Bristol Design tools, good quality?

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scubadoo

Established Member
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4 May 2009
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Bristol
Hello,

I was looking at the carving tools in 'Bristol Design' the other day with the owner, very helpful chap; has anyone used them and can anyone comment on the quality of the steel? Prices ranged from about £20-£30 each.

Cheers
Dave
 
I've got a couple of the carving tools and one of the chisels. I don't know what the steel is but they take and keep a good edge.

Andy
 
Not sure about the carving tools but they generally sell good stuff in there.

It varies from piece to piece, but in general I think that they won't sell you crap.
 
I have a few bits and pieces from there. I have a marking gauge that works fine now that I have sharpened the pin so that it cuts rather than tearing a gouge across the wood. I have a second hand gents saw that is nice.

I have not tried any of their second hand planes as £90 for an unfettled plane is a bit much. I do have three of their chisels, good steel, boxwood handles, very nice, but they did need a lot of lapping on the backs to get them flat. The chisels were £20 each, and for the price I could have got equivalent Ashly Isles Mk II.
 
I bought a number of Bristol Design Tools ten or more years ago when they first started manufacturing.

The chisels take an exceptionally sharp edge, and are fully the equal of the best amongst the older cast chisels. However, the backs of the chisels were far from flat. In this respect they were amongst the worst modern tools I've ever bought, and required a massive amount of work to get them flat enough for quality work.

I also bought a bronze mitre/shooting plane from Bristol Design, which is very pretty and uses an older, thick plane iron. However, it also needed a great deal of fettling and the mouth is not adjustable. I've subsequently replaced it with the Lie-Nielsen shooting board plane which is a significant improvement.

Bottom line, Bristol Design Tools are interesting, but be prepared for an awful lot of work to get them working at their full potential.
 

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