On Rip-off Artists –
If you are semi-aware of the woodworking tool industry you know there are several classes of toolmakers.
- People who try to make new tool designs that have never been seen before.
- People who improve old designs that are no longer in production and are no longer patented – they are in the public domain.
- People who copy successful tools, lower the price and put the original maker out of business.
The makers in category No. 3 will never get any good ink from me – only grief. We won’t sell our books through their catalogs. We won’t even mention their names (if we can help it). Until they stop stealing – and that is the only word for it – they are dead to us.
Want to read more? Check out this post from Kevin Drake of Glen-Drake Toolworks, who has been ripped off more than anyone I know.
— Christopher Schwarz
