I just got Lee Valley’s full-line hardware catalog by mail, and am pleased to see them carrying (maybe they always did) a good selection of kitchen cabinet and backsplash storage items, at affordable prices.
For cabinets, I am speaking of the chrome-plated steel wire baskets and shelves, that slide-mount. For backsplash, it is the stuff you can hang from a rail.
Until now, all I have seen in these kinds of products are the offerings from Rev-A-Shelf and others, at unbelievably outrageous prices.
Replies
I love Lee Valley - every tool they come up with is a head-slapper ("why didn't I think of that!?")
I spend quite awhile pouring over that catalog when it arrives in the mailbox.
Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
I may be mistaken, but I think RobLee is a poster over by dere ta Knots ! in fact # 25990.13 is one of his!
I was in the store the other day and finally got a copy of " Builders Guide to Cold Climates " by J oseph Lstiburek hard as hell to get
clerks told me first run sold out in no time flat so next batch was on a first come basis
it seems anything LV handles no one questions whether it's good or not
I recommend the store to all my customers and after they have been there its like as if they had found Jesus
Seems like the perfect opportunity for a Lee Valley story.
A few years ago, I sent them an email suggesting they carry something I wanted - I think it was a screw bit holder for a Yankee screwdriver. Someone replied promptly that they didn't have it and had no plans to get it. Days later I got another email from LV. They had found a source over the internet and sent me the link. (McFeely's)
It was mind blowing that I hadm't simply been dealt with and then forgotten. The LV people persisted because my problem hadn't been solved even though it wasn't in their power to solve it.
THAT is service!
Ron
Also a fan of Lee Valley....I've been a regular for something like 25 years now, regular visitor to the flagship Ottawa store when I lived there.....on hardware: their selection has grown, which is good, and it's convenient if I'm already placing an order.....but on price, their price is almost always exactly 1 keystone (100%....traditional retail markup) more than my wholesale suppliers, who will sell me one or a thousand of most anything I want, and in my case are fine with small accounts as long as they are in the trade. There are some exceptions to that, and LV has some decorative hardware that is unusual, but overall I find them expensive for hardware. I can definitely see how an expanded hardware selection would be a boon to the homeowner though.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
What Lee Valley does that almost no one else does, is flip the bird at modern merchandising thinking...which is summed up as follows: "Nah, we can't make it that well, it'll cost too much and no one will buy it."
Lee Valley's founder, Leonard Lee, demonstrated over the course of his career that if you make it right, you will be able to sell it to the right people. Their Veritas tools division spends whatever it takes in R&D to get it right, and then manufactures the result with no compromises and just tells the bean counters to shut up and count. The final product is saddled with a higher price tag than it would have been if the thing had been injection-moulded instead of cast and machined...but the strategy obviously works because the company keeps getting bigger and better instead of tanking. People will buy quality if it's made available.
The customer also wins, because he gets a top-quality product that will last through generations and is repairable in the event of breakage or wear. Think about that the next time you have to buy, say, a whole new mixer when a small plastic part fails on your 'high-end' Braun electric whisk....
The rest of the corporate world could take a lesson from this. If they did, maybe we wouldn't be stuck buying so much disposable crap from manufacturers at a higher long-term cost....
Dinosaur
A day may come when the courage of men fails,when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship...
But it is not this day.
You were there pretty well from the very beginning then.
The first store I remember was that narrow one on the north side of the Queensway, up a flight of metal stairs to a narrow and deep commercial space. Walked in there with my dad...took our breath away. Right from the get-go, the staff was top-notch. Leonard was there too, taking time to know his customers. Been with them ever since - and they've never failed me.
Lee was a senior trade bureaucrat with Industry Trade and Commerce. Told me he got fed up with the bs and decided to turn his hobby into a job. Tool selection in Ottawa, let alone Canada, was less than desirable at the time. Mr. Lee turned that around.
It might not be exagerating to say that Leonard single-handedly raised the standards of woodworking in Canada.
Seems like he learned his kid (Robin) real good too.costofwar.com/
Hey Adrian,
How are you, anyway?
Ever get up to Halifax any more?
Ron (customer number 379)
hey Ron;
Yeah, I'm there pretty often....maybe we can grab a pint; I always think of you when I'm there, but getting organised is a challenge. Usually flying trips but often have some time. How's the house going? How about emailing me a phone number? Have you seen a new poster on the board (fairly new to me anyway)....Brian, posts as Experinced?....St. Margarets Bay.
AdrianCabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
I really like Lee Valley. I have two of their planes, (incredible job they do), and just got the super sharpening jig system along with an 8000 Norton wet stone. They have some great and very innovative tools and the service is wonderful.
If they were a public company I'd be buying shares. Too bad they're private. On second thought, thank God they're private as going public would probably kill the magic.
What I like about LV is that they have three of everything: a cheap but serviceable version, something with good features and reasonable value for money, and pretty much the best thing money can buy. Your money, your benefit, your choice. No snobbery involved.
Was just at their Toronto East store yesterday. Picked up a bunch of brass-plated, antique-styled picture hooks with decorative pins instead of nails - ideal for hanging far-eastern painting on pannels, scrolls, etc.
While I was there I picked up some Christmas presents for my son: gyroscopes, a kaleidascope building kit ($2.70), an original kazoo, some magnets, and a bound collection of "Our Boarding House" cartoons from 1927 (remember Maj. Hoople and Jigs ?). Oh, and some kitchen stuff.
That's a pretty eclectic list of goods from one store. After watching them flail for a couple of years, it was good to see them return to their founding principles and find their way again.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Rob Lee and his wife, Lucie, attended MontanaFest. Rob gave a talk on product development, it was great. Standing around a campfire with Rob or dancing with Lucie will explain why Lee Valley is on top of the heap. They are wonderful people, deeply concerned about their customer base and are quick to respond to the needs of the market.
Lee
You know, I have yet to hear a negative story about Lee valley. Wish I could say the same about myself.-------------------------------
People are entitled to their own opinions; People are not entitled to their own truth.Jacob
I have yet to hear a negative story about Lee valley
I think someone at Knots started a negative thread about lee Valley about 2-3 yrs ago. I forget the details, but it seems he was quickly and thoroughly beat up by the rest of the forum. And I think he was the problem, not the compnay.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Yep, here it is. Couple of interesting points: this fella posted a complaint before he called LV customer service. He blamed the shipping damages on LV. He complained about the finger joints in the top, but several responders pointed out thet the joints were clearly visible in the catalog picture. He received the top in April, but didn't unwrap it until the end of June. He bought a Veritas vice from Woodcraft, it came with a bad nut, LV replaced the nut when contacted, and he feels that LV is selling a junk vice. And he posted at 12:43 am, and Rob lee responded before 1:00 pm the same day.
From:
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6/27/2003 12:43 am
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12772.1
I'm building a "really nice" workbench, my third workbench (echoes of the Workbench Book). I've completed the trestle style base using 8/4 maple and double wedged tenons and it looks pretty good, if I may say so. Note that I won't be posting closeups of my joints soon; that'll take some more experience and skill. But, I put a lot of work and good maple into the trestle base and its solid and heavy and looks good.
To make the job reasonable and get it done in this decade, I bought a 2 3/4" laminated skab from Veritas for the top; it's big and heavy at 110 lbs. When it arrived, I moved it into the garage because rain was imminent (in Sacto in April!!!). Today, with the base now in the outbuilding being finished, my brother, wife, and I put the top on the old workbench and I removed the packaging. What a disappointment!
The top was really beat up. To use it, I will have to rout pockets in two badly beat up top corners, glue in repairs, trim flat and even on the sides, and refinish the top. I'd also have to just live with the big ding in the middle of the slab because it would be impractical to repair it. Added to this is another disappointment. The top is not laminated from solid strips. The strips are pieced together from finger-jointed maple and the top is laced with finger joints. It looks tacky and machine made.
I don't know what I'm going to do - it weighs 110 lbs and I am not very good at handling heavy slabs after three back operations spread over a 30 years and I don't relish taking it to a shipper for return. I'm going to call lee valley tomorrow and talk about what to do. I doubt I'll keep it because I'll never be able to look at it and not feel angry and disappointed. It looks like another trip to Berkeley and McBeath Hardwoods for more 8/4 maple and a long and tedious job of cutting laminations, glueing, truing, and finishing the top. But it will be even more MY bench!
Even worse, I ordered the twin screw Veritas vise on sale from Woodcraft. Well, one of the nuts that the screw goes into was bunged up and Veritas had to send a replacement. My opinion: Lee Valley/Veritas is riding the wave of new wood workers and has let quality control slip. Not a good long range strategy because customers just won't come back again.
My failure: Whenever you get a package, open it RIGHT AWAY and inspect. If it is damaged, as this top was (note that some of the damage looks older and DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE OCCURRED DURING SHIPMENT!), return the product immediately.
I courteously invite a veritas representative to reply to this post and explain why I got products that are badly damaged on arrival and what Lee Valley will do to prevent it's happening in the future. I'm going to suggest that this be the case when I talk to the Lee Valley rep tomorrow. I'll post again this weekend to fill you in on any resolution.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I think I posted to that thread.....a fingerjointed top is a sign of quality, not lack of quality. What you lose in aesthetics, you more than gain in stability.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.