Lately I've been having thoughts of buying a drum sander, and spending more than a little time convincing myself that I really need one. It got me thinking about my mentor, Paul Kennedy, who built beautiful harpsichords with very meager equipment. For years, he got by with a rickety old Craftsman table saw, a dinky old drill press, a lathe that needed urging with his hand to keep rotating, and a cheap router mounted into an even cheaper router table. It took me a few years to convince him to buy a planer, and I still can't figure out how he managed to work at such a professional level without one. He built his first instrument while living in an apartment in NY city - using the floor as his workbench. He still uses the same rickety machines he started out with so many years ago, although he does admit that the little lunchbox planer he bought was a good purchase.
I learned almost everything I know from this man. Like him, my stable of machinery is modest but adequate for my needs. Would bigger and better machines improve the quality of my work? I constantly read posts of fellow woodworkers lusting after $3,000 bandsaws, $600.00 random orbit sanders, table saws that are hot-dog friendly, etc. and I admit to indulging myself in these fantasies from time to time. Then I think of Paul, and wonder if my occasional tool lust is simply a way to convince myself that I could be half the craftsman he is if only I had the proper tools. Maybe I don't need that drum sander after all.
Any thoughts?
Ernie
I learned almost everything I know from this man. Like him, my stable of machinery is modest but adequate for my needs. Would bigger and better machines improve the quality of my work? I constantly read posts of fellow woodworkers lusting after $3,000 bandsaws, $600.00 random orbit sanders, table saws that are hot-dog friendly, etc. and I admit to indulging myself in these fantasies from time to time. Then I think of Paul, and wonder if my occasional tool lust is simply a way to convince myself that I could be half the craftsman he is if only I had the proper tools. Maybe I don't need that drum sander after all.
Any thoughts?
Ernie