This guy's wonderful |books| taught me (I hesitate to say it) the spiritual side of working with your hands and making your own tools. Never did any hot-metal work but did learn how to make plane cap irons for my planes out of cold-rolled steel with a grinder, whetstone and a tap. Kinda like this:
<img src="http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BuildingaKrenovSmoother_html_m1038799f.png">
All those beautiful machines appeal to the gearhead in me, but seeing those craftsmen work them, and touch things up by hand, is the best part. And some of them are not oldsters!
I think it was in one of Krenov's books where he tells he story of Japanese carpenters who sharpen the iron, set the wedge and gap, take one long shaving off the work, and then remove the blade to sharpen again and repeat the process. Patience is power!
This guy's wonderful |books| taught me (I hesitate to say it) the spiritual side of working with your hands and making your own tools. Never did any hot-metal work but did learn how to make plane cap irons for my planes out of cold-rolled steel with a grinder, whetstone and a tap. Kinda like this:
<img src="http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BuildingaKrenovSmoother_html_m1038799f.png">
Whoa. Beautiful
Whatever the material or craft, it's working it that matters!
All those beautiful machines appeal to the gearhead in me, but seeing those craftsmen work them, and touch things up by hand, is the best part. And some of them are not oldsters!
I think it was in one of Krenov's books where he tells he story of Japanese carpenters who sharpen the iron, set the wedge and gap, take one long shaving off the work, and then remove the blade to sharpen again and repeat the process. Patience is power!