I have been working with wood most of my life. I started whittling as a young boy and there is just something special about walking along, picking up any piece of wood that catches your eye, and pulling out the pocket knife and going to work. Slowly trimming away all of the pieces that are not what you envisioned when you noticed the wood. I worked with my grandfather during the summers building houses and was later introduced to a wood shop. My interest in woodworking continued to soar from there. I made furniture, vases, lamps, jewelry boxes – both square and round ones, was an apprentice wood sculpture for a while, and tried to make nearly everything I could out of wood. Eventually, I started making musical instruments. I have always been fascinated by how the wood responds to the different tools and techniques used to mold the wood into the desired shape and function. Similarly, I am constantly looking to see how different people do things to learn a bit more about creating things with wood.
Looking around today I notice that technological developments have dramatically impacted woodworking, like it has most things. Today you can spend a lot of money on all kinds of specialty tools to make the job “easier”. At the extreme, there are computer controlled CNC routers that can precisely carve nearly anything imaginable. However, there is very little woodworking involved and much more computer skills required. Short of the CNC carvings, there are countless other jigs and specialty tools available for purchase. I have been known to look at some of these devices and tools only to determine that I can make them myself. The homemade shop tool or jig is always better than the one you spent hundreds of dollars on, even if it is not. A brief look at the Stemac or LMI websites will show how there is a specialty tool for nearly everything related to luthier work. Yet, in Mexico and South America there are still luthiers who make an entire instrument with nothing but a good knife. I am all for making jobs easier, particularly as the aches and pains seem to grow with time, but there will always be something special about making anything out of wood with nothing more than a good knife.
I recently saw a short film of a man making a fiddle with a pocket knife. Sure, he used an axe and an old circular saw to cut the billets for the top, back and neck, but after that, everything was whittled away until he was stringing up and playing his fiddle. He was merely making do with what he had on hand. There is something truly admirable about this, yet to him it was nothing special. He made the one in the film out of maple, as is customary, but at one point when he was talking with his wife he mentioned that he might give that Sweet Gum a try to see how it sounds. He did not have a bunch of special tools and was not caught up in the hype over this wood or that wood. He simply used whatever he had available to make what he wanted. The man was a carpenter by trade and said he wished that he had quit carpentry and just made fiddles full time when he was younger. His wife chuckled and said, “Then there would be way too many fiddles around”. He was a fiddler and talked about entering a nearby fiddle contest so that he could “go win that money”. He was constantly humming a tune and talking about what he was going to play on the fiddle once it was strung up. He was well on in years and expressed the idea and the hope that his fiddle would still be making good music and making people happy long after he was gone. He was happy. Like the young boy whittling on a stick, he was an old man whittling himself a fiddle. Both were very happy.
I have also come across the “Traditional Woodworking Types” that advocate using no power tools at all. They say things like the great luthiers or woodworkers of the past didn’t use power tools so that is good enough for me. They sometimes talk about the loss of craftsmanship as a result of power tools. Some have become incredibly skilled while working with antiquated tools. Sometimes their methods and techniques are more efficient than modern machinery even if they take more physical effort. Sometimes, ok many times, they spend days doing something that can be done in a few minutes using some basic modern tools. I admire their zeal and frequently their craftsmanship. However, the extreme of no power tools what so ever is a bit over the top for me. I am sure Stradivari and others were using the best technology available to them at the time. They certainly would have used power tools for some things had any been available. One has to come to their own conclusions, but it would appear that using power tools where appropriate and developing skill with hand tools where appropriate is a more common sense approach. However, if I had to choose between the extremes of no power tools or a CNC machine, I would pick the no power tool option. Good thing I don’t have to choose. In the end, if it makes you happy to use no power tools, by all means pull out that trusty pocket knife and whittle away.
Sure, you can go buy a bunch of special tools and yes, they will frequently make things easier. Since you have the money, you could also just buy a finished product as well and bypass all the time and work required. However, there is a special feeling about making something yourself. There is something in the art and science of creation that generates happiness beyond the act of mere possession. There is also an extra sense of accomplishment when you can make do with what you have and still create something. Like the man carving the fiddle with a pocket knife, Stradivari and others where using the best materials and tools they had available to them even if they were not the best tools available on the planet. They took the wood and trimmed away all the pieces that weren’t what they saw in their head when they picked up the piece of wood using whatever tools that had at the time. Today that might be a big band saw, a roll full of chisels, and a nice hand plane. It could be any number of specialty tools, powered or not. Alternatively, it could be just a sharp knife. So what are you waiting for? Take stock of what you have and go make something with it. Alternatively, you could take a pass and go make some music; sounds like fun either way to me. Of course, you could make something to make music with. If you have always wanted to work with wood but have no tools you could start with a kitchen paring knife like I did – you know, making do with what you have (didn’t go over well, but it did result in my grandfather giving me one of his old pocket knives; that thing took forever to get sharp). If you have just a little bit of money to get started, a good pocket knife and a sharpening stone is a great place to start. You may be quite happy to find out that all you really need is a sharp knife.
