Pilgrimage To A Woodworking Tool Store Holy Place

> > Your pilgrimage list?

I'm lucky enough to say I've been to a Lee Valley store, and that was
indeed a wonderful experience. Lots of toys to drool over, and
helpful employees who are just as excited about wood and tools as I
am.
Maybe my favorite "pilgrimage" experience, though, is the first
Rockler I visited. I hadn't been a woodworker very long, but I'd
carefully examined a variety of catalogs. There isn't a local
dedicated woodworking store, so I convinced LOML I needed to stop at a
Rockler while on a road trip to visit family. A whole store devoted
to my newfound hobby, with real tools and materials in 3D, rather than
just a picture in a catalog! I've since visited several Woodcraft and
Rockler stores on various trips, and LOML is still pretty forgiving of
a quick visit ("hey hon, there's a JoAnn fabric right around the
corner!").
Another favorite first time experience (no, get your mind out of the
gutter) was strolling around the Stickley showroom - one of the
salespeople actually came up to me and the first thing she said was "I
can see you love furniture". I made a point of keeping my mouth shut
and wiping up the drool from that point on, and since then, I've
realized it's not too difficult to make something that's actually
better quality than the modern Stickley stuff. Their furniture sure
is pretty, and they do use nice wood, but if you know where to look,
they frequently scrimp on hidden stuff.
Anyway, stores still on my "pilgrimage list" include:
Tools for Working Wood (NYC)
Japan Woodworker (CA)
Hida Tool (thanks for the description!)
Lie Nielsen (ME)
Grizzly showroom (Probably PA - I know, it's completely different than
the stores above, but impressive in it's own way, from what I've
heard)
Highland Hardware (GA, IIRC)
Lee Valley, again, whenever I get the chance (Rob, when are you
opening a store in the US? I'll be in Ogdensburg NY next week, but
that's apparently only a distribution center...)
Guess that's all,
Andy

charlieb wrote:
> 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

I don't know if LV falls into the same category, but at my skill level,
I felt the same the first time I walked into the store here. And I think
you summed it up perfectly with "sensory overload". Kid in a candyshop.

When I first stepped foot in the Lee Valley store here, I was on a
mission for one single item, and knew what I wanted. Being results
oriented, I was too enmeshed in the ordering process to really notice
where I was until I slowed down a bit at the order desk.

Then I looked around and was drawn into it. There were tools the likes
of which I had no clue. Without a label on them, I'd never know what to
call them. Even with a label, I was out of my depth to figure out what
purpose they had in life.

Like you with Hida, that was only the beginning of my many trips to the
store. Sure you'll go back. Hell, you may even some day walk in and say
"I'll take that $1200 waterstone please". Or maybe not. But you'll look
at it again and a smile will come to your face.

I left my job a few months ago to move somewhere else. My former job was
in a building kitty-corner from the LV flagstore. The folks I worked
with made up a calendar that had 12 goofy things I'd done while I'd been
working there. Three of the months dealt with Lee Valley. One month
dealt with a TS accident I'd had in the previous year. It's not just a
private little thing. It spreads to co-workers.

Your post caused a few smiles.

Tanus

--
This is not really a sig.

http://users.compzone.ca/george/shop/

charlieb <[email protected]> wrote:

> Your pilgrimage list?
>

Hardwick & Sons in Seattle - Check.

A truly Astounding collection of tools and hardware!! The smallish
presence on the street, on the inside turns into the warehouse where they
put the Ark of the Covenant at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Everything from oil lamps to high end planes and some power tools I'd not
seen before. Supers sensory overload. After a couple hours I stumbled
back onto the street with a handled staple puller (gets carpet strips
with ease) and a couple Japanese kitchen knives. I was actually Looking
for the staple puller. I'd never seen one before, but just knew it had to
exist. Lot of hand written tags and boxes of loose chisel, etc.

The sort of experience where you figure the shop will not exist if you go
back the next day and in its place will be a parking lot that has been
there for forty years.

Did I say that they also have a lot of Hardware ....