My advice about tools is to get the best ones that you can afford - as you need them. What you spend in money will usually translate to a saving in time or stress. Depends what you have more of or value most...

The best stuff is from Stewmac and don't forget Luthiers Mercantile International (LMII.com). In the UK I mainly use Tonetech.

@markbailey

Thanks Mark. I thought Stewmac looked good quality. I wondered if some of the cheaper versions that I saw were not as good. I guess the old saying of "you get what you pay for" tends to be right. I'll check out the Luthier's Mercantile International too.

Cheers,

Russ ✌️??

Stewmac is superb no doubt but the VAT (being in Italy) and the shipping costs would almost double the prices. I have purchased from Guitars & Woods and find that their quality good, their prices are very reasonable and shipping precise. Not everything is available as Stewmac but more than the basic would be available. Really depends on where you are on the planet really... And mind you, I have just discovered those forums now! Apologies for being that late...

Stewmac cost me import tax around 50-80chf each time I limited my purchases from overseas on the specialised tools only. And I have a big problem finding finishing products (here in Switzerland) I haven't started purchasing wood yet. I wonder what will that cost me... ?

Discovering the forum. - same here... Today I decided to take a peak 🙂 

I guess the old saying of "you get what you pay for" tends to be right.

With StewMac, as well as what you get, you're also paying for shipping, VAT, import duty and the courier's handling charge (though I don't think DHL added any additional courier fee when I last used them).  Plus, the £/$ rate is horrible at the moment.  I did buy a load of StewMac kit a few (10+) years ago, when the exchange rate was closer to 2:1 which made them a lot more affordable!

The extra charges tend to make the cost of what you actually get (the tool in your hand) quite a lot more expensive.

I've never bought from the site linked below, but I know of various people who have, and who had positive reports.  A number of their products might look strangely familiar if you'd just been browsing the StewMac site too

😉

https://guitarsandwoods.com/

Yep G&W are good. There is also

https://www.tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk

don’t forget www.guitarmaking.co.uk neither...chisels, router bits, Rasps and now a guitar makers knife...plus kits for builds (what more do ya want!)

StewMac is the best but for us in the UK and anywhere else in the world, we have to pay all of those extra charges. There are some good specialist luthier/guitar builders shops in the UK, which I’ll get to in a minute. G&W are in Portugal if I remember rightly but remember that for some idiotic reason we will soon have to pay all of those charges associated with StewMac. Why? Hmmmm...... let me think! Oh that’s right, we are leaving the EU so get ready to pay tax on everything you order from the EU. 

This is where political idiocy come back to bite us on the #rse! 

Two cool shops in the UK are:

Glued to music - https://www.gluedtomusic.com/categories/luthier-tools/

GMC - https://www.guitarbuilding.solutions/

@petersoyanov

You can buy Nitrocellulose lacquers, paints and stains from https://nitorlack.com/ They are based in Spain and they ship internationally at very good rates. Pretty good prices, excellent products and available in either in tins or spray cans.

Does anyone know what this gouge with the strange handle would have been used for.

Does anyone know what this gouge with the strange handle would have been used for.

@robin I can’t help you with that one Robin. It’s concaved so some kind of gouge or something. It’s not for chipping at horses hooves or something like that is it? 

@russ I’ve used tools from a variety of companies, ones I’ve had from Crimson Guitars are my favorite. They’re expensive but a delight to use and so far have been totally happy with them!

Cheers @tej. They do have some nice tools. 

🙂🙏🎸🎶

@robin

That gouge looks like it was used by an Egyptian brain surgeon 

Just been shopping to Lidl and came home with a bag of chips, a box of washers and a Japanese pull saw (double sided). I don’t know how good or bad this saw will be but for £6.99 it’s definitely worth a punt. (29th October 2021) 

Posted by: @boo

don’t know how good or bad this saw will be but for £6.99 it’s definitely worth a punt. (29th October 2021) 

Let us know how you get on with it @boo. 

🙂🙏🎶🎸

Posted by: @russ

Let us know how you get on with it

@russ I will, it’s definitely sharp. But for how long? 

Could you not just have bought a bag of smaller chips?

It's a bit cheeky really - "we only sell big chips, but you can also buy a saw to cut them smaller".

Posted by: @robin

Does anyone know what this gouge with the strange handle would have been used for

I've no idea.

Probably not something to have in your pocket when you're heading off to the pub though!

(Although, perhaps, in Scotland ....)

Posted by: @tv101

It's a bit cheeky really - "we only sell big chips, but you can also buy a saw to cut them smaller".

@tv101 🤣🤣🤣🤣