Tool Brands
Bonjour Jbcbois,
Citizens of the USA generally don’t see nearly as many continental European brands of hand tools as we do brands from the UK and the USA. There are some that have found their way over such as Swiss Pfeil, Italian Freud, German Bracht and some French Peugeot drawknives, Swedish Sandvik, and Bacho. We would love to know more brands from your area and perhaps some of your craft guilds and historical restoration and reenactor specialists could help us out. We are about traditional woodworking after all, and France, along with most of the rest of the world, has a long and great history of woodworking.
There are a lot of good tool brands from the UK and I am reluctant to start a list for fear of offending. Record is a widely known and respected English brand and has had products similar to Stanley. Experience will normally give you insight into the quality and is usually more important than brand. Even Stanley turned out some junk. I was in Le Havre and Honfleur last month by the way.
Have fun