Price of new tools.

[John TenEyck]

Lucky for most of us "old timers" that we already have most all of the tools we need, and purchased many years ago.
David

A statement repeated by every generation.

John

[Tom M King]

I think I've gotten to the point that an old man was when he told me, a long time ago, that he'd gotten to the point where Christmas came twice a year. I was thinking I've had that mower for one year, but it's actually two. That makes the price increase a little more in line. It has a little over 90 hours on it now. Back when I had a man that ran a regular mower to cut all this, that mower had 300 hours a year put on it cutting the same grass.

[Jerome Stanek]

I looked at that mower 3 ears ago and they wanted $9000 for it new.

[Rick Potter]

I was fortunate to have purchased a lot of my more expensive tools used during the 2008-11 recession. Now that I am getting older, I have sold some of the less used ones, like edge sander and Castle pocket holer, for triple what I paid for them.

Win a few, lose a lot. Brag on the wins, somehow I never mention losses much .

[Zachary Hoyt]

I've bought four new tools that I can remember. A Supermax 19-38 for $1300, a Shop Outfitters 1415 ring roller for $600, a Rikon 10-305 for $225 or so and a DeWalt angle grinder for $60 or so. I have been pleased enough with all of them that I would buy another if they died, even though the prices have gone up quite a bit. Mostly I buy used tools, and wait till a good price comes along.

[Rod Sheridan]

For all us old time woodworkers,
Am I the only one having a hard time buying a new tool knowing what they use to cost just a couple years ago?
Sad part is, Don't think it will ever come back down but maybe a little.

My wife’s father apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in England prior to WWII.

He spoke of handplanes costing a weeks wages. Most of us pay for them with much less than a days salary now.

I think we went through a period of artificially low prices and now are heading back to a more average lifestyle.

Regards, Rod

[Edward Weber]

My wife’s father apprenticed as a cabinetmaker in England prior to WWII.

He spoke of handplanes costing a weeks wages. Most of us pay for them with much less than a days salary now.

I think we went through a period of artificially low prices and now are heading back to a more average lifestyle.

Regards, Rod

I agree to a point.
It's a bit unfair to try and compare 100 years ago and now. The ease and speed in which tools are made, drive the price low. If you purchase a bespoke tool or many other items from boutique sellers, you may not be paying a weeks wages but the cost is many times more expensive than the standard.
if there are valid reason for price increases, that's one thing but simply having high prices for no discernible reason, doesn't usually sit well.

[Atlas Ramirez]

In my case I got a good deal 6 month ago I purchased a second-hand lawnmower from my neighbour and he gave me an 1.5 years old lawnmower which he purchased at 15000 and gave it to me only at 3000 and it' in good-working condition.

[Rod Sheridan]

I agree to a point.
It's a bit unfair to try and compare 100 years ago and now. The ease and speed in which tools are made, drive the price low. If you purchase a bespoke tool or many other items from boutique sellers, you may not be paying a weeks wages but the cost is many times more expensive than the standard.
if there are valid reason for price increases, that's one thing but simply having high prices for no discernible reason, doesn't usually sit well.

I agree, however the cost increases in labour, energy, materials and transportation have been anything but modest over the last few years……Regards, Rod.

[Jeff Roltgen]

I think we went through a period of artificially low prices

This is the crux of it all, and that's an understatement for sure. We got lulled into the numbers over the years and mistook it for reality. If you were paying attention over the last decade, the notice had been given by several entities, many times, that this is not reality, and future events eventually would bring us to the point we've arrived at today. Fixed incomer's and minimum wage earners having to choose between a tank of gas or that extra bag or two of groceries or even paying the utilities was quite accurately predicted. No way wages, even with what seem to be amazing leaps in hourly rates could keep up with the inflation. We didn't know how or when, but seems the pandemic did the trick.

How often did I look at furniture store pieces being sold as finished products for less than the cost of the raw materials to build it myself, after the markups. Seemed impossible. Because it was. Then I read a book called "Factory Man". Quite an eye opener about Mr. Basset of Basset furniture, and the discussions he had directly with some of the Chinese factories. No politics, just the cold hard truth of this situation as it pertained to the furniture industry. They have no respect for us, and are very much interested in destroying us by providing an endless supply of cheap goods, and willfully pirating anything we bring to their factories to produce for pennies on the dollar. As Mr. Basset was told, plainly and directly, we'll make these items as cheaply as you want them, on one condition: go back to America and close the last of your factories.

Now let's talk good news:
Glad to see furniture plywood and hardwoods have leveled a bit. A delayed wave of radical price swings in that sector of the lumber industry over the structural grades had those numbers up an average of 50% on hardwoods and often close to 100% or more on sheet goods as recent as last fall. In fact, the current load of hardwoods I'm working with was back down to pre-pandemic levels, and I paid as much as $30 less per sheet for certain plys vs. last fall, bringing the increase down to about 30-50% vs. that peak for sheet goods.
When you're pulling orders of 30+ sheets, this is very significant, indeed. Even Baltic birch has leveled off a bit, and my local supplier never did run out completely.

Best news for me, when I wanted to upgrade to a couple higher dollar European machines about 18 months ago, the Asian competition had gone up so much due to shipping costs, it was much easier to justify investing in what are generally considered a big upgrade in engineering and quality.

jeff

[Atlas Ramirez]

hey contributor you guys don't talk with member like me new member thats not fair

[Rich Konopka]

There is also a level of stupidity or a person having too much discretionary income that allows for a toolmaker like BRIDGE CITY. Charging $38 for a scratch awl and people buying them.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I put a marine lifting eye on the front of this mower. …

Continuing the hijack, Hustler Raptor ZTR has a tilting deck feature, both for compact parking and blade changes/sharpening. I suspect you could do minor sharp updates w/o blade removal. It looks brilliant, but obviously introduces another wear and failure point. If anybody has one, please report. …And gloat?

The feature came out about 4-5mo after I purchased one of its stable mates, since divested. We downsized the flatland house to <1/4ac grass, and no need for ZTR on 5ac of mountain, so I just just watch the big boy toys now, and reminisce.

[Malcolm McLeod]

…go back to America and close the last of your factories.
…

Similar anecdote about Levi Strauss: I had family connection to their management for years. And they had 40-odd factories in N.America (IIRC). Then the ‘nothing comes between me and my Calvin’s’ ad campaign started.

Line operator at Levi, running 100% of standard*, earned something like $10-$12/hr in late 70s. Calvin paid Malay workers the equal of $0.15/hr. (I’ll let y’all handle the inflation adjustments.)

Levi was forced to off-shore 100% of production or lock the doors.

(I am a generation or 2 removed from any insights to Levi ownership/management today, so will stay out of that fray.)

*- I remember as a kid seeing operator rating cards posted on their sewing machine power feeds - boasting of many running >120%. And they were paid accordingly.

[Terry Wawro]

I was looking through an old woodworking magazine a couple of months ago. It must have been at least 20 years old or older. What surprised me was in the ads. The price of many tools like routers, drills, circ saws and other tools were about the same price then as now. Given inflation, your average corded bench tools were a LOT more expensive back then.