The hand tools were not great quality and little information on setup and use of any of the tools was available. Only the Bailey/Stanley-style plane and basic hand tools were widely available. Training programs, other than the trade unions (and even those declined in quality), lost support and became fewer and farther in-between.īy the time interest in woodworking was renewed-not coincidentally at about the time Fine Woodworking magazine began publication in the mid-1970s, the first of a renaissance of books and magazines on the subject-the economic pressures of mass production and a declining market reduced both the number and quality of hand tools.
Non-essential trades, never fully established as the institutions they were in Europe and elsewhere, and, I believe, a subconscious reminder of the servitude our immigrant fathers had fled, slowly became a curiosity. The United States, having built immense production systems during the war, was not about to look back, and handwork was subtly discouraged. With a need for massive rebuilding and a reduced workforce available in Europe, mechanization seemed the only way to create shelter for those devastated by war, though retention of trade traditions and integration of them into modern life were considerations. The Great Depression brought the end of patronage while World War II and its aftermath brought the mechanization of life. The shops produced what I believe was some of the best furniture ever made using a combination of machines and hand tools.
However, the world continued to change, and the brief union of patrons, skilled workers, and machine production ended in the Art Deco era with the closing of the shops of Ruhlman, Dunand, and their contemporaries. Mass production made elaborate styles available to a broader clientele than would otherwise have been able to afford them. While you can argue about the quality of design, the execution was impressive. The quality of production furniture toward the end of the nineteenth century was quite high. With growing industrialization, an emerging global economy, and increasing entrepreneurship creating new fortunes, the newly rich, the established peerage of Europe, and a growing upper-middle class of managers and investors competed to have the first and the best of the latest styles. For a period, we had the best of both worlds: increased production brought on by the availability of power tools and access to skills nurtured by tradition and the tutelage of a declining apprentice system. The gradual decline in the quality and variety of handplanes, and hand tools in general, began around the turn of the twentieth century. And typically, the products that do remain are slowly simplified in order to reduce manufacturing costs and further extend market reach, often resulting in a gradual deterioration in the quality of the product. The economics result in gradual elimination of all but those few models appealing to the broadest market, leaving everything else behind. In a culture of mass production, reduced demand often means eventual disappearance, as a product falls below the threshold where development, manufacturing, and distribution costs make economic sense. The changes reduced demand for handplanes in general and specialty planes in particular. Mechanization brought mass production and development of woodworking machines, making power tools increasingly available and affordable. Ironically, the mechanization that enabled production of vast numbers of handplanes led to its decline. Some handplanes were works of art, some mechanical marvels, and some both. And for those who have experienced frustration with the handplane, this knowledge will finally allow you to experience the enormous satisfaction intrinsic to this most essential woodworking tool.ĭevelopment peaked during the late-nineteenth century, as great numbers of planes, some of them highly esoteric, were available to woodworkers, professionals, and hobbyists. Power tools have redefined and often supplanted the handplane’s traditional role but not replaced it. The handplane quickly and effectively does things other tools cannot.
However, it is far more than the pleasure of using a plane that makes it important. I cannot think of anyone who has made a shaving with a plane and not been seduced by the sight, sound, and feel of the emerging shaving.
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