Who has $4222 to spend on a Smoother?

[Metod Alif]

Ha, another answer to the prayers of multi-challenged woodworkers. After all, they do have needs...
Metod

[Prashun Patel]

I think we're missing the point.

This is clearly pushing an aesthetic envelope. It's appealing to a particular person, not a broad audience.

It's haute couture, not H and M. It's Marilyn Manson, not Marilyn Monroe.

Ironically, I think at $422, we'd be less out of line with criticisms than at $4222.

They might, however, take a page from Hermes' Birkin bag, and just list the price as 'unavailable'.

[William Adams]

We've discussed this before, if memory serves, and it was described as the "Terminator" plane.

In terms of a new and different aesthetic, it's interesting, though doesn't quite appeal to me. I'm far more interested in their JointMaker Pro table saw, but would love to have the occasion to try out all their tools.

One thing I'm surprised isn't advertised is that the skeletal tote affords one the option to make a custom handle in two halves which could then be joined together w/ Chicago screws or rivets --- if they'd include a pair of blanks for that (or sell blanks, or provide a CAD), it would be far more accessible, maybe even almost practical I'd think.

[Art Mann]

I own one hand plane and that is enough for me. However, I find the design and machining of this tool to be beautiful. If I had money to waste, I would buy one and build it a nice display case.

[Jim Koepke]

People never seem to buy their tools to use. Ebay is littered with never used examples.

Yes,their tools are well made,but I can do without the extreme designs.

I usually will not buy a tool unless I have a use for it. I can not imagine using a 'piece of art' to smooth my lumber.

jtk

[William Adams]

There is also a bit of continuance of previous design language for woodworking tools --- see the skeletal instances of the STANLEY No. 610 Hand Drill SWEETHEART (there's currently one on Jimbodetools) for a previous example of this sort of thing.

[Patrick Chase]

I think the front knob is totally out of place on this plane. It should have a skeleton form instead.

Troll. :-)

[John Gornall]

I enjoy original design as I like to see how other people think. I don't have a desire to own an item like this but I would sure like to spend a day with it to observe, touch, and plane some wood. Wish they would rent them as an option to buying them.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

What comes to my sometimes warped mind, "If you can divide by fourths, eighths, sixteenths, thirty-secondths, sixtyfourths and convert them back and forth to decimal, you can work with inches."

Certainly the Metric system is so much easier but most Americans are likely still using a yardstick their father gave them.

You want to talk evil minds....

"If you can divide and multiply by 10, 100, and 1000 and convert them back and forth to fourths, sixteenths, thirty-secondths, and sixty-fourths, you can work metric".

[Rich Riddle]

I positively don't like it. This is at the end of the spectrum where the wife would not indulge the hobby. You can't blame her.

Not sure I even like it.

Attachment 336941

[Michael Fross]

I think it is absolutely beautiful. Not practical, very expensive, probably not comfortable to use, but beautiful. They made a shoulder plane some time ago that I thought was the best looking plane I had ever seen.

Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

Michael

[bridger berdel]

I'd say that BC's marketing is aimed at the wealthy collector's ego. as it it the most expensive smoother on the market it must be the best, and purchasing it makes a statement as to the purchaser's elite status.

You don't need to be wealthy to purchase one, you just need $4222 + shipping.

[george wilson]

What makes anyone think that that straight stalk of a handle is beautiful,comfortable,or practical?

I agree with Bridger's post above this one.

[Patrick Chase]

I'd say that BC's marketing is aimed at the wealthy collector's ego. as it it the most expensive smoother on the market it must be the best, and purchasing it makes a statement as to the purchaser's elite status.

I agree with your analysis of their market, but I wasn't joking when I said that it was "for folks who can't quite afford a Holtey". It's far from being the most expensive smoother.

Of course the Holtey is usable as a plane. I could swear I once saw something that looked a lot like the BC's tote in a museum exhibit about medieval torture (which is a roundabout way of saying: George is right. The ergonomics look absolutely awful).

[Kirby Krieger]

I own a few downmarket Bridge City tools, as well as — for one frustrating week so far* — a JointMaker Pro v.2 with Precision Fence System. My first Bridge City purchase was a splurge on their Chopstick Master. I was shopping for a small "apron" plane, and it comes with one (their HP-8 Aluminum mini-block plane with depth skids), and one thing led to another. The Chopstick maker works, and is a lot of fun — a good, and possibly great, way to give some people not just an idea of what "Woodworking" is, but the actual (to me) profound experience of planing wood and the deep pleasure of making a complete, well-made, physical, useful, handheld object.

The HP-8 plane that comes with the Chopstick Master works as well as any top-notch contemporary plane, except that it is not comfortable in the hand (almost everyone who has used mine has mentioned this before I gave any indication that I agreed). Bridge City's aesthetic seems to favor looks over utility, as the Chopstick Master plane exemplifies. The depth skids are useful and worthwhile.

The Chopstick Master sells for c. 360 USD [corrected from 300]. I would argue that this might be high, but is in no way silly, atmospheric, or unreachable. There is nothing collectable about it. It is fundamentally a tool (the kit consists of the plane, an elaborate and ingenious jig, many chopstick blanks, and presentation sleeves for the finished chopsticks). You buy it to make things, and you make things with it.

The just-announced (afaik) SE Dual Angle Smoother is not sold as a tool. I don't doubt that it works well (and I don't doubt that it is uncomfortable in regular use). But the price, and the presentation, clearly indicate that it is not being sold to be used as a plane. A tool that is not used is not a tool — it's just a ... thing. It's not art, as I understand art: it is not intended to convey meaning. It is, we can say, an example of the tool-maker's art — but in that formula "art" means "technique". It is almost purely an object of exchange, nothing more, and nothing less — a "collectible".

To whet this to what I hope is an unmistakable divisor: as much as the SE D-A Smoother exemplifies the tool-maker's art, it even more exemplifies the tool-maker's marketing art — what used to be called "business acumen". The degree to which Bridge City's business model affects their tool design would make a telling story, imho. [This paragraph added.]

Personally, it doesn't interest me as a plane. Aesthetically, I think it has several problems, but I wouldn't discuss the aesthetics of an object from photos, and certainly not from a single photo, and _especially_ not from a computer rendering of a digital file (kudos to Patrick Chase who pointed this out).

Bridge City's 6-inch rule is a joy to use. I recommend it.

*Review being penned.