Friday, September 16, 2005
Lee Valley
OK, just to show that I don't always hate the businesses I deal with, I'd like to heap some kudos on Lee Valley out of Canada. This company deals mostly with woodworking -- both tools and hardware, and gardening accessories. They are probably best known for their quality hand planes, router dovetail jig, and sharpening jigs.
Even if you aren't a tool kinda guy, they offer some beautiful stuff. They offer a high quality series of Veritas hand planes in the $100-$200 range that look the way tools are supposed to look - metal and wood, no plastic. These are so far beyond the $20-$40 planes you'll find in Sears or the BORG, that there isn't really a comparison. Their catalogs are a thing of beauty as well.
They also have a printing section that reprints many books from the turn of the century or so. How-to books, books of plans, and even comic strip reprints are offered. I have the complete collection of three of their series. Bull of the Woods is a 6 volume collection of cartoons taking place in a machine shop in the 1920s and 30s. You don't need to be a machinist to enjoy these either. They still are funny even if you work in a cubicle filled with computer screens and telephone headsets. I have a 4 volume set called The Boy Mechanic dating from the early twenties. It's pretty amazing the things a "boy" was expected to be able to do back then. Many of the projects will have product liability folks today pulling their hair out, but it also makes one long for the innocence of those days. My last collection is 25 volumes of Popular Mechanics Shop Notes ranging from 1905 to 1930. Coming across their maintenance hints for automobile drivers makes it so obvious how spoiled we are today.
For one example of Lee Valley's service, I put in an Internet order late in the evening of Sept 13. It wasn't a huge order, but ran around $100 and included a range of stuff from #8 - 1 1/4" brass screws, to a saw tooth setter, to volumes 4, 5 and 6 of Bull of the Woods. The books had to be added as a comment in email since they weren't in the online catalog order form yet. I had an email confirmation of the order along with a second email confirming the book additions later that night. When I came home from work on Sept 15, the order was on the porch waiting for me!! And that was with their normal shipping and handling.
These guys are good! I have to give praise to the service offered by Lee Valley even though I want to do my shopping locally. It's not the price, but the service. It has taken me longer to get stuff from my local store than it has from Lee Valley - and with surly attitudes besides. If you're looking for screws or screwdrivers or saws or magnets, you'll probably do a whole lot worse than order from Lee Valley.
