Defeathered

I’m a big believer in featherboards and have several. Some are shop-made, but most are commercial accessories. Mine are all well-known brands like Kreg, Magswitch, Powertec, and Woodpeckers. There are many more out there, and every one I’ve tried works well and reliably. 

One I didn’t have was a Hedgehog featherboard, though I’d considered one several times. It was designed and patented (US D828,418 S) in 2018 by Brett Burdick of Brex International in Knoxville, Tenn. Brett has designed a number of accessories, including a nice push block often paired with the featherboard as a set. 

Several weeks ago, I started getting targeted ads for the set on Facebook, each one reminding me I’d meant to try one for ages. The next time I saw the ad (on the left in the photo below), I clicked and ordered one. 

After two weeks — which should have been a tipoff — I checked tracking and located it Bilbao, Spain. Wait, what? It finally arrived this past week. You can see it on the right in the photo above, and it’s not a genuine Hedgehog. 

It was supposed to include the push block; but didn’t. There was no miter bar, though there was a knob. It was tiny, and the threaded rod was far too narrow for the hole, causing the featherboard to flop around when I tried it with one of my miter bars. 

The plastic quality is awful. Featherboards should be — must be! — flexible, and this one was hard as a rock. As you can see in the photo, it’s visibly thinner than the real one, too.  Genuine Hedgehogs are 5/8"; this was barely 3/8". 

I started looking online and found dozens of ads, all with the same photo copied from the official website, but none of them actually used the name “Hedgehog.” One was $5.99 at “Banggood,” a Temu/Alibaba-type Chinese retailer. AliExpress even had one as a “Welcome Deal” for 99 cents. There are tons on eBay in a more realistic $16–$25 range, but all are based in China. With delivery dates from mid-March to early May, you can bet they ain’t shipping from any local warehouse. 

This was, of course, my own fault for not paying closer attention. I assumed it was a genuine Hedgehog — and why not, with the official photo right there? Don’t make the same mistake.  If you want a Hedgehog, buy directly from Hedgehog or an authorized reseller.  The same goes for every trusted brand in your shop. Hard-working American woodworking designers deserve your business — not foreign copycats.