I could go on about tools for a while, but there are a few key ideas that keep coming back:
- The smaller the tool, the more control you have. Compare a paring knife with a chef's knife, or a dovetail saw with a carcase saw. When using a tool that's a little too big for the task, "choke up" on it; watch tool users closely and you'll see they do this all the time.
- "Simple" tools are often the ones where you'd benefit the most from knowing expert technique. You can learn a lot from "going deep" on things that seem pretty obvious. A DVD I purchased about how to use handsaws has completely transformed the way I work--even though I still laugh at what a narrow subject it covers. A book on sharpening helped me tremendously. Even David Reees's fun TV shows on How to Make Toast and Coin Flipping have led me to some key insights.
- Workholding is very often the principle concern of working with tools. For woodworkers and machinists, workholding methods are an obvious element of the job, but witness also how a cook will cut an onion in half to ensure they have a flat section that rests securely on a cutting board. If you watch small kids or inexperienced people use tools, the workholding issues are apparent: they will strip screws and struggle with things simply because they are fighting against gravity, not using friction to their advantage, or they don't have five hands.
- Think carefully about whether you want to bring the tools to the work or the work to the tools. This is fundamentally the difference between, say, a woodworker and a finish carpenter: they have very similar skills, but work in different environments. Japanese woodworkers work on the floor (where the wood is) whereas American woodworkers lift materials up to a bench. Decisions to create "job shop" vs. "assembly-line" operations are good examples of this question at play in industry.
- Measurement is a constant source of error. the taking of a measurement and the applying of that measurement to a piece are both a source of error that's avoidable. Avoid measuring when you can, instead directly comparing what you need to make with the place it needs to fit. When you can't avoid measuring, do it carefully and with as much detail as you can; it took me years to realize I could measure closers than 64ths if only I took a moment to focus.
- An expensive tool is painful to buy once, a cheap tool is painful to use every time. Good tools are worth their cost, in keeping with the idea that "I'm too poor to buy cheap things..."
