Comments on: The Slope, and 'Needing' new Tools. http://toolmakingart.com/2009/01/14/the-slope-and-needing-new-tools/ Timeless Tools Sat, 19 May 2012 20:07:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: BobStrawn http://toolmakingart.com/2009/01/14/the-slope-and-needing-new-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-325 BobStrawn Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:56:43 +0000 http://toolmakingart.com/?p=708#comment-325 Well put, Ben! I really want a large range of hollows and rounds, but I rarely use the single hollow and round set I have now. The sort of woodworking I currently do just doesn't justify the making or purchase of the full range of hollows and rounds. It would be wasteful and foolish for me to acquire a set of tools that I don't currently need or plan to need any time soon. Bob Well put, Ben!

I really want a large range of hollows and rounds, but I rarely use the single hollow and round set I have now. The sort of woodworking I currently do just doesn’t justify the making or purchase of the full range of hollows and rounds. It would be wasteful and foolish for me to acquire a set of tools that I don’t currently need or plan to need any time soon.

Bob

]]> By: Ben http://toolmakingart.com/2009/01/14/the-slope-and-needing-new-tools/comment-page-1/#comment-324 Ben Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:13:23 +0000 http://toolmakingart.com/?p=708#comment-324 I often find that so many tools are merely suited to increasing production levels and do little or nothing to empower the worker with results not obtainable by a simpler means. However, there are tools like you mention that do just that. For me, a skew plane is ideal for trimming the cheeks of tenons. This is a basic operation in one of the most essential joints. How else can it be done better? Paring the cheek with the grain will split the wood. Any tool that works perpendicular to the grain such as a shoulder plane, a rabbet plane, a float, or a square bevel chisel will cause the grain to roll out. Only a skew chisel will work nicely, and the skewed plane will give us a little more control. For centuries, people worked without the power tools produced by the industrial revolution that enabled much greater levels of production. They also worked without hand tools, the efficient production of which was also enabled in the 19th and 20th centuries. Because they didn't have Internet-based catalogs of specialty tools and local warehouses full of mass produced tools imported from overseas and priced no higher than a day's lunch, they had to work to designs that were acheivable with what they did have. Today, our expectations of the result of our work can be spoiled by what someone else can achieve with an aresenal of tools and technology that can only be cost effective when applied to mass production. Because of this, the worker with a modest collection of hand tools must have a clear goal and a lucid definition of the boundaries that define his work -- otherwise he is lost and he will always be wandering around to discover the next gadget he will consume. His decisions will be based on what he is persuaded of at the moment rather than what he knows to be true. I often find that so many tools are merely suited to increasing production levels and do little or nothing to empower the worker with results not obtainable by a simpler means. However, there are tools like you mention that do just that. For me, a skew plane is ideal for trimming the cheeks of tenons. This is a basic operation in one of the most essential joints. How else can it be done better? Paring the cheek with the grain will split the wood. Any tool that works perpendicular to the grain such as a shoulder plane, a rabbet plane, a float, or a square bevel chisel will cause the grain to roll out. Only a skew chisel will work nicely, and the skewed plane will give us a little more control.

For centuries, people worked without the power tools produced by the industrial revolution that enabled much greater levels of production. They also worked without hand tools, the efficient production of which was also enabled in the 19th and 20th centuries. Because they didn’t have Internet-based catalogs of specialty tools and local warehouses full of mass produced tools imported from overseas and priced no higher than a day’s lunch, they had to work to designs that were acheivable with what they did have.

Today, our expectations of the result of our work can be spoiled by what someone else can achieve with an aresenal of tools and technology that can only be cost effective when applied to mass production. Because of this, the worker with a modest collection of hand tools must have a clear goal and a lucid definition of the boundaries that define his work — otherwise he is lost and he will always be wandering around to discover the next gadget he will consume. His decisions will be based on what he is persuaded of at the moment rather than what he knows to be true.

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