Tools of the Decade

[FrCollins]

Plasma cutters perhaps not so good for wood, but these are cool: - waterjets.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 , still I would think a wee bit expensive for most folk.
Interesting topic this, gets a body thinking about some to the great tools around now, by the way checkin out glues to see benefits of old and new sounds an interesting, Nick

 

[wizer]

If it ain't broke then why try to fix it? What's wrong with a saw blade? It cuts wood, what else do you want it to do? :roll:

 

[Nick Gibbs]

If it ain't broke then why try to fix it? What's wrong with a saw blade? It cuts wood, what else do you want it to do? :roll:

Take that approach and there'd be no progress (which mightn't always be such a bad thing).

Saws tear the grain, they can be difficult to start the cut, they don't always stay upright or square without a good eye and hand, the dust can hide the line: there are lots of inherent problems that might possibly be solved with a new, radical design. Lasers, for instance, resolve some of those issues.

 

[woodbloke]

If it ain't broke then why try to fix it? What's wrong with a saw blade? It cuts wood, what else do you want it to do? :roll:

Agreed Tom...if it's simple and works why change? It's just an interesting line of thought that's all in that the very basics of woodwork that we all now take for granted were developed centuries ago and have just been infinitely refined over the years...there seems to very little that's a 'brand new' concept - Rob

 

[Nick Gibbs]

It's a lovely idea avoiding progress, because the price of progress is that things we'd like to stay the same change. But day in day out we all demand improvements in other aspects of life where we'd like to see things done better or differently.

Robert Ingham has a nice way of distilling this dilemma: "I have respect for the past and an eye for the future."

 

[Mr Ed]

So when will you be introducing your laser woodcutting system Nick?

Ed

 

[Jake]

But the absence of progress is only a matter of your definition down to (vague) shape of a saw tooth - you have chosen to ignore changes in materials (tct), shapes, power, sticking on them on a circular blade, etc. Compare a bow saw to a CNC beam saw.

 

[MikeG.]

If it ain't broke then why try to fix it? What's wrong with a saw blade? It cuts wood, what else do you want it to do? :roll:

Take that approach and there'd be no progress (which mightn't always be such a bad thing).

Saws tear the grain, they can be difficult to start the cut, they don't always stay upright or square without a good eye and hand, the dust can hide the line: there are lots of inherent problems that might possibly be solved with a new, radical design. Lasers, for instance, resolve some of those issues.

Yeahbut, Yeahbut........

This is my problem with all this tool stuff. In my view people are substituting purchases for skills.

If they can't hold a saw in the right place at the right angle and move it in such a way as to cut the wood cleanly, then they blame the saw and go and get another..........or a laser cutter, or a waterjet. If people can't scrape a thin layer off with an ordinary jack plane it must be the tool's fault so they go and buy a collection of planes with double barrel surnames.

My love of woodwork is partly to do with a love of wood, but also with the idea that patience (I'm not a particularly patient person) and perserverence can produce stuff you are proud of. That perserverence can be on a decade long scale. I don't really care that someone can go out and buy a widget for lots of money and de-skill the entire operation....but it really isn't for me. Tenons aren't perfect? Do I pare carefully with a razor sharp 1-1/2" chisel, or do I go and buy £200 worth of shoulder plane? Have a guess!!

So......no progress in tool making.......no problem to me. I'll be quite happy to carry on with what I've got, and my great-grandfather would be able to recognise every last piece of kit I own. I'll also know that my furniture is made with skill.

Mike

 

[Nick Gibbs]

So when will you be introducing your laser woodcutting system Nick? Ed

Not me, I'm afraid. Communication's my business! I know very little about laser technology, but anything's possible. If it solved enough of the problems of saws then I'm sure it wouldn't take long to arrive. What about a laser to replace a chainsaw or for turning? Who knows?

 

[Mr Ed]

So when will you be introducing your laser woodcutting system Nick? Ed

Not me, I'm afraid. Communication's my business! I know very little about laser technology, but anything's possible. If it solved enough of the problems of saws then I'm sure it wouldn't take long to arrive. What about a laser to replace a chainsaw or for turning? Who knows?

Well my saws are OK, so I don't really know what problems with saws you think need solving. We don't always need to be looking for the new new thing, improvements in tools are for the most part incremental not revolutionary like throwing all our saws away to swap to laser beams.

Ed

 

[Nick Gibbs]

I don't mean to get heavy about this. It was just a point that inventors tend to see problems first, often before anyone else has noticed them. Then they find a solution, and suddenly all the problems we didn't notice become apparent to the rest of us.

Progress isn't a switch we can suddenly turn off in 2009.

I, for instance, hate progress in computing. I hate it that I have to keep upgrading my computers because one piece of software has been 'improved', has become more memory-hungry, and demands higher spec. British Woodworking was created for the first two years of its life on a £100 second-hand Mac. But I don't complain about the amazing improvements in what I can now achieve for relatively little outlay at great speed.

Of course in woodworking we can step away from it all, and do our own thing with simple tools. I love that idea. But something inside us seems to demand the new, heaven knows why. That's temptation!

 

[Ironballs]

Bad day at work Mike? Have you seen my shoulder planes

I do use them though - and chisels for paring, whatever seems right for the job in hand

 

[Nick Gibbs]

In my view people are substituting purchases for skills.
Mike

Absolutely Mike. I agree entirely. But why shouldn't they? I'll bet you it's been happening since the very first tools were used by cavemen. Those that have the skills decry those that attain them through technology, whether that's a better axe or a laser. Ultimately, of course, it comes down to one's own journey, and the path one chooses to follow to reach one's goal. As Robert Persig wrote(ish): "It is the sides of the mountain that define the peak."

 

[Smudger]

Yeahbut - this is an old bee in my bonnet.

A lot of us here are hobbyists, and totally 'untrained' in that we never spent any time in apprenticeships or training. So we never stood by a bench to be shown how to do it. So people substitute equipment for expertise, it's natural.
I know that the things I learned 'by the bench' were the things that I do naturally now. And eventually those skills transfer.

That's a rubbish ramble, but I hope you see what I mean. Until I had a Lie-Nielsen plane, and a Spiers, and a Type 11 Stanley in my hands I didn't know what I was doing wrong in my fettling and sharpening.

 

[Nick Gibbs]

Completely agree with you, Smudger. I learnt my woodwork on site with routers and jigsaws and planers, and only really developed an affinity with hand tools much later, at the bench as a hobbyist, dabbling. But by that stage I had overcome many of the hurdles novices face, and so wasn't so daunted by using hand tools and the patience and sharpness you require to achieve the results you expect.

 

[kityuser]

My vote would go for the Dust Deputy, & cyclone technology in general, which shows in the magazine articles & forum posts dedicated to coming up with diy versions.

The Dust deputy has saved me hours in not have to clean filters when sanding floors,


I`d also say the development of lithium ion batteries has been a boon.

another vote from me for cyclone tech.

both HPLV and HVLP cyclones have saved me cleaning time just down to the reduction in loss-of-suction of my shop vac and extractor system.

I`d also second google sketchup, I`m still a beginner but its a really cool bit of software.

Steve

 

[MikeG.]

Bad day at work Mike?

Every day is a bad day at work. Work means sitting in front of a ****** computer rather than having a life. Love the projects, hate the process.

I love a thread where Robert Persig gets quoted.

Mike

 

[OPJ]

The mention of HVLP extraction has reminded me of the Fuji HV5000 HVLP Spray Station, which has bought affordable spraying to several workshops on this site alone, without the need for a noisy compressor.

 

[FrCollins]

I know I'm getting away a bit from the original topic of this thread but was just surmising a couple of things with ref to "progress" on tool development.

Two successful woodworkers; one is highly skilled at using hand tools with little knowledge of power tools, the second is highly skilled in using power tools and has little knowledge of hand tools, who is the most skilled woodworker, can the woodworker that mainly uses “hand tools” really call themselves “more skilled” than the other?
An example where progress might be welcomed rather than scorned:
Both these woodworkers tender for a job to replace four interior doors for a prospective client. The hand tool woodworker charges £20.00 per hour, were as the power tool woodworker is charging £25.00 per hour and justifies this by believing their tools are more expensive! The hand tool woodworker would obviously be the person for job based of the assumption hand tool woodworkers are more skilled and anyway they are charging less per hour. However, if the hand tool woodworker tells you it will take 8hours to complete, were as the power tool woodworker says 4hours, I wonder would the math have any influence on who would get the job!

 

[MikeG.]

I don't think anyone is suggesting that there isn't skill involved in using power tools. I certainly use them all the time, and wouldn't be without them.

Mike