I have been making saw dust out of good timber for 25 or 30 years now. I remember clearly the day I first got sick. I had purchased a computer and needed something to put the floppy disks on. (Note to younger readers: floppy disks were little squares that Noah used to prop open the barn doors on his ark.) I found some odd bits of chip board, a blunt saw, a hammer and some nails and made the ugliest shelf imaginable. But I recall looking at it and thinking what fun it was to make. Anyway for a long time we had children, school fees, bills, bills and bills. The tools I had were cobbled up from whatever I could afford. And I learned to cut neat dovetails with nasty chisels and odd shaped saws. And when I look at what I made over the years, I did pretty well. But I was never satisfied. My projects never looked as good as those in the magazines and later, with the advent of the internet, the pictures on-line.
But over time the kids finally became adults, the bills decreased and fun money became more plentiful. I now have a collection of the best saws and chisels, table saws, planes etc etc etc. The joints are near enough to perfect. I can grab my Veritas router plane and take off a thousandth of an inch from the bottom of a half lap. The cross cut and rip saws will cut to a line provided I can keep both feet on the floor and not dribble to much.
And I am having fun.
But I wonder. What part of this newly found (near) perfection is increased skill and what part is the simple fact that the tools I now use are in a different category of quality than what I was using 20 years ago. I have no desire to toss out my tools and wander off to the discount bin at Mitre 10 to find out. But there is a lesson here for new woodies. You can go online and see any number of clever and skilful men making any number of beautiful items. You will find videos entitled "cut a half blind dovetail in 3 minutes" and you will see the joint appear perfectly before you eyes. But before you go out and try to replicate the process, be careful to compare the tools. If you have a $19.95 bargain basement saw and some horrible chisel made from Cheddar cheese then maybe your efforts may not be so grand as the man with the Lie Neilson Dovetail saw and Blue Spruce chisels. But then again maybe it will.
But over time the kids finally became adults, the bills decreased and fun money became more plentiful. I now have a collection of the best saws and chisels, table saws, planes etc etc etc. The joints are near enough to perfect. I can grab my Veritas router plane and take off a thousandth of an inch from the bottom of a half lap. The cross cut and rip saws will cut to a line provided I can keep both feet on the floor and not dribble to much.
And I am having fun.
But I wonder. What part of this newly found (near) perfection is increased skill and what part is the simple fact that the tools I now use are in a different category of quality than what I was using 20 years ago. I have no desire to toss out my tools and wander off to the discount bin at Mitre 10 to find out. But there is a lesson here for new woodies. You can go online and see any number of clever and skilful men making any number of beautiful items. You will find videos entitled "cut a half blind dovetail in 3 minutes" and you will see the joint appear perfectly before you eyes. But before you go out and try to replicate the process, be careful to compare the tools. If you have a $19.95 bargain basement saw and some horrible chisel made from Cheddar cheese then maybe your efforts may not be so grand as the man with the Lie Neilson Dovetail saw and Blue Spruce chisels. But then again maybe it will.
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