Veritas Sliding Bevels no longer available?

[Reinis Kanders]

My Shinwa locks better than Veritas. Veritas blade can be moved with a bit of an effort, Shinwa is solid.
Veritas is pretty though.

[ian maybury]

Can't resist offering a slightly mischievous observation at this point which may or may not be appreciated! Apologies in advance if not.

As Reinis i've been posting about finding the Shinwa product to be rock solid, accurate - and cheap. It's not a fancy hand made tool in the traditional mould using fancy woods and brass, but boy does it get the job done and deliver at the bang for the buck level. Until Reinis there's not been a single 'me too' type response, while everybody seems hell bent on going for stuff with atmospheric street creed - be that the Stanley ('olde cred'), the handmades ('handmade cred'), or whatever.

I'd love to hear what the thinking is on stuff like this is, as it's a preference that seems to pop up quite often….

[Maurice Ungaro]

For me, I like stuff that works, and if it's pretty, all the better. I like aesthetics in design. My ebony & brass bevel, admittedly was a splurge. I know the maker, was moving away, and wanted to obtain one of his when I could. I also had the good fortune of living close by to an incredible vintage tool store. There I purchased my Miller Falls, as well as an older Stanley (teak, brass & steel) with a nice thumb lever that is tucked out of the way. Really, my flashy Miller Falls was less that the price of a new Shinwa. I've been playing with this hobby for only 15 years, and over that amount of time, things just come my way. I try not to hoard tools. Other times, after meeting a tool maker, I like to support their work and enjoy their product. Of course, my wife says I have too many hobbies, but then again, I was 42 when we got married, so my bachelor ways were pretty well entrenched!

[ian maybury]

Thanks Maurice. I guess we don't here have old tool stores (there simply weren't enough about i suspect, and our climate tends to heavy rust anyway), and I didn't have mentors to show a way. It's not that i don't appreciate and respond to really nice looking stuff in highly tactile materials like brass and nice woods, it's just that i ended up focused primarily on functionality and build quality. The stuff that works well seems to end up looking nice anyway.

This isn't referring to your bevels, as it's not always easy to tell where the line falls until you get a tool in your hands - and there's times anyway when it's just plain nice to buy a really appealing item or two.

There's seems very often in the more general sense though to be a population for whom spending on tools is necessarily about buying better function - it instead seems to head off into wanting to have the item for other reasons. Words like tradition, collection, ownership and emotion come to mind. As in the case of really high end wood planes and Japanese chisels - it's not that they don't necessarily work very well, but it just gets into territory where it's hard in the context of trying to kit out a shop with good quality user stuff to afford to go. Then there's the matter of feeling afraid to use some of these tools for fear of marking them up….

It's actually an interesting question for a company like Veritas in respect of the bevels discussed. How far do they go beyond function to deliver the 'look and feel' which may be a significant factor in selling a product too?

[Maurice Ungaro]

Interesting question, Ian. I'm sure Rob Lee would chime in on how their design process evolved. I do have a fair amount of Lee Valley tools, because of their functionality, durability, aesthetics and quality. Of course, all that is to say that one can do fine work with lesser tools. For me, tactile feel is something I look for.

[ian maybury]

I'd suspect Maurice that Lee Valley tend on stuff like their planes (i have several) to go for top functional performance - but not so much beyond that. It as you say ends up being beautiful looking stuff...

[Mike Allen1010]

No. No replacement.

It is my understanding that bevels are now illegal in Canada.

(DISCLAIMER: The above statement is neither factual, nor meant to be political. It was merely an attempt at humor...albeit, weak.)

Harold, I LOVE your very clever sense of humor! Personally, I'll take all laughs I can get and very much appreciate all those you regularly provide here in the Cave!!! I come to SMC to escape from humorless, self-important people, and you are one of my favorite posters.

Cheers, Mike