Welcome back tool nerds. I recently found myself in Taiwan (for the Giant Anthem launch) with a midnight flight home and no plans for the day beforehand. That was until a bunch of bike nerds with a similar itinerary shared an Uber into the city of Taichung.
Following some heated kart racing, the day quickly disappeared by visiting a bucket-list tool store and then meeting the team behind the relatively new brand 711L. Some 36 hours later, I’d be back home in Sydney and spending a Saturday at a Wera tools event.
So with that, let’s celebrate the 50th edition of Threaded with one happy 48-hour period of tool nerding from a little over a week ago.
Deen Style Tokyo, Taichung
What’s the mecca for tool nerds? I’d argue it's one of the Factory Gear stores in Japan. Or so I’d assume, because despite buying many things from them over the years, I’ve never actually been to one.
If you're a kid (or a big kid), you've probably dreamed of visiting Hamleys in London. Being a bicycle nerd, you’ve probably heard of Above Category in Marin, California. If you’re a camera nerd, you’ve likely lusted over pressing your nose against the glass cabinets at B&H in New York. And if you love quality hand tools, then Factory Gear is as good as it gets.
Think aisles of endless chrome from around the world, the best screwdrivers you can try before you buy, and staff that obsess over the small stuff (as evident by their impressive YouTube channel and print publications).
Previously only found in Japan, Factory Gear now has a store in the Xitun District of Taichung City, Taiwan. Named Deen Style Tokyo, it's named after Factory Gear’s own brand of tools, Deen. The vast majority of Deen tools are manufactured in Taiwan, and so it’s fitting to open a concept store nearby.
However, that concept store isn’t just tools. It’s a bar, it's a billiards room, a golf simulator, and there's a barber next door. Let’s go shopping.
Threaded is an ongoing series created for professional mechanics and enthusiast home mechanics in search of continuous improvement, or at least ways to bring more efficiency, precision, or just joy to the work.
It’s photographed, written, and created exclusively by me, Dave Rome. With approximately 20 years of experience on the tools, and more than a decade of documenting other mechanics' work, I aim to share my passion for finding quality tools and tips on how best to use them.
This series takes many hours to create, and the information shared isn't available elsewhere. It's merely through the support of our members (readers) that this content exists.
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