Have to vent!

[osage outlaw]

I think Hedgeapple has a rigid and his broke to.  He had a machine shop make a new piece for it out of steel instead of pot metal.

[mullet]

Clint, I can get the parts but I've had enough. I'll probably give it to someone if they want to fix itor take the stand and motor and let it power something else, like my plainer.

[Pat B]

I've had good luck with Grizzly. I have a table saw, band saw, bench belt/disc sander and air nail gun. The few problems I have had their tech dept worked out and when I've needed parts(mostly wear items) they were in sock and delivery was fast. I think Grizzly is a Korean company but I don't know for sure. They are an import company.

[RyanR]

The same part broke on my brother in laws brand new rigid band saw. The thing is junk.

[JW_Halverson]

I'm starting to look to some other countries for nice tools like France they have nice rasps and I want some of those opinel pocket knives

I just bought an Opinel #12 at a pawn shop for $9.  They had six of them, so I thought I'd give this one a try.  It's too big for a picket knife, it's the size of a small filet knife.  Happens to be flexible enough to be a filet knife.  So guess what?  It's gonna be a filet knife!

It was mis-stamped on the collar as  #8.  $9 would be fair for one of those.  The #12 is a $35 knife, though.  When I found all this out online I went back to the pawn shop for the rest.  They are marked at $40 now! 

[stickbender]

     Grizzly, is made in Taiwan.  Sometimes you will see the factory number, and it will say Taiwan.  PowerMatic is made in Tennessee.  They make great band saws, table saws, jointers, planers, sanders, lathes,etc.  They are heavy cast iron, and have little vibration.  They are unfortunately a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.  General is made in Canada, and is a great product also.  But.....also pricey.  There is another brand, that I can't think of at the moment, that I think is made in Canada also.  I will just have to wait and save my pennies, and try to get a PowerMatic table saw, and band saw.  Hopefully down the road, a nice lathe also.  Once I sell this house, and get out to my home in Montana, I will save around 12,000 dollars a year.

                                                                                Wayne

[Dharma]

The reason Grizzly is good is because they are exact copies of American-made stationary power tools made during the 1940s and 1950s. After Chairman Mao took over China and those who didn't wish to join that soiree fled to Taiwan and formed Taiwan as a country. The U.S. protected them and gave them lots of foreign aid. Among that was vehicles, tractors, trucks, weapons, and tools. Taiwan just copied the stationary power tools in order to have another product to sell.

It's pretty common in that region. The Soviets copied the German BMW motorcycles with sidecar they captured during the war. They gave a few to China after their revolution and then China started copying the Soviet copy of the BMW. We gave the USSR hundreds of Studebaker 6x6 military trucks during the war and they copied that thing for decades after. During the war, an American B-29 made an emergency landing in the USSR, after a bombing run over Japan. The Soviets told the crew it would take two weeks for the repair parts to arrive from the nearest U.S. airbase. (The U.S. did not want to leave the bomber in the hands of the Soviets for obvious reasons and told the Soviets, "No, it's ok, we'll send the parts to fix it and the crew can fly it back.) The Soviets had two weeks with the plane in their hands as the crew was given tours and taken to parties and so on. Stalin told a team of engineers they had two weeks to take the plane totally apart, measure everything, and have a set of working blueprints they could duplicate the B-29 with----or else. And, not long after, the Soviets rolled out an exact copy of the B-29, right down to the Boeing trademarks on the rudder pedals.

[JW_Halverson]

The reason Grizzly is good is because they are exact copies of American-made stationary power tools made during the 1940s and 1950s. After Chairman Mao took over China and those who didn't wish to join that soiree fled to Taiwan and formed Taiwan as a country. The U.S. protected them and gave them lots of foreign aid. Among that was vehicles, tractors, trucks, weapons, and tools. Taiwan just copied the stationary power tools in order to have another product to sell.

It's pretty common in that region. The Soviets copied the German BMW motorcycles with sidecar they captured during the war. They gave a few to China after their revolution and then China started copying the Soviet copy of the BMW. We gave the USSR hundreds of Studebaker 6x6 military trucks during the war and they copied that thing for decades after. During the war, an American B-29 made an emergency landing in the USSR, after a bombing run over Japan. The Soviets told the crew it would take two weeks for the repair parts to arrive from the nearest U.S. airbase. (The U.S. did not want to leave the bomber in the hands of the Soviets for obvious reasons and told the Soviets, "No, it's ok, we'll send the parts to fix it and the crew can fly it back.) The Soviets had two weeks with the plane in their hands as the crew was given tours and taken to parties and so on. Stalin told a team of engineers they had two weeks to take the plane totally apart, measure everything, and have a set of working blueprints they could duplicate the B-29 with----or else. And, not long after, the Soviets rolled out an exact copy of the B-29, right down to the Boeing trademarks on the rudder pedals.

Japan did the same thing with matchlock guns from the Netherlands in the 1500's.  Right down to the Royal proofmarks stamped in the barrels! 

[Onebowonder]

Delta was once a proud name in American power tools.  Sad to report that my newer Delta band saw is complete piece of crap.  It's odd because some of the parts are really well made, but they are bolted or <shudder> pressed into crap parts.  Motor, for example, is awesome!  The tensioning mechanism is worthless!  It makes NO DAMN SENSE because they could not have saved enough money in cheapening the the parts they changed to make it a smart thing for them to do!!!

On the otherhand, I just bought a used table saw off of Craig's List.  It's a 1957 Craftsman.  Still solid as heck.  I paid less than a fifth of what the new models of inferior saws cost in the box stores today.  LOVE the thing.  It has obviously been well cared for, but it was built to last in the first place!

...and JWH - I wonder how it would go over if we unionized the slave laborers in China?  Would they start building good quality stuff then? 


OneBow