Bridge City Shoulder Plane

You mean this one? *LINK*

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Yep, it sure is pretty... and pretty expensive too!


BCTW

I think I will stick with my LV

Jerry Nicholson

>

Very nice

Jim in Burlington On

>Sure would look good on my desk. Be a great conversation starter. Maybe it could be written off as a business expense.

Re: Very nice

thomd

>Seems like a Vise Grip action.

Re: Bridge City Shoulder Plane

Ernie Miller

>Looks nice but I think I will stick with my old British infill brass and ebony look nice also price aside.

Pretty cheap

Paul Kierstead

>Pretty cheap compared to a Holtey shoulder plane

http://www.holteyplanes.com/a7.htm

Looks to be about USD$8000 (yes, that is 8000, not 800).

Why not make a skew???

jim reed @ tallahassee

>For that kind of engineering and that price, why not make a skew rabbet? They are so much nicer to use. Do these companies ever talk to real woodworkers?

Re: Why not make a skew???

Neal in San Jose

>Yea, they could double their potential market. You'd need a "righty" and a "lefty". How about a matched set in a presentation case? Maybe that's next year's tool.

Re: Pretty cheap

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>Do you ever wonder if tools at that price are even made to be used. I'd be afraid to touch a tool at that price. Tools take a necessary amount of abuse. Being afraid of ever putting the slightest scratch on would be way too much pressure for me. Plus, a Lee Valley Medium should planes runs about $159. If the Holtey is $8000, then that means it has to be 50 times better than the LV. Maybe it comes in a REALLY nice box or something.

Agree

Wiley Horne

>If John Economaki can design and manufacture that plane from the ground up, and put it on the market for $539, my hat is off to him. Helluva job.

Wiley

Re: Agree

thomd

>I agree, is he still there, anyway, that looks pretty complicated for their price/volume. I don't know if I would want one, even if I had the money burning a hole in my pocket. However, there are a lot of guys going to work in Carharts with 500 buck hammer drills, so while it's probably harder to turn a buck with a 500 dollar plane, I probably wouldn't worry too much about it getting broken.

Please humor me...

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.

>This is not the first time that a BCTW plane gets mentioned here, but to my knowledge no one in these parts owns a single one. Is there a performance issue about these planes?

Yes, this plane and others from BCTW are expensive, but still nowhere close to a comparable Konrad Sauer or Holtey plane.

Seems to me that BCTW planes aren't taken seriously by the "serious" crowd, I'm just wondering as to why...

DC

Re: Please humor me...

Brent Smith in Montreal

>Hi Denis...I caved a few years ago and bought the CT-11 12� LOW ANGLE SMOOTHING PLANE. It's a good plane, on a par with LV and LN, but no better. It looks pretty and performs up to expectations. I think as someone said on another site that you're paying for looks and prestige. The fit and finish are perfect, but so are the other planes I mentioned.

Re: Please humor me...

bob marino

>Denis,

Good point. I was thinking just that. Although all BCTW tools look gorgeous and and very, very $$$, so are the planes you mention and some, though admittedly few, appreciate the quality in design and materials and are those planes are held in very high regard.

I know BCTW has had Quality Control issues a few years back with their squares, but I am now wondering, just from a design standpoint, how this shoulder plane would function.

Bob

Re: Please humor me...

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Actually I like the look of that shoulder plane. What turned me off Bridge City was their over-the-top marketing schtick. The prose for this shoulder plane isn't too bad, so maybe they've toned down their marketing. I'd also like a couple of their marking tools (such as their centre scribe), but they're just too expensive.

I've only seen one bridge city tool in person and it was a beuatiful. Some things were perhaps not practical...such as the back-side of the iron was polished at the factory to an absolute optical quality mirror finish. I guess you're never supposed to need to polish the backside in future sharpening sessions? There's no way that polish could be maintained.

Icons

Wiley Horne

>Denis,

I think maybe somewhere in our growing up we develop iconic images in our minds that tell us what attributes chisels, saws, planes should have. We respond better to the tool that evokes the icon. As it pertains to Bridge City, I always prefer Starrett steel to BCTW fancy squares--even though I am sure the BCTW square is excellent--because the Starrett looks more traditional and any ornament on it is very subtle. Same thing with this shoulder plane--it doesn't trigger anything for me; I don't have an instant 'recognition' of it in the same way that I do a Preston-alike shoulder plane or a British infill type.

But I continue to have great respect for John Economaki for being able to produce these articles and get them to market for a lot less than I could, and am glad that there are those who admire and buy them. I think all of us are on the side of people who make things.

Wiley

Re: Icons

Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.

>Hi Wiley,

I am like you on this, perhaps this is why I still wear leather goalie equipment from the early 80's, it fits the iconic look that fits my style (and have you looked at the price of new equipment these days!?!).

I have been looking lately though for any Japanese vintage goalie equipment, but I have yet to find any trace...

:-)

I guess a part of that also invokes the Brand Loyal personality that is strong in some people...in the end it's about our feelings, confidence and style, the wood awaits!

:-)

take care,

Jim

And I thought Icons were the names of the "things" on my computer desk top....my how things change.

Re: Icons

thomd

>I agree with the evocation thing. Of course the original idea was to make a real cabinetmaker's square that was accurate like a machinist' set-up square but wasn't a rattletrap like my beloved Starret. There was a period back 20 years or so, where the adjustible squares were not cool, other than to the touch. Legend has it that at some point someone came in and suggested John's time might be better spent on the tools than the cabinets, so an endless need for more products was born.

How about something like this?  *LINK*

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>


Japanese goalie outfits

Not getting away with this one, Jim...

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.

>I know why you wear '80s equipment... The pads were wider! :-D

DC

Ducking and running

Just when playing, or, like, on the street?

Bill Houghton, little gloomy today, Sebastopol, CA

>I know you Canadians are a bit fanatical about that subject...

Perfect ;-)

Dan Donaldson

>I wonder what looks he would get on the ice. Especially if he was carrying a sword to go with the outfit ;-)

Re: Perfect ;-)

Denis Ch�nard, Orl�ans, Ont.

>I'll bet you that he wouldn't have any problem clearing the front of the net... :-)

DC

More like this?

Jim Shaver Oakville, Ont.

>Good One Pam....

:-)

I know I am also known my team as the Antique Road Show, my pads are older than some of my team mates....and ....I hone my skates with a stone before each game, it's not a natural Japanese stone, but it works!

Now, if I could just Find that Puck!!

Take care,

Jim