Yo, Abe

I haven't seen one for a while, but if I remember correctly, a Corsair plane
would make every bit as good a doorstop as a Stanley Handyman.

In case that's not very helpful, Abe, I think you need to educate yourself
about tools in general.  Maybe you need to find some craftsman locally,
somebody that makes or made a living using hand tools, and ask him to show you
some differences and why the differences are important.

Many people consider the golden age of hand woodworking tools to be the
hundred years prior to 1960.  By 1960, changes in building methods had
progressed far enough that the market for good hand tools was shrinking
drasticly.  As long as there were enough people using hand tools to make a
living, there was a market for them.  It was not simply a matter of their
being cheap foreign competition.  The reason the cheap foreign goods were able
to replace good tools was that there weren't enough people around that knew
investment in a good tool was much more economical in the long run.  People
bought tools that looked pretty much like they thought they ought to look
like, without being able to discriminate beyond that.

Powered tools are being used now by majority of people who make their living
with them.  That is where the market is, so that's where are the real
development is.  There have never been better portable power tools available.
Power tools are often used even where hand tools would be better, because of a
lack of knowledge and skill about the use of the hand tools.  A young worker
can be more productive faster in the building trades using power tools than in
learning the skills of hand tools--or else there isn't anyone else using them
to learn from.

Hand tools fall farther out of favor because so many of those manufactured and
purchased now aren't very good.  If you devote some time and energy to using
the tools and understanding them, you will probably end up with a good vintage
Stanley or other fine old tool, or with an expensive modern version thereof.
And the Corsairs and Handymans will be off in a box somewhere, or sold or
given to someone who still doesn't know ...

In my personal opinion, you need some other way to gain knowledge about tools
that asking the porch about particular tool models, even tho there may be many
willing to share their opinions.

Best of luck in '99, Abe

Roger Harrer
hoping my oversimplifications don't irritate folks too much