Loading…
11
My old mentor would roll over seeing how we mill panels now.
He taught me to joint edges by hand with a plane. We took our time, feeling the wood grain. Now, I just feed stock into a power feeder and it's done in minutes. I'm not complaining, it's faster. But I miss the quiet focus of hand work. Does anyone else feel like we've traded skill for speed? What's your take on keeping old techniques alive?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
milestaylor7mo ago
Wait, you used to joint edges BY HAND with a plane? That’s wild. I can’t even imagine doing a whole panel that way, that’s some serious dedication. The speed now is crazy but I get missing that quiet focus.
8
ivan_perez7mo ago
Yeah totally, I still break out the number 7 for short boards sometimes. There's this weird satisfaction in watching the shavings curl up and seeing that perfect seam come together. My first real workbench top was all hand jointed (took forever, my arms were dead). The quiet rhythm of it gets in your head in a good way, like you're talking to the wood instead of just cutting it.
5
morgan_bell927mo ago
How do you balance that quiet focus ivan_perez described with today's need for speed?
0