Hand Tool Virtue Signalling

Hand Tools aren't better but I love them.

As an enthusiastic consumer of woodworking content, I see the community divided into three broad camps. Power tool woodworking, Hand tool-only woodworking and hybrid woodworking. Many handtool-only woodworkers are publicly proud of the work they do and the skills they have developed. I love this style of woodworking, yet much of the content could be seen as a form of virtue signalling with an undertone of superiority.

I started in the hand tool camp from the ages of 12 to 25 as this is how I was taught by my grandfathers and five years of high school woodworking. Plus, I did not own any woodworking power tools.

I then embraced power tools like a seagull on a chip. Mainly because I just wanted to build stuff quickly, secondly because I did not know how to maintain or sharpen my hand tools, so using them was an exercise in self-flagellation, and lastly, because they were super cool.

I now call myself a handtool woodworker.

In the past five years, I have progressively moved back into the handtool woodworking camp. 

My choice to place all of my power tools on the high shelf and to dive headlong into the world of hand tool woodworking was not based on a holier-than-thou virtue signalling to the woodworking community. Hand tools are not superior to power tools, real craft or woodwork as it was meant to be done. They are just the best technology of their time.

So why the change?

I live in a densely populated inner city suburb with our neighbours about 2 metres from my tiny woodshop on the side of a garage attached to our house. So hand tools solve many problems for me.

With my two-metre by three-meter workshop, I ran out of room very quickly, so there would always be a limit to my power tool journey, especially if I moved into larger tools like thicknessers and jointers.

Hand tools make much less noise, meaning I can work all hours of the day and night without disturbing my neighbours and my family.

Dust was also becoming a big problem. No matter what I did, it would get in the house, and all the items stored in our garage would have a thin film all over them. 

Plus, where I live, it averages around 20 C in the winter and more than 30 degrees C in the summer, so wearing a mask and safety glasses is hot and uncomfortable.

Woodworking is my hobby and not my profession. I do not need to make money from it or be productive. As the owner of a software company, it is my escape from the productivity and technology-dominated world I inhabit. If I needed to make my living from woodworking, I would embrace any technology that would help me be more productive, improve quality control and improve my margins. 

I engage in woodworking to learn and develop my skills, and for the pure pleasure, I get from working wood. Powered machinery, noise and dust reduce this pleasure for me.

Working with Handtools enhances my woodworking experience, and the skills required are a challenge that excites me. To use a software term, I have chosen an older woodworking "tech stack" not because it helps me make better fine furniture but because it helps me make a better life.

I still use power tools for large DIY construction projects and have a running debate in my head as to the pros and cons of owning a bandsaw for quicker and easier resawing. But I would still need to solve the problem of where to store it!

I love learning about any type or style of woodworking, yet most of my influences are makers like Paul Sellars, The M&T crew, and Christopher Schwartz. They showed me the joy of working with hand tools and the encouragement to develop my skills.

Plus, Hand tools are seriously sexy!

Thanks for reading

Cheers

David