Changing Course

 In another blog I was starting, it was focused on building a boat.  I have been interested in that for some time.  In 2017, I got a old canoe and began to modify that.  I had a few power tools like a skill saw, jig saw, drill, and I purchased a random-orbital sander to do the modifications I was working on.  I had very few traditional hand tools.  At one point I decided to make some oars.  I used a rasp, spoke shave, and very cheap block plane to make some oars. I am proud of my 7' oars!  :)  Not long after that, I experienced a career change that took me to Europe and I left behind many of the "power hand tools" I had acquired.  Really, there wasn't that many! They also were not very good!

In the summer of 2020, as COVID measures were starting to lift, I got the hankering to build a boat.  Of course, I needed tools.  I was still very much in the mind-set of power tools.  I really wanted a table saw, band saw, etc... but I also realized that I lived abroad.  I lived in a 220 volt country and I would ultimately repatriate to a 120 volt country.  Nevertheless, I invested in some hand power tools and a very, very cheap table top band saw (used). 

My purchase brought in some basic tools of a saber saw (used... cheap), a belt sander (used - thrift shop for $5), a band saw (used, relatively cheap), Plunge Router (Bosch Green), Drill (Bosch Green), Drill Guide stand for Bosch (new), Random Orbital sander (Bosch Green), Hot Air Gun (Bosch Green), and Circular Saw (used, market place find -- not good).

That was my idea of "Hand Tools."  They were ALL POWER HAND TOOLS!  I had forgotten about the manual hand tools... the traditional hand tools.  I saw them as inefficient and archaic... and I dismissed most of them.  I had not realized that my oar making experience the previous years earlier had started me on the hand tool journey. While I was amazed at the oars that I made, I had not realized yet just how good hand tools can be... or how interesting they can be.  What I did start to learn was the value of work holding when you are bringing the tool to the job as I battled to plane while resisting the forces of my block plane and spoke shave. 

Flash forward to the summer of 2020.  at one point, someone was selling some wood on market place.  I went to get it and was asked if I wanted to buy a workbench also.  I did and very glad I did.  It has been central to this journey.  It was in no way a great handtool bench, but it had a good solid heavy surface and was solid.  I have done many modifications and will have a subsequent entry on my bench.

The first year in Germany, we went to Flea Markets... but my radar wasn't looking for tools so I rarely noticed any hand tools.  As I started the journey into boat building, I started looking for tools.  By late summer 2022, the Flea Markets had began to operate again as COVID cases decline.  It was during this time that my wife purchased a European Wooden Jack Plane and a European Wooden shoulder Plane.

What you should notice is there are NO knobs, buttons, levers, or any other obvious mechanical adjustment.  Just a block of wood... a metal blade.... and a wooden wedge.  My previous limited experience was with a small, Buck Brothers, block plane.  That, at least, had a knob to advance and retract the blade and a way to adjust the skew of the blade.  I could understand that mechanism, but not this.... beyond pulling it all out and then inserting the blade followed by wedge to set a depth.  There must be something not obvious!

These days, when wanting to learn about something new, one of the first places I go is YouTube.  I went there to learn about using a Plunge Router.  I also went there to learn about the hand plane and came across Rex Kruber's YouTube site.  Rex Kruger had started a series called "woodworking for humans" focused on doing things with basic tool sets and fabricating some basic tools.  I would call that a "gateway drug"... LOL.  I learned a lot and was inspired a lot by his videos.

Other outstanding personnel on YouTube to follow are:  Paul Sellers and Wood by Wright (James Wright).

Enough for now.