Re: By hand

Posted by R. Berg on February 07, 2002

In Reply to: Re: Meanings of phrases posted by Bruce Kahl on February 07, 2002

: : by hand
: A carpenter made a piece of furniture entirely by hand. To do something by hand means not to use a tool.

Not so: carpenters use hand tools. Even using power tools (an electric saw, for instance) might not disqualify the product as a "handmade" one. The definition is fuzzy, but generally the alternative to something made by hand is something made by machine or mass-produced.
(See Bruce's post for other answers.)