New German Plough Gauge

[Trox]

I bought this German Plough Gauge on a Norwegian auction site for 37$, when I received it today I could see it was a complete bargain. The lady who sold it had other tools for sale too, however they where all priced to "regular" used tool prices.

It is a very well made tool, I had to sharpen up the knife because it had never been used/sharpened before.

I did some research and found out it is made by M. Paffrath OH in Remsheid, Germany. The German company also make other leather tools like pliers and punches http://www.paffrath-remscheid.de/index_eng.html . The new price of this tool is more than 300 Euro, I almost feel bad about buying it that cheap. She obviously have not paid that much for it herself. I do not know the story behind it, perhaps she selling the tools for somebody who has past away; all other tools was priced correctly to what they was worth.

This plough has an unusual attachment, some kind of material wedge that goes in a slot to the right of the blade. The purpose is either to reduce knife drag or to compress the leather against the material guide. It did not work at all with firm leather, perhaps it is intended for use on soft leather I do not know. Also the knife is set up in an inside angle against the material fence, I do not know if it is made like this intensionally or by mistake. German tool makers seldom makes mistakes, and it cuts leather very well.

The knife is exactly like a Blanchard knife and fit their plough as well. I do not like the guides locking screw, it makes the tool look cheap. They should have been using something better than this thin screw, it was also bent when I got it. A other detail i do not like is how the knife is attached, it might be practical but look cheap compared to the other tools. It is clearly inspired by the Blanchard tool, with some improvements it could have been a alternative to it too.

This tool is not molded in one piece of brass like the Blanchard is, the ruler and the knife base is made in two parts that is either glued or soldered together. All parts on this tool looks like they are made in a CNC machine, on a Blanchard plough all parts are molded. The German tool is all solid brass an weight 875 grams, when the Blanchard is made lighter. I do believe lighter is better, when these tools mostly is lifted by their knife handles. This reduce the risk of the knife blade to break off in the attachment slot, as they used to do with the older tools heavier frame.

The knifes look the same, however the Blanchard has thicker steel.

A 15 cm Blanchard plough with one blade costs 319 Euro before tax and this one costs 245. Still I would rate the Blanchard as a better tool for the money.

I attach pictures of the tool with and without the wedge. Compared to a 10 cm. Blanchard and compared to a 15 cm Mayer Flamery of the older French pattern. Not much has happened in hundred years, old is still the best.

I am interested in knowledge or opinions about the wedge and the tool in general.

In advance thanks.

Tor

[bruce johnson]

Tor,

At that price, you stole it. The blade is worth three times that by itself. From the looks I sure agree with everything you wrote. That wedge looks like it would do nothing positive. I want my leather to ride down and flat to the right of the blade. That wedge can't do anything but make it drag and want to drive you off line it looks like to me. The maker adding about $3 more for prettier and more substantial screws would dress this up a lot too.

In your honor I just had a snort of Linie Aquavit and time to call it a night!

[spooky]

Can I butt in and get an opinion on a recent Ebay buy? I bought this plough gauge for abou $125 Australian. Any good, and if so, how do I clean it up? Blade seems reasonably sharp. Thanks.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=350659300546

[bruce johnson]

Spooky, Can you post a picture? I can't get the link to work.

[WinterBear]

Spooky, Can you post a picture? I can't get the link to work.

(Maybe this is it Bruce: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/350659300546?nma=true&si=SDiZVJN483Aym1NGRQrddTr4Fu0%3D&rt=nc&_trksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true)

[Trox]

Tor,

At that price, you stole it. The blade is worth three times that by itself. From the looks I sure agree with everything you wrote. That wedge looks like it would do nothing positive. I want my leather to ride down and flat to the right of the blade. That wedge can't do anything but make it drag and want to drive you off line it looks like to me. The maker adding about $3 more for prettier and more substantial screws would dress this up a lot too.

In your honor I just had a snort of Linie Aquavit and time to call it a night!

Thank you and "Skål min venn",

Thats right I almost feel like a criminal at that price, I will call the lady to night and ask for the story behind the sale. Good luck with that Aquavit, if its a Løiten linje then I know it very well. I am born not far from the distillery, they make it from potato spirit from Hedmark Commune. Originally they put that cumin and other spices in to take away the fusel taste, the spirits was very bad in the old days. Then became a tradition and they used even when the spirits was 96 percent alcohol. You get a terrible hangover when you drink to much of it, he he.

You are right about the wedge it totally useless. It seems like the maker of this tool do not have the same love of leather tools as we have. They did not even bother to put a maker stamp on it, only a number and a date (# 9, 2006). The locking screw is very bad, I have to find something else to replace it. The knife has a black color handle, ( all true the wood) but light wood type. The steel is thin, but seems of good quality ( it gets pretty sharp). Like on my Blanchard plough ( of the latest pattern) the knife has the edge on the right side and is flat on the guide side.

I like that kind of edge, I feel it helps to steer the leather against the guide. I wonder why the knife is set up in a inside angle against the guide, it should be 90 degree (right angle). Nevertheless, this has a angle about 98 to 100 degrees. Then the edge of the knife points at two or three mm mark on the ruler instead of zero as it should do. I want to write to the makers and ask about it, I can easily straiten up the knife base by grinding of some material of it (then it will point at the zero mark). Thanks for you comment Bruce, I always appreciate your wise opinions.

Thanks

Tor

[bruce johnson]

Winterbear,

Thanks for the link. Spooky, that looks fine to me. You can take it all apart and polish it all up. The old Dixon plough knives have been good for me. You can sharpen that blade up to better than shaving sharp and it ought fly right through whatever you throw it into. I haven't seen that handled screw on the back edge to bind the fence before. Most of my Dixons have had either a handled screw on top that binds down or a thumbscrew on the back. They always keep you guessing.

Tor,

Thanks for the Aquavit lesson. I heard from a Finn who likes one makers that has a lot of cinnamon flavor to it. I will have to inspect my bottle a little closer and see if it is Loiten. I know it has a picture of a ship on the label. On the backside of the label you can read through the bottle the sailing and return dates from the aging trip to Australia. It is a little under half empty now, so I can nread the dates clearly.

[Art]

Bruce,

After half a bottle of Wild Turkey, I can't read anything. Now folks know how we read all these posts

Art

It is a little under half empty now, so I can nread the dates clearly.

[spooky]

(Maybe this is it Bruce: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/350659300546?nma=true&si=SDiZVJN483Aym1NGRQrddTr4Fu0%3D&rt=nc&_trksid=p4340.l2557&orig_cvip=true)

Thanks Winter Bear, I went to bed and forgot aboutnit until this morning. Okay, newbie question... how do I polish it up? I don't have access to any mechanical tools, so is it down to steel wool and elbow grease? Or is steel wool too harsh. Sorry, very, very much a newbie, who sometimes feels like they know zip!

[bruce johnson]

very fine steel wool would be my choice for the steel. I'd use somethng like Brasso or the equivalent polishing compound you might find there for the roller.

[Trox]

The Dremel multi machine has a very nice Little steel brush # 538, that gives a stunning result. No other brush work that well. Now I try to get more of them with out any luck. I ordered them directly from the Dremel company, but they tell me to go true a shop. All shops I have ordered them true has promised me them, now I have waited in more than six months; but still no brush. I do not think Dremel has more of them. If you see that brush, it has a special compound in the fibers, just buy it and try. You will not regret it, its a little wonder on old patina and rusty steel. I guess a normal hand steel brush, not to aggressive will do the job too.

[Trox]

Winterbear,

Thanks for the link. Spooky, that looks fine to me. You can take it all apart and polish it all up. The old Dixon plough knives have been good for me. You can sharpen that blade up to better than shaving sharp and it ought fly right through whatever you throw it into. I haven't seen that handled screw on the back edge to bind the fence before. Most of my Dixons have had either a handled screw on top that binds down or a thumbscrew on the back. They always keep you guessing.

Tor,

Thanks for the Aquavit lesson. I heard from a Finn who likes one makers that has a lot of cinnamon flavor to it. I will have to inspect my bottle a little closer and see if it is Loiten. I know it has a picture of a ship on the label. On the backside of the label you can read through the bottle the sailing and return dates from the aging trip to Australia. It is a little under half empty now, so I can nread the dates clearly.

If its a red label with a woman in a red dress, and a hard sailing tall ship its a Løiten linie. If its only a tall sailship in smooth waters, its probably a Lysholm linie from Trondheim (middle of Norway). There are more than 260 different Norwegian aquavits, the linie is matured in sherry oak barrels passing equator a couple of times to shake it well. It has to be served tempered, not ice cold as we use to drink it before. The linie is the most expensive one and has a mild flavor, Skål.

[Trox]

Thanks Winter Bear, I went to bed and forgot aboutnit until this morning. Okay, newbie question... how do I polish it up? I don't have access to any mechanical tools, so is it down to steel wool and elbow grease? Or is steel wool too harsh. Sorry, very, very much a newbie, who sometimes feels like they know zip!

Very Nice plough Spooky, and the knife has lot of blade left. I have a Dixon myself of a later pattern, they are made very sturdy. I often use a steel brush before polishing on a buffing wheel. If you have a drill you can buy a cheap polishing wheel and some polishing paste, you might need it for other stuff too. Its a lot of work to polishing it by hand.

Tor

[bruce johnson]

Tor, I use those brushes in a larger size for my drill press. They do a nice job for sure. They come in a couple grits. I haven't looked for them in Dremels, but will check for you. There are some hobby stores with a big Dremel accessory display and Home Depot here shows them on their website as an on-line order irem. I'll see what I can find.

Art's right with his post above, but this half took about 3 weeks so far. I called home for details. The Aquavit I am working on here is Lysholm linie. It shipped out on 8/5/2010 and came back on 14/8/2010. For those not of Norwegian heritage, it is a Norwegian liquor I only had before at the local Sons Of Norway lutefisk feed. I did a little scouting around and found that our local Bevmo carries it.

[Leela Valley Leather]

The Dremel multi machine has a very nice Little steel brush # 538, that gives a stunning result. No other brush work that well. Now I try to get more of them with out any luck. I ordered them directly from the Dremel company, but they tell me to go true a shop. All shops I have ordered them true has promised me them, now I have waited in more than six months; but still no brush. I do not think Dremel has more of them. If you see that brush, it has a special compound in the fibers, just buy it and try. You will not regret it, its a little wonder on old patina and rusty steel. I guess a normal hand steel brush, not to aggressive will do the job too.

Here you go mate.

http://www.widgetsupply.com/category/dremel-brush-steel.html

It's my go-to for ANYTHING for my Dremel and a butt load cheaper than most places.

[Trox]

Here you go mate.

http://www.widgetsup...rush-steel.html

It's my go-to for ANYTHING for my Dremel and a butt load cheaper than most places.

Thank you mate,

It seems like the I`m talking about is not a steel brush, its a special nylon brush. Its still works better than any steel brush I have tried.

http://www.widgetsupply.com/product/BCQ41.html

I wanted to buy it in Norway to avoid keep feeding the Norwegian customs and the postal service, thats the responsibility of the local dealers.

The Dremel company tells me to order the brush # 538 from one of their dealers, so far I been ordering 16 pieces from four different Norwegian dealers over a period of one year; and still no brush?. What do you give me? It seems that I have to pay for the transport and customs myself, whats the point of having local dealers.

Thanks

Tor

[oldtimer]

Finns Claes Olsson eller JULA i Norge? Där kan dom finnas!

/ Knut

[Leela Valley Leather]

Thank you mate,

It seems like the I`m talking about is not a steel brush, its a special nylon brush. Its still works better than any steel brush I have tried.

http://www.widgetsup...duct/BCQ41.html

I wanted to buy it in Norway to avoid keep feeding the Norwegian customs and the postal service, thats the responsibility of the local dealers.

The Dremel company tells me to order the brush # 538 from one of their dealers, so far I been ordering 16 pieces from four different Norwegian dealers over a period of one year; and still no brush?. What do you give me? It seems that I have to pay for the transport and customs myself, whats the point of having local dealers.

Thanks

Tor

So long as it works out cheaper in the end I cant see a problem, unless the Norwegian Customs people are a nightmare to deal with.

[Trox]

Finns Claes Olsson eller JULA i Norge? Där kan dom finnas!

/ Knut

Hei Knut,

vi har begge deler men ingen av dem har denne. Jeg mener det er forhandlerens plikt aa bestille inn varer, samt ta kostnaden for frakt og eventuelll toll. Det gidder de ikke hvis det er varer som koster lite. Samtidig er det ingen av de store varehusene vil ta inn komplette vare utvalg fra en produsent hvis noe av det konkurer med sine egne billig varer. De driver for det meste med juks og fanteri i vare handelen her, ulovelig pris samarbeid osv. De to du nevner her er vel bland de bedre, men matvare magasinene driver bare med juks. Selv om det er mange forskjellige store matvare kjeder, er det ikke mer enn en to tre forskjellige eiere. De forskjellige kjedene er bare der for å skape en illusjon om pris konkuranse, noe som er helt fraværende. Man skulle tro de var nødt til å selge alle varene til en produsent og ikke bare velge å vrake de som passer inn i deres egene hyller. Det var ikke slik i gamle dager, da hadde en hoved forhandler av et merke alle varene og hvis noe manglet bestilte de det opp med en gang. Det er klart jeg kan kjøpe denne børsten i utlandet som jeg er vant til å måtte gjøre med mesteparten av det jeg trenger. Jeg begynner bare å bli lei av å fly på posten og fore tollvesenet.

Edited February 11, 2013 by Trox

[Trox]

So long as it works out cheaper in the end I cant see a problem, unless the Norwegian Customs people are a nightmare to deal with.

Thank you,

no unfortunately it does not always work out cheaper in the end. We must pay tax on all goods with a customs value (goods included shipping/ handling on the Norwegian border) more than 200 NOK ( 36 US$). In addition we must pay the postal service to declare the goods for us, its a minimum fee about 100 to 150 NOK. This brush alone would have been tax-free. However, I do not have to buy much before I pay extra tax on it. I have to pick it up myself on the post office too, because they alway claims your mailbox is full or the packet to big.

When this is the same story with almost everything I need for my leather work, then I am easily tired of it. They came up with this rule to protect the Norwegian marked against cheap Internet shopping/ shopping in our neighbor countries. Especially the food trade, most Norwegians go to Sweden to shop to a third of our prices. The government want to keep Norwegian farms even when they cannot compete with foreign. They also tell us foreign food is dangerous, especially meat. The problem is that it is the other way around. And in my case where they want to protect goods who do not exist here, all the tings I want to buy do not exist here. Soon I will have my own shell in the post office, I am there nearly everyday.

Thats why I want the dealers to step up to their responsibility. If I was a producer and somebody want to sell my stuff they had to sell it all, not only the the goods that suited them the most. This is something I do not like about Norway, others things are very good here and makes it worth living here.

Thanks

Tor

[Leela Valley Leather]

Thank you,

no unfortunately it does not always work out cheaper in the end. We must pay tax on all goods with a customs value (goods included shipping/ handling on the Norwegian border) more than 200 NOK ( 36 US$). In addition we must pay the postal service to declare the goods for us, its a minimum fee about 100 to 150 NOK. This brush alone would have been tax-free. However, I do not have to buy much before I pay extra tax on it. I have to pick it up myself on the post office too, because they alway claims your mailbox is full or the packet to big.

When this is the same story with almost everything I need for my leather work, then I am easily tired of it. They came up with this rule to protect the Norwegian marked against cheap Internet shopping/ shopping in our neighbor countries. Especially the food trade, most Norwegians go to Sweden to shop to a third of our prices. The government want to keep Norwegian farms even when they cannot compete with foreign. They also tell us foreign food is dangerous, especially meat. The problem is that it is the other way around. And in my case where they want to protect goods who do not exist here, all the tings I want to buy do not exist here. Soon I will have my own shell in the post office, I am there nearly everyday.

Thats why I want the dealers to step up to their responsibility. If I was a producer and somebody want to sell my stuff they had to sell it all, not only the the goods that suited them the most. This is something I do not like about Norway, others things are very good here and makes it worth living here.

Thanks

Tor

Holy crap! I now have a new definition for the term "protectionist"!

OK It's an "out there" suggestion, but is it feasible to be come a distributor/reseller for the items you most want and are not available? (was once a distributor for Sennheiser office communications products as there were no local sources)

[Trox]

Holy crap! I now have a new definition for the term "protectionist"!

OK It's an "out there" suggestion, but is it feasible to be come a distributor/reseller for the items you most want and are not available? (was once a distributor for Sennheiser office communications products as there were no local sources)

That is the right term. We are outside the European union. However, inside it with one leg because we need to sell our oil and fish to them. Right now it seems like our policy has kept us out of trouble, the economy crises never hit us and we are one of richest countries in the world (if not the richest). Now a lot of other Europeans want to come here for work. Nobody want to be a craftsman any more, everyone want to sit in front of a PC. Immigrant from eastern Europe do the manual labor... you can see where it all going to end. The shop only carries goods the gray middle class "Ola Norman" wants. In my eyes we are getting poorer this way. Its a good thing that the currency is strong, even when they devalues it all the time to ensure customers for the oil. When the world do not need gas and oil anymore, we are done. Thanks for the suggestion, I do not have the extra energy to take on more work. I guess I have to keep on feeding the customs and postal service.

[oldtimer]

Tor, many from your eastern neighbour country also does your labor ! :-)

Those wealthy norwegians! ;-)

/ ha det / Knut

[Trox]

Tor, many from your eastern neighbour country also does your labor ! :-)

Those wealthy norwegians! ;-)

/ ha det / Knut

Hei Knut, yes they do. The wealth is for the people who works with oil, mostly people from the western parts of Norway.We have poor people here too. General, with economical growth it rains on everybody. 30 to 40 years ago it was Sweden who had the money. I am afraid whats going to happen when we cannot use more oil, Norway have not prepared them self for this.

[oldtimer]

Hei Knut, yes they do. The wealth is for the people who works with oil, mostly people from the western parts of Norway.We have poor people here too. General, with economical growth it rains on everybody. 30 to 40 years ago it was Sweden who had the money. I am afraid whats going to happen when we cannot use more oil, Norway have not prepared them self for this.

I spent a night at a hotel in Norway in august, and paying the bill felt like being robbed in the streeet, with the exception that I could keep my smartphone! hahaha