I can’t help it, I like tools. Shiny ones, wooden ones, rusted and worn ones. As much as I cling to the dogma that few tools are necessary to build beautiful furniture, the niceties of saws in multiple pitches/rake/fleam, paring chisels in a myriad of sizes, and several smoothing planes set for different woods is too much to resist. I must say that my tool kit puts me at odds with my desire to minimalize. Maybe if I cut out more power tools I can still consider myself to be an Anarchist Woodworker.
A New Bevy of Long Paring Chisels from Josh Clark at Hyperkitten.com
Of course if I’m going to be an Anarchist Woodworker, then I simply must have a tool chest right?
…then I will need more tools to fill up the tool chest…
(sigh) OK twist my arm.
For most of us it’s a hobby, somewhere to put our disposable income not necessarily a lifestyle choice. It’s true you could build nice furniture with a minimal set of tools but why would you if you don’t have to or even want to. It’s hard to read the Anarchists Tool Chest and not get sucked into Chris’s woodworking ideology but it took him a long time to get to that point. He owned several tools and has years of woodworking experience. He made a comment in his book saying that he wished someone had given him this list when he first started. I would argue and say that he would have went through the same progressions anyway. When you first start woodworking it’s a tough hobby and initial mindset is that new tools or a different tool will make certain tasks easier or more efficient, it’s almost a required right of passage for each woodworker in order to find their own woodworking euphoria. I’m sure Shannon will tell you that he went through his own progressions before discovering his love for hand tools and ultimately founding the Hand Tool School. There is no secret recipe or minimalist tool kit that is going to work for everyone or even the majority. Buying tools and trying different methods of work is just part of the life long learning process. One should never feel bad or be criticized for a tool purchase. Enjoy your new tools Shannon; you can always build a second tool chest.
Very well stated. There are very good reasons for the myriad of designs and applications. Go on, Shannon, get out the old checkbook and buy yourself a bunch more chisels. They will go well with your new Bad Axe saws.
The further I get in the deeper I want to swim! ‘Can’t help it.
Be a minimalist in your mind and heart, ok that might just sound like a rationalization. Well what if you continued to get the tools you desired, but maybe once in a while an old tool you don’t use, you gave away, maybe to a youngster or someone else who could use it?
According to Merriam-Webster, an anarchist is “a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power”. Rebel against minimalism and you can still be an anarchist woodworker. Heck, rebel against making a chest and you can still be an anarchist woodworker.
I’m a maximumist. I want to make the maximum amount of furniture possible. If that means acquiring more tools to make that happen faster or easier then ok. As a minimalist you could make a highboy with just a sharp rock, but it might take a decade or two.
Also, as a minimalist, once you’ve made one chair each for you and your wife and any children you may have, then you should stop, right? After all, you only have one posterior, why would you need more than one chair? So you wouldn’t really need to do anymore woodworking once you had equipped your minimalist house.
Sometimes you don’t know how little you need a tool until you try one, too. For example, some people can’t do the simplest project without a shoulder plane on their bench. Others don’t understand what the fuss is about. (Polar extremes, I realize.)
Stop over thinking it. If it helps and you will use it enough, then you need that tool.
I wonder if after everyone adopts Schwarz Anarchy tool philosophy if it will still be considered woodworking Anarchy.
I have been collecting old tools for a little over 25 years. Initially, I bought everything I could afford but I find myself more descriminating now. I agree with Chris in that only a small number are used regularly, however, some specialty tools do get used once in a while. Now I find myself with 5 grandchildren. Some or all will be getting my tools someday so I am back at the flea markets and auctions looking to buy enough so that each grandchild will have a complete kit. I have warned all my kids that when the grandkids come to visit, I will send them home with sawdust on them–boys and girls alike.
A second consideration to my tool addiction is that I have such respect for tools and the craftsmen that originally owned them, that I feel a need to rescue these tools and preserve them for the next generation.