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Late career switch to hand tools, what a different pace
Been at this for 22 years now, mostly production work cranking out melamine boxes. Last month I took a small job in Portland building a single white oak bookshelf for a client, all joinery by hand. I forgot how slow and quiet it is, no more screaming router or dust collector drowning out my thoughts. I ended up charging $900 for a piece that would've taken me 3 hours in the shop but took 2 full days on the bench. Has anyone else made the move from power tools to mostly hand work, or am I just getting soft in my 40s?
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phoenixpalmer7d ago
That line about the dust collector drowning out your thoughts really got me. What nobody talks about is how power tools let you hide from your own head all day, and once the noise stops you gotta actually sit with your own brain for two days straight. That quiet part might be the real adjustment, not the speed or the money.
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