Probably the best comparison I make for the new line of hand planes from Melbourne Tool Company is to one that's nearly 100 years old. One of my favorite planes is a Wards Master no. 7 jointer plane. It came from the back shed at my grandpa's machinist shed after he passed away. He picked it up from an auction, no doubt. It was covered in dust and grime. With a little effort, I was able to bring it into working order. All the plane's mechanisms work smoothly, the sole is flat, and the blade takes a great edge.
The reason I'm telling you this is that the Wards Master line was sold through the Montgomery Wards catalog and stores. It represented a middle of the road tool. Functional and priced for a broad audience. Until recently, "average" tools — in all the right ways — didn't exist. There are high priced hand tools, even highest priced boutique tools, and discount store price-point tools that exist to fool people.
That's the ambition of Melbourne. A tool that works out of the box, feels good in the hand and doesn't require much from your tool budget. On this episode, Logan and I chat with Hague Haswell, the founder of MTC and Vic Tesolin about the origin story of the line of planes.
We discuss the design process of the tools, the reason the blades are made from M2 steel, manufacturing in China, and what's with the cork?
