Before power tools: how’d it get done?
“With hand tools.” Kidding aside, does anyone know what techniques people used when handpower was the only power? Mention whatever you find interesting.
Back in fall, I had the good fortune to get a ride to Paris. While at the Louvre, I was contemplating some fluted casing that was 500 years old. I can get that talented artists carved the little leaves that were inside the flutes. :-O But they also carved flutes that were perfectly even in depth, radius, and were straight? It seems superhuman.
Edited 1/11/2008 1:15 am ET by Biff_Loman
Replies
I grew up working with my Dad.
I'm only 41 ... but his technology was ancient.
he learned from his Dad ... then worked a bit with my Mom's father.
anyways .... I didn't fire a nailgun till I was 25.
didn't use a power chop saw till I was in my early 20's ...
and didn't have a cordless drill /driver till around that same time.
we hammered nails in ... framing and finish.
cut rough with a circular saw and finish with a backsaw in a miter box.
and drove most screws with a screwdriver.
we did use a power drill ... corded.
lotsa cuts were made with the same Diston handsaws that I have now ... that both Grandfathers gave him. I was lucky ... my older brother moved ... and we still needed them for work. So he missed out.
to this day I remember the forearm cramps from driving long screws ... even with predrilling.
we just did light remodeling ... kitchens and baths.
amazing what the old timers did to build houses.
we're weak.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
The first couple I built were way back in the woods back in the early seventies. We had them all framed up before the power got there. Didn't know any better, so we just cut and built.I started roofing with a crew that used no power hoist or pumper for the hot stuff. still remember one day when I was working with another crew who had never carried anything up a ladder. I had half the roof stocked while they were pizzing and moaning wondering how they were going to get stuff up there because the lift was broke.Just do it!
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"anyways .... I didn't fire a nailgun till I was 25.didn't use a power chop saw till I was in my early 20's ..."I gotchya beat. I was in my 30's when I did either. And I had been making a living as a carpenter for a good 8 years prior. I know I'm older than you but not terribly.Doing things by hand gives you all kinds of insight as how to approach certain jobs and problems. There's also a certain satisfaction in it.
I built my first home without any power tools, even cut the plywood with my handsaw. It wasn't that big a deal, just took longer. I enjoyed that quiet time in the woods, no electricity for over a year.
There's a very interesting PBS documentary about a man who homesteaded some land in Alaska back in the 60's and built his own cabin from logs, using only hand tools and old techniques. It's fascinating to watch him make it all work so well in such an inhospitable environment. Seems to be almost effortless, the way he goes about it.
IIRC his name was Dick Preneke or some spelling close. PBS.org would probably have a link.....I have it on vhs tape somewhere...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!
There was a book and two videos. His name was Dick Proenneke and the book is "One Man's Wilderness" with a video of the same name and one entitled "Alone In The Wilderness". Good stuff!
One side note about that documentary worth mentioning, the voice over isn't Proenneke even though it's spoken in the first person. It's a guy who knew him and who produced the video. He was reading from Proenneke's journal or an edited version of it.
That was revealed on a subsequent PBS special which detailed how the original video had been made and included some on-camera commentary from Proenneke. His personality was a lot freer. He sounded full of joy at having found his true place in the world.
You need to look up some books at the library like those by Eric Sloane.
I spent some time visiting a family on Ohio. The old man had been a tinker in Europe during WW2 traveling around until he got a chance to emigrate. when I met him he was a maintanence man at a hospital, but he had built his own house and trim, doors, furniture.
he took me out to his workshop to show me how. He had built all his own tools - hand planes, lathe, even a table saw with a salvaged motor.
People are ingenious
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Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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He had built all his own tools - hand planes, lathe, even a table saw with a salvaged motor.
That reminds me of when I lived in India for a few months and did some carpentry to help out. There was a homemade table saw like you describe, just a saw blade fastened to the end of an electric motor which in turn was bolted to piece of 3/4" plywood, the table. The fence was a piece of 2X held in place with a pair of C-clamps. Good luck getting it parallel to the blade.
The only species of wood available was teak, a poor grade. It was fairly soft with a lot of twists in the grain, very difficult to work with. Nonetheless it was a good challenge which taught me to better appreciate what I have to work with here.
I also got to know two older Norwegian carpenters back in the fifties. They built all the buildings, cabinets and the furniture at a summer camp on a remote lake in western Ontario. They used axes to cut down the trees for the small saw mill they had, then built with the rough lumber using only hand tools.
They were quite happy and productive, living year-round on that island with their wives, who cooked for the 150+ campers and counselors each summer, on big old wood stoves with large ovens. It was the way they'd live all their lives so it was no hardship to them, none at all. Great people...full of love and good humor.
One of the women would sing the Canadian national anthem in the dining hall on special occasions. She did it acappella with such deep emotion that after the first "Oh Canada" every kid in the hall was rendered speechless, almost breathless as well.
They were from another time, those great loving people, one which has been lost to us as we pursue easier and faster methods through technological advancement.
The question becomes, what have we given up so freely, to achieve a life of ease? Has the technology run away with some of our human qualities or interfered with their development?
I would say yes, most definitely. That's part of what motivates me to seek the higher Self within. Happily That remains unchangeable, full of all life's blessings.
Edited 1/11/2008 6:29 am by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Piffin - we have all of Eric Sloane's books -- they have a treasured spot on our book shelf -- we bought a farm with a stone hsoue and stone barn that were built in 1835. Imagine buying a place that did not have plumbing, electricity, and central heat till 1970?
We have leared so much from the quiet sentry that this place has been for us -- everything was thought out. -- Plus it is 3/4s of a miel off the county road -- what were they thinking back then building it so far away
Maybe the house was built long before the road was put through.I grew up in one that Dad described as "Started in 1832 and ain't finished yet"The road had been moved from one side of the house to the other by a quarter mile in some mid twentieth century road straightening plan
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But they also carved flutes that were perfectly even in depth, radius, and were straight? It seems superhuman.
More than likely done with planes and jigs. Seems like they had a lot more time back then. Didn't have to watch the weather report, synch the ipod, grab the cell phone, and ask and answer questions on the internet before they headed out the door for the day.
http://grantlogan.net/
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It was also a time when they had to serve a seven year apprenticeship moving the air dry pile back and forth before they were allowed to handle the plane for roughing, let alone smoothing work. And sometimes, their parents had to pay to get them accepted as an apprentice. The alternative was working bent over in the fields all day long. So parents only invested in the ones likely to do well at the trade.I visited a historic place down east from here last summer and got the tour.
They pointed out that it took three years to build it all the way,tho liveable the first year. The formal parlour took one carpenter two years working alone to carve all the cornice work and mantle trimmings.
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The "Alone in the Wilderness" book and DVD's are often on eBay at low prices. They're fascinating. I got the DVD for my son on eBay for $10 to $12 as I recall.Greg
all by hand...
cut nail plane or shape...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
There was a time when carpenters who practiced "joinery" thought that any carpenter who used those newfangled metal nails wasn't worth the saliva it took to spit on him for taking shortcuts like that.
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you musta met my grand father....
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
could be...But I only knew that from reading
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
that's the way he felt...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
A local farmer had the Amish build a house for himself. They had a craftsman table saw from the 50's with a 4 hp Honda engine. To put the door hinge screws in they used a Millers Falls breast drill. They trimmed the truss ends with a hand saw.
When it was time for drywall they used the largest version of push drill Yankee made and screwed all the dry wall.
The lead guy on the job knew his stuff, it was always interresting to see who or how many people he would bring for help that day.
The Amish around here have every Dewalt tool made especially the cordless stuff. They just run/charge them off a generator.http://grantlogan.net/
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"Because I really want to live in a country where the poor people are fat. "- Unidentified Indian Immigrant when asked why he wants to come to America
24 ft long strip of pine for moulding, big 2 ft long moulding plane
Hook that puppy to the collar of a mule and plane the length in one stroke. Final finish by walking the length.
people would be surprised how fast a hand plane can be when it is sharp!I have two big spruce beams in my house - about 10x14x 14' - cut from a tree on the property. I set both on sawhorses and started hitting them with the jack plane and had both squared true and smooth by lunch time, then spent the PM letting in some mortises with the chisel.
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I set both on sawhorses and started hitting them with the jack plane and had both squared true and smooth by lunch time
That sounds like a good time, very relaxing and rewarding.
be looking for a big tree now
"I set both on sawhorses and started hitting them with the jack plane and had both squared true and smooth by lunch time"
And if you woulda had a good hewing axe, you would have been done before coffee break.
Well, mebbe down a few toes, but still. . . .
;-)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Thats the truth. I see more people cutting with dull blades but since they are only burning up the saw and smoking up the area, they dont seem to care.
I acquired a tool for re-kerfing hand saw blades years ago, so when I am doing nothing on a weekend nite, I grab a beer, a file, and this gadget, and re-sharpen my handsaws. They are all old and acquired at garage sales and brought back to life.
People look at me funny on jobs when I pull them out, but those old saws cut straight, clean and fast. It is truly amazing how fast you can cut a 2x4 with a hand saw!!
Jeff in Pa
I get the same stares when I roll out me tool box and open it up. The first question is when do you ever use those? I tell them quite a lot youngin.
Edited 1/12/2008 9:40 am by jagwah
Forgot to add a picture .
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Edited 1/12/2008 9:46 am by jagwah
Hey? Is zat a gas cylinder from a Honda civic hatch back I see?
Cool idea..might have to borrow that..wunder if the DW will miss one from her Saturn wagon.
edit: opps I looked again, its a door closer..nevermind.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Edited 1/12/2008 3:51 pm ET by Sphere
Sweet saws you got there jagwah.
What is the purpose of the diamond-shaped surface treatment on the bottom one?
Edited 1/12/2008 9:36 pm ET by Pierre1
I'm not sure, more of a look for the Disston saw back when I bought it. It might be a quality of saw type mark. Basicly a scuffing for appearence.
Some considered these grindings, or smoothings, improvements in getting the saw cleanly through the cut and speeding up the cut. For an even more obscure detail and apparently now lost to history look at the saw at the top. It has a "nib" on the top edge of the blade near the outboard end. These "nibs" came in varying styles, some very ornate, others so overly simplistic it was clear they were left as an artifact. This particular one looks to be closer to an actual functioning version, ..... if there were any function to it all. And that's the mystery. No one, including the most knowledgeable tool historians can come up with a definitive reason why these older, and serious use hand tools, had these nibs. What did they do? What were they for?Decoration, other than surface as can be seen in the diamond pattern on the other saw, was very, very rare on the working surfaces of serious tools and even then they had practical purpose. Almost always any "detailing" was for practical uses. Any artistic styling was simply to show the manufacturers confident skill, the diamond pattern is artistic but the grinding is practical. Yet here are these Nibs as details that until recently were guessed to be only decorations but now are known to be functional but function as what? Any thoughts?
Hmmm, what happened to the close up of the Nib? Here it is again.
My grandfather used the back of the nib against a finish nail to strike a radius by placing a pencil point at one of the teeth that fit his need. He also used the nib as a tie point to help hold a wooden guard on the saw to protect the teeth.
My point has been function follows form. There may not have ever been a purpose except decoration. Carpenters are a creative bunch and the nib offerred many possible solutions to the problems of there day.
KWL
I think Henry Diston himself said that the nib was nothing more then decoration/adornment, or some such word.
Doug
Ooooohhh. Now I am envious. My saws work well but dont look near as nice and unfortunately dont have a nice home like yours do.
I aspire to someday have everything organized like some of the many picts I see from everyone on how the tools are organized.
Regardless, I love working with a good handsaw!
Great therapy and people are amazed at what they can do.
"People look at me funny on jobs when I pull them out, but those old saws cut straight, clean and fast. It is truly amazing how fast you can cut a 2x4 with a hand saw!!"
There's a proper Disston crosscut in my van all the time - a sharp one. Great for when the power goes out... And yes, the young'uns sure are curious about it.
In reno work, my 15" Stanley toolbox saw is very handy. You know the one - it has a shark on the cardboard sleeve. Great for cutting ABS pipe, removing door jambs without making a mess...
True that. I've got a belt sander, but it mostly sits on the shelf. It's usually faster, as well as quieter and less dusty, to do belt sander work with a scrub plane. Then I take my Festool Rotek to it....Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein (or maybe Mark Twain)
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
"Everything not forbidden is compulsory." T.H. White, The Once and Future King
My father told me, back in 1970 when we were framing a house, how my grandfather resisted using power tools. My Dad said how his Dad thought the power saw would ruin the trade. But he owned a couple within a few years.
My Dad was lamenting the ruination of the trade because of pneumatics. He felt it would lower wages and increase pressure to finish fast the qualityof the job. He resisted, by '72 he had several nailers.
The important thing to remember is craftsmanship shouldn't be measured by the time it takes to do something or the level of suffering it takes to get it done.
The end result no matter the tool, wether a piece of fine cabinetry or complicated bit of joinery, still requires craftsmanship.
I can't wait till I get my hand held laser mortiser or say a laser utility knife with depth control maybe even a levitating door carrier.
And when these new fangled tools come on the market all I can say is wow, what cool things might I be able to do then.
can't wait till I get my hand held laser mortiser.................
where does the line start???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Bet there was a time when the teamsters resisted the invention of the wheel
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People talk about the Zen of work.
I can imagine the peaceful mental state of being outside and the sound of a plane slipping over the surface of a long beam. Truly a respectful omage to the tree that was felled.
Someday the same might be said about using a hand power planer.....
nah!
<the Zen of work.>
Sometimes I hate the noise. Last Saturday I took down ~100' of 10-20' privit with a pruning "pull" saw. Even 6-7" trunks, plus a piece of 8" pecan deadfall into a couple pieces.
About 4 hours; no noise but the creaking and falling (the privit, not me!). Nice day, nice quiet time.
Neighbor, who owned half the hedge, was amazed.
Then we spent the same amount of time feeding the huge brush winrows into the howling diesel 6" chipper for mulch.
Not as fun; LOT noisier.
Forrest
Hey Forrest, what's a privit? A small woodlot between two houses?
Edited 1/12/2008 9:35 pm ET by Pierre1
<what's a privit?>
Nah - privit's this stuff this morning - grows fast, kind of a trash bush - good for hedges, though.
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Forrest
Edited 1/13/2008 8:40 am by McDesign
I do the opposite. Get the chainsaw out. Find out I don't have any premixed gas. Go to the service station for gas. Hardware store for oil. The Chainsaw, which I haven't used in quite awhile, won't start. I go to the mechanic.All for a few branches. If it took thirty minutes a branch I would still be ahead using a handsaw. It's funny how much we are conditioned to automatically use power tools.
levitating door carrier. We all want one of those!
iz dat called a helper?
Hey Ron, if you see this, post another pix of 'my helper' now that you are single.
In my trade mostly all hand tools are used for just the slate work itself.
This is interesting. I was simply curious - I didn't expect this to turn into a thread on the merits of non-powered tools! :-D
My dad used to tell about framing a house when he first started, back in the 40s.
His boss was too cheap to get a temporary service, so EVERYTHING was cut with handsaws- studs, rafters, joists, sheathing, etc.
He told me they had one guy who's job was to sharpen saws all day.
I was in the union 78'-'89. On most of the jobs a guy would show up weekly offering to sharpen saws, sawblades and other sharps.
I would use my hand saws more if it were easier to get them sharpened.
If I want a saw sharpened I have to send it off for a week or two. I buy a little less quality of skillsaw blades so I can toss them rather than send it off to sharpen.
I'm not sure how to chime in here. I'm surprised and a little disappointed the thread has few "practitioners" (as hobbyists, I'll make no argument for a profession of house building through hand tools.)If you're really interested in beginning to understand how these guys made the work they made, especially those trim details, and other finer details, start with a PBS show, The WoodWrights Shop, hosted by Roy Underhill who used to be Master Housewright at Colonial Williamsburg. Roy works through a single project showing tools and techniques used by pre-1850 or so, professionals. It's only a half-hour so, Roy moves quick and his style isn't for everyone. The best are when he starts with a Log. Yep, a Log. You'll understand quickly, I think, what a proper tool and technique can do to achieve the right results. As to "Housewright-ing", he also has an episode or two on house building techniques but you'll understand by his discussions of the period how the "industry" of its time produced what it did. His books are also great but the TV show is where I'd start. There is also an amazingly active mailing list, OldTools, at http://people.iarc.uaf.edu/~cswingle/archive/faq.html where these guys practice building old tools and projects where "not a single electron was harmed in the making of..." You'll read discussions of making tools, using tools and obviously projects, especially group wide projects. As to your specific experience, it was true everywhere, but especially in France that there were "specialists" that turned out specific detailed work like factories. Hundreds of Fluted panels, dentition detailed panels, half-columns, detailed carvings, and many many more, each delivered by a specific shop that specialised in that particular "product". These were then bought and installed into the work being done. Some shops bought and then finished or assembled larger components such as complex moldings, wall panels, stair and ceiling panels, etc..., in turn selling these to Housewrights to finish the houses they worked on. It's not as surprising then, I think, to understand how they could turn out such amazingly detailed and perfectly accurate work when they were practicing nothing else and could sell their products for much less than the master carpenter(wright) could with his team. There are especially interesting accounts in Thomas Jeffersons papers regarding communicating with one of his slaves who was especially talented and widely renowned for his craft and skill in housebulding, exterior architectural details, trimwork, cabinetry, etc..., etc... Jefferson had to keep him busy to keep from having to lend him out to others. The communication back to Jefferson from him talks of difficulties in getting much of this "specialist" work delivered on time and in good enough quality to keep the house building on time. He must have been a remarkable man as Jefferson made it clear he had the power to approve or disapprove any work, to the peril of white shop owners who did not live up to standards. Also, I know practitioners of hand-tool work agree that accuracy and detail is much faster and easier through hand tools. I can turn out a modestly detailed chair, a table and/or a 3-drawer cabinet faster with hand tools than with power tools. But,,,,If I need to make 6 chairs, more than one table in a run of tables, and a 5 drawer cabinet or multiple 3 drawer cabinets than there's no beating power tools and jig setups. Also, for me, sizing and ripping lumber are power tool operations. In the old days they had specialists for this too, so that one shop would sell it's dimensioned furniture lumber to another. Anyway, probably more than wanted but at one time I also wondered how they could have possibly accomplished as much as they did and while its still awe-inspiring its not unbelievable to me and my admiration for those professionals is broader and deeper now that I know a little more about their "industry" of their day.
Not long winded at all. That's what this is all about.
Thank you.
Good post, often wondered about the stone quarries and stone factories in 1200 or so.
I you go thru many English, Scottish, French, or German castles you are amazed at the number of spiral stair sections hewn from stone, look pretty standard continent wide.
Anyone know if there is a special name for those sections?
They did it by hand, but they had all kinds of jigs and such that made it easier than it looks (except for the muscle power - lol). I saw a TV show several years ago that showed an old shop that had hundreds of hand planes racked on the wall. They had a different plane for every kind of cut.
I heard something interesting the other day that may explain it. "Two hundred years ago, technology was expensive but manpower was cheap. Today, technology is cheap and manpower is expensive."
I hate to crash a handplane lovefest but people built things to live in for many eons before metal was harnessed. Even the bronze age is recent human history, let alone a hand saw or impact driver.Retired until my next job.
We used to use 13 oz Bluegrass hammers with curved crawls. And we'd shave the handles down with pieces of broken glass. And drill a hole in the handle and put bees wax in it.
Sometimes I miss old Larry....................NAh
"Woke up quick, at about noon. Just knew that I had to be in Compton soon."
I think about that alot. I usually work in houses built anywhere from the 20's to 40's.
I remember seeing a show about tools on the History channel saying it was hard to initially sell power tools because "sites simply didnt have electricy".
Forget about the ornate trim you're referring to. Imagine cutting rafters in bulk during the housing boom (post WWII) knowing you need to frame 10 more this week.
Actually the stuff I see was done more accurately then some of the stuff I find in newer houses.
it was about 1830 that water mills became very common in Maine to produce the moldings that went into the Greek Revival homes then in vogue.The homes built here around 1894 - 1910 used trim packages produced in Philly on steam powered milling machinery. I often remove a piece of casing or see the back of a door jamb with label written in lumber rayon denoting the home owner name or contractor name, and the town.Deliveries came here by steamship.
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"Imagine cutting rafters in bulk during the housing boom (post WWII) knowing you need to frame 10 more this week.
Actually the stuff I see was done more accurately then some of the stuff I find in newer houses."
Been in the attics of 80-100 yo hip-roofed homes here-abouts. Beautiful jack rafter cheek cuts in most of them - full contact.
I still grab my Yankee push-drill, a Stanley eggbeater, or a brace and bits when I only need a few holes. Hammer for less than ten nails or brads. One cut - one Disston! I had a boss flip-out when I ripped a sheet of ply with a handsaw. He said he thought it would take an hour! I had it done before another guy could get the generator running. I use both powered and me-powered tools - like them both.
If you want to see all the details of how the Romans built their cities, and how the Europeans built cathedrals, go to the library and check out David Macaulay's excellent books City and Cathedral.
Done as stories and accompanied by his fabulous drawings, each spans the hundreds of years it took for the building work to progress toward completion. All with hand tools.
After reading and seeing those two, if you have become a Macaulay junkie, you can get hold of his Castle and Pyramid. Mill should follow those.
You can then soar through time way past the industrial revolution and get into, way way into, his fabulous The Way Things Work, which covers, among other things, how a helicopter flies, and how a computer works. And hundreds of other topics.
Do it!
Two more books on the topic, that I have not seen mentioned in this thread. More on building construction than carpentry per se, but still on point:
Building Construction Before Mechanization by John Fitchen (MIT Press, 1986)
Moving Heavy Things by Jan Adkins (apparently privately published, 1980)
The first one is rather scholarly, covering construction practices from pre-history to the "pre-present." The second is a charming illustrated tutorial on, well, moving heavy things... without power and without getting killed. I acquired my copy from a colleague back when I was a stagehand, moving heavy things.
John Ewing
My training when I started out in woodworking was all hand tool based. At the boat school, it wasa long time before we touched a power tool besides a grinder for sharpening. Many times in the traditional boat world it's just not practical to do a lot of the work by machine. The pieces are too big, too awkward, or most often, too curvy. So much of the joinery is done in place as well. It's pretty fun working mahogany, yellow cedar, red cedar, doug fir, Port Orford cedar with planes and chisels and saws. Once I got out in the world and started working, I had to temper that a little what with having some more time pressures and using more modern materials. Still, though, I used planes and saws and chisels for a large percentage of work.I remember on my first carpentry job nailing everything by hand, including all of the shear panelling. I got pretty good on that job nailing with both hands. I love smacking framing nails in. I do find myself thinking about the old timers a lot when I'm doing trim work. I've hand nailed a lot of exterior trim, but jeez, doing any kind of sizable interior would just be way more work...Plus shaving that little hair off a piece of base or whatever is tougher as well. I know, that's what a Lion Trimmer is for. Gotta get me one.Like Jeff said, I feel pretty soft when I think about those old guys. I read somewhere, likely here, about someone's dad or grandfather who was a carpenter in Chicago in the old days. He rode the El to work every day with two, sometimes three, fully loaded tool boxes. We bitch when we have to park a block away from the job.One thing that really does appeal to the Luddite in me is not having to have an entire truck full of tools. One nice shoulder box would pretty much do it. Sigh...- KitTechnique is proof of your seriousness. - Wallace Stevens
Most of "how it was done" has been addressed already, so I'll mention a few things which go with the general theme. Craftmanship prior the wwII was much higher than it is today. With the GI bill many people who previously could not own their own home now could and in the early 1950's there was a housing boom. At the same time guys who would have gone into the trades went to war instead so right after the war when demand was at it greatest there was reduction in skilled workers. Production was everything and we built lots of small crappy houses. If you want proof just look at the quality of handtools produced prior to the war and after. Lie Neilsen makes a big deal out of handtools which were considered basic tools in the 1930's. As a result guys today who buy handtools purchase cheap ones, don't take care of them and as a result feel that only power tools can do the job. Today's powertools can make an average carpenter look good, but only if they work with standard profiles. today we don't have carpenters we have installers.
In most part I would agree with you , but check out the joinery in the "waiting for a crane" thread in the photo section.
I have a friend who is in his eighties and was a carpenter in pre-power tool days. It's fun to listen to him tell about the old days.
Here's what I wonder--did they work at a different pace and a different attitude than what we did? I know people who have seen amazing technological changes. As a kid, they farmed with horses and are now using huge expensive GPS and computer equipped machinery which is more productive than they could have imagined. I've asked them and my Carpenter buddy if things were more or less stressful then and I can't get a good answer from any of them.
If we could time travel and bring back some of the guys who worked on the Louvre, would they be any different in the way they worked as far as pace?
Regarding all the talk of technology being substituted for craftsmanship.
My brother put it best more than a few years ago when he was telling me about his new framing nailer. He stated that now he can screw up a wall alot faster or words to that effect.
I think the carpenters of the day used the best technology of the day. The fact is the hand tools allow you more time to see if things are going bad and fix them. With power, you have to be doubly aware of the details or your mistakes will be irreversable sooner.
Just my less than humble opinion.
"He stated that now he can screw up a wall alot faster or words to that effect."I know what he is talking about. I wonder if there is more of a tendency to hurry more with tools that work faster than our brains.
I wonder if there is more of a tendency to hurry more with tools that work faster than our brains.
Not hurry but get complacent. You assume the power tool will do the job and don't think through what your doing. With a little less deliberate thought comes opportunity for injury.
From my experience, sticking my thumb in a running tablesaw blade to move a ripped fall off . I just wasn't thinking.I wasn't in a hurry. I think more repetition of a task while in lala land.
With hand tools ones time is less abundant. You have to think through what will be the most productive use of that time. I think in some ways the older ways required more thought and attention.
To me its pretty clear that in general the crews prior to mechanization worked just as hard as anyone through the ages. There were some who moved quick, got a lot done and kept the quality high. There were also those who did just what had to be done and as well as was needed. The difference was that everything was a lot more personal in that most builders operated within a small arena, do a good job get more work, do a bad job and it impacted you pretty much immediately, everyone who counted knew of it. I've known and worked alongside several who worked prior to mechanization, unfortunately they are no longer with us. Their work ethic was incredibly more disciplined and their perception on what a full days work was much more punishing than anything I've ever known. Older days were much less forgiving. We can work just as hard but we do it because of personal ambitions. These folks worked hard and long because if they didn't life was a lot crueler.
<<"He stated that now he can screw up a wall alot faster or words to that effect."
I know what he is talking about.
I wonder if there is more of a tendency to hurry more with tools that work faster than our brains.>>
Yeah, that happens doesn't it. Walking to the cut station is a good time to get ahead of oneself...or to forget an important number. Sometimes it's impossible to do both. lol.
when i started , everyone was hand tools.. the only power tools were table saws, and/or radial arm saws on big jobs
a skill saw & electric drill: that was about it for power tools
everyone had a bit and brace for screw drivers, tool freaks had Yankee Screwdrivers
a 12 point & an 8 point saw, scroll saw, keyhole saw, and hack saw
two planes, jack & long
Hello to all I don't post alot but this post caught my eye. A few years ago I was lucky enough to be hired on a crew to reconstruct a 1634 tobacco plantation in So. MD. for Historic St. Mary's City near by. They wanted it built as it would have all with tools of the time. I learned great respect for those people back then.And I LOVE my power tools now. Anyway here they are if I can do this. #0 is a much younger me riving some white oak clapboard. The two pieces would be riven (not split) again down to about 1" thick with a tool called a froe. #1 is my friend ,Peter, using a broadaxe to square some pine logs for tie-beams.And ,yes, he still has all his toes. #2 another friend, Jim , adzing red oak for interior posts. His adze was so sharp you could hardly see the tool marks. And he has all his toes also. #3 these guys ,Jeff on top and I can't remember the other guys name, are using a pit saw to rip floor boards for the main house ( the other buildings had dirt floors). I have 2 pit saws and I used to set it up at different museums and fairs and watch the young bucks trying to out-do each other to impress their girl friends.And as always the guy on the bottom would look up with his mouth open and get it full of saw dust. #5 me setting the last beam on the Blacksmith's shop at Mt. Vernon in Va. with a Block & tackle.
Edited 1/13/2008 3:43 pm ET by billy5151
Just thought Id through this out there. Don't run with scew drivers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKMd883qOlU&feature=user
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
Edited 1/13/2008 5:13 pm ET by andyfew322
Edited 1/13/2008 5:14 pm ET by andyfew322
Well it is really not that complicated most if not all the tools used 200 years ago are still around. With a little patients and a lot of practice with hand tools you can build not just a rough cabin but fine detailed trim and furniture.
For more info on the use of hand tools check out:
http://www.pbs.org/wws/howto/index.html
My house was built in 1740 and the detail of trim is way beyond anything you will find in most of the so called luxury homes built today.
And it was a simple farmers home not a grand home of a Boston merchant.
And it was all done with hand tools. The secret is sharp tools and a knowing how to use them. I have repaired many things around my house and when it mattered I used hand tools to duplicate the finish and work done 200 years ago.
Of course since I was a kid I had access to antique tools since I am the grandson of a carpenter/cabinetmaker who retired around the time the first Skill saw was patented and his father was a cabinetmaker in Poland before that so although I had to learn how to use and sharpen these tools mostly on my own (my grand father died when I was very young) I still have many of his tools today and still use them.
The biggest surprise is that it is not as difficult as you might expect. As long as your tools are sharp they cut fast and clean and you often need no more finish work (like sanding). And some things are faster by hand.
That said I own a full array of power tools like any other modern carpenter/cabinetmaker but sometimes I still reach for a hand tool first. After all we all own nail guns both finish and framing (and if you’re like me you have siding, roofing and paslodes as well) but I still own and use a full array of hammers both for framing and finish (as well as nail sets) there are times you just need a hammer and nails.
And there are times I use the same hand saws my grandfather used on the job site. I have found no better way to cut the tight angles on a jack rafters then with the very same saw my grand father used for the same job.
Although I will rent a modern floor sander and edger for hardwood floor installs I still prefer a scraper used to refinish floors long before electric tools for tight spots and on stair treads (if you have ever seen a badly sanded stair landing or tread you will understand why)
And on furniture and high-end cabinet work I use hand tools a lot.
Growing up my Dad refused to get a power mower. He used a push one as a kid and thought they did a better job cutting the grass with their scissor like cutting action instead of the brute force action of a power mower.
He likely was correct on the better quality cutting job but to me, the chief lawn mower pusher, the neighbors lawns didn't exactly look like cow pastures.
The machines really weren't all that bad (Dad did get the high end ones) but they required fine adjustments so the blade would just barely touch the cutting blade (we adjusted it using newspaper). And when it was adjusted properly the pushing was actually pretty effortless.
The one problem was the grass couldn't be let to grow very tall. Miss one mowing and then there was a major job looming.
The funny thing is, the year I went to college, that fall Dad got a power mower. Go figure.
Doug
""The funny thing is, the year I went to college, that fall Dad got a power mower. Go figure"
certainly a coincidence, I'm sure. ;)...The unspoken word is capital. We can invest it or we can squander it. -Mark Twain...Be kind to your children....they will choose your nursing home....aim low boys, they're ridin' shetland ponies !!