About & Contact
Who is SUVA?
We are Chad & Amanda, a family from the Midwest who stumbled into rocks and lapidary while out-and-about with our first dogs - and SUVA's namesake - in tow, Suey (she oinked) and Nova. That's us now, over there 👉... Nova to the right and the crystal blue-eyed Charlie on the left. During a long day out hunting for geocaches we were lured to an unassuming shop named Spencer Lapidary at the intersection of two rural state highways just outside a small town. Spencer was famous in the area for spheres! We walked in and were immediately hooked and fell headfirst into tumbling, cabbing, slabbing, and sphere-making. Gems shows and old homemade machines consumed our free time and gradually coated everything around us in a fine layer of silica. When we aren't working or playing with rocks, Chad spends a bunch of time tearing around on a bicycle all over the area while Amanda sings her heart out with her friends from all over the world to unwind.
Through it all, we've both loved and hated some lapidary equipment along the way of our journey through a rusty parade of muck-filled saws with seized nuts and bearings, old spliced-together tattered power cords, and hours spent chasing scratches on that wobbly expando drum. We've fled from a fair number of restoration projects we couldn't conquer... bleeding, dirty, and defeated. To spare you some of that questionably enjoyable adventure, here's the best we've encountered... rust-free and uncomplicated.
Why choose SUVA for your lapidary supplies?
We work hard to maintain an extremely high standard for prompt shipping, aggressively keep our prices very competitive, and constantly increase our stock to ensure we can usually ship your supplies from our own inventory rather than drop-ship them to you. Many dealers rely on the drop-ship method as a strategy to keep their stock investments low, and may provide overly-optimistic or outdated guesses at how long the manufacturer will take to ship to you. Drop-shipments are unpredictable, especially since 2020 brought us the ongoing supply-chain strains! The reality is that no dealers know the real-time day-to-day lead-times for manufacturer shipping departments, and if an order is drop-shipped the actual shipping time can swing from days, to weeks, maybe even to months during peak demand despite what a dealer's questionably-updated webpage may say.
At SUVA, we have taken steps to avoid this scenario whenever possible and strive to keep our in-house inventory levels bolstered and ready for your order when it comes in. Our product availability information is transparent and accurate, and you will find drop-shipped or temporarily out-of-stock items to be clearly marked as such before you even add them to your cart. Tracking information will hit your inbox as soon as your tools are on the move - usually within 4-16 hours when we ship it ourselves! You can expect less waiting, fairer prices, and honesty about lead-times when hitting the "order" button at SUVA.
Thanks for checking out our shop, and we are excited to take good care of your next resupply!
Chad & Amanda
SUVA Lapidary, LLC
PO Box 6819, Kokomo IN 46904