How we choose tools

We stock tools that hold an edge and clamps that hold a glue-up. Orders leave Alameda within 2 business days. If something is wrong, you have 30 days to send it back.

A short range, kept in stock

We carry 13 tools across 5 categories, between $28.00 and $88.00. Keeping the range short is what lets us hold every tool in stock and answer a question about it properly. A wall of near-identical hammers is a catalogue nobody can choose from, and it is usually the sign of a shop that has never used any of them.

What we look for

A tool that can be sharpened, tightened or re-handled instead of thrown away. Forged heads rather than cast, hardened blades that hold an edge, hickory and hornbeam handles that take a mallet, and screws that advance under load. Nothing here is disposable, and nothing here is a collector's piece either.

Edges and setup

Chisels and plane irons arrive factory-ground, not honed. That is normal and it is not a fault: the final edge depends on the work, and a shop-honed bevel is sharper than anything that survives a shipping box. Every listing says whether a tool needs honing before its first cut.

Where we are

SeaFleetBackbone LLC is registered in CA, with its workshop and shipping desk at 1432 Sherman St, Alameda, CA 94501. Orders leave from there.