[Jewelry making - Article 00153] - Re: [Orchid] Canadian suppliers?

[Trevor F]

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>     So, is there a good Canadian source for findings, gems, raw
>     materials, tools, and especially packing materials? 

Hello Michael,

    Welcome to The Quest.  I've gone through this process myself and must
    say that I always found it rather odd that there's Canada, within a
    stone's throw of the US, and yet the reality is that it's not easy to
    find good suppliers.  They do exist but unfortunately their web
    presence is somewhat ... underwhelming so that just makes everything
    harder. 

    That said, there's no doubt that this Orchid post

    http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive/200306/msg00651.htm 

    covers a lot of the bases. In particular I'd recommend Habsons
    (habsons.com) and Gesswein (gessweincanada.com). If Habsons is
    convenient for you (they have stores in Vancouver and Seattle) I'd
    give them my highest recommendation. Among other things they were
    very understanding when I felt I had to return inferior quality items
    a couple times. And FWIW I believe that they're well stocked when it
    comes to packaging materials which was one of the things you
    specifically mentioned. 

    Frankly one of the real advantages is that Habsons doesn't just order
    out of the Grobet catalogue which is what a lot of Canadian places
    do. Gesswein Canada's catalog is entirely their own and I've also
    ordered from them a few times. Things took a little while 'cause they
    had to bring most of my stuff in from the States. That did mean though
    that they took care of the import stuff which was a relief. 

    Imperial Smelting (imperialproducts.com) is great for metals supply
    once you locate an office and get set up with them. They wanted a
    copy of my driver's licence before I ordered, and I think they ran a
    credit check on me even though my business was always cash, but once
    that was done it was fast, smooth, accurate, reliable service all the
    way. Usually less than 3-day turn-around on special orders if I
    dropped by their office to pick stuff up. I was very happy with them. 

    If I were you I'd be very cautious with both Lacy West and I Shor
    Canada (aka Eisinger Enterprises?). The latter apparently ripped off
    their name from the real Shor International (shorinternational.com)
    or something shady like that and there has been a long-standing issue
    between them. 

    Lacy West in Vancouver is a sadder story because I think those guys
    are trying but I attempted to order various stuff from them for over
    a year and everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Substitutions
    made without asking me, things taking months to arrive when they'd
    promised it would be weeks (this happened more than once), unannounced
    cancellations followed by explanations like "you don't need that
    anyway", etc, etc, etc. Maybe it was just me, maybe I was unlucky,
    whatever. That's my story with them and you can take it for what it's
    worth. They have a shop in Vancouver if you'd care to check them out
    for yourself. There's also Lacy and Company in TO (lacytools.ca)
    --don't know if there's a connection-- which I have no personal
    experience with. 

    Also in Vancouver is (was?) Page and Wilson. I understand that
    decades ago they were _the_ place but I think they've fallen on hard
    times. They don't have a website that I know of but if you've got the
    time they're worth a visit. Very old school but well stocked in most
    areas. 

    What I think it really comes down to is what city you're in or have
    access to. I was in Vancouver so that's what I know best. I have no
    doubt that the situation is better in TO and Montreal once you track
    down the right names. 

    In the end I also ordered a bunch of stuff from the US --Rio Grande,
    Gesswein, Shor, Contenti, etc-- because sometimes that's just what
    you have to do. You can avoid the Purolator nightmare by specifying a
    courier, such as Fedex or DHL, but you're going to end up paying
    pretty much the same if not slightly more going that route. I often
    did choose to pay extra in order to avoid getting violated by
    Purolator's loathsome tactics. 

    Another option if you live near the border is to get a US post box
    and bring the stuff across the border yourself. No doubt you've heard
    about this before but it really works! You'll have to pay your duties
    etc at the border but at least they won't get hiked up on you thanks
    to Purolator's "special" service. In fact my experience is that the
    border people often seem to respect the Free Trade Agreement a lot
    more than Canada Post does and so the actual duties one pays are both
    less and less frequent. This can go a long way to offsetting the cost
    of your US mailbox and your gas to drive down and pick stuff up.
    Obviously this isn't a viable option for everyone but if you live near
    the border or cross over frequently it's worth consideration. 

Cheers,
Trevor F.

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