I find the beauty of this style instrument nothing short of a work of art. Honestly, I am not terribly worried if I ever put it to use! That would be nice, but not one of my conditions for owning the tool. I do want it functional and accurate as much as possible like every other tool I own. That said, simply the love of the tool and its beauty alone could never justify heavy investment, but at a more modest figure it more than satisfies me.
Surprising how many folks there are trying to sell bladeless versions of this tool in various brands at great cost. I knew due to researching prior to purchase that even with ebay, blades would be tough to find used, and quite costly new so making blades would need to be seriously considered. A cheap import might have been robbed of its blades and case and might have worked, however it would likely have been a very long time before I would have ever seriously considered that an option for me. OCG offering to make the blades is more than I ever expected as the answer to my dilemma. Like GF said, the blades he makes will likely be better quality than what could have been sourced from B & S when the tool was new!