Garrett Wade no so straight straight edge

[Daniel Shnitka]

I was setting up my new table saw with the help of my friend. We arrived at the stage where we decided to use my new and unused Garrett Wade steel 36 inch made in China straight edge. I pulled it out of the packageing and that is when my friend laid it on the cast iron table. We could see light under both ends. It was so out of straight we could turn it in a circle on the cast iron table top with our finger. When I looked down its length I could see the bow in it.
A little latter after lunch we went across town to Lee Valley and put our Garrett Wade made in China straight edge back to back or beam to beam with the Lee Valley machined steel made in Canada straight edge. We could put 10 bills in Canadian dollars between the poor and good strasight edges. The folks at Lee Valley loaned us their feeler guage. The Garrett Wade straight was out of straight by .029 inches at either end and .125 inches on its flat surface at either end.
I came home with the Lee Valley unit and put it on the table saw surface. Absolutely flat.
Well tomorrow I'll email Garrett Wade and see what they have to say and do.

[Carroll Courtney]

A straight edge that is not straight:(,why does a place like Garrett Wade ruin their reputation by selling cheap products and wasting both partys time?Heck,an aluminum ruler from HD is closer to being straight than what GW sold you.Good Luck and let SMC know what happens---Carroll

[Jeff Willard]

Seems I remember a time when Garrett Wade touted the fact that the number of products that they handled of Asian import, were minimal. The point being that they were constantly looking for the best product available, not the cheapest product that provided the highest margin. When an Asian import item did appear in their catalog, it was always stated that it was there because is represents "a good value", and usually appeared near a similar item sourced from Europe or North America at the correspondingly higher price. Inca machinery, Lie-Nielsen, and handmade planes by Leon Robbins were par for the course. I guess now it's the exception, rather than the rule. I see Woodcraft following a similar path. I became disenchanted with GW some time ago. It's probably been 12 years since I placed an order with them, and I'm not even interested enough to look at their catalog or go to their website anymore.

[george wilson]

They've been becoming a yuppie catalog for many years by now. Something wrong with this sentence!

[Peter Kuhlman]

My last couple orders from Garrett Wade were disasters. Purchased a set of fold-up saw horses that were a really neat design. Showed up with wood full of knots, warped legs, screws and staples falling out. Needless to say they went back. Also ordered some hand tools and spring punches that turned out to be junk and also went back. I used to love their stuff but seems like a lot of it is imported junk. They have several things I would love to purchase - some boat model kits and engines - but just can't bring myself to doing that after all the junk they sent me. Really a shame as some of their stuff is unique.

[glenn bradley]

Sorry, no surprise here. GW has been off my supplier list for quite awhile.

[Frank Drew]

This reminds me of an incident years ago, when Garrett Wade was selling a line of "registered" hand planes, each of which came with a signed certificate attesting to the straightness of the sole, that the sole and sides were at precisely 90 degrees to one another, etc.

So, I got one and the sides were absolutely not square with the sole, making accurate shooting impossible. But, of course, it came with a signed certificate stating that it should have been so.
dudes, was my question when I phoned for instructions how to get my money back.

[Sean Nagle]

Sorry, no surprise here. GW has been off my supplier list for quite awhile.

They've been off my list for quite some time as well.

I ordered from them when I first got into woodworking. One of the items I ordered at the time was a Crown try square. Well, it simply wasn't square.

They put a very pretty face on some very shoddy goods.

[Barry Vabeach]

Dan, sorry you got something so out of whack. I looked at the steel straight edges in the catalog a few months ago and saw that they advertised it was straight within .0005 per inch. I posted here to find out what that meant, and the response was for a 36 inch straight, it could be out as much as .018 and still be within their spec - I decided to pass. The dissapointing thing about the catalog is that in describing the china straight edges, they contrast them to the "more expensive Starret straightedges". Well, it is not fair to compare them to the Starret since the Starret spec is .0002 per foot, versus .0005 per inch which is .006 per foot or 30 times less accurate than Starret which costs only twice as much. I just checked their website today and they are advertising 2 aluminum straightedges with a tolerance of .001 for the 24 inch, and .002 for the 38 inch - The 38 inch one would be great for me since it is only $20, unfortunately it doesn't say whether that is .002 per the length of the blade or .002 per inch or per foot. If you decide to go elsewhere, check the specs - only a few say whether the quoted accuracy is the length of the straightedge, or some other dimension such as per foot, per inch, etc.

[Petra Pope]

The technical department at Garrett Wade takes note of your recent comments here regarding the Chinese steel straightedge. In response, we began testing all of the straightedges currently in stock, and have indeed found some that fall outside the stated acceptable tolerance. We have removed these from stock.
We’ve taken another look at the description of the straightedges both online and in the catalog. The text should clearly state what applications these tools are suited for. It could also benefit from a better explanation of the technical specifications and tolerances. It takes a little longer to make changes in the catalog, but check soon online for a clearer description of these tools.
I also checked your order to see that you recently contacted us directly and have received credit for the original purchase from 2006. We stand behind every tool we sell. But we know that not all of our tools suit everyone, so if you call us again, please ask to speak to the technician. That way you’ll get someone who understands what you’re looking for, and whether we carry it or not, will help you find it. Or email me directly at tech@garrettwade.com (tech@garrettwade.com)
And finally, thanks for the heads-up. We aspire to a high level of quality control, but sometimes we fall short and we hear about it from our customers. But, we’re grateful when we do. That’s why we’ve introduced a product review feature on our website, and why we try to pay attention to groups like Sawmill Creek.