Lee Valley Tools is an institution in Canada.Leonard Lee, its founder, started a mail-order hand tools business when he retired from the Canadian Air Force. The thing has grown enormously. Lee gets a lot of local ink for his inventions, particularly his line of surgical tools. Ottawa is a community where only hockey players and an occasional surgeon receive uncritical acclaim, but when Lee writes a letter to the editor, wire services pick it up and legislators take note. His employees adore him because he hands everyone deal-making authority: most seem to be retired individuals who have made a lot of decisions in earlier careers and would chafe under a more restrictive managerial approach. Three years ago, someone mentioned a small, stainless steel wood rasp from the LVT Catalog on a New York T.V. show and it became a surprise best-seller as a lemon zester in better kitchens. The Alabama company which manufactures the rasp has been on double shifts ever since. You need to have a Lee Valley Tool Catalog on your bookshelf. Another catalog I use infrequently is one from Horton Brasses in Pennsylvania. They produce high-quality replicas of historic hinges and fastenings. Excellent products and service.
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