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Tool suppliers in Canada?

PaulG

Member
I'm thinking of building an RV. Where do Canadians source their tools and toolkits? I see that Van's website only shows U.S.-based suppliers. Is there a new/used tool market in Canada? I'm in Alberta. Thanks.
 
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Aircraft Spruce and US suppliers. Shipping across the border isn't a big ordeal, especially for lower value items. Some stuff isn't aircraft specific either. I got a really big back rivet plate and a nice hefty bucking bar for back riveting wing skins from Metal Super Market.

There's an alloy fabrication shop right near my house that has all sorts of angle for super cheap. I'm sure I'm buying stuff out of their scrap bin. 6061-T6 angle is 6061-T6 angle whether it comes from an airplane store for $15 or a a fabrication shop scrap bin for $5.
 
Most of my air tools, pistol drill, 90* drill, 2x and 3x rivet guns, cutoff tool, came from a local industrial supplier carrying Atlas Copco tools. My pneumatic squeezer came from a local industrial supplier carrying Chicago Pneumatic.
Most of my aircraft tools came from Cleaveland Tool, Brown Tool, US Tool, ATS
 
I bought a former builders used tools. Not everything was included but it was a good startand much cheaper than new stuff. To fill in the blanks I purchased half of my new tools from https://www.yardstore.com/ and half from https://www.browntool.com/

The savings paid for the the extra shipping and then some...It adds up fast! I created a list of everything I needed based on the vans site and the brown tool "RV Kit" Hope this helps. Good luck!
 
I look first at Aircraft Spruce Canada, then if they don't have it: Brown's, Wicks, Pan American (reamers and drill bits), and for Avex Rivets lawsonproducts.ca is a good Canadian supplier.
 
Low time investment, higher cost: Buy a kit of tools from one of the US suppliers. You will get a good set of tools that will do the job, and you can start building.

Higher time investment, lower cost: Pick up new tools on a piecemeal basis from a mixture of local, Canadian, and US suppliers, and pick up used tools as you find them at flea markets, fly-ins, swap meets, etc. You'll end up with a better set of tools, but it will take longer to acquire them.
 
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