I have recently made the transition from power tools to all hand tools, so at this point I am just working on small projects (boxes, shop applicances, a jewelry tree for my wife, etc.) to improve my hand tool skills. I haven't used a single electron in over a year (except for household chores), and I'm really enjoying the experience. At this point I use hand planes to get all wood to flat and square then start on joinery with chisels, hand saws, and whatever else I need.

I certainly didn't mean to imply that most woodworkers don't use any hand tools, but instead that many lean more toward power tools for the bulk of their work. I think everybody has to decide on the balance between power tools and hand tools for themselves, but for me I am trying to do as little with power as possible.

What do you build, and what applications do you use power tools for?

A

Sawmill creek has a "Neanderthal Haven" forum loaded with
neanderthals. A lot of knowledgeable people frequent the group.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdis...nderthal-Haven

Part of the neander way is making tools, so check out the recent
thread where people submitted photos of the tools they made.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...de-by-the-user.

You need to register to see the pic however.

Mitch

MB wrote:

Sawmill creek has a "Neanderthal Haven" forum loaded with
neanderthals. A lot of knowledgeable people frequent the group.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/forumdis...nderthal-Haven

Part of the neander way is making tools, so check out the recent
thread where people submitted photos of the tools they made.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...de-by-the-user.

You need to register to see the pic however.

Mitch

I second Mitch's suggestion of sawmillcreek. I've seen a couple of
nice threads tracing an entire build there. Nice. And some of the
folks there do really high-end primarily hand-tool work.

Wood Central also has a nice hand-tool discussion group.

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/handtools.pl
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