Finally made the pilgrimage to Hida Tool & Hardware Co..
Like many places of myth and legend - The Alamo, with a Wool- worths store acrossed the street - Hida Tools was not at all like I expected. Narrower than I'd imagined - narrower than my living room - with some sort of screen just behind the tall narrow display window obstructing the view inside, the outside gave no indication of legendary tools on the wall shelves in the store.
Inside there were no glass display cases, with special lights to "properly present the tools" I've only read and heard about. Instead, they sit on shallow shelves, many in thin cardboard boxes, some sharing a box with several of its twins - five or six 6mm bench chisels, each in its own thin plastic bag, hand written price - in ball point pen - on a white paper tag.
Next to the chisels, hanging on a piece of plywood, fine toothed pull saws, blades in thin plastic sleeves, price on white paper tags. No UPCs, no bar codes, no printed item number on anything in the store.
Next to the saws are Japanese waterstones. In a wooden box, a single stone, about the size of a brick. White paper price tag - $1,180. Very, very carefully place that one back on the shelf before taking another breath.
The rest of the pilgrimage was a blur - sensory overload. Left the store with a small blue plastic bag containing
- 3mm Masashige brand specially-designed white steel dovetail chisel - the sides beveled at 75 degrees to get into the corners of dovetail tail sockets - the place that keeps otherwise perfectly cut dovetails from fitting together just so.
- a small squeeze bottle of camelia oil (which doesn't smell like camelias)
- the special little screw lid camelia oil applicator
- the book "The Care and Use of Japanese Woodworking Tools by Kip Mesirowand Ron Herman
- some bonsai wire, small ball cutter pruning pliers and small pruning shears
Safe bet this wasn't my last trip to Hida - but only after the checking account recovers a bit.
Robland Factory in Brugge, Belgium - check Hida Tool and Hardware Co., Berkeley, California, USA -check
Still on the list Lee Valley Lie Nielsen Knight Toolworks JoinTech
Your pilgrimage list?
charlie b