I feel fortunate that I was able to get a solid base in hand woodworking during the early part of my career. I got in on the tail end of a traditional cabinetmaking program at an old vocational college run by a master woodworker who had learned his trade in his father’s carriage shop. Each student was assigned a bench and a drawer containing the basic hand tools: a plane, a backsaw, chisels, a small hammer, a square, and a marking gauge. As we worked at the benches, the teacher and his helpers walked around the shop, offering assistance. Although there were some heavy machines in the shop, the predominant atmosphere was one of bench work. Our first task was to make a half-lap joint from a rough piece of poplar using only the tools from our drawer. We started by planing one face flat and from that face squarely an edge. Then we marked and planed to the finish thickness, cut the piece in half squarely, and outlined the joint. Next, we sawed and chiseled the joint, all the while checking for square. Once we felt we had a good joint, an instructor would inspect it from all sides for square, flatness, and fit. This exercise demanded intense concentration and it provided the groundwork for my attitude toward woodworking. Attention to detail, a respect for handwork, and the importance of good joinery provided firm cornerstones.
Twenty years later, as a professional furnituremaker, I still that it is important for me to maintain a balance between handwork and machine work. Being in business sets some of the limits. You may not want money to dictate how you work, but it is a major concern if you are going to work wood for a living. The question of whether a particular process should be accomplished by hand or machine raises a number of questions: Which method is more efficient? Which produces better work-or makes a more valuable finished piece?
I feel that dovetails,for example,can be done best by hand. Even with the new generation of jigs, the extra-fine hand-cut look cannot be achieved with a machine; nor is jigging much faster when there are only a few joints to do;Hand-cut dovetails will also give a piece a much greater investment value. On the other hand, planing a rough board by hand doesn’t usually add value. It may be rewarding personally , but hand planing isn’t more efficient than using a thickness planer, nor are’the results better.
There are many occasions when it is quicker to pick up a hand tool than to set up a machine for a simple operation. I usually cut tenon shoulders with a handsaw and chisel rather than working with a band saw or a table saw. But I taper table legs on the jointer, instead of bandsawing to a line and hand planing the legs smooth. Finding the right balance of hand and power tools is a highly individual matter, balancing the combination of efficiency and value that suits each of us.
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