How and why I chose hand tools...

There have been a number of projects since that first “sturdy horizontal surface”. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not exactly sure what it was about that first project that really caught my attention and held it, but whatever it was I enjoyed the couple days I spent with it. It definitely wasn’t the temperature—it was HOT. Summer in the southern Arizona desert…it’s always HOT. Maybe part of it was the research I did first, learning about all the different styles and uses for workbenches. Add to that the pure enjoyment I experience from working with my hands again, actually doing something that I deemed useful and had a clear “end product,” was a nice change of pace.

No matter what happened, something clicked and I started doing more research and building. I immediately knew I wanted to do more, so I started looking around for something else to become the new mission. As I flipped through pages and pages in books and the internet for information on projects, how-to articles, and videos, I found myself realizing that I did not have all the tools required to make these projects. I had a basic mechanic’s tool set, a handsaw (remember, crosscut) and a cordless drill/driver. Oh, and a VERY cheap circular saw that I picked up because it was on sale, and I figured, “Eh, why not? It might come in handy.” (Honestly, I think I’ve used it 4 times in the past year, but that’s another story.)

Based on my limited tool-set and skill-set, I knew I’d have to start slow. The skill-set I knew would just come with time and practice, but I can deal with that. The tool-set, however was a different animal all-together. I had a two car garage and one area had to be used to house a vehicle. Our driveway wasn’t big enough to hold a car, so it had to go inside. That left me with about 1/2 a garage, if that (you know, storage and stuff), so the nice table saw, band saw, jointer, planer, and dust collector, as cool as they are, probably weren’t going to be feasible (even if I were to have a mad stack of cash in my sock drawer that could pay for it). So that left me some limited options:

1)      Buy a table saw. You know, these are very heart of a wood shop, right? You can do EVERYTHING with one of these. Sure, I’d have to move stuff back and forth in the garage whenever I wanted to work, but that is just the price I’ll have to pay. You have to have a table saw to do woodworking. All the books and videos show nearly every task being done on one of these things, so I’m sure this has to be truly a necessity. Sure, I’ll have to save up the money for the next few months, but it’ll be worth it…won’t it?

2)      Deal with what I have. I made the first bench, right? It turned out kind of ok. It definitely serves its purpose.

3)      Start with option 2 and then buy what I need as I go. When I need a tool, I’ll break down and buy one. When I can’t do without the table saw, I’ll go buy one.

4)      Quit all-together. I obviously don’t have the funds it takes to work wood like these other guys. I mean, look at their shops!!!! They have all the cool toys! You must really need all that stuff to have a good end product.

Lucky for me, I chose option 3. Partly because I didn't have a pile of cash and in part because I honestly didn't know what I wanted or needed. I started to learn that there were many different theories and styles of woodworking, the main three being: power tools, hand tools, and some mix or hybrid of the two.

At the time power tools were just too darned expensive and big, especially for a newbie, so I decided that hand tools may have to do for a little while. Besides, I was extremely interested in the hand tool genre. To this day I'm still amazed at what can be produced with our own hands.

My first plane. No, I'm not too proud to admit it.

So there we have it: why I chose hand tools. At least at first. I've made a lot of mistakes in my purchases (one is as good as another, right?) and have now started to acquire the tools of the trade as I go. You'll get to see more of those as we go along, so be patient! Hopefully I can keep others from some of the same mistakes I made. I'll try at least!

Awww alright. Here's a glimpse of some of my user planes I'm in the middle of restoring. The one above (a cheap "#5") I converted to a scrub plane. Hey, it works...

Here some of them are. All usable and getting cleaned up.