Hobbyman2 wroteI have to agree with you both, and to be honest that is one of the tools I was looking at , until I seen the price , if you want all three squares for the different dove tail angles and ruler lengths as a set it will set you back nearly 300.00 ,on their website ,, if it is something you cant live with out or will use constantly , or you just like collecting their tools than by all means I am all for it , but a couple scraps of wood or metal and you can make a dovetail gauge , it may not have all of the other bells and whistles but it will work just as well . since I am in this as a hobby and not trying to make money I would have to make a lot of dovetails to cover that cost , in my honest opinion they may loose a lot of business because of the price , just because the thing is made on a laser operated robot to me doesn't justify that kind of money ,, that's just my opinion , would I like to have a set ,, of course I would ,, I suppose in their mind they don't have to make as many to make money ? and that robot cost a bundle ,, I wonder what the resale on those used are if the market doesn't actually fully support them ?
Yeah, I agree. Maybe my initial post on this thread didn't make this clear, but for me I find "some" of Woodpeckers tools to be well worth the money.
However, some don't add enough value to justify their purchase (IMHO). Their squares are a good example for me. I have multiple other squares in my shop that are more than adequate to do the task, but I just like the "feel" of the Woodpeckers squares in my hands, particularly the 1281 (12" square).
It is a VERY subjective thing, but when you are doing a hobby that you love, like woodworking, it makes it more special to use tools that feel good in your hands. Another good example of a tool that went too far from Woodpeckers is their corner planes (
https://www.woodpeck.com/ott-ez-edge.html). These were $150 each and it is a pain to change cutters in them so they really want you to buy more than one. It is a very nice looking tool, but I couldn't justify spending on this one when you can do the same thing with a block plane or as I have chosen to do it with a compact cordless router. Bottomline, Woodpeckers makes some very nice mouse traps and often their mouse trap is better than every other one on the market. It is up to each customer to decide if the added bells and whistles are worth it for a particular tool from them.
Coincidentally, Woodpeckers posted a video just today on their squares and what makes them different:
