Craftsmanship in Wood

I'm sure there are countless tool suppliers out there but I was hoping we could keep a running list with suggested places for tool acquisitions.

I'll start off by saying I've had great experiences with http://www.suzukitool.com and I only found the website because of Chris Hall's suggestion. I've gotten a couple specialty chisels and some dai cut at various angles.

I've purchased all of my saws from Stu at http://www.toolsfromjapan.com and I've also purchased a couple marking tools and a few chisels and I believe my stones are from there. It takes a while for Stu to round everything up but I've never had a bad transaction.

Finally, I've purchased a number of chisels from So at http://www.Japan-tool.com and it's been a good experience. You need to stay in touch with So to make sure you stay on his radar as he is very busy but it's been worth it in my experience.

One other tool vendor I have not ordered from is http://www2.odn.ne.jp/mandaraya/, Chris' tool guide for his courses referenced this vendor and I'm wondering if any of you have had any transactions with them? They have a number of tools I'd be interested in but the translated website is a bit....intimidating. Any reviews or suggestions on placing orders?

Anyone have any other suggestions?

I've found http://j-cutlery.com/index.html to be a good source for staples and sundries. They have an especially good selection of marking and measuring tools.

I also found Suzuki Tool to be a great business to buy from. One new place that I recently ordered from was Pro Shop Hokuto, http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~ttoishi/sumurai.index.html. I ordered a kanna from them that they had in stock and they were very prompt with the order and shipping, in fact the plane literally arrived within 3 days after shipment from Japan.

I have bought from So Yamashita, Stu, Tomohito Iida, Teshiba(mandaraya), Aframestokyo and Suzuki. Can't say I've had a bad experience, So is my favorite to work with, more friend than dealer at this point. Tomohito can be a hair expensive until you work with him a bit, Aframestokyo is super straightforward and super quick to ship as well. Suzuki is great as well really nice person to deal with. Stu has been great on everything, but can take a few reminders on back ordered pieces., he takes about two weeks to ship in-stock stuff...

Teshiba is really easy to work with, I usually just send him the link of what I want to buy and ask him to send me a paypal bill. The site is clear about stock.

So, Teshiba and Stu are the best on pricing in my experience. So gives advice that is worth it's weight in gold and really takes time to make sure you are getting the right stuff, if you order through his cart his dad will ship the item fast.

I prefer any and all of these guys to the bigger houses.

"...Takeshi (mandaraya)..."

Uh, his family name is Teshiba - - are you on first name basis with him? I've bought from him many times but did not broach the topic of what his first name might be.

Egg on face...

I have him mixed up with Takeshi Aoki from A-frames.

I kinda figured you were mixing his name up with someone else- didn't want the mistake to stick and have everyone calling him by the wrong name (I've seen that happen before).

He's a good guy to deal with, IME.

thank you for catching that, I had to recheck my emails....luckily I did not make this mistake in communicating with him.

Motion seconded on dealing with Suzuki at Suzuki Tool. She was a great help in getting me setup both well and on-time for Chris' first Course 1 workshop this past weekend.

I dropped Stu at TFJ a line, and he also did well for me, being able to expedite the Matsui rule in my order in plenty of time.

I suspect for any of these vendors, if there's a hard deadline involved then it's worth contacting them directly and talking about your timeline and needs.

I've looked at Mandaraya's website many times but I'm slightly confused about the measurements. What are the minute dimensions? For chisels I routinely see minute 1 through minute 8? Are those 3cm increments? ie an 8 minute is 24cm chisel?

And then planes are often referenced as dimension 8 or dimension 6. Dimension 8 is most common so I assume that's a 70mm plane? What is dimension 6? I'm at the mercy of google translate.