I have always respected furniture makers from the old days before we had electricity and all these power tools, but they have earned even more respect from me today. I just got finished hand planing a board down to 3/4″ (I do not own a thickness planer). I even cheated and jointed one face and edge with my jointer. I am here to tell you (as if you did not already know), that was some work! I know my technique is nowhere near what it needs to be, and the work surface I was using was, in retrospect, too high, but I am worn out from that workout. With that said, I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it! I could actually hear the radio while I worked and did not need safety glasses and ear protection. And I’m not really sure, but I thought I even heard some birds singing! What a joy! Thanks for letting me go on and on about this. I have just learned a new appreciation for the joys of “working wood”.
Tom
Replies
Well, Tom, I know what you mean. I vastly prefer hand tools, and in large part due to the reasons you brought up (noise, dust, etc.)
Now, this job is a whole feces-load easier with a mess of planes; I don't know what you've got, but a scrub plane, then a jack, then a jointer, then a smoother makes fairly short work of flattening a face and bringing it to thickness. I find the most difficult part is getting two faces parallel. Getting an edge square is tricky too, but I've mostly gotten the hang of it. And then there's the sharpening...
Using hand saws can be really cool, too. Good luck on your new path!
Charlie
Charlie,
I was fortunate enough to get a low angle block, a smoother, a jack, a fore, and a jointer from my wife's grandfather, who used to do trim carpentry. Except for the jack, which is not in good shape at all, they are all older Baileys. I am not sure when he got them and he never told me, but I am thinking no later than the 40's. The jointer has those grooves in the bottom. I have spent some time on the smoother and the jointer trying to tune them up. The smoother needs just a hair more work on the sole. The jointer is in pretty good shape, but I need to work on the frog a little more. I don't think the jack is going to salvageable. The side of the casting is cracked and the handles are just about destroyed. But after today, I will be spending a lot more time with those tools in hand. Fortunately, I make my money elsewhere and just do this as a hobby. Woodworking is so much fun when there are no time constraints! I will probably pick your brain as I venture into this if thats ok. As part of this project I am working on, I plan to handcut dovetails. I have never done that either so I am looking forward to learning.
Tom
Well, I'll be here when the time comes, but I'm far from expert. On the other hand, I do know when to admit that I have no clue.Dovetails are a blast, I think. Better practice in crappy wood first, though. Hit me up when the time comes; I've collected a set of tips from guys like Lonnie Bird and Chris Becksvoort that get me through it with minimun pain. I also do MUCH better with a Japanese style saw, in particular, the Toshio Odate one; you can get 'em for about $50 from Highland, Tools For Working Wood, and others.CharlieI tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
NOt only that you've stayed off a heart attack, diabetes,obesity for another two months. :) its a win win situation
People bask then were smarter than you. They planed enough to clean up and then quit.
At Winterthur there is a recreation of the 18th century Dominy shop. In those days, a lot of the laborious grunt work was the job of the apprentice. There is a big hand crank lathe, planes with apprentice handles. I have a feeling, you didn't want to give a woodworkers apprentice any lip. They basically worked out all day.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Id love to see that shop. and speaking of that, when are you comming by anyway?
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Hi John,
The Dominy shop was reconstructed in the museum. It was a rather small wood building, I'm guessing about 12' x 16'. Woodstove in the corner, long workbenches along the walls and shelves with numerous planes and other tools. It was very dark and I had to shoot through Plexiglass. The pictures didn't come out, except one. There was a tea table top on the hand cranked lathe and the legs were being assembled in the foreground. There were displays of some of the common stock they used and stages of the various cuts in progress.Winterthur was the home of Henry Francis duPont. His forefathers were the duPonts that came to America to help the upstart revolutionaries in their battle with the King. Their original business was making gun powder. Over the years the DuPont company grew from their legacy. We know them as the inventors of plastics, nylon and Teflon. Most of the heirs were philanthropists, collectors and horticulturists. H. F. collected American decorative arts. As his collection grew, he had period rooms constructed in his mansion. Today the place is a museum that houses one of the foremost collections of 17th and 18th century American furniture. I just got back from Florida today, are you going to be around sometime next week? I'll fire up the Fizzy and come over. I'll e-mail you.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Hey Buddy, sure I should be around . Maybe, just maybe Ill let you take out my V Rod. Get here early enough and we might go for a ride together. Ill close up my "side o' the road marketing experiment" for one day just for you.Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
>> ... planes with apprentice handles.What are apprentice handles? I Googled and "handles" was always a verb, as in "My apprentice handles that."
The planes I have seen have a long front handle, like a short broom stick. The apprentice would apply the forward motion, by pulling, while the master would control the position and cut. These planes were long, like jointers. Basically a two man operation for the rough surfacing task. If memory serves, there were some on display at Williamsburg. The old masters were not dummies. No sense busting your buns, when there was perfectly good muscle handy, for the drudgery work.Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
Tom,
I recently began doing a ton by hand as well. It really is good for the soul. I come home after a crappy day at work (most days at work) and head to the shop for a bit of relaxation. Its funny because you're doing work and making things, but its stress relieving. Though I can imagine that if we did this for a living we would be more stressed in the shop. Before you startdoing dovetails do a TON of practice. Also, don't use pine for practicing it's too soft (at least in my opinion) try some cheap oak or some scraps you have laying around. Let us know how you're doing, everyone here ia a great help.
-Art K
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