Traditional Woodwork is a meaningless phrase. Traditional to when? To the carpenter of Bethlehem? Or the carpenters of the great mediaeval cathedrals, Chippendale or Sheraton? It so happens, by the timing of technology, that all work of centuries gone by was done without power, there wasn’t any. As amateurs we have no need to use powered machines. The opposition will say hand work is too slow. It is only slow for those who haven’t learned to use the tools. With practice and appropriate design, the time difference is not that great. Nowadays we seem to expect “instant” everything and machines seem to allow this. It’s the difference between ground coffee and instant, it is quicker but the end product doesn’t bear any comparison.
— John Brown, Issue 85 of Good Woodworking magazine