Lee Valley is amazing--this is the gilded age

[Paul Davis]

In the package I received today with the Veritas mini shoulder plane, I also found its big daddy, the large shoulder. While that experience is still fresh in my mind, I just need to say: Wow! Lee Valley is amazingly good at what they do.

I've bought several planes now, and each one has been flawless. I hardly know where to start in my praise. To call the design "clever" would be too faint. These things are engineered. They work great right out of the box, and any adjustments are intuitive, which is about the best thing I can say about a tool. The instructions are well-written and complete, but I usually don't look at them until much later, and then I say, "Yep, that's just what I did."

The finishing is always spot on, too. The wood parts are the right amount of smooth and the finish the right amount of matte.

The lapping on the backs is so good it's almost silly. I rub it on a 1-micron paper on the granite plate for a couple of strokes and it's done (it was really already done, that means--it's just protective film coming off).

And of course, I'm making just right shavings in no time. I've used all of my LV tools a lot--I can't seem to buy an unuseful one.

I know I'm gushing. But I can't believe these guys can do this so well time after time, and for such a reasonable price. The design, fit, and finish on these tools, plus their usability, is worth a lot more than they charge.

I could write a similarly admiring post of Lie-Nielsen, by the way. I feel like I'm living in a gilded age for fine handtools, reasonably priced.

Thank you, Rob Lee, and the rest of you smart, hardworking people at Lee Valley. What a pleasure it is to own your tools!
Paul

[Kevin Groenke]

+1

Thanks Rob and Co. Again.

[Kevin Blunt]

I couldn't agree with you more Paul. I am lucky enough to live 30 mins drive from two different LV locations.

When I go there, I feel like a child looking in the window of a toy store at christmas time. There are just so many Veritas tools that I would like to own. I am saving up for a LA Jack and BU Smoother so I have been buying myself gift certificates to save up. How sad is that. It works though because that money can't be used for anything else other than LV products. I just know that as soon as I get enough money to buy the jack and smoother, veritas is going to introduce their premium LA Jack that I keep hearing about and then I will be back saving more money for the BU Smoother. I am sure that premium LA jack will be quite costly.

Kevin

[gary Zimmel]

I agree.
The product , people, and service at LV is first rate....

Downside is I have to drive by one of their stores 2 times a day.
My truck always wants to turn into the parking lot.
This is always a bit hard on the wallet....

[Rob Lee]

(Cross- posted from another board...)


Paul -

You're going to make a lot of people smile tomorrow - when everyone at Veritas gets a copy of your post. They take a lot of pride in what they do... and it's a privilege to work with them.

Your words will have a much larger impact than anything I could have said!

Cheers, and thanks....

Rob

[daniel lane]

I'm soooo grateful I don't live near a storefront! :)



daniel

[John Adam]

I've never been to one of their stores, but had a few web transactions and all has been wonderful.

My big problem is that I keep their catalog in ...my private chamber...My wife calls it my 'woodworking girlie magazine' and gets jealous of the emotions the catalog stirs in me.

I'm hoping to get a low angle smoother here shortly. Never used a hand plane (that works) and can't wait!!

[Paul Davis]

(also cross-posted, with some variation)
Rob,
The pleasure is all mine. I actually held back a little in what I wrote this afternoon, for fear of being revealed as too wide-eyed, as well as too spoiled with my ownership of this many great LV tools.

What I might have said is that when the UPS guy showed up I was in my shop using an LV bevel-up jointer to flatten the 4x96 surfaces of the timbers for my workbench top. Full width 8' long shavings were piling up around me, and the plane was singing. Or maybe that was me. http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yellowsmile.gif That plane just feels perfect for its task.

So when I turned my attention to opening the box, looking over the new shoulder plane, and then trying it out, I guess I was primed to be overwhelmed with my good fortune and admiration for these tools.

My sister gave me my first LV plane a year ago, the bevel-up smoother. Before her generosity, I felt like I couldn't possibly deserve such an expensive plane. It wasn't long after I began using it that I realized it wasn't expensive at all, considering how often I was using it, how much I was enjoying it, how long it would last, and how well made it was. The difference in pleasure of ownership between a $200 plane and a $200 power tool is like night and day. One is a utilitarian device, not much fun to use, and destined for the landfill at some point, and the other is quite likely to be giving happy use 150 years from now.

Guess there's no doubt about my wide-eyed status now. I'd say "Keep up the good work," but I already know you and your team are all over it.
Paul

PS I'm smiling at John Adam's post. My wife sees me carrying my dog-eared catalog with me everywhere, and gives me a little one-part-concern/nine-parts-glad-you-have-a-hobby-you-love-that-also-gets-me-furniture look. I also live too far from an LV store to be able to hold these tools in my hands before buying them. I suppose that makes the shock of loving them right out of the box even greater.

[David Gendron]

That's all verry thrue! I love the service Of LV! In person or on the phone or by E-Mails... You ask a question and the same day you will have aresponse or at least " I will look into this or that and get back to you..." they are just PLANE awsom!
Happy to be Canadian... and happy to live far from a store front(I feel bad for you Gary!!)

[Zach England]

I discovered Lee Valley for its gardening tools long before I was interested in woodworking. The gardening tools are also excellent.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

That's all verry thrue! I love the service Of LV! In person or on the phone or by E-Mails... You ask a question and the same day you will have aresponse or at least " I will look into this or that and get back to you..." they are just PLANE awsom!
Happy to be Canadian... and happy to live far from a store front(I feel bad for you Gary!!)
I have to jump in here and WHOLE-HEARTEDLY agree! Though not a Canadian like David, I am certainly happy to have Lee Valley to patronize. There tools, service and people are all first rate. Even when their prices are slightly higher than competitors I never hesitate to shop with them because of the confidence they provide to their customers. Can't even begin to add up all of the dollars that I've happily parted with to them . . .

Keep up the great work!;)

[John Keeton]

Personally, I would love to be closer to an LV store, but my wife and banker are fine with the current arrangement!! Paying the bills, food on the table, and a warm house are overrated in my book, but apparently others disagree!:D

While there is a distinct line of division between the traditional style of the Stanleys and the innovative style of the Veritas (my preference,) regardless of which side you take, one must appreciate LV's continual strive for improvement.

[Zach England]

Any chance Veritas will come out with a chisel plane ala the LN/Stanley 97? I can't decide what I want my next plane to be--the Veritas 5 1/4, low-angle smoother, or the LN small chisel plane.

http://www.lie-nielsen.com/images/975.jpg

[Rob Lee]

Any chance Veritas will come out with a chisel plane ala the LN/Stanley 97? I can't decide what I want my next plane to be--the Veritas 5 1/4, low-angle smoother, or the LN small chisel plane.

(snip)


Hi Zach -

If that's what you want, you should buy the L-N. Our version is already out there, and we aren't planning on doing that type of chisel plane.

www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32664&cat=1,230,41182


Cheers -

Rob

[Joe Cunningham]

I have the med shoulder plane and the BU jointer, both perform flawlessly. Lee Valley really makes some great products.

Also have the Dovetail saw and that works great. I use it for tenon ripping and am thinking about picking up the crosscut companion. Any plans to make some bigger versions?

[Rob Lee]

I have the med shoulder plane and the BU jointer, both perform flawlessly. Lee Valley really makes some great products.

Also have the Dovetail saw and that works great. I use it for tenon ripping and am thinking about picking up the crosscut companion. Any plans to make some bigger versions?

Hi Joe -

We are working on tenon and carcase saws.... but it's really stretching the technology... takes a fair bit of time to work through production issues. Have to deal with mold flow, material composition, and cooling issues. It's as much witchcraft, as science...

We should have the 11" carcase end-Jan/mid-Feb if everything goes well.... but there's no way of knowing if it will, just yet...

The last size (14" Tenon) is a different design, and has different challenges - it will take much longer.

Cheers -

Rob

[Rod Sheridan]

Paul, "the gilded age" is a great way to describe our present period.

Having started wood working in the mid seventies, there were no good quality hand tools available. ( At least where I lived).

Then this odd catalogue showed up at Coles bookstore, you actually had to purchase the catalogue and they had hand tools! And good ones!

I have never regretted buying anything at Lee Valley, including the gardening tools.

Now that I live in Toronto, there are 3 stores, I think it's a plot to part me from my money.

Come to think about, that's what the Felder store has been doing for the last two years as well..........It's a plot of some sort, although I seem to be willingly complaisant in it.:D

Regards, Rod.

[Paul Davis]

Rod,
People often complain that things were better "before." You know, "you should've been here yesterday," whether fishing, or getting in on the ground floor with Google or Microsoft (either as a shareholder or an employee). When I opened that box from Lee Valley yesterday, it flashed through my mind that "This is the golden age for these tools!" I felt that way when receiving a Bad Axe saw, too, or a Czeck Edge marking knife. People who know what they are doing are making some great tools for a very fair price right this minute, and I can talk to these people, buy what they make, and be using it a few days later. How cool is that!
Paul

[Matt Stiegler]

To add to the sunshiny spirit, it's also a golden age in terms of availability of information on learning to woodwork. What many of us here are doing -- acquiring knowledge about woodworking without a personal relationship with an expert, through books, videos, classes, and the internet -- would have been unimaginable not long ago.