Blue Spruce Chisel Quality Since Bought by Woodpecker

[allen long]

Getting ready to pull the trigger on Blue Spruce paring chisels. Was wondering if the quality remains the same after being acquired by Woodpecker. Does anyone have any experience with the newer tools?

[Jason Lester]

I just got a sliding bevel from them. It's very well made from what I can tell.

[Keegan Shields]

I think you see quality suffer when a company acquires another and looks to increase margins by cutting corners and/or reduce the price to gain more market share.

I wouldn’t be worried about Woodpeckers (a premium brand) acquiring Blue Spruce (another premium brand). Their business model relies on premium tools with excellent quality sold at a premium price.

Now if Blue Spruce was acquired by Stanley, I would be worried.

[Jim Koepke]

The bright red aluminum handles would be the deal killer for me.

jtk

[Justin Allen]

I would say the quality either stayed the same or slightly improved. I bought some paring chisels a few years ago which were a bit concave on the back from handle to tip. I "filled out the set" a few months ago with their "optima" chisels and they were significantly better.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I had a conversation with someone from woodpeckers. If I remember correctly, they merged so that woodpeckers could handle the selling side of things and the same guy is making the product. In other words, you should see no change in quality; if I am remembering correctly.

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

I recently bought a couple of the paring chisels.

when I got them, one of them arrived chipped (which I felt was forgivable, since they were repackaged via a friend) and with black epoxy leaked over the handle (which I felt was less forgivable). I emailed them to ask what to do about it and they sent me a new one free of charge (I got to keep the old one too). the new one get held up by UPS for a ransom of $63 in processing fees (don't get me started on that!). Blue spruce proceeded to refund me the difference ($63). the replacement chisel was pristine and although both were ordered in curly maple, considerably more figured.

Long story short, buy with confidence.
they definitely aren't cheap but they will do right by you.
now, why they decided on A2 steel for a paring chisel is something I still can't understand but that is another thread...