Another thing is that a variety of useful tools are not commonly made anymore. I like to watch Roy Underhill's show on PBS. He is always using some antique doodad that nobody at Home Depot has heard of, and the modern woodworker of the Norm Abrams school would have little use for.
I'm a neophyte at the antique tools thing, but get a kick out of the flea markets. But explaining to the wife why I would want or need an older rustier version of something new and electric that I already have is almost as great a challenge as finding them. -Carl --On Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:34 AM -0700 Craig Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Herbert wrote: >> >> Larry Brown (on his website) says that many of his tools are >> antique, and superior to their modern counterparts. >> >> The man's woodworking expertise is obvious (and probably >> also not obvious). >> >> So I wonder how it is that Craftsman, Black & Decker, and Stanley, >> with their engineers, experience, capital, and tremendous manufacturing >> resources, do not compete effectively in this area. > > Dr. Oakroot made a good point regarding carbon steel vs. the more modern > alloys. Stainless seems to be the metal of choice for a lot of things. I > know this is very true in the world of kitchen knives. Both my fiance and > I cook and between have enough tools to outfit a commercial kitchen. But > despite both of us owning a variety of Henckle or Wusthof knives (both > excellent quality German knives) her prized knife is a carbon steel > Sabatier chef's knife. It's not pretty and shiney like the stainless > ones, but boy does that thing cut. She even lets me use it if I promise > to be real careful. ;) > > The other thing that Dr. Oakroot didn't mention is that the people today > buying tools are not the craftsmen of old. Larry is one of those who > actually fits into that category of craftsman while the rest of the tool > users are going to simply want something to get the job done. I wonder > how many people buy a set of Craftsman (to pick a brand at random) > chisels from Sears and then replace them as soon as the edge breaks > rather than resharpen them. The brands you mention make throwaway tools > essentially. Hard metals that are made inexpensively and thus inexpensive > to replace. They sell a lot of them and that's where the company makes > its profit. > > For an impressive display of old tools you should visit the Museum of Art > and Industry at the Smithsonian museums on the Mall in DC. There are > displays of chisels and other tools made in the early part of the 20th > century that show a company's entire line. > > Regards, > Craig > > > ___________________________________________________________ > $0 Web Hosting with up to 200MB web space, 1000 MB Transfer > 10 Personalized POP and Web E-mail Accounts, and much more. > Signup at www.doteasy.com > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html Carl Donsbach - User Support Analyst L I T Dept - Zimmerman Library, UNM [EMAIL PROTECTED] - http://www.unm.edu/~ctdbach/home.html http://www.unm.edu/~ctdbach/Lute/Building_Lute/Building_Lute_Main.htm Confounded eyeglasses... where'd I leave 'em this time...? 8:-{> I would rather be among those who wrap themselves in the Constitution and burn the flag than among those who wrap themselves in the flag and burn the Constitution.
