Lie Nielsen to export hand tool to China!!

[Richard McComas]

http://bangordailynews.com/2013/03/24/business/warren-toolmaker-now-exporting-maine-made-tools-to-china/?ref=search

[Chris Rosenberger]

That is great news, but how long before China starts sending back copies?

[Bill Holland]

Hope as his business grows it don't fall into that rut of we need to make more & we need to make them faster.

Bill

[Kurt Cady]

That is great news, but how long before China starts sending back copies?

It already happened. It called WoodRiver by Woodcraft

[John Piwaron]

That is great news, but how long before China starts sending back copies?

My thought exactly!

[Jim Andrew]

They just bought one so they could copy it.

[John Piwaron]

They just bought one so they could copy it.

y'know, copying ought to involve more than the shape. How about the other things that make something good. Like the material - to name one more.

[Tai Fu]

China has always been about volume, not quality. So they'll copy it so they can sell it at a cheaper price.

[george wilson]

I guess you can't prevent a plane getting into Chinese hands for copying. I wouldn't want to help them though. They have no regard for patent rights of other countries. Neither did the Russians after the war.

Just after WWII,the English(for some reason) sold a Rolls Royce jet engine to the Russians. It was promptly copied without permission,and put into their Mig 15 fighters to use on us in Korea. The USA had a B 29 bomber forced to land in Russia. It was completely taken apart and copied right down to the rivets. Stalin gave Tupalov 3 years to get it flying. They copied the USA rivets so closely,that they would not work in the slightly thicker Russian sheet metal gauges. So,the individual sheet parts had to have their edges rolled down so the rivets would work.

[Rick Fisher]

Copying only requires a copier to buy one of an item. Anyone can do the same to Lie Nielsen, this deal makes no difference.

China has a growing middle class and owning a Lie Nielsen plane would be a very cool thing. Just like here..

I wish Lie Nielsen would make an effort to sell in Canada. lol

[Andrew Joiner]

China has a growing middle class and owning a Lie Nielsen plane would be a very cool thing. Just like here..



I read the article and that seems to be the goal, selling to hand tool enthusiasts in China.

[johnny means]

If some of you would take the time to get informed you might understand that the Growing Chinese middle class and wealthy want and appreciate "Made in America" more than we do. No doubt these tools will be gloated abiut on some Mandarin WW forum.

[Mike Henderson]

Yeah, if all they wanted to do is copy the tools, they wouldn't need to make a deal with LN. The could just get a friend here in the US to buy the tools and ship them to China. My observation of wealthy Asians is that they like the "brand names", not just in tools, but in clothes and bags.

Look at Japan - there are clubs that specialize in Harley Davidson motorcycles even though the Japanese made motorcycles are less expensive and by many measures, better bikes. They just want the name "Harley Davidson". I think it's the same with LN tools. It's a status symbol.

Mike

[Jim Andrew]

The Chinese Communist government has history of theft of intellectual property. Years ago I heard of the Chinese buying one piece of machine tooling, so it could be copied. If they were setting up a factory, they would have bought hundreds of pieces of equipment.

[Jim Matthews]

Anyone that's lived, worked or made a product on Mainland China has precisely this experience.
http://www.economist.com/node/21553040

Companies like General Electric medical devices have set up shop in China - to sell to the Chinese marketplace
with little fear of theft - it's not as if everyone wants a CT Scanner in their basement.

Consumer goods that are easily emulated by the rag trade are commonly knocked-off, as are portable items like MP3 players and watches.
Something like a LN 4 1/2 will likely appeal to a buyer that desires authenticity over price.


The most savvy detectors of fakes? Chinese consumers. They're keen on getting the real goods.
(Think Louis Vuitton, Rolex and now Lie Nielsen.)

I suppose these will become status symbols there, the way Bridge City gimcracks are here.

[Julie Moriarty]

Most of the Lie-Neilsen planes are based on the Stanley Bedrock planes, planes Stanley stopped making many years ago. If you look at the Bedrock planes and compare them side-by-side to many of the L-N planes, they are almost exactly alike. Tom L-N says he tweaked the Bedrock design a bit but makes no apology for having basically copied the old Stanley planes. And why should he? Stanley stopped making them because the company wasn't making enough money from their production and sales. But the Bedrock planes were some of the finest made production planes of their time. Somebody had to resurrect them.

If China's primary purpose was to duplicate the success L-N has been enjoying, all they would have to do is buy the L-N planes or even old Bedrock planes and take them back to China and make duplicates. But in exporting them, it's obvious they want real L-N planes to use in woodworking. And I can't blame them. These planes are a real bargain, when you consider how well they are made.

I'm happy to see a business started by a man who focused on quality instead of mass production and built a successful company doing so.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNIc1mjQqlE

[Tai Fu]

I'm not all that keen on status symbols, because I don't really have extra money around to buy some tool just because of a brand. The fact that Asians are so brand conscious means that any craftsman trying to make a living will never do well because unless you're a recognized brand, you're always considered second rate regardless of how good you are.

[David Weaver]

Agree with the above about copying bedrocks...are we really worried that someone is going to copy a design that LN mostly copied? It'd be rude if the plane was copied all the way down to the color scheme (which the quangsheng planes were), but lord stanley's men did far more design work than LN did.

[Jim Neeley]

Just be sure to check the spelling when you see "too good to be true" L-N's for sale. It might just be Lee-Neelsen. :D <ducking> :D

[Jim Matthews]

I'm not all that keen on status symbols, because I don't really have extra money around to buy some tool just because of a brand. The fact that Asians are so brand conscious means that any craftsman trying to make a living will never do well because unless you're a recognized brand, you're always considered second rate regardless of how good you are.

I taught English in Hualien, back in the 1990's.
The local staff was MUCH better at parsing English grammar, and better read than any foreign staff.

It made exactly zero difference when the parents were sizing up the school.
They wanted "experts".