I Wish....

[billymac814]

There were more tool makers that would either make or offer a more utilitarian tools that could be sold cheaper. Don't get me wrong I sure like looking at some of these very beautiful tools they produce but man they get expensive. I would gladly opt for an edger with a plain old handle that had an excellent cutting surface for less money than one made of some exotic wood with the same excellent cutting surface for a lot more money. I just want my stuff that performs well over top of anything else and not have to take out a business loan to get a few hand tools.

Am I alone here or would there seriously be a market for a more utilitarian version of what they already offer. Or is there someone who makes what I'm after? Cs Osborne is pretty utilitarian by looks but the performance is so so on some of thier items.

[JLSleather]

Yep, I'm with you .. pretty doesn't mean much if it doesn't do the job. My credit is okay I guess, but I stil drive a 1999 vehicle that there is nothing wrong with.

[J Hayes]

I agree too. And they need to learn what a polish really is. I mean advertise it as being "polished" and when you get the thing its been hit with 180 grit and called good! Theses steels polish to a mirror like finish, and when they are truly polished they cut through the leather better and best of all you don't have to fight to get the darn punch back outta the leather! I'd go for a plain polished cutting edge and a pine handle.

Jeremy

[billymac814]

I'm with ya, my Jeep is a 1996.

I have no complaints with the way the pretty ones perform, everyone I've got works great, but I don't need them to be all fancy pants for an extra charge. I don't often see this in other trades for some reason, my guess is because the tool makers are usually also leatherworkers so they continue to make art through their tools.

Now my thoughts are slightly hypocritical though because if someone wanted me to make a holster that was more utilitarian and they didn't care about how it looks I'd probably tell them to pound sand.

I don't consider myself to be cheap, I just don't like to spend money on things that aren't important to me. Quality is important to me though and I'd rather be able to afford more quality tools rather than just a few that work the same but look pretty.

[billymac814]

I agree, I end up polishing my own, I normally use the strop wheel on my tormek to get a good polished edge. I use the edge of it for the edgers. Most of the time I end up using my cheaper Tandy edgers as they seem to work better than some other brands I have. I'd like to find a good set but if I want 2 different styles with say 3 sizes of round bottom ones and one or two for sharp corners were talking 300.00 to 400.00 bucks just for a set of edgers. This is what started this rant which is why I keep bringing up edgers but it applies to just about everything as well.

I agree too. And they need to learn what a polish really is. I mean advertise it as being "polished" and when you get the thing its been hit with 180 grit and called good! Theses steels polish to a mirror like finish, and when they are truly polished they cut through the leather better and best of all you don't have to fight to get the darn punch back outta the leather! I'd go for a plain polished cutting edge and a pine handle.

Jeremy

[MakerUnknown]

Totally agree. I love beautiful things as much as the next person but I don't think a hammer needs a fancy handle to pound a nail in.

Give me a round knife with more time spent on the metal and less on a cocobolo handle.

[Cyberthrasher]

I look at it like this. I've seen several tool makers who make a good quality blade/tool and they have a standard base price. These things are beautiful and perform beautifully. Guess what, that starting price is pretty high - regardless of the wood. If you want a cool custom exotic wood - that will be an upcharge. My point being that you're not really paying for the wood a lot of times, you're paying for the years of knowledge and craftsmanship that went into the tools development, such as the shape and steel contents of the blade or the weight, balance, and material in a maul. Don't get me wrong, I would be more than happy to pay LESS money , but I'm also willing to save up to get something that's been expertly created and will last a lifetime. Think about it like this - what would we do if our customers just said "slap a buckle on that piece of veg-tan and give it to me for $5. Hell, it's just gotta hold my pants up. I don't need nothing fancy!!"

Totally agree. I love beautiful things as much as the next person but I don't think a hammer needs a fancy handle to pound a nail in.

Give me a round knife with more time spent on the metal and less on a cocobolo handle.

tied in to my point. A leatherwranglers round knife is $275 with his stock wood. Add exotic woods and it's $35 more. What do you think you're paying for here, the blade or the wood?

[MakerUnknown]

And I totally agree with you too.

Here is an infill plane I made...well, I did the wood part of it.

I was using the metal blade vs the wood handle as an analogy for where the importance of a tool lies.

I don't mind paying for good tools, in fact it's a dogma of mine to buy the best I can. I don't cheap out.

But I agree with the OP as far as some things don't need to be overly fussy.

[Cyberthrasher]

I agree with that too. looks like we're all just kind of all over the place

[TwinOaks]

You CAN get those tools....contact Bruce Johnson, or go to his website. He buys/sells leather tools... mostly in the antique range, but all of them are good. Or you can look at some of Paul Zalasek's tools....they're very expensive, but only until you find out why.

I spoke to Paul on the phone and he spent an incredible amount of money in R&D to produce his knives. And I believe that due to his efforts, he's got one of (if not THE) best steels available, which serves to reduce the cost of the knife quite a bit when you amortize the cost over the extremely long life of the blade.

Having a nice handle is just icing on the cake, but in the same thought, most people would complain loudly if they got good steel but it had a rough shaped pine handle. Since these nice tools have nice wood, most of the copy cats and knock off artists go for the easy to copy part - the handles. So when you see what seem like 'basic' tools that still have a high cost, keep in mind that you're probably seeing a truer cost of the tool.

It would seem that enough people are interested in tools like you've described that Tandy has introduced a new set of tools - made from SS, instead of chromed zinc. I can only hope that they'll see enough interest in the nicer tools that they'll push the better quality to their other tools as well.