corner flip that people like Frank Klaus make look so easy. If the seam on the rail/stile is _really_ small, I have been able to get a card scraper to work, but for anything past a feather, the ROS is king. (Festool ETS125 or RO125)