Every workshop that has been in continuous use for more than twenty years contains tools that will outlast every power tool in the same space. The bench plane, the set of socket chisels, the brace and bit, the hand saw with a properly set and sharpened blade. These are not antiques. They are tools whose design was correct in 1920 and has not needed revision.
The Stanley No. 4 smoothing plane was introduced in 1867 and has been in continuous production in some form ever since. The design is a cast iron body with a blade bedded at 45 degrees, a chip breaker to control tearout, and an adjustment mechanism for blade depth and lateral position. A properly tuned No. 4 leaves a surface that no random orbital sander can replicate: a burnished cut across the grain that reflects light and requires no further preparation for finishing. The sander removes material by abrasion; the plane cuts it. The cut surface is the more beautiful.
Chisels last indefinitely when the steel is high carbon and the edges are maintained on a whetstone. A set of four Stanley 750 socket chisels -- in 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1-inch widths -- costs less than a single router bit and can perform mortise-and-tenon joinery that the router cannot approach for precision. The socket design (where the handle fits into a conical socket rather than onto a metal tang) means the handles can be replaced easily if damaged. The steel is the investment; the handles are consumables.
The brace and bit has been replaced in most shops by the electric drill. For most applications, the electric drill is faster and more convenient. For one application -- boring large holes in thick wood -- the brace and bit is superior. A 1-inch bit in a brace, turned by hand, produces a hole with no tearout, no burning from friction heat, and a clean, flat bottom on a blind hole. The mechanical advantage of the brace's sweeping handle lets you feel the cutting resistance directly. The electric drill tells you nothing about what is happening inside the wood.
The hand saw, properly set and sharpened, cuts wood faster than most people expect and in complete silence. A 10-point rip saw (10 teeth per inch, filed for ripping along the grain) cuts through 8/4 hardwood in thirty seconds. The cut requires no dust collection, produces no noise that disturbs the household, and leaves a surface closer to flat than any circular saw.
The case for hand tools is not sentimental. It is practical. Hand tools require no electricity, produce no noise, create no dust, and are safe enough to use in a small apartment. They are also the tools that produce the finest work, because the work is done at the speed of the hand and the feedback is continuous and immediate. You feel the wood resist. You feel the plane cut. You feel the chisel enter the grain. These are not romantic observations. They are reasons.