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Tool Nerds, Questions and Tool Snobbery

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,110
10,673
AK
Same with Woodpeckers, bought one of their squares, and exchanged it 3 times before just asking for a refund, how are you a square company and can't make a square square?
Crank Brothers can't make cranks...so it's not unprecedented.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
55,968
22,014
Sleazattle
That is pretty bad given the price. Anno would look much nicer and actually be a lot cheaper and more durable. I guess I'll stick to my $6 Husky coping saw until I have time to make my own in 2000-never. What a bummer.


Woodworking tools are really starting to piss me off. My dad loves Bridge City and won't stop buying them for me, and honestly, they're straight dogshit. The prices are preposterous, the quality is mediocre and the function & ergonomics on most of them are pretty poor. Same with Woodpeckers, bought one of their squares, and exchanged it 3 times before just asking for a refund, how are you a square company and can't make a square square?

I think I'm going to start a tool company, seems like there's a market for tools made by somebody who actually knows wtf they're doing.
None of my squares is square enough for me, ended up making one from some bits of oak. Last I checked it news still the squarist of my squares.
 
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Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,842
9,878
Crawlorado
That is pretty bad given the price. Anno would look much nicer and actually be a lot cheaper and more durable. I guess I'll stick to my $6 Husky coping saw until I have time to make my own in 2000-never. What a bummer.


Woodworking tools are really starting to piss me off. My dad loves Bridge City and won't stop buying them for me, and honestly, they're straight dogshit. The prices are preposterous, the quality is mediocre and the function & ergonomics on most of them are pretty poor. Same with Woodpeckers, bought one of their squares, and exchanged it 3 times before just asking for a refund, how are you a square company and can't make a square square?

I think I'm going to start a tool company, seems like there's a market for tools made by somebody who actually knows wtf they're doing.
I'd happily support that venture. I'm in! Not gonna lie, holding this saw I couldn't help but think it wouldn't be too difficult to CAD something up and have it machined. Economy of scale doesn't work out in my favor though with n=1.

Kind of surprised to hear that about both Bridge City and Woodpeckers. Bridge City because their prices are astronomical, Woodpeckers because that's just the first I've heard. My dad has quite a few of their rules and squares with no reported issues.

Seems like most woodworkers hold to +/- 1/8". Guess with my engineering background, expecting to hold +/- .020 is overkill.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Seems like most woodworkers hold to +/- 1/8". Guess with my engineering background, expecting to hold +/- .020 is overkill.
Seems like there's two schools of thought with woodworking, real woodworking, not construction, that's a whole other animal. The "It's just wood, it'll move anyway" crowd, and the "aim small, miss small" crowd.

My dad and brother are the former, and I'm the latter. Their work is always gappy and a bit crooked, they can't fathom why I measure things with calipers, but then they're far, far more productive than me. What I can't figure out is why they're obsessed with high end tools that promises accuracy, but never check for said accuracy nor work in such a way that they'd benefit from it. Why buy a $125 miter-square if you're just going to use the sloppy 45° stop on your mitersaw, and putty the gap?

Working on finding a new ///House with more room for ///tools, then making stupid shit can fully commence.
 

ebarker9

Monkey
Oct 2, 2007
893
292
No personal experience with Bridge City stuff, but perhaps this is part of the story?


Been very happy with the few Lie Nielsen hand tools that I've bought.

Also don't have anything by Woodpecker but pretty surprised that they can't make a square square for the prices that they charge. I pretty much use a Starrett combination square and a couple of McMaster sourced "high precision" squares for woodworking and the square-ness of all is beyond my ability to measure it. I did go full "5 cut method" making a crosscut sled and that's been dead on even with doing something like making a large mitered box.
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,141
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Oh the Chinese ownership is definitely part of the problem, but I have plenty of their tools from when they were made in Portland and they're not exactly spectacular either. Lots of interesting ideas going on, but rather poos execution, especially given the price. Tools for people who don't use tools.


Never been disappointed by Lie Nielsen or Veritas, they're not cool or trendy, but they're great tools, always forget they exist when bitching about the other crap in the high end market.
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,727
7,073
That is pretty bad given the price. Anno would look much nicer and actually be a lot cheaper and more durable. I guess I'll stick to my $6 Husky coping saw until I have time to make my own in 2000-never. What a bummer.


Woodworking tools are really starting to piss me off. My dad loves Bridge City and won't stop buying them for me, and honestly, they're straight dogshit. The prices are preposterous, the quality is mediocre and the function & ergonomics on most of them are pretty poor. Same with Woodpeckers, bought one of their squares, and exchanged it 3 times before just asking for a refund, how are you a square company and can't make a square square?

I think I'm going to start a tool company, seems like there's a market for tools made by somebody who actually knows wtf they're doing.
How shit are unsquare squares? I bought a dropsaw from a retired furniture maker and it is set up better than the last two squares I bought. I bought a Draper brand timber and brass square and it fell apart on the first use.
There are a couple of standards for squares, most brands don't bother trying to conform to any of them.
I'm gonna try the Matsui ones next-
1641345922815.png


They have to be square because it says "PRECISION" and people don't lie.
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,508
In hell. Welcome!
How shit are unsquare squares? I bought a dropsaw from a retired furniture maker and it is set up better than the last two squares I bought. I bought a Draper brand timber and brass square and it fell apart on the first use.
There are a couple of standards for squares, most brands don't bother trying to conform to any of them.
I'm gonna try the Matsui ones next-
View attachment 169918

They have to be square because it says "PRECISION" and people don't lie.
You should see the "90 degrees angles" in many new-built US homes.
:bad:
Inch here, inch there ...
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,727
7,073
You should see the "90 degrees angles" in many new-built US homes.
:bad:
Inch here, inch there ...
It would be the same here, I didn't think houses could get worse than the 70's built houses but it seems that some current ones are pretty dreadful.
Unit blocks seem to be under the spotlight at the moment for quality and safety issues.
Not far from me there is a ~10yo apartment block that has props and straps holding the balconies up, somehow concrete cancer has already turned the concrete in to poop.
This guy from the UK is pretty funny-
 

StiHacka

Compensating for something
Jan 4, 2013
21,560
12,508
In hell. Welcome!

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,735
1,247
NORCAL is the hizzle
I've found the park steerer cutter works for lots of different stuff, and unlike a pipe cutter, the thing you're cutting doesn't need to be round. :lighten:

It's true you can avoid the dreaded flare with a good pipe cutter by taking your time and gradually ratcheting up the pressure, but that takes more time and patience than I have. Really though, both are good to have around.
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,727
7,073
If I lived in America I would buy this, dual scale and proper markings, nice!
Helios.jpg

To do internal measurements you have to an addition as you use the nibs at the bottom, mine is plus 10mm.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,110
10,673
AK
Stupid hope freehub driver seal. There was no way the new seal was going into the hub. It started breaking. Old seal from old driver worked fine though.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
21,946
21,467
Canaderp
Stupid hope freehub driver seal. There was no way the new seal was going into the hub. It started breaking. Old seal from old driver worked fine though.
The green one?

I went through this a few weeks ago. You either need the tool or a piece of plumbing to slam it in.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,110
10,673
AK
The green one?

I went through this a few weeks ago. You either need the tool or a piece of plumbing to slam it in.
I had a piece of plumbing...but it still wasn't going, it was just too large to fit, pounding only deformed the hell out of the seal. But the old one was tits, not loose, but a good fit.
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
7,727
7,073
Rock up at work and the boss says that I get to find and intermittent electrical fault on a machine at an electrical workshop.
It's always fun pretending you are an auto electrician and do your best not to come out looking like a dick, got lucky today, yew!
P_20220121_091226.jpg