Popular Woodworking 2004-06 № 141, страница 10
Out on a Limb Many Woodworkers Have Knowledge Gap In the early decades of the 20th century, home woodworking got its start when woodworking machines with electric motors were first marketed to homeowners. These machines made it possible for untrained and unskilled enthusiasts to produce projects of surprising quality after acquiring the rudimentary knowledge of machine cutting and glue-and-clamp assembly. In the 1960s, woodworking got another huge shot in the arm when enterprising busi-nesspeople went to Taiwan to have inexpensive equipment made, making ownership of power woodworking equipment within the reach of any American who wanted to pursue the hobby. It's not surprising that during these years, power woodworking gained supremacy over the use of almost any kind of hand tool. And just as our craft lost much of the knowledge and skills associated with the use of hand tools, hand-tool makers fell by the wayside. During a time when we were flying jet airplanes and landing men on the moon, it made sense to lay down the chisel and pick up a router. Hand tools such as planes and chisels were "old fashioned" in a society whose gaze was fixed squarely on the future. But I suspect there was more at work here than disdain for old technology. At the start of home woodworking, hand-tool skills already had been lost. There was little instruction for the home woodworker. What learning tools there were came from the manufacturers of power tools, whose bias was understandably self-serving. Hand-tool skills were not something that could be researched at the library. Rather, they were passed down from master to apprentice. So the hobbyist, working alone in the home shop, really had no opportunity to learn how to tune up a new hand plane or how to put a keen edge on a set of chisels. Still, an innate sense told the woodworker that he or she should own chisels, hand planes, scrapers and handsaws. Many of these tools, often inferior in quality, have populated the home workshops for decades (though most became ornamental - rather than useful -following a few frustrated attempts at producing a fine shaving). It is still true today that respectable woodworking can be accomplished without ever learning how to sharpen a hand tool or really understand how it works. But the lack of these skills leaves today's woodworkers compromised. Fundamental hand skills are a cornerstone of woodworking, just like machine work, an eye for design and the know-how to produce a nice finish. These skills have everyday applications in our shops, and even make some tasks easier. The quality of our work can be improved, making us better craftspeople. And knowing how to use hand tools certainly can enhance our enjoyment of our chosen pastime. Fitting a joint with a hand plane that produces wispy shavings in relative silence is far more enjoyable than eating dust while being assaulted by the noise of a router. Luckily, we work at time when we have a choice. We can turn on the machines for tasks requiring heavy lifting or we can pick up a hand tool and finesse the fitting of a well-made joint. It's up to us. PW Stei'e Shanesy Editor & Publisher CONTRIBUTORS JOHN HUTCHINSON Hesitant about calling himself a woodworker, John prefers to reserve that title for those who dedicate their professional lives to the craft. Ask him and he'll say he's a "wood-tinkerer." After designing and supervising countless corporate millwork projects over his 30-year architectural career, he decided to kick back and smell the roses - or at least a little sawdust. He grew up in Dayton, Ohio, with lights flickering from his father's table saw. The plain brown envelopes that arrived in the mail with project plans were the stuff of dreams. Fifty years later, John is drawing his own dreams as our project illustrator (see "Benchtop Router Table Stand" and "Portable Writing Desk" for examples). His current projects involve unraveling the teachings of Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese abstract expressionist sculptor, and relearning to play the guitar. DANNY PROULX Danny, owner of Rideau Cabinets in Russell, Ontario, has been woodworking for 30 years. Early on, he worked in the shop of his father and father's business partner, both cabinetmakers trained in England. Eager to impress, Danny often would perform tasks in ways he thought were better. When he failed and asked his father why he had been allowed to proceed, his father always said: "You'll never do that again, will you?" Today, Danny is an accomplished author - he has written 13 books, with three more in the works, and more than 150 articles on woodworking. His "Drill Press Workstation" (page 58) is an excerpt from his book "Building Workshop Workstations." 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