An Introduction to Hand Tools - The Instructor Confesses

Joel, I really can appreciate where you are with this impulse to teach. Having been forced into hand tool wood working by loss of a lung...I've found that most woodworkers are interested in this adventure because it offers more immediacy in their gratification. Before turning to hand tool work (exclusively) I was skeptical about what might be achieved but what I found was that...not only am I able to perform all the tasks required for producing projects....My gratification begins immediately upon the first tool touching the stock...rather than having to wait 'til the piece is finished. And the finished product means exponentially more to me because of the skill I've learned to apply.
THANK YOU for all you do,

Don

"I try to be practical, not (just) philosophical." Joel I appreciate your comment but the photo above of a person paring a hinge socket with that hold down set up... what? That is a Rube Goldberg if I ever saw one. Not a good way to work and it will slip with enough push. Get a vise.

Dan,
I have a vise. But not everyone has a vise - especially a beginner starting out in an apartment. I wanted to show you don't need a perfect setup to get stuff done. Ideally you want two handscrew clamps and two regular clamps to clamp the handscrews down to the table. But, my setup worked fine. For chiseling downward it was perfect, the wood is supported for chiseling by the table top. You are right about paring cuts parallel to the table top, but it worked fine anyway as my chisel was sharp and paring doesn't take much force.

One of the most eye opening woodworking demo I have seen was Chris Gochnour shaping the legs for a shaker candlestick table three different ways; coping saw, spokeshave and card scraper vs bandsaw and spindle sander vs bandsaw and pattern routing. The fastest for one was the hand tools, because of his skills. The slowest for one is the pattern routing but would fastest for dozens. My point is that showing that sometimes that hand tools are a fine choice for an job because they are easier, cost less, more flexible or more controlled with less risk of damaging or messing up your project that a power tool, it helps to show it done with both. On planing I would fit a drawer or clean up a boards faces and edges of planer and tablesaw marks vs a palm sander. On sawing I would layout a mortise and tenon joint for splay/compound angle stool or table leg.

I would love to attend your session but I am still working at 72 years old. God has blessed me with good health and opportunity. Since I cannot attend, I wanted to encourage you from my amateur perspective. I am a self taught amateur furniture repair person. Many of us amateur wood workers, furniture repair persons, are as interested in the process as much as speedy manufacture of fine furniture. I suspect New york amateurs are quite similar to Ohio amateurs except in Ohio our floor space is much less expensive. I know very little about furniture making. My traditional work bench took 25 years to build and was transported from Ohio to Missouri and back to Ohio during the building process. Eventually I broke the project into 20-30 smaller projects and slowly progressed through each process. completion of each phase was a monumental success for me and I learned something from each. I am now working on the repair of an antique 4-legged bench for a vintage Grand Piano. Those small hand tool classes would be ideal for a dummy like me and, I suspect, others who are limited on space and dollars and love the process almost as much as the finished product.