Power Tool Guilt
I was just thinking about something and I know I can’t be the only one. As a self-proclaimed “hybrid woodworker”, I try to balance hand tools and power tools in a way that makes the most sense for the job at hand. This is a method of work that takes a certain amount of time and experience to develop. I am getting there. But one thing I have noticed about myself over the years is that I have a touch of power tool guilt. Sounds silly but its totally true.
Have you ever watched a video about hand tools where the woodworker is showing off his mad skillz?? You know the kind where the guy makes his perfect wispy shavings during a serene and peaceful milling session (I’m talking to YOU Schwarz!).
I did some milling today and you know what I looked like? A soldier about to engage in chemical warfare! Anyway, I usually finish the video, and with my head down and my bottom lip out I say to Nicole, “I’m at one with the wood too……”, almost asking for reassurance. She usually pats me on the head and says, “Of course you are dear!” and then gives me an ice cream.
Looking back over the years, this sense of guilt was what fueled a number of my hand tool purchases. I frequently bought these tools before I even knew how to use them. As a result, they became very cool looking decorations for my shop. While nearly every one of my hand tools is now in use, that wasn’t always the case. And I honestly just felt guilty about it.
But this is where the story takes a positive turn. As the complexity of my projects increased, I soon confronted problems that were not easily solved with power tools. So by necessity, the hand tools were pulled down off the shelf and placed into service. Now I may not use these tools to the extent that a hand tool only woodworker might, but who cares? I am what I am. And what I am is a hybrid woodworker! So as I continue to develop my woodworking identity, my guilt slowly fades away. And I’ve come to realize that it really wasn’t guilt over using power tools, it was the guilt associated with knowing I haven’t yet fully explored the simplest options available to me. And now that I have, I can confidently select the best tool for each job, powered or not.
Fortunately for all of us, woodworking is a process and not a destination. There are all types of tools for all types of woodworkers and there is room in the world for all of us. So my public service message for today is: End the guilt! Have confidence in who you are as a woodworker. And most importantly, do what makes you happy!
By the way, check out the October issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine for an article that covers some of my favorite ways to incorporate hand tools into a power tool workshop.
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very good point marc. its the same for me. i can do most of the basics with my power tools now and i am looking into hand tool purchases. the only problem is trying to find the time to use them and to bring my self to buy them in the first place. gonna build me a sugar chest though using only hand tools and i think that will really help me to learn a lot and get better with hand tools. thanks for bringing this up!
As a beginning woodworker I’m constantly faced with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to do something when I don’t have the “right” tool to achieve my goal. For example this afternoon I was working on a small table. I wanted to make the corners of the top rounded rather than square so it would match a coffee table. The “obvious” tool of choice would be a band saw. Unfortunately I don’t have one – that’s the next item on my wish list.
My second tool of choice was my jig saw but I’d knocked it off the workbench last week and haven’t replaced it yet.
I thought “what would Marc do?” and started thinking about all the videos that you have given us. I remembered one the techniques you showed us for making the Greene & Greene style joint for the Gadget Station. Why couldn’t I use my hand saw and cut a rough curve, then smooth it with my cabinet maker’s file and then sand it smooth like you did Demo Night?
I grabbed a piece of scrap and started sawing, filing and sanding. Next think I knew I had the exact shape that I wanted for the table top! Within a few minutes, I had rounded all the corners on my little table’s top. They’re not “perfect” but they are perfect for this particular project. The joy and satisfaction I received by cutting them by hand far exceeds anything I’ve done using my power tools.
This doesn’t mean that I’m not going to buy a band saw, but it does mean that I will stop and think about using hand tools more often.
My name is Vic and I’m a hybrid woodworker…or at least that what I want to be. Let’s all drink coffee and tell our stories:D
Great post Marc. Hey isn’t Pop Wood offering online subscriptions now?
I ve got a question for you Wood Workers.
I love woodworking, but i have a full-time job. 2 children and i wife i love dearly :o)
The little time left i spend in my little woodched - i consider me a hobbiest woodworking. I use a lot of MDF, 95 % of my work is with MDF -> easy accessable - cheap.
Can i consider myself as a woodworker ? or is MDF an other category ? I made a very nice dressoir - but of course its painted when its finished… What do you think ?
Greatings from Belgium.
Well Robby. I think its safe to say you are a member of the club. :) Even if you aren’t working with wood, you are still a furniture maker. As woodworkers, we generally work with lots of materials and different types of sheetgoods. Although MDF may not be the best building material out there, as you say it is cheap and accessible, and it takes a coat of paint very nicely.
Good thoughts, Marc. I think that just as power tool people shouldn’t feel guilty, hand tools people shouldn’t be arrogant!
Marc, good topic and very timely, as I too am leaning towards more hand tools lately (in fact, I bought an old Bailey #7 last night!).
I don’t believe I have ever had an adversion to handtools. It is just that power tools have always been the norm for this fast paced life style we seem to have been thrown into. This, plus the fact that there was always a ‘learning curve’ stigma (that included a secret handshake!) attached to hand tools, made the ‘Tim the Toolman’ purchases much easier.
Today, with more experience, more time, the need to go greener and the ‘desire to bring ‘hand’ back into handcraft’ the decision seems much easier.
Perhaps it’s a renaissance? :)
Ah Marc, don’t cry, it’s OK! LOL I wouldn’t, and don’t, feel guilty at all. All this talk about nostalgia is just silly to me. You think if you talked with a guy working in a hot miserable furniture shop a hundred years ago if he’d rather cut a board with his handsaw or this new fangled bandsaw what do you think he’d say?? Now, I am a firm believer that we all should know how to and use hand tools when necessary (like you mentioned above), but a purest…no I don’t think so. I don’t believe in this silliness about “Oh, you used power tools so that makes you less of a talent” that’s nonsense. If you create beautiful work that lasts for generations there is no difference. In fact being more accurate, precise, and efficient is nothing to be ashamed of at all.
Now, in the same breath…I wish I knew how to use my hand tool better. I read and watch videos that have helped me immensely, but someday I hope to attend a school that will give me more. There is definitely not enough taught about using hand tools properly…or at least there doesn’t seem to be.
Just my two cents and hey…tell Nicole we want some ice cream too!
So you’re a Hybrid but do you better gas mileage? Claude
I really like Eric’s last line.
I agree with the mantra of “using the right too for the job”, but I think there are often a number of tools that will work in just about any given situation. I was mentioning this example on one of the forum posts recently - I had been working on a simple project for my mother that required a mitered trim around the piece. Now, I could have used my table saw or back saw with a bench hook to do the miters. but I’ve become confident in using my little, cheap Delta CMS, so I cut and trimmed up the miters using the CMS. Was it the best and most accurate tool i have to do the job? probably not, but because of my confidence in its use, i was able to make tight and accurate miters. I’ve seen some carvers use routers to carve letters and othes use chisels and gouges to do the same. both examples took skill and accuracy to do either style well and the end result was well carved letters. BUT, that doesn’t mean you’re a skilled carver if you just program a CNC machine.
I think the morale of it all is that quality and craftsmanship is in how you do the job, and not necessarily in what tools you use. If your joints are tight, the project is square, level, etc. and it holds up well through the years, then that’s good craftsmanship. I think the craftsmen of the early 18th and 19th century would have loved to get their hands on some of the machinery we have today. Then again, if you’re relying on your machinery to compensate for good technique, then your project will probably fall apart at the joints within a couple of years.
just my $0.03
Mike
Well, I do agree that the combination of pink safety equipment and shop vest do make you look a bit sheepish it isn’t quite as funny to me as the GQ shot of Schwarz looking all business on the wrong side of that big old jointer. I am sure he had a reason for being on that side, but I couldn’t help but wonder if you didn’t grab that image to make him look silly too.
Okay, so you are a hybrid WW’er. No problem. I am really becoming more likely to pick up a non-power tool to finish dimension or do detail work. Something about sneaking up on 1/64th of an inch with a 2+HP tool just doesn’t seem quite as appropriate as grabbing a hand plane. Dovetails, yep they can be made on the bandsaw but most of us hybrids will just use the BS to clear out the waste. Nothing to feel guilty about with the best tool approach.
Of course the other interetsing question to ask is: Do hand tool guys wake up and feel pangs of guilt about not using power tools?
Does a guy like Adam Cherubi or Chris Schwarz finish cutting a bunch of dovetails with a small japanese hand saw, look up and cry, “Man, I should have pulledout my router and router jig!!!”
My guess is not - but who knows.
I think the entire matters comes down to skill, and as men, we have an innate need to feel that we possess skill. (Otherwise you can just buy that table / dresser etc at Target.) And, for good or bad, there seems to be the impression that something done by hand is more skillful than with a power tool. Hence the guilt.
In a weird kind of way, it reminds me of when we had our son Sam and my wife decided to bottle feed and not. nurse. And as many of you know, there is that whole debate as to which is better. However, she found much comfort when someone said to her, “Many graduating classes of Harvard were all bottle-fed.”
Having said all that, I have CP and use 95% power tools.
For a lot of Europeans, this isn’t an issue because many of them start with hand tools and once they have mastered them, they start integrating power tools. We tend to go about the process backwards which I feel is the much more difficult road.
Hand tools, in general, are more challenging because you really need to master sharpening before you can be successful with them. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to learn how to sharpen my table saw blades or router bits before I started – I would still be on my first project. :o)
Oh, just adding my two cents: If you are starting to integrate hand tools, start with Japanese handsaws. They come pre-sharpened with replaceable blades. Also, because they cut on the pull stroke, the blades can be made thinner and leave a much narrower kerf for less waste with a very precise cut.
LOL - Not just me, huh?
When I took up woodworking I really got into it. Saws, drill, jigs, chisels, biscuit joiner, dovetail jig, etc. I quickly found out that I don’t have the skills (yet) to use all these great tools.
I’m learning though, I just completed some serving trays I’m quite pround of and am trying to decide what the next project should be - maybe a full-scale model of the Mayflower? That should be easy enough…
Wait..huh? What? Marc, what is this “guilt” thing you speak of…I’m not familiar with it. Do Nascar fans feel guilty for not riding their bike more often? Okay maybe that’s a bad analogy.
Naughty Naughty, buck up your ideas LADDO! Say 50 Hail Norm’s and never think that way again! ;)
Hi Marc.
Since woodworking is not my main source of income I look for whatever can get me the best quality (I need all the help I can get) and consider all possibilities. If one limits oneself because of how others feel about how one does something why put oneself in that position. If you enjoy hand tools and feel a sense of accomplishment , good for you. That’s what it’s all about. I like doing whatever it takes and seeing the results.
Hey Jeffrey -
I don’t think Adam Cerubini has electricity in his shop, let alone a ‘tailed’ router.
Hybrid? PSHAW!!! you are a woodworker. Take any popular furniture maker and place today’s technology in his hands, and I am sure you’d find that with a little experimentation, that man would use the tool on his next project. That guilt you feel is misplaced.
Does the artist Banksy feel guilty about using stencils rather than brushes? Probably not. Does the Chef regret not having to cook over a wood fire? Doubtful. Being familiar with the tools and techniques handed down over the generations makes us a well-rounded woodworker. It also makes us appreciate the convenience of the power tools.
Years ago I stopped thinking there was any difference between power tools and hand tools. That’s because there isn’t any difference.
There are indeed two categories of tools: Tools that work and tools that don’t work. But that’s it.
(And sorry for the serene jointer-plane moment shown above. There was a lot of rough milling to get to that point.)
Chris
The way that I look at this is, it’s “woodworking” as in working wood into useful pieces - not “toolworking” Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what type of tool is used. As long as the end result is what the creator intended, who cares? :) (And, staying safe is important too). I appreciate hand tools a whole lot for someone that really has no clue on how to use them properly, and I also appreciate the skills of those who use them exclusively or at least with authority. However, can we say that artists are no longer artists because they use a computer instead of pen and paper to create their work? If someone wants to mill their lumber by hand - wonderful. I’d rather use power since I’m already paying for it anyway. Trust me, there is plenty of skill to be gained in using power tools as well! Will I have the same “skills” of the hand tool worker? No, but it doesn’t mean that my projects turn out inferior because of that either. There are certain hand tools that are required anyway, but I think not taking advantage of power tools in projects portions where they can be used is a waste of time unless someone just really enjoys doing it with hand tools.
When I read comments about this subject, it seems that the general consensus is that you can take a person, put them in a room with power tools and wood, and a project instantly emerges - as if the power tools do all of the work for you and there is no “crafting” anymore. Thinking about this critically, one will soon realize this simply is not true.
OMG!!! The Schwarz!! We’re not worthy.. we’re not worthy:D
I love the idea of hybrid woodworking, Mark’s way :
You get easily 50 MPG (milling per gallon..of ice cream)
LOL, that was funny Vic! :D
And i have to agree with The Schwarz … (why wouldn’t i?)
“There are indeed two categories of tools: Tools that work and tools that don’t work.”
Take care everybody!
/Peter
Sweden
I often have power tool ignorance. A few nights ago I was cleaning out a piece for an “inlay” (screw up fix) and grabbed a router and was routing away.. couldn’t see what I was doing.. chips flying in my face.. then it hit me :) CHISEL.. I grabbed a chisel and was done in about a minute. Looked pretty good too.. if I do say so myself :P
why do we have to have “powertool workers” and “handtool workers” … ?!?
arent these just all tools? some come with tails that we plug into the wall? but all provide us with means to shape wood for our needs?
If a job at hand calls for a tool that is called “table saw” that happens to plug into electricity - then so be it, if a job calls for a tool that is called “spokeshave” so be it … who cares - as long as you get to make something!
and Mike - why is your’s $0.03 ? what’s up with the markup huh? lol
Marc,
You sure know how to stir up the natives. :-)
Me, I like making things. I use whatever is best (usually powered by electricity, although if a project calls for it, I’ll pull out the pneumatic brad nailer). It’s hard and foolish to avoid some hand tools… take sandpaper, for example.
I agree w the earlier comment about nostalgia for hand tools. I wonder if any of you would go to a DENTIST who had a yearning for using the old “hand tools” of his/her trade. LOL
Just do it the way you enjoy and have fun.
Jim
Mark, I enjoyed the discussion you initiated about hand tools/power tools. I think the only time we might feel a little guilty about the way we work our wood is the times we have not done our best!
Steve