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Are there any hand tool guys on this forum. Since I've only built hand carved F5 mandolins, I'm having second thoughts about the big tools. I build as hobby and I'm thinking these big tools would do a lot of sitting. I already have a bit of skill in this area so I might just wait on the power tools. I have a router and table if I feel the need for speed.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

There are plenty of hand tool only folks on this forum! I'm definitely in the stationary tool camp mostly because I already owned them when I started building in 2010. I've been a professional woodworker for 40 years.

You can get the jobs done with hand tools (especially if you are not in production) if you build up your skills with those tools. As a hobbyist, I find myself looking more and more to hand tools. They are quieter, less dust and more relaxing for me. But, I still have a lot of tool chops to build up. There are some power tools that I could do without but it would be annoying and some that I just don't yet have the skills to do without.

I have a table saw that I now only use for fret slots. The funny thing is, I moved up to a power tool for this operation because I got tired of doing them by hand; around that same time, I stopped cutting my truss rod slots with it because I prefer to do it with a plow plane now.

I use a trim router and stew mac bearing bit set to cut the binding and purling ledges because, I've not yet develloped the skill to do it by hand. I do the rosettes channels both by hand and with the router depending on my mood..

Thickness plates and sides is somewhere in between for me. I'm getting closer to being able to do it all by hand but have a love hate relationship with my shop made thickness sander.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

When I started building I had a router and belt sander. Everything was done by hand including sawing plates off billets. Now I have a big shop filled with power tools and I love it. I think it's a good thing to have the background and experience of using hand tools pretty much exclusively but my old worn out body would hate going back.

I’m relatively new to instrument work, but have been wood working for 40+ years. I’ve never seen Or used a small jointer that was worthwhile.

If budget and space are an issue I think you will get far better results by getting a good quality bench plane. Along with a good sharpening setup and creative use of shooting boards this will work better than a small jointer.

If I was starting from scratch, the power tools I’d look for are a good spindle sander and a big belt sander with a good table.

Holy cow, that's awesome! The U.S.S. Woods. I have a cheap little Ryobi benchtop jointer that I found for 50 bucks. I did make sure it had very sharp blades. My plan was to just use it as a rough Workhorse to make unruly boards more manageable for hand tools and resaw. It has worked well for this and doesn't take up much room.

I have assumed it was okay to joint (the narrow Edge not the face) a back or side Billet on it just using my hands because they remain quite far away from the blade.. Thoughts?

Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk

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Pat

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I used to have a Craftsman 6" jointer and after repeated repairs I gave it to my neighbor who likes tinkering with things. I ended up buying a Lie-Nielsen No. 7-1/2 low angle jointer to hold me over until I could afford a good quality power jointer (Felder or Hammer). That was over five years ago and I still haven't bought that power jointer. I find I'm able to joint just about anything with the L-N jointer.

To be fair, I have a number of L-N planes and I switch off with them during certain jointing work. But for the most part, scribing a straight line and using a hand jointer to get to that line has served me well. It's more work but it's quieter and I find it a bit more satisfying. Like "being one" with the wood.

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Julie Moriarty
http://JulimorCreations.com

I love that. Not everyone gets it. I can handplane a 2x4 down to a toothpick just to get that feeling.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Pat M. wrote:
"I have assumed it was okay to joint (the narrow Edge not the face) a back or side Billet on it just using my hands because they remain quite far away from the blade.. Thoughts?"

Paint the top of your fence red 4 inches on either side of the cutterhead and consider that a "no fly zone" - keep any part of your hands out of that area. Also hold the work moderately firmly with the right hand, but lightly with the left. You don't want a kick back to pull the left hand into the blade. Don't joint short pieces.
It isn't practical to use push sticks to edge joint some things, but do keep your hands from passing over the cutter head.

I'd like to add that when you are edge jointing plates the machine is set to only .000" to maybe .003". The object is to straighten the edge not to hog away material. I do use my jointer to taper edges as necessary to get the best bookmatch. For this my machine in set to a max cut depth of around .060", and usually half that. As long as your knives are sharp and properly adjusted kickback is not likely to occur. I've personally never had any of my jointers kickback (Knock on wood!). This may be because I don't use it as a roughing tool and I keep my knives sharp. Just like a shooting board and bench plane, It takes practice and proper setup to get a perfect joint using either approach.