There is cheap, and there is cheapest.
I agree, it is horses for courses.
Yes, old-time top quality hand tools can be a thing of beauty, like handsaws that cost $250. Most of the ones I have seen have been nicked from work, or are heirlooms, not purchased.
You often hear the old adage, 'only buy the best'. I wouldn’t mind betting that everyone who has ever said this has at least one dirty little secret in their tool box.
It is said that the best place to buy old ‘craftsman’ tools is at the auctions or in boot sales. I visited every sale room and antiques place in North Wales one summer. There were lots of old wooden toolboxes, some with tools, but not many tools of quality. There were a few wooden bodied planes that needed work to restore them, once a chisel (blade now 2” long), with random screwdrivers etc. thrown in. You can buy restored tools on ebay, but the cost, wow!
If I had only bought the best I would not have 20% of the tools I have now. Most of the work that most of us do uses power tools anyway. Some jobs, like making dovetails, are better done with better tools, but when was the last time I cut a dovetail? With my low level of skill, you probably would not notice the difference resulting from top tools. Besides, there are lots of other ways of making/joining boxes, other than dovetails.
Personally, I usually buy the cheaper end of mid-range priced tools, or to put it another way, the better cheap tools. Most, if not all, made in China, I now have a lot of them. The only lemons I have had, were the cheapest of cheap tools, and even then not all of the cheapest tools are lemons.
My 2 cents
