Earlier Paul Houtz biographed,

> Now that the big kitchen project is finished, I am doing woodworking
> more as a pleasurable escape.  I don't have a deadline to meet, so
> I have decided to work with more traditional tools.
> 
> I also have to admit to being quite disgusted with the whole power
> tool culture.   There is definitely something dishonest about some
> of the tools that are coming out, and something wrong with the approach
> to this craft that demands a power tool for every operation.

   You're right, it can go completely overboard, and people can lose
   any sense they might have originally had.
 
> I guess the idiocy of it really hit me when I saw a letter to Fine 
> Woodworking showing how to build a router sled to flatten a benchtop.
> It would take longer to draw up the plans for the router sled than to
> just take a Stanley #6 and do the job.
> 
> My new goal is to find out how to make needed furniture using hand tools,
> and to test my hypothesis that most power tools are only efficient
> in production settings, and that handtools can do necessary and beautiful
> work nearly as fast as power tools in one-off projects.    I suspect
> that there are a few powertools that are real time savers, or serve
> a truly necessary purpose (like the Bandsaw), some that are overkill
> for most home projects (like the Shaper), and some that are downright
> unecessary for the hobby woodworker (jointer, dovetail jig, 3 HP router,
> etc.).  
 
   I don't totally agree with the idea that most power tools are only
   efficient in production settings....

> Finally, I am discovering a new connection to the wood, and feeling
> a new pride in developing SKILL instead of equipment inventory.
 
   .... I have a certain method of going about deciding whether power
   tools are useful or not for a given application.  First, in whatever
   and any and all cases, it's imperative to learn and "perfect" the
   handtool method of doing something.  _Given_ that, objectively then,
   would a power tool be a help or a hindrance?  Also factoring in
   esthetic considerations.

   In some cases, handtool methods are so obviously superior, it's just
   a no-brainer, when you take into account esthetics.  In other cases,
   even taking into account just doing a one-off, it's a fine line one
   way or the other, and it really depends on the situation.  E.g., would
   I sell my electric jointer and thickness planer?  I would have to be
   nuts ( present company excepted of course. ) 

   As well, for some of the things I do, which consist of large numbers
   of repetitive machine operations, a shaper is a genuine asset, and
   allows me to spend more time on the _creative_ end of things - a
   notion that methinks tends to get ignored here when we talk about
   the "esthetic advantages" of hand tools.  

   ( And in the above I'm not necessarily excluding one-off work that
   may involve such repetitive machine operations... )

   Ideally, I like to try to use the best tool for the job.  Sometimes
   it's hand tools, sometimes it's power tools...  of course you have to
   have seen both sides to be able to make this judgement. :-)

   Doug Dawson
   dawson@p...