What hand tools taught me about patience

Six months of avoiding power tools, and what came back with me.

I put the router away in May and did not take it out again until November. In between I built four small pieces and a lot of shavings.

Hand-cut joinery is not faster. It is not even, frankly, better. But it makes you slow down in a way that the router does not, and slowing down was the point.

I am back on power tools now. I am also a noticeably better woodworker, which is the only review of an experiment that matters.