Andrew Lunn Alters His Saws and Reduces Prices

Andrew Lunn of Eccentric Toolworks has removed some of the flourishes on his handsaws to speed up production. And he has reduced the prices of each of his saws by about $100 to reflect this.

Lunn says he will no longer hand-engrave the brass backs, nor will he hand-etch the sawplates or use a more time-consuming tinted shellac finish.

“A hundred bucks might seem like a big reduction, but these things were all very expensive to do, so now that I am not going to do them I want to pass the savings on to my customers,” Lunn writes. “The saws will still be easily recognizable as mine. The hand etching has been replaced by another more efficient method that doesn’t involve drawing the design in resist every single time. The scrolls on the handles stay. And the functionality, the soul of each saw, remains unchanged.”

The changes were not made to drum up business. Lunn has a year’s worth of orders right now. Instead, these details were the most time-consuming aspect of the production process and they did not enhance the performance of the saw.

I’ve been using a dovetail saw and carcase saw I purchased (at full price) from Lunn for several months now. After building a completely dovetailed five-drawer chest (with more than 140 dovetails), a couple schoolboxes (20 dovetails each) and an Aborted Chinese Stool (hmm that would make a good name for a rock band) I’m extremely pleased with all aspects of his saws.

There have been a lot of pixels spilled about the price of his saws. But I have yet to hear from anyone who has bought one, used it and disliked it. Almost everyone who has used my Eccentric saws has lusted after a pair.

You can read more about his saws and order one on his web site here.

– Christopher Schwarz