If you had $400 to spend on a hand tool, any hand tool, what would it be?

[William Fretwell]

$400 represents a major tool for hand wood work. If you've been doing it a while you will have that essential tool already. Picking a luxury item is much harder. My combination plane did not go so well so a pair of wooden moulding planes would be my luxury item.
The huge number of wood moulding planes seem to define cabinet makers so I better learn to make my own!

[bridger berdel]

For me i suppose it'd be wood and hardware to build a nice bench. Not that i actually * need* another bench, but.....