Bling

[Curt Putnam]

When Glen Huey first came out with his mallet I publicly made fun of the price. I later apologized and do so again, now. Recently, Dave Jeske has taken a pounding for his new mallet.


I think the prices are fair and wish to make the following points. In pretty much any arena when performance exceeds the basic functionality the price curvev gets very steep very rapidly. To get that last 3% is very expensive. One can buy a very capable fiber glass fishing rod for $50 - $100. A top of the line rod with carbon or boron fibers is several hundred. One can buy a basic shotgun for a couple hundred, the top of the line stuff is multiple thousands. Does a $5,000 shotgun shoot noticeably better than a $200 gun? Of course not. So why the price difference? Basically it's fit, finish and quality. Nobody complains about Ron Brese's planes. Just as with carbon fiber fishing rods his planes actually perform a little bit better than your average Stanley. But, oh the feeling you get when holding one!


Let's consider Dave's mallet. You may be able to bang out a mallet in a couple hours and it may last a couple years or so. Dave has a reputation for quality that he needs to keep well polished. So he selects his materials carefully. There is the time and material cost to impregnate the head wood with expensive resin. IIRC the handle partially turned and certainly is very carefully finished. Then there is the machining to mate the handle to the head. There is leather to be sourced, matched, cut and mounted to the faces. I don't know what you guys have for an hourly rate but I think the national average is somewhere in the $20 - $25 zone. So let's assume that he has 2 hours in each mallet and $25 in wood, resin, leather and packaging. So we are somewhere around $75. Then there is the tooling and the space to house the tooling and the power to run it all and insurance against the theft. He's got to buy computers and software to do the accounting and pay staff to help him. Glen's case with the brass head was even more time consuming.


No people, there is nothing wrong with that price. There are many reasons why many people won't buy the mallet. There many reason will people will buy the mallet. Pick your camp but don't beat the guys up. There is an absolute pride of ownership that comes with any well crafted and beautiful tool. It just feels better and is more enjoyable to use them.


I came to this epiphany after buying one of Chris Vesper's exquisitely crafted tools. I would love to have one each of Dave's and Glen's mallets. I would send Glen's to Catherine Kennedy (Cloudy) and have her engrave it. Bling is worth it, especially when it performs a little better.

[george wilson]

I have several Vesper squares. He stayed here for several days a few Summers ago. I taught him how to make rope knurls. He used my HLVH lathe,who I hardly let any one use,but he has a similar one at home. We did some tool trading also.

[Tony Wilkins]

Very fair points Curt. Dave Jeske makes great tools and to me his prices are comparable - there just aren't many folks making mallets out there as compared to chisels. But did you have to mention Chris Vesper Squares - D'OH - I've been fighting the urge to get one for quite a while.

[Paul McGaha]

I'm thinking of asking Mrs. Claus to spring for one of Dave's new mallets for me. I really like the looks of it.

PHM

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I can't justify the cost of some of those tools *for me*, but I certainly understand that's only my own position and financial math. Even if I thought it a bit silly for someone else to spend that kind of money on something (and I've certainly spent my money in foolish ways, so I don't preclude to judge on anyone else's choices for expenditure) I would never begrudge these toolmakers for charging what they do. I understand the work that goes into making these types of things in what is comparatively small runs in the scheme of things, and certainly understand where they're coming from. When I was making more guitars, everyone told me how I should do that as a job. I made guitars because I wanted them for me, back when I was still playing in bands, and time was easier than money to come by at the time. One quick look at the financials and how many I would have to make to sell at a reasonable price point quickly moved that idea from my head. (That and the fact that my work wasn't anywhere near good enough to warrant the prices I would have to charge to make it worth my time.) If you imagine what the minimum hourly rate willingly you'd take for a job is, and then remember that you'd have to add in things like health care and worker's insurance that an employer normally pays for, and then start multiplying that out, and then adding the time that all the other things that aren't actually making the items takes (ordering parts, putting together press releases, managing social media) and then add in raw materials and consumable shop goods, a lot of these boutique tools start to look like bargains, particularly the price points on some of these saws.

I already work a factory job, with pretty decent benefits and a whole lot of vacation time. I don't particularly want to leave that for another one, particularly one where I get to do all the jobs, forgo vacation and sick time, and get payed less!

[Jim Koepke]

time was easier than money to come by

That is one of my main reasons for making my own tools when possible or buying and fixing up old rust.

When it comes time to make/buy a new mallet I wish the impregnated resin wood was within my reach. Just the same most people wouldn't want to pay what I would charge to make a joiner's mallet.

jtk

[Kees Heiden]

You just need a wealthy clientele. The same with handcrafted furniture, fetches very high prices too, sometimes ridiculously high when the maker has a good name. But first you have to establish your name, which ain't easy. I tried to sell a few handmade saws at a very reasonable price, locally. I would earn something like 5 euro an hour, if the plan had succeeded. But there were no takers. I'm afraid my name isn't interesting enough, or there are no wealthy woodworkers overhere.

I still think the mallet is quite expensive, when compared to other handmade tools like backsaws and infill planes. A mallet is really simple to make and easilly lends itself to be made in a small series. It also doesn't take much special equipement, just the standard machines most woodworkers allready have. But the price isn't as outragous as these 350 dollar shooting boards.