In the fast-paced, mass-produced world we now live in, power tools, chainsaws, and even emerging robotics have taken the lead in mass timber construction. With their speed and efficiency, it’s no wonder that the machines have taken hold. Yet, there’s a connection to the world and the moment when we slow down and go back to the quieter ways of traditional log and mass timber hand tools. After all, some of the appeals of log and mass timber structures are the connection they provide to nature, the traditional, timeless feel, and the nostalgia associated with the history of these structures.
I believe if there could be only one tool on a woodworker’s belt, it would have to be a good axe.
From felling a tree to hewing it into timbers and cutting notches, an axe is the essential mass timber worker’s tool. Though it may not be the best choice for every cut, a willing soul could build a log cabin using just an axe if he had to.
The percussive rhythm of each blow taking down a giant in an otherwise silent forest is a noise arguably less intrusive to natural solitude than a whining chainsaw.
Like an axe with its blade turned ninety degrees, an adze (shown above) may prove superior to some axes in transforming a round log into a squared timber for construction. Where other fine tools might leave a smooth plane giving no hint to its passing, an adze roughly and proudly leaves its tracks on the timber’s face to make no apologies for the craftsman’s marks.
As an adze turns a log into usable stock, so a drawknife wields the power to convert a fallen tree into a skinned log ready for notching. With each pull of the blade, the worker can see, smell, and appreciate the protective design of the outer and inner layers and feel a connection to the building material he is processing.
When broad axe, adze, or drawknife have rendered the can’t (or rough lumber) into usable stock, chisels and gouges may be used in part to create the notches, mortises, and tenons, allowing timbers to interlock and join one another into a cohesive structure.
Chainsaws, chain mortisers, and other power tools might make quick work of removing wooden overburden, the precision of a well-sharpened hand tool is hard to beat.
Even those craftsmen who use fast machines to make rough cuts will often stop and finish the line with a traditional hand tool. Of course, before the chisels take their turn, relief cuts are typically made, and even before that, the stock must be bucked into its properly measured length.
Again, where chainsaws and power tools deliver results quickly they also create a noisy ruckus that separates the craftsman from the natural world and interrupts the flow of his craft.
Using hand saws allow the craftsman to be free of hearing protection so he’s free to enjoy the rhythm of the teeth passing through the kerf.
If working outside, one might also absorb the songs of birds and the breeze overhead. At the risk of waxing romantic, there is poetry in the use of quieter hand tools, which is lost in the speed and noise of power tools.
One could go on and on about slicks, hand planes, bits in braces, and countless other fine tools of wood and steel, but the point is made. Modern technology has brought us speed, efficiency, and affordability—but with it has come noise, disconnection from nature, and separation from tradition. Whenever possible, let’s appreciate fine hand tools and find opportunities to craft with wood, the slow and quiet way.
Where speed is lost, we’ve gained connection to the wood and nature.
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