What he shows us here is the proper ways to approach the task and the proper way to use knife, saw and chisel. It is not dufficult to learn those things, a beginner can learn those things in a very short time, If he is taught correctly, and he can cut a housing dado just a little slower then Paul here. Don't get me wrong, the many years of experience and the skills of Paul can not be matched in weeks, but the difference will not be in how they cut a dado. Paul will know if and how much a piece of wood will be stable or move and warp with the seasonal changes with a glance, will be able to cut perfectly long compound cuts, will be able to perfectly dimension a board with a hand plane in a short time, eventually dealing with reversing grain without getting chip outs and so on. His experience and skills and the many tricks of the trade he has gathered trough the years count, count a lot, but in this particular case chopping or cutting the sides of the dado starting from a knife mark and being efficent in removing wood with a chisel are skills that can be acquired quickly if woodworking is aproached with method and following the instructions of a capable master like Paul. Many years ago when in the place I live bergan to appear the first woodworking machines the old carpenters that still used traditional tools was able to build a door in a day of work, the young ones that used the machines was slower (but if the doors are 5 the machine wins and this is the reason why the carpenters using traditional tools disappeared...), to reach that level of efficency using traditional tools needs a lot of practice and experience, to get close to the level of woodworking Paul has needs years of dedication, but to get close in a simple task like cutting a housing dado can be quite fast and simple if we learn with method, everyone watching this video with attention trying to understand the how and why of everithing Paul does after taking a practice board and cutting on it 10 Housing dadoes in a row will be able to cut them with precision and efficiency.

It's greatyou are learning with your papa, Maddie. I had my nearly 12 year old granddaughter in the worshop all day with me today. She loved it and didn't want to quit when it was time for home. She did make a spatula and a chopping board and one other thing I can't remember.

@@Paul.Sellers That's awesome! I'm 13 and I love working with my papa. I think it's the smell of his workshop I like the most. I have seen the spoons you showed us how to make. I am keeping my eye out for a good piece of wood for that project. Thank you.

It looks like that and indeed starts that way but when the hammer strikes the chisel the pressure on the bevel of the chisel hits and because of the angle it sends the fibres into the wall of the dado and consolidates the woood so you end up with dead upright walls.

Ah ok, that makes sense

rokesmith.com/product/router-plane-kit/

for what he doing its very fine chopping, I think it comes down to a decision making, can I do this without hurting myself? If the answer is yes go ahead. It looks like he has good control there. The big no no is holding the piece with you left arm and chiseling with the right, I have seen a torn wrist, let me tell you lucky it wasn't his arterie, but he still managed to poke out a tendon with the chisel. Its not worth the time "saved" putting a clamp on the piece or even installing a more fixed workholding option.

You are only at any risk if you're hitting the chisel too hard. I disagree with you. You do what you need to do to get the job done, using your experience to mitigate risk.

Of course, absolutes are rarely absolute. There are times when your experience allows you to go against best practices.

Distance and force define the risk. Small line chisel like that is not going to have a large motion.

Come on, don't be a drama queen. There's like a foot distance between the chisel and his belly