is a family owned business established in 1981 and based in warren maine . it manufactures a range of high quality hand tools primarily for woodworking based on traditional designs . 1 it is best known for its hand planes . thomas lie nielsen is the founder and ceo of lie nielsen toolworks . contents 1 history 2 construction 3 references 4 external links history edit in the late 1970s thomas lie nielsen pronounced lee neelsen 2 worked for garry chin s company garrett wade . in 1981 garrett wade s supplier of an adapted stanley 95 edge trimming block plane ken wisner was ready to leave the business so lie nielsen acquired the tooling plans and components necessary for producing the 95 . 3 lie nielsen moved from new york to a farm in west rockport maine and began production of the plane in a tiny back yard shed . the first of the new planes was delivered to chinn in the autumn of 1981 . 3 a few years later lie nielsen moved into a 384 square foot 35.7 m2 workshop on the farm and started production on his second plane the skew angle block plane . in 1988 as business grew lie nielsen bought an 8 000 square foot 740 m2 building in the town of warren maine which the company still occupies . in the mid 1990s lie nielsen moved the entire production to a 13 000 square foot 1 200 m2 facility . 3 today the lie nielsen toolworks products compete with mass produced tools from companies such as stanley and record with sales in the order of 20 000 tools a year . 3 the acquisition of the independence tool co. in 1998 added hand saws to the product line which has further expanded over the years to include over 50 different models of planes in addition to spokeshaves socket chisels screwdrivers marking and measuring devices and workbench hardware . construction edit lie nielsen uses manganese bronze and ductile iron castings and cryogenically treated a 2 steel . manganese bronze a very hard strong alloy is the material of choice for lie nielsen tools because it is heavier than iron doesn t rust and won t crack if dropped . where the use of bronze would result in excessive weight in a tool ductile iron is used instead . lie nielsen products are expensive when compared to the mass produced items from the likes of stanley and record but these higher prices are often defended by comparing them with the prices paid 100 years ago for such things as norris infill planes which could cost up to a couple of weeks wages . 4 references edit garrett hack and john s. sheldon . the handplane book . taunton press newtown ct. 2003 . 236 239 isbn 1561587125 lie nielsen s faq page a b c d furniture & cabinetmaking issue 63 lie nielsen feature . quote from gerry chinn in the f & c feature external links edit official website v t e hand tool manufacturers current dasco pro inc. apex tool group allen armstrong tools crescent diamond gearwrench k d tools lufkin nicholson plumb sata tools wiss xcelite bondhus buck bros. channellock cornwell tools digitool solutions disston saw works ega master eklind emerson ridgid empire level estwing felo few fiskars gerber gardner bender gedore gray tools dynamic tools hazet hans tools heyco ideal industries pratt read sk hand tools western forge klein tools knipex kukko leatherman lie nielsen toolworks lisle corporation lowell corporation matco tools martin tool & forge newell brands irwin lenox otc park tool pb swiss saltus sandvik senco snap on bahco cdi torque products williams stahlwille stanley black & decker blackhawk bostitch dewalt facom mac tools proto sidchrome stanley hand tools textron greenlee klauke paladin tools techtronic industries milwaukee thorsen manufacturing tom f teira toptul vaughan victorinox wenger wera tools wescott westward tools wiha tools witte tools wright tool historic coes wrench company easco hand tools forest city screwdriver and drill company goodell pratt hinsdale holtzapffel indestro mathieson mckaig hatch new britain machine company norris north brothers manufacturing company h. d. smith & 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wood engravers timber framers guild conversion chainsaw mill hewing sawmill whipsaw wood splitting techniques frame and panel frameless construction category wikiproject commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lie nielsen toolworks & oldid 742579389 categories tool manufacturing companies of the united stateswoodworkingcompanies established in 19811981 establishments in mainecompanies based in knox county maine navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified 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