I've been on Lie Nielsen's wait list for a number of their tools for some time without a response to date. Has anyone actually received something from them lately? Is their production that impacted by the pandemic?
I've been on Lie Nielsen's wait list for a number of their tools for some time without a response to date. Has anyone actually received something from them lately? Is their production that impacted by the pandemic?
According to them, yes.
~mike
happy in my mud hut
Yep I received a dovetail and carcass saw in Dec. and Jan. My experience is any item you can back order is fulfilled within 1-3 weeks. Wait list items are a crap shoot.
I put my name on a wait list for their 60 1/2 late last fall and two days later I received a notice they were in stock so I bought one. It was my Christmas present to myself
I've gotten 3 chisels over the last couple months.
I’m waiting for a few items, too. I called and spoke at length with someone at LN in November. He told me that production on some tools listed on their website as “out of stock” would begin again shortly after the holidays with a target date of getting the first run out to those on the waiting list early February. Of course, all bets are off if another Covid surge impacts them.
The current one has more people sick and "out of office" than any of the prior ones. At least where I work.
edit: quoted "out of office" as we're almost all remote, and have been since early 2020
~mike
happy in my mud hut
I was after a few. Got a small shoulder plane but no others. Heck, the feeling of excitement getting that alert made me buy way sooner than i would normally.
Chris
For a lot of tools, they manufacture in batches. How they decide on when to start a batch, I don't know. Why wouldn't they ship as fast as they could? You seem to imply they are dragging their feet on your order.
I was in touch with them recently and they indicated they are flat out trying to keep up with very high demand: they are focusing on the high demand tools at the moment. The free market is trying to compensate: you can buy almost anything LN ever made on ebay: for a price.
It would not surprise me in the least if LN adjusts some of their prices upward in response to the demand, but TLN knows better than anyone how to price his products for this niche market, so we shall see. In terms of the price/value ratio for LN products, I have always felt like I've gotten more than I paid for, and in some instances, for example their DT saws, much more.
I received a response from LN today on one of the items on my wait list, a #6 Fore Plane. They said it would most likely be another couple of months before they are produced again. No guarantee though.
I just checked and saw that they're still backordered on iron, standard frog, #4, #5, and #7 planes. I assume (hope) they're filling some orders but to not be able to ship immediately on these standard planes isn't encouraging.
On top of COVID they traditionally get kind of cleaned out at Christmas. I got a 62 in November, shipped the next day. I got a carcass saw in December after about 10 days on the waiting list. I was on a waitlist for a No. 7 for a couple weeks mid-December but it gave me time to rethink the price and I cancelled.