Aaron says:
>
>I guess what I am trying to say is that the article did not give me
any
>"ammo" to start comparison shopping of my own.
>
>Oh and there was that twinge of pain when the brands that I have
grown
>up
>with, hock, lie Nielsen St James Bay , are slighted in favor of the
new
>kid on the block.
>

Aaron & others:

I found the article more of an intro than a 'comparison'. The only
thing I came away with was that as a general rule you get what you pay
for. I for one, would have liked to see more detail concerning why the
SJB faired so badly. It sounds like the iron wasnt  heat treated
properly . I was also intrigued by the use of A2 tool steel in the
Holtey and perhaps Ron Hock can pitch in and educate us as to its
pro's/con's.

Overall, it was a good intro for JoeNormie as to what's available and
what to expect generally for his money. I think if we all dropped a
little email to FWW editorial staff thanking them for the article and
asking for more comprehensive followups, Garrett maybe could look at
shoulder planes, etc in more depth. I have always felt like JoeNormie
doesnt get why we use smoothers 'cause he has never seen a upclose
comparison article thats convincing with pictures before/after
finishing handtool vs machine.

In the past FWW didnt need to explain anything so basic, but I suspect
that many new readers have outgrown the Wood/Popular Woodworking
projects bend and are hungrier for the more 'meatier' aspects of Fine
Woodworking and projects requiring more skill and craftsmanship.

Anything we can do to encourage FWW/Woodworking/American Woodworker
towards more of these articles I imagine is taken into consideration
in editorial decisions on what to run.

Rick Garza