I was thinking about the "problem" of "boutique" hand tool makers and the prices they charge....
And so I looked up a salary and prices survey from 1900...
for a UK cabinetmaker - "average" salary was $7.75/week (this was reported in american $$ - not £)
One "Average" socket firmer chisel cost $1.25. So a set of 6 "average quality" chisels cost about $7.50 - or right at one week's wages before tax... "Premium" brands like Ward no doubt cost much more...
In 2017 - the average cabinetmakers salary was $675/week... A set of Marples runs $72, Ashley Iles chisels runs $190, and a set of 7 Veritas PM-V11 chisels runs $539...
So why can't we have "Quality" like they had back then with all the hand work and testing? Because nobody will pay for it.... And what we can get is an absolutely fantastic deal compared to what they got back then..... $7.00/4 Aldi chisels - and they work - that's 7 minutes of work to buy a chisel..... Even $30/AI chisel is still less than 2 hours work for an average UK cabinetmaker... What could AI or LN or LV do if they could get us to pay $150/chisel - that's probably half what a Ward made in 1900 would cost new in today's money relative to wages....
I am not complaining about prices... But it's probably no coincidence nobody is gnawing at the bit to get into the woodworking hand tools making market...