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darkon

wrote:

On Apr 10, 1:04 pm, "GROVER" wrote:
I thought this topic might spur some interesting opinions. Over
many years, as a woodworker, I have seen many useful and not so
useful improvements added to the tools we use. An incomplete
list of these (not exhaustive by any means) could include:

1) plastic housings (improved grounding protection)
2) battery operated tools
3) soft start & variable speed control tools
4) keyless chucks
5) laser projected lines on miter saws
6) various pneumatic nailers & staplers
7) various jointing devices (Festool -loose tenon, Kreg-pocket
hole jig, Lamello-bisquit etc)

This list could probably go on for a few pages.

These improvements come out from the tool manufacturers and you
wonder which one is worth investing in, versus a perfectly
good one you currently own.

There is also a number of hand tools which seem to be handed
down
from father to son, or a mentor to student which will never be
obsoleted. Examples might be, a Stanley 130 (push-pull screw
driver) and any number of fine planes and chisels.
Anyway, I post this topic to see what you fellow WW's feel.
Joe G

You forgot to mention that the old time luddites also invented
the sawmill driven by the water wheel. Shakers did that or
something? It beat the heck out of the pit saw for cutting wood
to dimension.

I took a few minutes to see if a quick web search would tell me
when the water-powered sawmill was invented. I remember James
Burke talking about them in his "Connections" show as being used
during medieval times, but I wanted to make sure. So far the best
I've been able to do is an entry on Wikipedia that dates them to
France around 1300 or so. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermill#Medieval_Europa. The
Wikipedia entry on sawmills mentions them existing by 1250, but
doesn't explicitly say how they were powered.

Today's power tool buyer is similar to the old
time hand tool worker. Trying to find a better, easier, faster,
way to produce the product. Eliminate the grunt work. In Scott
Landis' Workshop book he has a picture of an early 1900s Park
combination machine. It had a jointer and planer and table saw
and other stuff. 100 plus years ago the woodworker, pro or
hobby, was using power tools to eliminate the hard parts.
Invest more time into the skilled parts. Probably today the
power tool buyer wants a power tool to do everything, 100%.
Whereas centuries ago the hand tool user was satisfied if the
power tools could do the hard time consuming stuff, 50%, and
they could use hand tools to do the detail work, 50%. They did
not have much choice so they had to be satisfied.

Oh, yeah. People hundreds of years ago didn't like hard physical
labor any more than we do now, so they used whatever means they
could to avoid it, whether that was animal power, water wheels,
windmills, steam power, or (heh) making the apprentices do it.
("You see, son, you gotta work like a dog now, but when you're my
age you can make *your* apprentice do this stuff.")

I attended a class given by Phil Lowe. New England carver,
restorer, period piece maker. He used both hand and power tools
with no thoughts to which was better. Mostly it was just which
was quicker. He could get the same excellent results from
either. But he explained he could cut a board with the band saw
right there and straighten it with a hand plane faster than he
could walk to the other end of the shop where the table saw was
and rip it with the table saw. Getting the job done correctly
was important. Not how. For larger tasks it made sense to set
up the machines and have them do the grunt work. For one piece,
it was easier to do it with hand tools.

Makes perfect sense.

Now if woodworking is a hobby, as it is for many of us, you have
the luxury of using whatever tool you enjoy more instead of the
most productive. For some people that's a hand tool that might
take more time than a powered tool. Another consideration is that
the hand tool is probably less expensive, too. (Maybe not Lie-
Nielsen planes :-)