Tools from japan

[Andrew Ren]

Hello,
Does anyone still order chisels/tools from stu@ tfj?
The reason I am asking is I am planing to order some K chisels with a steel hammer, I have some questions and emailed stu several times and only get the first response after several days since the first email and nothing after.. He said he was busy but not sure it's ok for me to put hru the order...
Any suggestions?


Cheers

Andrew

[Terry Beadle]

From watching Stu activity over the years, I've the opinion he is busy. He's a one man show with a great rep.

I'd submit the order and I'd feel confident that he would respond in the order the order was received. If he can't get some thing or there's a better idem/deal
he will contact you and follow up.

Just my 2 Cents.

[Andrew Gold]

I've placed several orders with Stu this spring and summer. He's clearly swamped, but offers great stuff at (at least as far as I can see) great prices.

It takes a bit for the order to be fulfilled, and arrive at my door, but I couldn't be happier.

I have an outstanding order at the moment, once it's in hand I'll likely place another :)

[ian maybury]

No idea what his business status may be (no reason to think it's anything other than normal), but i think he doesn't put huge amounts of time into handholding - and probably can't as a one man band. Also the nature of some of his stuff/the sources is such that it's ready when it's ready. So it sometimes a case of having patience - he comes back when he has info on when he'll ship what you ordered. Which might not be for a week or two (or more) depending on what he's getting from the other end, or may be immediately/in days if it's off the shelf.

I bought some Koyamaichi chisels late last year, and had no difficulty whatsoever - but there was a delay of a few weeks until I knew what was happening. His prices tend to be very good though, the Ks came at similar money to some significantly less fancy Japanese chisels i bought in Europe some years ago.....

[Andrew Ren]

Thanks everyone.

andrew