tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post6347906578990222753..comments2023-11-05T06:16:56.961-05:00Comments on the Carpentry Way: Tool Review: Jessem Mast-R Lift Excel II (bump in the road)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-22084065645168575882012-09-25T08:45:14.753-04:002012-09-25T08:45:14.753-04:00It is really hard to manufacture tools because a l...It is really hard to manufacture tools because a little mistake can make all the tools useless. For example if size of a screwdriver is not universal it is useless. So workers in the factory should pay attention to the work to avoid these issues.Sigma Tile Cutterhttp://www.toolventure.co.uk/tile-cutters/sigma-tile-cutters/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-84183912356207512472012-09-08T18:07:37.826-04:002012-09-08T18:07:37.826-04:00...continued...
Then you wrote,
"...does th......continued...<br /><br />Then you wrote,<br /><br />"...does the furniture you build is an order of magnitude better than what one sees commonly (say, Japan, China or India)?"<br /><br />I can't really speak to that, nor is that any sort of goal for me. I aspire to construct pieces with the same attention to detail and use of quality materials as the ones I admire and seek to emulate. I'm trying to do the work carefully, in a way that I enjoy, and to construct pieces which will last for generations. I take my cues in how to build from past examples that stood up over time, but I do not feel any need to use the same tools as woodworkers in some particular country or time period used, nor to dress as they did, eat what they did, live in the same social arrangements, pray to the same god(s), etc. <br /><br />I live in a time and place where I am fortunate to have a few choices and, at least once in a while, the economic means to buy tools at various quality levels, and try to get the best I can when I can. I don't want to settle for inferior results in my own work, nor do I want to settle for inferior equipment for doing that work. In other areas of my life I am not nearly so concerned about such things. <br /><br />I'd rather not pitsaw planks of rosewood out of a log or hand hew every plank. I like to cut joinery. I like to design. I like to hand plane. I'm lucky in many respects, however I think if i didn't have the access to tools I would still be doing woodwork, still trying to achieve the best results I can. "Run whut ya brung" as they say.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-41593265997708852492012-09-08T18:04:29.372-04:002012-09-08T18:04:29.372-04:00..continued...
Another thing you see in a lot of .....continued...<br /><br />Another thing you see in a lot of third world countries are crude woodworking machines without any safety guards or protections on them whatsoever. You'll see construction workers on sites in Japan using thin shoes without steel toes, while over here OSHA would be all over them. Would one also argue that since wood can be cut on primitive equipment without safety provisions that we are all a bit namby-pamby over here in the west, wasting our money on non-essential 'peripherals'. I tend to think not, of course. Table saw accidents are altogether too common and hence the popularity of Saw Stop among many woodworkers in in recent times.<br /><br />In response to your question, "Do you really need this super accurate gizmos to build quality furniture when people seem to have built quality furniture with just hand tools."<br /><br />I'm not totally sure what you mean by 'super accurate gizmos' - Perhaps you refer to the DRO? Well, to me, that is simply a glorified measuring device and nothing more. It is more convenient to read than squinting at a ruler. <br /><br />What I seek in equipment -what I NEED- is actually rather simple: a machine needs to do the thing it is meant to do without fuss or being dangerous. If it is meant, say, to saw with the aid of a guide fence, then that fence and blade need to be aligned to one another and the table flat. The fence edge should be 90˚ to the table. The spindle needs to have minimal run out. The table and throat insert need to provide a flat surface. The further you move away from those basics being executed well the further one moves into un-predictable, unsatisfying, indifferent or even dangerous outcomes. If the machine can execute the basics well, things tend to be smooth sailing for the most part.<br /><br />With a router table, having a flat surface and a cutter which is perpendicular to the table top are the primary basic functions in my view - these are , or should be, givens. Sadly, it would seem to be the rare machine in this world of woodworking gear that can perform the basics well, time and again, in my experience. Again, depends on how carefully you are looking, and what your expectations might be. some like to tinker on their machines, i just want them to do their job and let me get on with the working of the material.<br /><br />Let's consider fitting a mortise and tenon. Once the parts are together, so long as the tenon shoulders close up tightly to the mortised piece, the joint looks good. However the tenon may not actually be a good fit inside. In fact, it is easier all round to make the tenon a sloppy fit as it facilitates assembly in most respects. But a sloppy fit renders the joint a failure in mechanical terms. I've seen many attractive joints that when taken apart reveal poor mechanical inter-fit between the parts. A lot of woodworkers, if they look at what they are doing, will realize in a lot of their 'joinery' they are relying on the glue to do the mechanical joining. I've seen a lot of poor joinery in timber framing as well, both in design and execution. So, there's more going on than simply how it looks on the surface.<br /><br />...to be continued...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-77201882169738770912012-09-08T17:20:32.077-04:002012-09-08T17:20:32.077-04:00Hi Phil,
thanks for the question. There are lots ...Hi Phil,<br /><br />thanks for the question. There are lots of facets to that question.<br /><br />It is definitely the case that high quality work can be, and has been, produced with hand tools alone. Chisels and planes can produce high quality surfaces that are very flat and true.<br /><br />It is amazing too what can be accomplished with poor quality tools, however I am pretty sure that most craftspeople prefer better tools if they can obtain them. Many woodworkers seemingly learn to live with poor tooling and ill-adjusted equipment even if they have the means to correct the problems. <br /><br />Now, if you look at the evolution of Japanese carpentry joints there is a fairly clear connection between improvements in hand tools and increases in the sophistication of joinery around 1600. Some will argue however that while certain improvements in tools make for positive changes in one direction - like the development of the rip saw which allowed wood to be sawn without concern for the run of the grain - often entail shortcomings in another direction: that carpenters could ignore run of grain by sawing instead of riving meant a loss of sensitivity to material and the use of sawn parts which would often be weaker than their riven counterparts.<br /><br />Some will argue that the sort of carpentry done with the 'primitive' tools, like axe and adze, is more pleasing due to its inherent imperfection and irregularity. Imagine sitting in a room in which a window on one side had slightly irregular riven bars in it, and one on the other side had perfectly straight and machined clean bars. The feel of the view out each window would be pronouncedly different.<br /><br />In one sense, what constitutes a 'primitive' tool and what constitutes a 'sophisticated' tool? If one is to be a purist, I suppose, then stone tools are really the only way to go, and the handsaw an unacceptable corruption. There are accounts of the native Indians on the Northwest Coast of Canada being given steel tools to use on wood and then returning the tools later as they evidently found their stone tools more satisfactory. A lot of what constitutes tool use is what is available and what is conventional. <br /><br />On one hand, a chisel is a 'simple' tool, however the technical details of forging are a rather deep pool of knowledge, so one could argue that, at least in the case of Japanese chisels, they are anything but primitive.<br /><br />And I think it is likely that if you offered a high quality Japanese chisel and a few sharpening stones to a guy in Indonesia who was used to using a chisel made from an old car spring, he just might decide he prefers the Japanese chisel. I certainly can tell the difference in quality between one chisel and the next, and I'm sure you can too. But if you never saw a Japanese chisel, and the normal thing was a chisel made from a car spring, then I'm sure you would simply just get on with the work.<br /><br />...to be continued... Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-35628990725372074742012-09-08T16:47:11.339-04:002012-09-08T16:47:11.339-04:00Hi Chris,
I hope you take this question in the sa...Hi Chris,<br /><br />I hope you take this question in the same spirit as I ask -- an honest question. No intent to offend you.<br /><br />After I took up woodworking as a hobby some five years ago, I have seen paying more attention to woodwork and furniture everywhere I visit. I have seen some amazing work by the Japanese woodworkers. I also saw some in India where the craftsmanship is just amazing (the "Indian Handicraft" junk I see here in the USA comes nowhere near it). The joints in a entry door were perfectly together even after forty years. What astonished me is the "primitive" tools that were used in building some this furniture (of course, I don't exactly know what tools were used in all those pieces which impressed me but power tools are quite rare in most of India). Chisels were sharped on piece of wood with some fine sand as abrasive -- extremely primitive.<br /><br />I read your blog regularly and know how much you care for accuracy in your tools. I admire your skills too. So, my question is this. Do you really need this super accurate gizmos to build quality furniture when people seem to have built quality furniture with just hand tools. Or, does the furniture you build is an order of magnitude better than what one sees commonly (say, Japan, China or India)? <br /><br />Thanks for the thought provoking posts as always.<br /><br />PhilM Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-57266739045395296522012-09-05T16:27:12.238-04:002012-09-05T16:27:12.238-04:00Chris,
shaper tooling is not so expensive if you d...Chris,<br />shaper tooling is not so expensive if you do it the french way, which mean a slotted harbour, 6*80mm and a few bars of 6mm tool steel you shape with grinder and files! We still do it that way for the set building i'm doing.<br />FAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-75381957544562206502012-09-05T16:07:32.832-04:002012-09-05T16:07:32.832-04:00François,
nice to hear from you! Your English, fr...François,<br /><br />nice to hear from you! Your English, from what I can tell, is better than many native speakers, let me assure you. I am pleased that carpenters in Europe and elsewhere are finding it worthwhile to visit this blog.<br /><br />I DO have a shaper actually, however it is a Powermatic, and though near new it is not so great. Not tilting, but reverse, 5 hp. Used German shapers do not appear very often on the market here, unfortunately. I was looking at a brand new Martin shaper last weekend, and when I can afford to buy something like that, that is what I will be getting. Router tables have advantages in certain areas, especially where a small profile or skinny stopped dado is required, and router bits are of course considerably less expensive than shaper tooling, however in most respects I agree with you that a shaper is a better choice.<br /><br />~CAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14328401081765407624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6261993076995357307.post-6569203407915904632012-09-05T15:50:32.175-04:002012-09-05T15:50:32.175-04:00Hi Chris,
as a french joiner/carpenter, I'm al...Hi Chris,<br />as a french joiner/carpenter, I'm always amazed at the way you seem to re-invent the shaper. For me a router table is nothing more than an undersized shaper with all the problems affixed. I think that, for the price you put into a (not so) decent router table you could afford a second hand german shaper and with a few more bucks even have the tilting spindle, reverse switch, 5 speeds, and so on. Maybe I'm wrong but in Europe we have a pretty big market for second hand shaper.<br />By the way, I always like to read from you and I hope you get my English.<br />François Pernod<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com