hand tools

My favorite woodworking forum is the www.sawmillcreek.org community. There is an interesting discussion going on over there in response to a question about how to get started in hand tool woodworking.

I find it interesting that there are a lot of different answers. As I read through the various posts, many different tips were offered including dvds, books, websites, classes, and so forth.

Perhaps the most important thing to take home from that discussion for the newbie is that you do need help, and that help is readily available in a lot of different ways to suit your time, budget, learning style, and so forth.

For many power tool woodworkers, hand tool woodworking tends to conjure up images of dulls saws hacking through wood and and chisels too dull and rusty to scrape glue. It doesn't have to be that way.Read more

For many, hand tool woodworking is all about tradition. I suppose that is particularly true for the older generation of craftsmen who had fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers who earned their living working with hand tools. I respect that tradition and appreciate it. I think it is a wonderful thing and a good reason to work wood with hand tools.Read more