Attended the in store Lee Valley hand saw event today....and...

Rob Keeble

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GTA Ontario Canada
Well i took the afternoon off. Seeing how i am my own boss and work all sorts of hours i had no feelings of guilt :D

I want to publicly congratulate Lee Valley and in particular Gary at the Toronto West store. I had a great time and Gary have me the information and advice i been looking for when it comes to the vast variety of handsaws Lee Valley and the rest of the market offer.

Expect LV to do this right. Workbenches out in the seminar room all decked out with every saw available. Whats more they had hard wood, softwood tree logs deck lumber thin ply and veneer of different types. I got to play for as long as i liked which was a couple of hours and i am happy to say finally i get it.
When i last was educated on a "tenon" saw it was at school. And this was a one fits all in reality probably a rip type carcass saw. We were not taught that there was any difference and i bet those saws had seen years of abuse and never got sharpened because my experience with those saws put me off for life.
So today i got educated. :) ;).
Of all the saws i tried the Japanese saws were absolutely amazing. There were two that nearly followed me home but i decided i was going to sleep on what i had experienced first before jumping in.
The Lv dovetail gents and carcass saws were all great too. Unfortunately they did not have any of the saws there that they offer but only via mail order or store pick up.
But this is definitely the way to sell tools. I was there to buy one of the Milescraft sign kits but there were a couple of saws that for their price they were no brainers to have in your shop. These two puppies cut veneer like butter and with a left over edge thats smooth as anything. Thats what delighted me.uploadfromtaptalk1332559834701.jpg
There are a few handsaws that soon will frequent my shop i got a bday coming up in a month or so and need to leave something for the family to get me.:)
If you live near a store ...Art ....you reading this....you can still get to try out the saws tomorrow its the last day.

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I've got 4 or 5 of the Japanese saws. They are my go to saws. I even bought one in Japan while I visited there. Could buy the same saw here, but I wanted to buy one while I was there.
 
Rob, it doesn't look like I am going to find the time to make it to the Lee Valley saw demonstration. :(

But, I have the two Zona Razor saws that you recommend and I can add my recommendation to yours. :thumb:
 
I have vaguely mixed feelings on the Japanese saws.

On the plus side - they are really sharp, thin kerf, reasonably priced. Still my go to for flush cuts and complicated little trim doo dads.
On the flip side - I (personally) have better control with a western style back saw, I can sharpen the western saws (not impulse hardened).

Final conclusion is that I really need both :D I got a couple of the Veritas molded back ones for Xmas last year and they're also amazingly nice (I can't compare them to more expensive saws - I don't have more expensive saws :rolleyes:).

The ones you got? (or are getting :laugh2:) look like a really great deal and nice saws for sure. Did they have the "thin kerf miter box" that sells with them there as well, curious what it looked like?
 
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