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Adam Hand and Power
February 5th, 2006 11:48 AM
February 5, 2006 Hand and Power


I just finished reading an eye-opening article in the February 2006 issue of Popular Woodworking, entitled "Coarse, Medium & Fine", written by Christopher Schwartz.

This article was similar to the concept of flattening your single-edged cutting tool, BEFORE "sharpening" the tool's beveled edge.

Here goes.

Hand tools are not necessarily slower than power tools.

And, the incorrect choice of power tool for an operation can result in the power tool being slower than the proper hand tool.

No. No! I'm serious here.

The author points out that different tools are used for different types of wood removal operations.

Both power and hand tools have "coarse" removal tools that are not designed for accuracy, as much as "hogging-off" large quantities of material.

The medium tools, which many people consider fine removal tools, get the pieces flat and square.

While the fine tools improve the works finish and brings the pieces down to that last on-the-mark dimensions.

The author uses wood planes as his example, with great hints on how to fine tune various hand planes for optimum performance.

The 9 inch, number 4, smoothing plane is the very last tool someone would want to use to bring stock to dimension and create flat surfaces, perpendicular to other surfaces. It is a fine removal tool, to the point of being able to almost see-through its shavings.

My recent experience with clearing brush had an eerie parallel to this recently read article.

The task is to cut down 1 acre of black berries. The last few "stuarts" of the property did not place this task as very high on their lists, even though the area is in a increased-risk fire zone.

The plants are everywhere. They're encroaching on the property. And, what's worse, the living plants are growing on top of and among 4 foot tall (or taller near trees) dead brush material.

I have been going at the "trimming" task with a variety of hand and power tools.

Now, although I really like "killing" the brush, I have to do so in an efficient manner. This stuff grows like a weed and two days cutting can be completely recovered on the next trip to the property, one month later.

I've found my "coarse" tools.

After having almost run a "Convertible" gasoline Weed Whacker, with a Brush cutter attachment, in to the ground, I've invested in a Craftsman 32cc Brush Whacker.

And, this baby is a monster. Its long-straight shaft, with angle-head can go places the Convertible model just couldn't reach.

However, it is heavy. A typical session with the black-berries can easily last 3 hours. Lifting the head 4 feet in the air is just not a good option for me.

Did I mention I love "killing" the brush?

I also have a simple hand tool called a Bill Hook, that combined with a pair of "Rose" gloves allows me to attack the top of the pile, encroaching, runners.

A power brush cutter has a limited window of opportunity for cutting (3 inches or either side) and the tool itself takes energy to keep aloft and feeding into the brush.

The hand tool, on the other hand, is light, maneuverable and can easily attack the brush from the side or the TOP, where the runners live.

In this case the hand tool is the choice for the initial carnage.

The power tool is more suited for skirting the ground and zipping through the clumped-together base stalks of the brush.

And, with the addition of a uniquely weighted Machete, I found in a local Antique store, I have an additional hand tool that is even "coarser" than either previous tool.

It tapers out to a large squarish head and uses light gauge, spring steel for a blade. The weight, balance and momentum of that blade makes "whacking" almost effortless. This tool is not a modern copy of an older tool. It IS the older tool. Designed and built for hours of use, rather than a nostalgic attempted copy of the original.

Once the brush is under 2 feet tall, the power tool will effortlessly take the brush almost even with the ground.

I know the blackberries will be coming back.

Good. Both my wife and I like the berries, as do all the forest residents living in the area. We‛ll have better access to the grown back plants‛ berries after I‛ve "trimmed" the forest.

I just want to see the ground, long enough to do an inventory of what was formerly accessible on the property.

So far, I've found a system of concrete gates - used in the pond's former trout farm activities, a second Indian "mortar" stone, a seat wall, metal box, plastic hamper, two axe heads, some steel barrel hoops and a long cardboard box, that I really hope is not the "coffin" for a former pet (too dark out to investigate), a dog house, the extra foundation concrete piers, what‛s left of a chicken coup, and all of the limbs from a tree that fell are piled in one end of the pond - completely grown over by blackberries.

So, coarse, medium and fine cutting characteristics, on both hand and power tools.
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