As with a lot of woodworkers in my generation, I came into this passion completely plugged in. If I couldn’t do it without a power tool, it couldn’t be done. As I started to refine my work it was amazing to me that suddenly I was pulling those old planes I inheirited off the shelf and hoping that they might allow me to finesse a mortise and tenon or clean up a face. So I began to pay attention to those galoots out there and started to go back through my old issues of Popular Woodworking and the like and paying more attention to hand tool articles and techniques for sharpening. The seed was sown and lay dormant for a while, almost afraid to do anything more.
Well last October for our anniverssary, my wife and I spent a long weekend in Williamsburg, VA. We saw it all, but I must have made at least 15 stops into the cabinet maker’s shop. The guys there started to recognize me and call me by name. That dormant seed began to sprout and a passion for hand tool work began. Now that was only 7 months ago so hardly have I had time to become terribly proficient in the startling breadth of hand tools out there, but I have definately transformed how I work with wood. I have found a happy synthesis between the power tools and the hand tools. My jointer and tablesaw still get quite a work out, but there are a lot more chisels laying about and handplanes and scrapers on every flat surface. I have found myself buying old tools on ebay even. Check out the mortise chisels that i just got. (excuse the blatant pose, I was looking for website fodder)
All of this preamble is my way of introducing a new series of posts that will detail my shop transformation to allow for this synthesis that I spoke of above. The most glaring deficiency in my shop now is a complete lack of a bench. (gasp!) I have some things that need to be done first in order to make room for said workshop shrine however so I will start there. In other words, hand on tight and tune in for the fun!
6 responses so far ↓
1 Neil // Jun 11, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I just broke my mallet just like the one you show on your bench…..thinking about changing style to the wooden round….I don’t want the polyester face, or a Brass head…..big into sculpting with fishtail gouges so I like the flat face, but as I go finer, maybe there is more control with the carvers mallet. What are your thoughts????
Thanks………Neil
2 Shannon // Jun 11, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Neil,
I haven’t used the wooden carvers mallets, only the poly face one. For what it’s worth, I found I had a lot of control with it. I just started messing with carving “T-Chisel” style and doing fans and the like for casework. I like that I can tap away and not worry about the angle of the striking plane. I also used it for carvning out the seat of a Windsor chair and it worked great. The standard mallet in the pic above I use for mortising. I have a couple of big blocks floatin’ around the shop. Maybe I’ll make one of the wooden ones and see what kind of difference I see. If nothing else, it could be a fun project!
3 Neil // Jun 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Shannon you threw the polester “pants suit” at me. I think I’m gonna try old roundie in wood. Thanks!!!!!
I’ll be looking for the guy with……should I say it…..ahh what the heck ….
“The Green Tamborine”
4 David // Jul 17, 2008 at 11:08 am
Shannon -
Well this posting really interests me as I am on a similar path of unplugging, or at least not plugging in as much. My collection of hand tools is growing along with a growing interest in how to use them.
By the way, great photo! That is a nice looking set of mortise chisels.
5 Shannon // Jul 17, 2008 at 6:11 pm
David,
First of all, thanks for stopping by. I must admit to being a fan of your podcast so I am honored to have you as a visitor. You can expect more posts along this same line. My hand tools are starting to take over the shop. These mortise chisels are english and I found them on ebay. They acutally still have the craftman’s initials burned into the handle. I feel honored to be using them.
6 David // Jul 18, 2008 at 12:47 am
Shannon -
They look very stout and I am sure they chop a mean mortise! My compliments to your blog . . . I had a wonderful afternoon browsing about and dreaming of fine hand tools. Well done!
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