Roger Derby wrote:
Right, but what's your "mission?" I've been reasonably satisfied
with most
Chinese tools, by:

- regarding them as expendable

- ignoring aesthetics

A case in point, my angle grinders, on sale for about ten dollars (vs
Bosch
at $70). They sound terrible (square cut gears), and they get hot,
but they
remove weld metal and I don't cry when I drop one.

I'm a hobbyist. If I were trying to earn a living with them, it
would be a
different matter.

Roger

http://home.earthlink.net/~derbyrm

"Kevin Gunther" wrote in message
...
Use some Chinese tools, burn some Chinese bulbs, drive a chinese
car,
and then make your decision. Remember, most of the time you get
what
you pay for.

I guess I am what you might consider an "extreme hobbiest" then. But I
still insist on high end tools. The ten dollar grinder will not be
balanced like the Bosch or Porter Cable so it will leave rings and will
lead to much more hand sanding, and a loss of much material and time.
Even if you are a hobbiest, you want your project to be good, weather
it is aesthetics, structural integerity, whatever, you will have a
better project with better tools. We are very particular from baseball
gloves, to computer printers, to athletic socks, we find that life is
easier with better tools, it just is.

As to the plywood question, it fits the mold. If you want no voids,
repaired knots, and thin skins, go with marine plywood. If you want to
have a piece of material that is all that, no rubber plugs, equal plys,
and it bends fair (no interior knots) and stays well, etc.. Go with
something rated as BS1088. Not only is it structurally superior, but it
makes working the wood a pleasure instead of blasting through that
yellowpine splintered crap they sell as marine ply now adays.. Just a
rant, Scotty