Old(Vintage) vs. New Tools?

[steven c newman]

Saws?
Ash Re-Supply, DULL D8.JPG
Well..I thought I would use the Disston D8, 8ppi.....turned out VERY Dull
Ash Re-Supply, D8 not working .JPG
Switched over to that Disston No. 7...7ppi..
Ash Re-Supply, Disston No. 7 .JPG
And made a LOT of progress...
Ash Re-Supply, The Grip .JPG
A few strokes later...
Ash Re-Supply, Almost done .JPG
Had to be careful with the last couple...
Ash Re-Supply, a little rough .JPG
Was a bit rough....
Ash Re-Supply, Couple more to go .JPG
Cardio Workout?
Ash Re-Supply, Loaded up .JPG
Load up the Chevy..and head home....

Owner of the shop took most of the pictures....I was a bit...busy..

[Brandon Speaks]

I think it really depends on the tool and what you want to do with it. Most of my planes are old, I dont buy messed up rusk buckets and try to save them anymore but there is an antique dealer near me that sells planes that are cleaned up very nicely, they generally need to be fetted a bit and sharpened etc but they are generally functional and rust free for quite reasonable prices. Same with hand saws, its not hard to find pretty good condition old Distons with no missing teeth, straight plates, and minimal joining needed. Sharpen, maybe set, and use. Old backsaws worth my time are much harder to find and I have never purchased an old dovetail saw, I think I have one old carcas saw that actually gets used and a few I thought I might but didnt work out. When I wanted a plow plane I didnt know much about them and didnt want to screw around so I ordered the Veritas one, similar with a router plane, I also didnt want to sort through tons of crappy old chisels to build a set of users so I bought some. I need some auger bits and really want some old ones I can maintain, but do not want to screw around piecing together a set so if I dont find a full set in really good condition I might just buy wood owls.

[Assaf Oppenheimer]

2 feet away from me as I write this I have a Badaxe D8 with a thumbhole, and a Disson D8 circa 1870's. I also have a canadian Disston D8 thumbhole from the 1920's. the canadian one is nice, but the handle is way to big (and I have big hands - a surgeon's 8-1/2 glove if it gives you a reference point). The Badaxe is on par with the older Disson - not exactly the same but I couldn't tell you which one I like better.
Disston was sourced and tuned, thus expensive (around $150 with shipping). the Badaxe was new and very expensive (still dehydrated from that particular "cry once"). I think the Badaxe overall is a better saw, but definitely not three times better.

[John C Cox]

My experience is that new tools tend to be far more consistent. The good ones are consistently good. The bad ones are consistently bad. The mediocre ones are consistently mediocre. Within a brand, they also seem to have calibrated their product to the price point, meaning a cheap Stanley chisel or saw will usually underperform their "up market" offerings.

With old tools, I often find myself trying out multiples of some tool and one is just a lot better than the others. Chisels in particular seem to demonstrate this to the extreme, where say one I Sorby firmer is fantastic and the next is adequate.

Now I understand more about the transition from the older style octagon bolster chisels to drop forged round bolster, I learned there was significant overlap within the same company's offerings. For example, Marples/I Sorby and Ward offered both "newer" drop forged round bolster and "older" octagon bolster product lines at the same time from WWII to the early 1950's.

My tests on work indicate that during this period, they downgraded the "Old style" tools to boost the apparent performance of their new product lines. For example, my "early" Marples round bolster chisels typically work about 4x as much wood before resharpening as "same era" octagon bolster units.... But, those same "late era" octagon bolster chisels often only work half as much wood as a chisel made prior to drop forging.

Then as now, marketing was an important facet of the business.

[steven c newman]

Been using some of those "old" tools...
A Chopping Day, 5 done .JPG

Need 30 mortises, chopped TODAY ( with a Break for Lunch, of course..)
A Chopping Day, next 5 laid out .JPG
10 are done...only 20 more to do....chisels? 1/4" Witherby Paring Chisel...and a 1/4" New Haven Edge Tool Co. Mortise chisel....chopping into Ash...2 passes, then a clean-up pass..
A Chopping Day, 1st one done.JPG
Will head back after lunch has settled...