I bought some ECE tools from Germany

[Trafalgar]

E.C. Emmerich was founded in 1852 and is still run by a member of the family:

http://ecemmerich.de/en/about-us/

 

[D_W]

Having owned two VWs in the past (learning my lesson on the first one and then marrying into the second), at least the primus plane doesn't usually generate repair bills just by existing.

Way off on a tangent now, but I've seen VW designs over the years that make me wonder (as a former ME) if perhaps they were conducting diesel exhaust experiments on the engineers alongside the other primates that we already know about.

I don't know if you work on your own cars, but as I get older, I do more and more on mine just because I've learned to. I've seen little that matches the frustration level in VWs (I've never owned a cadillac, though). Cousin in-law of mine is a VW tech and sort of likes that, because he can get a 15 year old car, work on it, drive it a bit and still sell it at his total costs (so, free car, less time). that includes the car that nobody else can keep on the road - the Type IV jetta diesel. The last car I finally ditched (i don't drive daily, I use public trans here - but spouse and kids are in cars all the time) had about three problems a year despite a 1500 mile per year load. It could literally develop problems sitting, just from poor spec or stinginess - or who knows what. Coil over plugs that you have to keep on hand because they're a consumable for the car, breather hoses that are exposed to oil from the crankcase made of a type of rubber that degrades and fails with contact from oil (part cost for one wye from the breather assembly - $200!!! - for 6 inches of substandard rubber hose, and the pleasure of an aftermarket supply that doesn't fit and the promise that when you replace a section of hose, the next hose down the line will break trying to attach the new piece, so you do that twice and then just spend an enormous amount of money on a breather hose assembly - $500 for two feet of non-critical hoses and routing.

Horrible company, horrible cars. A shame, because the basic powerplants are a bit behind technologically and in terms of efficiency, but they're solid (the metal parts of the powerplant - nothing else around them is), and they have such a great handle on clutch and steering feel in lower-end cars that others don't. But you can only replace the same window motor or breather hose or water pump so many times before you realize that they're just being willfully stupid. Oh, and remove the entire intake assembly to change a theromostat? Great idea. Require premium unleaded in N/A engines while others are making DI turbos that run on regular? Great. First car that I had wouldn't even run on regular (a VR6) - the engine computer wasn't capable of adjusting its timing like they're supposed to.

While I wait for public trans, I get to see cars going by. I literally see more chevy volts than surviving Jetta IV and V platforms.

 

[richarddownunder]

I have one ECE smoothing plane. Its higher bed angle makes it useful for some jobs but the rod tensioning the thing (connected to the knob at the back) snapped and required welding as the replacement parts are very expensive overe here. So, perhaps another similarity to VW? No sign of delamination but our RH is quite mild 40-60% most ofthe time. I quite like the plane in some situations e.g. with interlocked grain, but generally I prefer the presence and control of heavy planes and get better results with my Cliftons or Records.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Trafalgar]

Such a completely different 'feel' than an iron plane and also seem more responsive to changes in downward pressure (at least to me) and this takes some getting used to.

Of course more things in the world have been built with wooden planes than will ever be built with metal ones, so there's always that.

 

[D_W]

Sort of an irrelevant comparison when those items were made in a period when metal planes were generally not available.

Not that there's anything wrong with the continental smoother. A good vintage one is a bit better yet (and usually about ten bucks and an hour's work to get right. If one has a fascination with lignum, I'm sure it could be screwed to the bottom of an old plane).