Popular Woodworking 2003-12 № 138, страница 88
Each year as we sit down to write the "Best New Tools" article, we suffer bouts of indecision. There are always a couple of obvious winners, but filling out the list takes a lot of contemplation. Once complete, it's interesting to look back at the items we've selected and see what the year has brought us. This year we've seen power tools continue to get more versatile and user-friendly - some that are good values as well as good tools and others that are simply premium woodworking tools. The DeWalt planer is more than we ever expected from a portable unit, and the Festool jigsaw is a fine example of German engineering at its height. We also saw innovations in a couple of areas that often get little attention: Less-expensive but still very useful one-handed clamps from Penn State Industries; sandpaper from Norton that actually lasts as long as you think it should; a clever and amazingly versatile jig from Leigh Industries; and sharpening stones from Shapton that really get things scary sharp. But the really impressive part of the list this year is the number of extremely well-made hand tools. The power-free area of woodworking continues to grow, and it's great to see Veritas and Lie-Nielsen meet the demand for TOOLS2003OF hand tools with offerings that perform even better than vintage tools. Though some of the tools might seem pricey, once you hold them in your hand, you understand their true worth. We hope our sorting through the slew of this year's tool crop (pity us) will make your tool shopping a little easier. by David Thiel & Christopher Schwarz Questions or comments? You can contact David at 513-531-2690 ext.1255 or at david.thiel@fwpubs.com. You can contact Christopher at 513-531-2690 ext. 1407 or at chris.schwarz@fwpubs.com. THE WINNERS DeWalt Veritas Leigh Norton Penn State Ind. Festool Lie-Nielsen Shapton Grizzly popwood.com 109 |
