Hello,
Having thought a bit about it, and not continuing to be facetious by naming a power tool manufacturer in a hand tool forum ( I do like Bosch though!) I have come up with a few favourites.
I prefer old Record planes to and other sort, though I know the vintage Stanley's are just as good. I do feel Record held on to a higher quality of manufacture a little bit longer though. Hock replacement irons for these and Clifton are both great, and Clifton planes similarly superb, though I don't own any, a good friend of mine has many. My ultimate favourite for new tools has to be Veritas. Thier planes might not apeal to the traditionalist in terms of aesthetics, but they perform pretty much flawlessly and to a very high level. I like their marking gauges and spokeshaves too, and the moving filister is the best. For chisels, I got a few Stubai Spezial BE chisels about 12 years ago and I wish I could get more, but they don't seem to be imported anymore. They are fabulous and much better than many others, having fine lands and edge taking ability second to none, and graduated handles for every size! I have searched for comparable new tools and have not found any as good (without spending 50 quid each for a chisel) though Ashley Iles Mk 2's are promising, I haven't owned them for long enough to really tell. I m not too big a fan of the AI dovetail chisels, though.
I quite like the Pax 1773 (or whatever date it is supposed to represent) dovetail saw, though have used Japanese saws for many years. Find a good rip tooth Dozuki and you will make fast, accurate, dovetails for a lot less money than a new Western saw. I think they look cool, too. Sadly my preferred Dozuki has become expensive now, though I have a spare blade for it, so should see me fine for a very long time.
Mike.
