What's so great about Blanchard? - Discussion

[Flutist]

I would like to start a somewhat provocative discussion about Blanchard tools. I just had a phone call with a seller of mainly Blanchard tools who told me he replaced those he sold "with better tools". Aside the fact that Blanchard actually still makes leather tools which in itself is remarkable, I myself have found a lot of items much cheaper from other suppliers where I can hardly see a difference in comfort, sharpness or longevity. There are other makers out there similarly re-known like Amy Roke for pricking irons, or the newly surfaced design-winning S.Korean company Doldokki with a similar reputation. Nevertheless, I just bought a completely lovely pricking iron set for a fraction of the price from a completely unknown Chinese company that even looks like the old Amy Roke design. When I held it against the old design it was even identical, the only difference being 10g in tool weight. So what do you guys think? Is Blanchard overrated? Why would you go for it? Why not?

[Webicons]

They used to be one of only a few companies that specialized in leather working tools but modern design and manufacturing techniques has put tool manufacture in the hands of craftsman and small companies who actually care if their tools are sharp out of the box. That being said, there will always be people who will buy Vergez Blanchard on name recognition, heritage and provenance but if they don't innovate or at the very least, improve the performance of their tools, they won't last another 100 years.  As you said, the competition is just too stiff and the global market is too easy to access at a touch of a button.

To be fair though, the scale is different.  VB will sell more awls in one week than these small companies will sell in a year so who knows.  

[alpha2]

Well, Blanchard uses unobtainable screws for their gauges, so that's fun, right?

Jeff