Official Luthiers Forum!

I didn't want to highjack the Somoygi thread so I started a new one.
I started building guitars thirty years ago using only hand tools.The only power tool we had was a Craftsman 10" radial arm saw and a Sears router.I guess at the time it was "fun".
Fast foward thirty years and now I have many power tools at my disposal.
I don't know what the stigma about using power tools is.
Call me weird,but I REALLY like using machinery to build guitars-The bigger the better!!
You guys can keep your whimpy Lie Neilson brass planes,cause I got this S.A.Woods 3 H.P.,12" jointer that weighs in at about 1200 pounds of good ol' American iron:



I still use hand tools as well,of course-I carve necks with spokeshaves and rasps,bend my sides with a pipe etc.,but I never feel one way is "better than another,I just enjoy using power tools.

James Krenov wrote about "The song of the plane"
I Scream about "The whine of the router"

Hello, my name is Zach, and I'm a zootaholic. I looooooove zootahol!

Welcome to our twelve step program.

Wow Brad with a planer like that you could even true up hesh.
James W B
I meant jointer.

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Brad,
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Jointer, I have an old 8" delta, but would love to face my 9"+ billets on a 12" jointer. Good for you if you ever want to sell it I'll buy it from you, just take what you think it's worth and double that for the shipping. hahahahahahahahahaahahaahahaha
Peter

Beauty

Rich

Good going Brad buddy - that machine is a beast and it looks to me like a lot of fun to use too.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

The dark side is strong in you Brad.


I thought about asking if that big planer was a little over compensation for something small somewhere else, but I decided not to.


OK - I admit it. I'm jealous!

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Way to go Brad.....I would say that any tool that can be used to make great guitars is a tool worth using!

I have an older Delta Drill Press that great...hard to beat good old cast iron.

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Brad
Avon, OH

Man! You could slice a whole canned ham on that one!!
Yeah! machinery is where it's at!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

Brad, I consider power tools like your massive jointer to be virtually useless....as long as their in YOUR workshop and not MINE!

I've had my little 6" Jet jointer for years and get along with it just fine. One day, in the not too distant future, I hope a 15" or 20" (or bigger!) Grizzly will find its way into my life

I've never built anything made of wood without the use of at least one power tool, and I doubt any of us here have. Even if they only use hand tools in their own workshop, with the exception of perhaps just a handful of hardy souls, the tone woods and lumber they use are sliced and diced at the mill using massive power tools. Ultimately, to my way of thinking, this means we all use power tools to get the job done.

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Brad ,I feel your pain ! have you considered a program for this.? there is a well known twelve step program, but if you dont have the time ( or energy) for a full twelve steps . there are other programs available . like the lesser known texas two step ( not to be confused with the aztec two step) prgram . this program was develped for people with the uncontrolable urge , to throw their hat on the floor and dance around it yelling YYEEEEEHAAAAA!!! after making a successfull pass on the equiptment! it also offers a solution for those who dance around yelling " *^*#%@&^*)(#@$!!" after an unsuccessful pass with the same equiptment !
there is also the three steps forward , and two steps back program, this is to console those who would sell the machine they have ( no matter what the size)run out and buy an even larger machine immediatly after seeing the truck pull up next door at their neighbors ( or friends)home , to deliver his ( or her's)new ultra-fangeled, bi-ominous ,super -fantabulous, multi -facilitatious ,macro-micro-mind-melding -mechanized-monster -machine( otherwise known as,and heretofor refferred to as, the "latest thing"!)! what people with this syndrom never seem to understand if they just wait awhile, the neighbor almost always losses interest ( or storage space,or get's tired of his wife nagging ) and the machine can usualy be had at a huge discount , just a short while later ...Jody