dcarter36

The other side of the argument in favor of using a jig and not considering it "cheating" is efficiency. After spending years assuming power tools are the most efficient way to do my work, I am learning that in many cases hand tools are more efficient. Often that efficiency is generated by less setup time. Developing and applying a jig to the hand tool work I do means I can square the end of a board more accurately and more efficiently using a jack plane and a shooting board then double checking my miter saw's fence and blade squareness or checking to make sure the miter gauge on my table saw has no slop in it, hooking up my dust extractor, getting my breathing protection, hearing protection in place. But the key is the shooting board. Is a shooting board a form of cheating? It certainly seems to me to be a "jig", which I consider to be a shop made tool that has been developed to allow consistent and familiar results. Familiar here means that I have developed it to fit my own particular way of working. I am sure that your critic wouldn't consider a shooting board cheating, but it is nearly the same tool as your chisel guide.

I have been a woodworker for years and am just gaining confidence in using the essential hand tools of the trade, i.e. chisels and planes. I have purchased a couple of excellent Lie-Nielsen planes and am restoring some old Stanley Bedrock and Record planes that were passed down to me from my grandfather. Hope I win this set!