China tool

Usually when we say Made in China, we are often implying, cheap knock offs.  Funny thing is, I am old enough to remember when Made in Japan meant similar.  Look at them now...

Similarly, the first Korean cars that made it to our shores were quickly turned into rust buckets.  They are  now on track to be as good as the Japanese cars.  All that to say that regardless of country of origins, you can have good or crappy goods.

China is somewhat of a mixed bag.  Big country, huge population and quickly becoming a power house.   So is it possible to get good stuff from China?  Yes, if you specified what you want and are willing to pay for it.  They will built you just about anything for whatever price point.

How can they make stuff so cheaply??? 

2 main reasons (my guesses) ; lack of strict enforceable regulations ( IP protection, Environmental, Safety and etc) and yes, cheap abundant labour.

Can they make good stuff? 

If you own any Apple products, you have experienced what a good quality product they can make.  If you are reading this on your smart phone, regardless of brand name, it was probably Made in China.  

My Nikon DSLR, my Makita cordless drill/driver were also Made in China.

And yes, you can still get crappy stuff, if that is what the reseller distributed/imported.

You may be familiar with Bridge City Tools Works (BCTW), a once small boutique tool maker, renown for their innovative and artistic looking hand tools.  Yes, they are still around, they were and still are expensive.  Made in USA, you are paying for skilled tool makers and machinists.  Even if using CADCAM, cost of equipment, skilled labour, cost of materials etc etc, all add up and they are making high precision hand tools for a limited woodworking market.  Even more limited by the price point of their tools.

You may not be aware of this but John Economaki, the founder of Bridge City Tools Works, sold his business and their tools are now Made in China.  Nothing wrong with that but their prices did not reflect their new reality.  Wanna bet their production costs are less?  

Harvey Industries, a China based manufacturer established in 1999 that sells woodworking machinery in over 100 countries, first manufactured the Chopstick maker for Bridge City Tools in 2013.  In 2018, they bought BCTW.

A while back, I came across this tool, the kerfmaker.  Pretty slick and clever. But not cheap Can $70.  Not something I could justify, my poor Unisaw still remained power less (220V) in the garage.  Maybe this is the year.... It may motivated me to run power to it just to check it out :-)

Nonetheless, clever design.  If you look it up (Google kerfmaker) you will find no shortage of  clever wood contraptions that do the same job in a similar fashion, using same principles.   

That is to say, this is nothing new under the sun and this idea is not patentable.  Nothing to prevent someone else to make a pretty close copy if not the same object, albeit in a slightly different colour combination.

And this is what I found on line, via a commerce site called Banggood.

Pic from Banggood site

Pic from BCTW

Looks pretty much like the original Bridge City tool, Kerfmaker.  But this one is from Hungdui, they don't seem to have a large inventory of tools but what I saw looks very well made. 

Looking closely, there are some apparent differences.

First, the colours of the anodized parts.  Slight colour variations.

But there are also two (2) construction details that vary, which seems to point to some improvements?

First the thru hole on the tool, presumably for hanging the tool, is in a different location.  On the original BCTW, the hole is thru the adjustable slider for recording the cutter width.  On the Hungdui one, the hole has moved to the main body, where it would have no influence on the two settings of the tool, if hung from it.  Mind you that also reduced slightly the maximum capacity to set the width of the piece to two (2) inches.  You could probably add another 1/2 inch or so on the BCTW one.  

But the other details is more telling, the BCTW has a simple channel to guide the orange sliding part to record the cutter width, on the Hungdui, that slot is a dovetail shape , making for a better secured slider.

Does it matter?  No idea

Fit and finish?

As crisp and perfect as can be.  The surface finish is a nice low sheen satiny look

Doubt very much it was made by Harvey Industries (Maker of the kerfmaker KM-1) ), then obviously you can get high quality products from other factories located in China at a much lower price point.  Problem remain, where do you find a reliable supplier that would deliver the products as advertised.  Cause lets face it, every time you go on Facebook you are bombarded by all kinds of fly by night outfits that promise to delivers the good things of life at an attractive price.... Buyer beware.

In my early research into the tool prior to purchasing,  I came across this guy reviews of some of their products.  That is how I ended up using Banggood and purchasing that tool, then the carbide scraper and...:-) 

My sharp eyes readers probably noticed that the bench stops he is reviewing in that video above, look very similar to the same one introduced by Lee Valley a few years ago.  Again, I doubt there is anything patentable about it.  In his others China Tools videos I also saw what looks like nearly identical copies of LV Japanese saws mitre blocks.  BTW Veritas products are still Made in Canada, only the Chestnuts tools and the Utilitas brands are made outside Canada (offshore). So again, I do not mind paying good $$ for something Made in Canada, but if Made in China, I would surely expect a cheaper price. Not cheaply made, simply cheaper unit cost

 I did not expect it until April, but the other nite when I checked my Emails I had one from them asking me to acknowledged receiving my parcel. Huh??  Checked the Canada Post tracking Number they gave me and it said delivered to my box 9 hours ago.  So, had to get dressed and go checked my community mail box.  Sure enough there it was!  Pretty fast delivery for Can $5...

Rudy and Diva sniffing the new intruder

Just as described.  Very happy

As soon as I received it, and was satisfied that it was as advertised, I ordered another tool, the carbide scraper.  Already been shipped should arrived soon :-)

But how does it work?

Well, my Unisaw is power less for now, the shop on the Wing is under Covid restrictions, may as well...

try with hand tools :-)

I'll be using the Nobex mitre saw and the Hongdui kerfmaker.

First, I set the width of the Nobex saw blade on the jig

Then I set the width of the cut to half lap another piece, 

using the actual piece to set my gauge

Now setting the stop block location, using the gauge

Now it is just a matter of using the stop block for our first saw kerf

Cut roughly half way.

Over confident?? :-)

Then flip the gauge to the other dimension, reset the stop block

And the resulting cuts.

It just so happened that the two saw cuts are exactly 

on the outside of my desired cut lines.

Had a hard time holding the two pieces steady and shooting the pic.

So being exactly off (?), that tell me that I simply set it wrong.

So what went wrong?

For starter, I set it on the outside face of the blade, not on its cut path. I then repeated the same mistake with the other side of the jig.  My resulting cuts are on the money... on the wrong sides of the lines :-) 

OK, so I still am impressed with my little jig, at a good price point, CAN $32 

Delivered from China to my mail box in 10 days.

And I'm sure I will find other uses in my hand tools shop, once I get used to its idiosyncrasy... Me :-)

Bob, taking a breather from the other packages that arrived Friday :-)

13 chisels sharpened later.... Only 34 to go :-)

I'll crack a cold one, cause I earned it my friends (with apology to Stumpy Nubs, Heh)

Yes, a tad messy