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GONNA GET SET STRAIGHT


Buckaroo

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Back to the original question, if I understand it right,  I think there are a few reasons that I can think of.

 

  • Some people don't have the space or money for (another) big piece of equipment.  If you are working out of a corner of a basement, spare apartment room, or half a garage, you might not have enough room for a jointer, planer, band saw, table saw, and router table.   Maybe one or two, but not all.  Likewise for the beginner, person on a tight budget, or with four kids at home and  not much cash to spare.  Or working in a space with one 15A outlet. 
  • Other people just enjoy the hand work. It's quiet, hands-on, no so dusty, what they enjoy doing, and immediate feedback. They are doing historical reproductions and want to do them in the historical way.That's a choice and I'm comfortable with it.  "Craftsmanship of risk vs. craftsmanship of certainty" (Pye)    CNC guys could say the same thing about those that are using those old table saws and band saws that you have to set all the dimensions & fences, worry about order of cutting, etc.   Then you have to go to another machine to shape or sand the edges.
  • Some people (I think I fit here) are hybrid woodworkers.  We use both hand and power tools when appropriate.   Am I going to flatten and plane some rough cut 7/8" stock down to 1/2" for drawer sides?   No way.   I'll run it through my jointer and planer.   Am I going to take 20 minutes to find the right router bit, put in the router, put the router in the router table, set the depth, run a test cut, readjust, retest, to make a chamfer on an edge for 12"?   Probably not, I'll mark it and reach for my plane and have it done.   Or if I'm fitting a drawer into the case and it's a little tight in the  back corner, I probably won't pull out the belt sander and grind it down,  I'll make a quick passes with a plane.  Same thing if I'm working somewhere outside the shop and away from the equipment.  If I'm doing a repair and need to cut a board to length, I pull out the hand saw.  No fetching a miter saw, plugging it in, cleaning up the mess, etc.  I'll change  my mind if I'm cutting 10 bed slats to length.
  • Some people like "collecting."  A friend of mine has 400 planes.   His working set is 3.   He enjoys the history and technology, and restoring them when needed.  Another friend collects art glass.  They just enjoy having them.  Nothing wrong with that.

 

Each to his own.  Whatever you do, enjoy it.

 

 

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