Woodworking

Cannot decide…

New TV or Jointer -

Grizzly 868
Jet 88H
Powermatic



Have about $2k id like to do New bolt action?

Soygen said:

I have a bench jointer that is just...alright(Wahuda 8" spiral head) . I haven't yet convinced myself that I can just justify a nicer, floor standing model, but it's definitely on the future list.

That said, if you're getting a TV, get the LG 75" C series OLED. It's amazing, especially if you playing games on it!

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Yeah I have been using my benchtop 6" Wen now long enough that I can see the value in stepping up to a nicer, larger model. This was a long term wish list thing, kind of like you are saying. Some liquid funds literally kind of fell in my lap and while 90% of them are going towards retirement I did carve off a bit for a "to-do" list while Black Friday things are about.

8" width, parallel style, preferably on a mobile base but that is very low on the priority.

I swore I'd never buy a Grizzly product after they ticked me off but the G0856 looks pretty well positioned from a feature and value standpoint. And plus I think on another forum they said it comes completely assembled and since it is mostly just me that sounds great. Rather than trying to lift a cast iron top, motor, etc. Grizzly and their effing freight though. Absolutely ridiculous.


The alternative is put it towards a honeymoon we never had haha

I posted over in the TV thread that I'm leaning towards the Samsung QN90 b/c of my living room lighting conditions, Samsung soundbar, and general Samsung fanboi-ism.

Hey, what if Samsung made a Jointer!

Cutlery said:

This is how you know shit's fucked up right now. I had a store bought, handheld chainsaw mill I bought last winter before I found the plans for mine. It takes up a lot of space, so I took it out to get rid of it. And then, I'm looking at it, and I go "well shit, this is good hardware and parts for *something*"

So, now I'm gonna go recycle my bacon grease, the great depression is upon us.View attachment 444260

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That's good reusable T-track for something!

Ended up buying the Grizzly today. They said 3-4 business days so maybe have it in next week. Going to need to do a small electrical upgrade because it has to go on a far wall with no existing 230 on that side of the garage. Also bought a wall mount dust collector because I didn't want to pipe stuff across the garage floor and the idea of doing piping up the wall, across the ceiling, and down the other side seemed like way too much of a hassle vs. $200 for another unit.

May not have everything up and running until mid December.

whoo said:

For what it's worth, I own 5 Grizzly woodworking machines and they have been flawless for 5+ years. That said I have commercial grade units, not their lower end stuff so take my experience with that in mind.

Even years later I've received great tech support and parts in stock every time. The fit and finish is average. Equal to names like Jet, Powermatic, rikon, etc. Not as fine tuned as Sawstop, Felder, Oliver.

My machines were all calibtatable to perfectly flat, square, true beyond good enough for woodworking tolerances. All very easily except the table saw which is maxed at 89.8 degrees to the table. I have to do a complicated adjustment to the tilt mechanism if I want to get back those 0.2 degrees. It bugs me, so ill do it eventually. But it's never mattered. My Starret combination gauges can't tell under 18".

Anyway, the only grievance I have is that the stuff is made in china. But so are most of the under 5k woodworking machines market.

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Yeah there were a lot of arguments on the internet about which Grizzly (and others) were made in China vs made in Taiwan or if that even mattered at this point. They still tout being made in an ISO 9001 shop.

It isn’t that I had anything against them, but as I’ve told the story before their Sales / CS was rude to insulting when I asked them about some type of “bundle” deal when I was going to drop $10-15k setting up my shop. As little as telling me “Yes we can see if they ship out of the same warehouse and maybe get you a deal on shipping. No promises though.” That at least would have been a conversation. But they literally said “No” and hung up on me. And so I wrote them off and went to Sawstop via Woodcraft and it was an awesome experience.

$2k is absurd for what I do putzing around and the quality of my work. My tiny Wen jointer is 90% of what is necessary for me. But this was high on my “wants” list and so said screw it and treated myself to a congratulations on starting you own business / Merry Christmas present.

I tried hard to not justify it. And I even spoke to a Felder guy about a floor model jointer (think it was an A3, can’t remember now), but just couldn’t swing it. For $2k there appears to be a lot of value in this Grizzly model, and it would be $4k to get in to the next “range” of product. Be it a 12” bed or one from someone else. And I make dumb decisions but at least try to optimize the dumbness-quotient.

Anyways! It’ll be fine. I’m excited

whoo said:

Im sad they were rude. I've not had any attitude problems. I spent more than 15k. They didn't give me a discount. They try to keep prices low I think and just don't haggle. Goes to show that bad experiences can really put a customer off a good product. I hope your jointer is perfect when it arrives

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It is a really bad learned behavior from all the online ordering we, as consumers, perform. I've been getting Amazon shipped "free" for a decade. Every other website I order from is "free" shipping over $XXX+ or you wait for Black Friday, New Years, Valentines sales that have free shipping. Then when you stumbled across something you suddenly have to pay for it is like, "uh... wtf?" Especially when it is going to be $300 - $400 an item which is 10 - 20% of what you're purchasing plus an additional lift gate service. I was also in sales for 10 years and have a somewhat jaded view of the negotiation process, especially when two parties can walk away from the table. Obviously Grizzly doesn't need me and there are other places for me to purchase from.

It feels like any other product and how all you see are the people mad theirs broke while everyone happy is just busy working. At the end we’re talking mid-level consumer based stuff and not like whoo says the commercial grade stuff meant to be run 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Price and internet argument wise Powermatic seems to be at the high end of the mid-level tier with Jet right behind it. Then you have varying degrees of Shop Fox, Laguna, Rikon, Grizzly, South Bend, and two or three others I’m forgetting. Again this is all what I’d say is mid-level where there’s a good variety of options all within 10%-40% of each other.

I didn’t list Sawstop bc they currently only make the one thing and there are other stuff way more niche that I’ve not at all researched… Harvey seems to be adored by some, Delta has fallen off but people swear by the “old stuff.” And then there’s other Euro stuff that I’ve only seen on YouTube.

Below that I see products like Wen and a few others that can be really great value for their price and your need. I love my Wen drill press, air filter, jointer and would recommend for sure.

There’s so many cool things out there. Finding out what value you can extract from something is totally unique to your needs. I really don’t think any of these are just bad products where you’ll regret it. Unless you spend 1,000 hours in YouTube watching someone trash your baby.

Typing this waiting at Havertys to get a new couch so kind of stream of consciousness and jumbled.

Lanx said:

this is good deal for yous that need a planar?

Direct Tools Outlet Site

www.directtoolsoutlet.com

i've bought half my ryobi stuff from here, so theyre leg

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Pick this up while you’re at it