Barry Burke writes:

#3 - "Real" pro and high-end stuff usually isn't even mentioned here,
they don't sell it at Woodcraft (except maybe Lie-Neilson). Visit a
local cabinet or millwork shop and you can see what truly "high-end"
stuff looks like. You'll also notice that much of it will be quite
old. Some of this stuff is so expensive or hard to get , even the
pros have to buy used.

Not always. A friend's base shop machine is a Powermatic 66...and it is aged.
His most recent purchase was a 36" drum sander. Not available at Woodcraft, but
not at all hard to find. He does have a 12" jointer no one carries...but that's
due to age. I traded for an old cyclone DC from him, which another friend now
has: that is still available if you spend $1500 or so for it.

He has a couple old DeWalt radial arm saws. A couple 5 HP shapers. Absolutely
nothing esoteric.

Whoops. Forgot. His bandsaw is one his father built.

Everything else is commonly available.

Another outfit, Mike Maxwell's place, has some esoteric stuff, but that's a
much larger scale furniture operation, where the Timesaver sander is worth its
weight in dust. He still has a lot of standard stuff, including a Bridgewood
cabinet saw that is very old. And, yup, he did buy much of it used. Primarily,
that's because Mike has 3 phase and wants the features found in old
tools...again, an old DeWalt RAS, much else.

But probably 50% of this stuff is still stocked at various places that sell
gear to the hobbyists who wish to pay for it.

I also have to wonder how many pros use Lie-Nielsen (or any other) brand of
hand planes. They're great tools, but I'm willing to bet Tom Lie-Nielsen's
customer base lies within the ranks of the hobbyists.


Charlie Self
"I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us, that the less we use
our power the greater it will be." Thomas Jefferson