Cheap tools are a false economy – and referring back to an old book called ‘Cabinet Making for Beginners’ By Charles H. Hayward,
Chapter 1: The Kit of Tools: The first paragraph reads:
When you set out to buy tools, there is a golden rule to remember: “Buy the best you can afford”. The reason why two tools of similar appearance should be widely differing in prices may not be immediately apparent but will become evident in the long run. Good, reliable tools cannot be produced below a certain figure, and if you pay less than this, you will be storing up trouble for yourself in the precise ratio to the money you save now. The best plan is to go to a reliable tool merchant and cheerfully pay his catalogue prices. If you select tools at a fair price, you can be sure you will get good service from them.
This is indeed good advice for anyone intending to turn a craft into a career or invest in a long-lasting craft-related hobby.
There is nothing worse than an essential tool breaking when it is needed most!
I occasionally watch YouTube and TV shows of restorers and those working in a craft, but being a tool guy, I do take notice of what type of hand tools are being used. In one instance, I stumbled onto a YouTube video where the guy used mostly electric and new hand tools. He was building a new bench because of issues he had with his previous bench, mainly because of the poor choice of materials he had chosen to use in the prior build. His workshop was a plastic wonderland devoid of any personality and filled with abundant cheap tools that frankly resembled a large kindergarten toy station.
I understand space is a real premium for most, if not all of us, regardless of the size of our workshops. His design of what he built had merits to save space and keep things organised. The chap I mentioned did make a good YouTube video, but those plastic-handled tools everywhere that we all know will quickly degrade and be added to landfill before he gets to know their full capabilities was somewhat offputting.
Those cheap tools are designed for the DIY market, and the heavy-handed, unrefined amateurs aren’t suited to those who have desires to progress to a professional standard, and as Charles points out, many years ago before standards dropped further they will always prove to be false economy.
As I have said in other articles, I worked on the tools as a tradesman for many years, and when this was the case, those tools used daily needed to be capable of standing up to their daily tasks without failure. We become dependent on them and eventually learn in time their true capabilities and qualities they possess.
I think in years to come, we will look back at the past 40 years and the waste it produced for the sake of convenience as a crime against humanity because those skills lost during this period were as much an heirloom as the trades they served.
In what we do here at Tooltique, we have hopefully opened up a new world of what old tools have to offer if the effort and right techniques are applied to a new generation of craftsmen, as well as serving the community with a good range of tools that might not have ever seen their full potential.
