# how much you depend from your hand tools?



## BradingCon (Dec 17, 2010)

I would say that I am more dependent on hand tools than many contractors these days. I use a block plane all the time when trimming etc. I still hand cope everything as well as I stated in another thread. I think this stems from being taught everything I know from an old carpenter (my dad.) same reason I carry a folding ruler every day. People primarily do things how they learned and pick up other things along the way.

Now if Barri has an apprentice for say 5 years and teaches him all he knows and uses all his festool every day , that apprentice is gonna learn that way and do the same. He is not likely to revert back to hand tools just because. He will have been brought up on a more modern way of building and will continue that pattern. 

All my opinion of course.


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## fjn (Aug 17, 2011)

Snickare85 said:


> ?and for example,there is no power left in the world do you still think we can possess the skill and the knowledge to build something using only hand tools?
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## BradingCon (Dec 17, 2010)

fjn said:


> Snickare85 said:
> 
> 
> > ?and for example,there is no power left in the world do you still think we can possess the skill and the knowledge to build something using only hand tools?
> ...


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## Stunt Carpenter (Dec 31, 2011)

I've been using more hand tools in the last year or so. Sometimes it makes more sense. I use a pull saw on every deck I build for finishing the cut on posts and stairs.


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## maxwage (Nov 25, 2012)

I love watching Roy Underhill doing his thing. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to ever attempt his methods of carpentry. I do appreciate him and others like him.

I use my hand tools often and love using them as much as my power tools.


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## Anthill (Mar 23, 2013)

hand tools and those old skills divide the craftsmen from the tradesman. I went through the sheet metal apprenticeship program (which is mostly hand tools) and really enjoyed that part of it. However, for economy's sake, most of those skills are obsolete. My tin shop consists mainly of tools that were around 100yrs ago. They all work just as good as they did then. Too bad its so hard to make a living with them nowadays... Its a fun hobby though


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

I could make something.


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## UkChippy (Nov 5, 2014)

Half the people I seem to work with lately don't seem to be able to use a hand saw properly, they use the first 1/3 only. Use the bloody whole saw. I love my hand tools, don't get to use them as much as I used to but still love getting out the sweethearts and chopping in some hinges.


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## Agility (Nov 29, 2013)

I learned the trade using power tools because the people teaching me didn't care about passion, just speed. Now I love working with hand tools but it was hard to ditch the guilty feeling I used to get by taking my time. 

Chisels are my favorite, I'm still not great with a bench plane. The Japanese saw is probably my most frequently used hand tool.


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## Walraven (Jan 24, 2014)

Love my handtools and love using them, but speed,efficiency, and repeatability take precedent when choosing the tool for the task, powered or not. So i find my planes and chisels are for fine tuning the fit of things mostly.


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## Stephen H (Feb 18, 2011)

fjn said:


> Snickare85 said:
> 
> 
> > ?and for example,there is no power left in the world do you still think we can possess the skill and the knowledge to build something using only hand tools?
> ...


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## pappagor (Jan 29, 2008)

maxwage said:


> I love watching Roy Underhill doing his thing. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to ever attempt his methods of carpentry. I do appreciate him and others like him.
> 
> I use my hand tools often and love using them as much as my power tools.


roy underhill is one guy that i have allies wanted to meet at a trade show but never have.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

This could be a very broad topic. I still use hand saws fairly routinely on *small* projects and when they're a better choice for the cut I have to make. I also use planes and chisels.

If you want to get a really good feel for a species of wood, take an ~18" section of tree trunk, hand split out a piece for a board, then go through the steps to turn it into a flat, consistent thickness smooth board. Of all that, I always think that splitting and using a slick or at least a 1 1/2" chisel give the best feel for a wood.


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## SAcarpenter (Oct 10, 2008)

Texas Wax said:


> Never lost the interest in using hand planes or many of the basic hand tools for that matter.
> 
> These go with me everywhere I go and get used. Nothing expensive for "work". Loosing a $100 chisel or plane at a job site is inane. They work just as fine in the shop too. Sharpening and honing are part of using the tools. Other wise they are just blue print weights or screw drivers (plane and chisels).
> 
> Edit - AND NOBODY uses "MY" chisels. Until you know what it takes to actually sharpen after putting a deep nick in one...



I'm the same way. I have a nice sharp set of chisels and a block plane that i honed on some DMT stones with a veritas honing jig. I was installing some soffit ply one time, I pulled out the plane to tune a seam and the guy i was working with couldnt believe his eyes. 
As far as working without power now, i posess the knowledge and skill to frame a house by hand, just not the desire


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## Texas Wax (Jan 16, 2012)

SAcarpenter said:


> I was installing some soffit ply one time, I pulled out the plane to tune a seam and the guy i was working with couldnt believe his eyes.


Used on all houses I framed with Soffit ply. Not a big deal to get a good fit on the ground, but the end fills :whistling saved god only knows how many trips to the ground. 
Being proficient came in real handy for playing in and around Lake Drive, Elm Grove & North Shore.... Higher end remodeling


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## Young_Buck (Jul 19, 2009)

I am 28. I could build a house from the ground up, with a hammer, a selection of chisels, saw, and a square. I can make and match moulding with hand tools. I can cut crown by hand. I can make my own mitre box. I can sharpen just about anything.

I have a lot to learn, and I am no where NEAR the old timers, or the contemporary masters like Roy Underhill or Paul Sellers. I don't have near the years of good practice and hard work that takes. But I believe that, with few exceptions, if you don't know how to do something without electricity then you don't really know how to do it.

It's the difference between eating beef and eating cow.


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## Justin Huisenga (Apr 10, 2013)

I use hand tools to fair, adjust, and fit work that has been has been done primarily by power tools. Used like this they make work faster and more efficient because they eliminate foot steps to and from a cut station. Tuning a cut with a block plane is faster than walking back to the saw. A quick cross cut is faster with a handsaw than it is to find a cordless saw with a charged battery. Pulling something tight with a hand nail is faster than climbing down a ladder to get a screw gun. I think the above listed skills are something any carpenter should have in his bag of tricks along with the ability to sharpen and maintain his tools.

None of my tools, power or hand, are babied but they are never abused. The bodies of my planes and the handles and flats of my chisels all show signs of use and wear but the edges are all shaving sharp, the backs are flat, and everything is in excellent working condition. 

I've never felt any particular ethereal connection to the wood or the the fabled old time carpenters when using hand tools. To me they are simply a means to get the job done. I have never considered my use of them grounds to consider myself a craftsman. Being a competent carpenter has always been a lofty enough goal and one that I'm still not sure I've achieved. 

The only hand tools I have any real sentimental attachment to are my good chisels. A number of them are inherited hand-me-downs from my great grandfather but they still see plenty of use. That man was stubborn, tough, and Dutch enough to rise from the grave and kick my ass for letting perfectly good tools sit on a shelf.

As to what carpenters of previous generations would think of modern carpentry. I would guess that they'd be as lost in our age as we would be in theirs. There are as many specific skill sets to using, setting up, and choosing power tools as there are in performing the same tasks with hand tools. Ours are just powered by voltage and theirs were powered by calories.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Having done it both ways and knowing plenty that started all hand tools and switched to power tools when they came along, old carpenters liked the power tools.:thumbsup:


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## pappagor (Jan 29, 2008)

i do think of my grand dad a lot when i do a lot of the work that i do.
no matter what he would still scream at me because it is not as good as he would have done it. rip dad and grand dad.:thumbsup:


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

FWIW, electric powered "moveable" job site tools were being sold in the early 1900s. I'm pretty sure there were some human powered table saws before that.

No joke, some of the old guys would build their own TS for their shop out of wood, and a homemade bandsaw as well.


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