If you’re a handtool woodworker you can add to that the thousands of dollars in specialty tools you’ll inevitably acquire. Woodworking is insidious :-)
Re:Why furniture got so bad
by MarkMarine on Wednesday September 06, 2023 @04:19AM
(#37402552)
I do both. I have gear thing anyway, but thankfully I’m about done with the hand tool acquisition. I bought a subset of the Lie-Nielsen catalog that I use (after trying out some other brands and not being impressed) and now I don’t really have any hand tools to buy. I’d love to have an antique jointer, a nice wide planer, a nice sawstop cabinet saw, and an antique bandsaw… but I’ve got the cheaper or modern analogs. The sawstop job site saw was a minimum requirement, I need my fingers.
Lie-Nielsen and Veritas are the two brands of hand tools that will ruin you for others. Lie-Nielsen being the absolute best in recreation / refinement in traditional design, and Veritas answering the question of “what if we rethought the design and made it really well?”
Sawstop saw is a good call. IMO kickback is scarier than amputation, but most saws have decent mitigations against kickback and nobody but Sawstop is in the business of saving fingers.
Re:Why furniture got so bad
by MarkMarine on Wednesday September 06, 2023 @04:39PM
(#37410979)
I actually like the Lie-Nielsen planes much more than the Veritas planes, I can’t stand the Norris adjuster. I want to be able to change the aggressiveness of the shaving without knocking the blade out of alignment and about half the time I knocked it. Not a problem with the LN planes. I also like the LN steel more, I bought a bunch of the PN-V11, and with the exception of keeping the low angle jack as a special plane for curly grain (I have a 50 deg blade in it, it’s almost a scraper) I have been selling the others after getting the 4,5,7 LN ones. I would like a Veritas large rabbet plane for fielding panels, LN doesn’t make one.
I have the Veritas plow plane and it’s great, my favorite plane they make.
I prefer the Veritas a little myself, but the few times I’ve had hands on LN… well, they’ll get no disrespect from me. Both fantastic premium options IMO.
Re:Why furniture got so bad
by MarkMarine on Friday September 08, 2023 @11:55PM
(#37442138)
I have a block plane, #4 smoother, and a jointer that I was going to list for sale, do you want any of them?
The middle is out there, it’s just not in mass market stores. Honestly some of these sellers must not value their time like I do.
If you know the right things to ask the seller, you can end up with a fantastic piece for short money that will outlast you. Learning that language is tough though, but some time on woodworker YouTube will bridge the gap.