We will wait and see. SO lets say to cut a few new floorboards that need replacing my £20 jig saw is not suitable? Pay someone to come in and replace a few floorboards? Obviously it comes down to the job. I got a mate in for the kitchen surface - as you say it needs to be perfect but there are soo many jobs that you won't ever see the final 1mm of a cut etc.
The quality of workman is what matters the most. IMO. A good workman with OK tools can often produce a better job than a poor workman with the best tools in the world.
Take side cutters. You can't assess the quality just by looking at them. A cheap pair can look 'perfect' but both bend and blunt the cutting edge if you attempt to cut piano wire.
Attempting to assess the quality of hand tools by just looking at them says you've never used any.
The very best wood chisels I've got are near 100 years old. Put those on sale against some flash looking Stanley and no one would give them a second glance in your terms. But they stay sharper many times longer than a new Stanley.
Hmm. My saw is a Chinese one, as is my Aldi SDS drill (still hammering away fine). Nothing wrong with that, though, as many Makita, Bosch and other "well known brands" are also Chinese.
So just to validate your findings. Have you ever been inside a Lidl or Aldi store ? If so what have you bought, and what items did you find to be of poor quality.
To be fair I don't think I'd buy cheap chisels or any tool that needs a good edge. That doesn't mean you can't buy cheaply though, B&Q recently had a clear out sale on a set of 3 Bahco wood chisels at £10. Superb quality, hold a terrific edge - and a right bargain.
Seems to me that it's horses for courses. Critical, high-precision work like work-tops or wood joints I would always use the 'best' tools for, eg my venerable but high-powered Elu router.
I regularly buy all kinds of stuff from Lidl, Aldi etc. and even (breathe deeply) Poundland. I don't however buy tools from the last one!
My experience is that cheap cutting tools and screwdrivers don't last long (no surprise there) and high stress products like socket sets soon wear. However if you use good sense, and trust your instincts about quality, you can get very useable things. For example I only ever use an angle grinder occasionally. I got one in a pack with a drill and a jigsaw for 20 pounds. I gave the saw to a son who does occasional woodwork. He's pleased with it. Another son used the grinder to cut 6mm steel struts from a towbar on a car he acquired. Hot knife and butter comes to mind. All three tools came with spare carbon brushes too. If I used a grinder every day I might feel like spending more, but perhaps not?
I have cheap sash and G cramps that I have had for years. No, they're not quite so smooth in action but three cheap cramps do a better job than struggling with one 'good' one.
I agree with the writers who say that buying high-priced 'brands' is often poor value. Most of these are made in China anyway. Often you are paying for a higher quality of external finish. The most sound argument is the environmental one. Cheap goods that must be thrown away after a limited life are wasteful on resources even if recycled. Used occasionally they will last, however, so here the argument doesn't apply.
How would you know ? Lidl are just about the most cryptic company around for hiding the country of origin on their products.
If you're buying cheap power tools that really are _made_ in Germany, then chances are they're made somewhere like Erfurt. I'm not sure I wouldn't rather have Shanghai's finest.
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