Lee Valley

At the risk of causing Rob Lee's hat to no longer fit properly, I have to add my thoughts about his company. Placed my order on Monday afternoon, received it complete on Thursday. It was an order with about 10 items. What makes this a little more interesting is that in mail the same day I received a catalog from another company with 4 of the same items that were on my order. They were each priced at least $1 more than Lee Valley. So much for Lee Valley being expensive. Great operation Rob and no, you do not have to raise prices to match the others.

Garey gareymac at aol dot com

Reply to
Garey
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I've never heard anyone say LV was expensive. Honestly, they are just about too good to be true, so we all better shut up before someone tells us it's all a big illusion. Shhhhhhh!

Reply to
Mike in Mystic

Well, they certainly aren't CHEAP. Their stuff is most definately in the upper price range. That said, they carry a selection of goods no one else does; their quality is very good to excellent; their service is fast and friendly; and they have impressive stock fill-rates....

They are easily one of the best-run companies I can think of.

I'm hopeless addicted to their catalogs.

My wife cringes every time I say I'm going there.

Reply to
Mark

Add my "AMEN" to both of the above. On the Sat before Thanksgiving I placed an order with LV over the web - late in the evening. Got an email on Sunday afternoon that they'd received it, and had it all in stock. On Monday, I received an email that gave me a shipping airbill number. I received the complete order on Wednesday morning.

I also placed an order with another supplier the same evening -

1888Nailgun - and I still haven't received it. After a couple of emails, finally today they gave me some lame excuse about the credit card number I gave them not having enough numbers in it.

Lee Valley's stuff is high quality, and reasonably priced. It's amazing to find a company that is quick, efficient, and reasonably priced. I'll continue to look to them first for the supplies that I need.

Nick -

Reply to
Nick Bozovich

AKA _A good VALUE_???? Truly cheap stuff is a poor value. Check out the tools at Wal-Mart. The only use I have for cheap tools is in situations where the chance of loss or theft is high.

That's how I look at them. I can buy cheap tools at the big boxes. I can buy tools I'll buy and continue to use, pretty much forever, at places like Lee Valley.

Nobody beats LV's hardware catalog!

Barry

Reply to
B a r r y B u r k e J r .

I placed mine in the wee hours Monday night. By Tuesday afternoon it was too late to correct my (non-fatal) address goof, because the items were already picked, packed, and out the door. When I asked them if it was too late, they sincerely apologized to me for the inconvenience I caused myself through my own stupid actions.

Hard to get more classy than that.

Reply to
Silvan

I'd rate myself as somewhere in intermediate territory, so maybe i don't know any better, but they also sure have some unusual stuff I haven't seen before. I'm thinking of getting the little plane looking dealy that raises a shaving so that you can nail and glue it over rather than fill nail holes for some finished trim.

Speaking of LV, I saw that Amazon has a "Veritas" item. That's their brand name, right?

pj

Reply to
p_j

I have two of these I purchased from Lee Valley. They work very well. I use them to attach face frames to carcases. With a little bit of practice, the attach points are virtually invisible. I've used it on Oak hardwood with no problems and occasionally on Oak veneered plywood.

The first time I used it on plywood worked well because the veneer was thick enough. The second time I had a problem because the quality of that purchase of the oak plywood, the veneer wasn't as thick. The veneer and it's immediately substrate were 90° to each other and this little plane only works well with the grain.

The instructions say to raise a shaving, nail and then use fish glue and a piece of tape to hold the shaving down. I've changed the steps a little. I raise the shaving, drill a slightly undersized nail hole (it's much cleaner) and then nail and countersink. I then use white carpenter's glue and either hold down the shaving for three or four minutes by hand or use a pair of edging clamps alternating between the two. These I purchased from Lee Valley Tools also.

If there's anymore information I can give you on these, please feel free to ask. They're a great purchase in my opinion.

Reply to
Upscale

Thanks a lot. I think I'll get one. My immediate need is for oak casing and baseboards, so no plywood problems.

Did you try the fish glue?

pj

Reply to
p_j

Don't think so. I can't honestly remember since I bought my first nailing plane about ten years ago.

Reply to
Upscale

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