I recently had an experience that got me thinking a lot about the quality of tools available on the market. A few months back, I had a few Amazon gift cards that stacked up so I decided to use them to purchase a shoulder plane; knowing that I would be needed one coming up. I knew my choices would be limited on Amazon and it would rule out some of the more premium brands. I was okay with this seeing a shoulder plane is not something I would use often, but would be handy when I did need it. Given this, I was okay with something decent, but not too cheap. I purchased a fairly well known brand that seems to be in the mid-market with a number of good reviews. It was somewhat against my better judgement as I knew it was made in China; not a good sign when it comes to quality hand tools. But I figured, how bad could it be? At worst, it would just take some more time to sharpen, right? If I’m only going to use this plane on occasions, it’s okay to put some extra sharpening time in prior to use, isn’t it?
At this point, let’s pause for a moment and discuss some theories for tool buying. Several of my friends live by the adage of buying cheap tools first and if you use them a lot and they break, then invest in a more expensive/quality one. In general, this is not a bad theory. In the area of DIY and home improvement, this is absolutely true. Why invest in a contractor grade cordless drill if all you are going to use it for is the occasional home repair and it will collect dust the rest of the time? However, in other areas this is a flawed theory. Often times, when it comes to woodworking, quality tools are essential. In some cases, quality power tools bring a higher degree of safety. For example, it’s always a good idea to invest in quality router bits as inferior quality can cause critical failures and the bit can fly apart at extremely high rates. I’ve seen photos of the end results and it’s not pleasant. In the areas of hand tools, the results may not be catastrophic, but can lead to frustration, disappointment, and damage to your work piece. Which leads us back to my shoulder plane.
So I received my new shoulder plane a few months ago. I’m not going to mention the brand name as this is not intended as a specific review. The plane sat aside for a bit due to the holidays, work, other projects, etc.. I recently got it out as a need for it finally arose. I looked it over, set it up (all was fine) and took a few test runs across a piece of scrap wood to get use to it. I immediately noticed the wood tearing and a few silver flecks. I inspected the plane and noticed a chunk missing from the blade. I had a critical blade failure, it will not cut, it will not kill. Kudos to you if you got that reference. With a chipped blade, the tool is useless. I reached out to the manufacturer to start the process to get a replacement blade.
Needless to say, my view of this brand is damaged. Likely irreparably. It was my first time using this brand of plane and to have a blade break on first use is very hard to recover from. I am in no way a hand tool expert. However, I do know that in a battle between steel and wood, the steel tool should not be at the loosing end. I own several premium brand planes that worked out of the box with excellent fit and finish. I also own several cheap planes. They were miserable to setup, required a lot of sharpening to get them to work, and ended up doing just an average job overall. However, the blades did not chip or break on any of these. Which leads to the next point.
It’s important to invest in quality woodworking tools. In the area of hand tools, this is going to be the difference between you being able to produce successful results with low frustration. Let’s face it, most of us learn online now. For a power tool based woodworker, most tools produce consistent results. For the most part, the tool from a discount store will produce the same as a contractor grade. However, it may not last as long. For hand tools, results will vary greatly. The cheap hand planes I own took a lot of time to setup. Having no experience when I bought them, it resulted in frustration, more time spent tuning and learning, and a number of damaged pieces of wood. Had I not been stubborn, I wold have quit. In a way, I did. Keeping the blades sharp and the plane tuned was more trouble than it was worth so I set it aside. But the fascination with hand tools lead me to eventually buy a quality plane and that made all the difference. It gave me a reference point of what good should be and I was able to maintain it from there.
The problem is, quality hand tools are not easy to find. It’s hard enough to find quality power tools in your big box stores, let alone hand tools. What little you do find there is targeted towards contractors and DIY. Far from the precision hand tools you need as a woodworker. Your next stop is specialty woodworking stores. For most cities, this is one of a few chains. The selection of quality power tools at these are greatly improved over your big box stores. However, their selection of hand tools are dodgy at best with a few gems mixed in. In many cases, they have abandoned the more premium brands for their own tool lines. With no surprise, these are outsourced to Chinese manufacturing with questionable quality all the while with prices only undercutting premium brands by tens of dollars. Granted, the hand tool woodworker is a small market and these small chains have to maximize their profit margins to survive against the major retailers. But offering a questionable quality tool to beginners means risk of frustrated customers that may bail on the hobby resulting in loss of return business.
And that leaves us to online shopping which is a whole ‘nother ball of wax. Your major online retailers offer a whole array of hand tools. Most of these are from Chinese manufacturers. Some from eastern Europe and other countries of origin. Some at deeply discounted prices. Others sold under some traditionally well known brands. And some from those small woodworking chain’s brands. And this leads us back to my shoulder plane. How do you know which ones will work and which ones will chip a blade on first use? Well, you don’t. My general rule is if the tool requires precision (quality forge for sharp blade, etc.), be cautious. That said, I have found a great marking gauge made in China, and some great chisels made in eastern Europe. And and shoulder plane that broke on first use.
So what’s the safe bet? There are some premium hand tools that you can buy from the manufacturer online and from specialty websites. Two that come to mind are made in the US and Canada. I’m sure there are a few more. In general, it’s worth paying for the quality. In my experience, the tools work out of the box and you are off and working frustration free. In many cases, they are only a bit more than the mid-market tools with sketchy quality. Top it off, they offer superior warranties, excellent resale value, and last to the point you’ll probably pass them along to future generations (haven’t tested that last one yet). This tends to breed brand loyalty as experiences like my shoulder plane drive you back to what you know works.
And that is the current and likely the future of buying quality woodworking hand tools. You need to seek out the premium online sources, stick to brands that are familiar, and take calculated risks outside that when needed. We are a consumerist society driven by disposable goods. This leaves limited options for a niche craft that relies on precision tooling. As long as there are woodworkers interested in working by hand (even as hobbyists), it will hopefully fuel a craft industry for quality tools.
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