Grizzly

[cachetogo]

I have just retired and I'm going to be buying the rest of the major tools that I need for my woodshop. I have been looking at Grizzly but I have been seeing mixed reviews. I have decided on the Ridgid table saw thanks to the reviews that I've seen at this site, but I still need to buy a planer, jointer and a shaper. Probably a 13" or 15" planer, a 6" jointer and I don't really know that much about the shapers yet. Any guidance would be helpful.

[wlantry]

The yorkcraft 6" jointer has served well, I'd give it a best buy rating. I've got a 12" Ridgid planer... it does the job, and it's easy to change blades, but there's another with two speeds out there. Don't know anything about shapers...

Thanks,

Bill

[WoodMangler]

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Heya Richard!
http://www.woodhelp.com/welcomePlane.gif
To The Forum! [/font]

Thanks for filling out a profile.... nice to know who were talking to :)

I am curious... why a shaper?

Is this going to be a home/hobby shop?

[beamerweb]

I have the G0586 Grizzly 8" jointer and couldn't find much to complain about. The stock belts seemed to already have a little memory and things vibrated quite a bit at first. I replaced them with link belts and that completely eliminated any vibration at all. EVERYthing on this tool is solid. The blade guard is sturdy and the spring is tight. The beds are flat as any I've ever seen. The fit and finish of the machine itself is really good. They put a slight chamfer on the edges of the beds and some of the paint got on those chamfers in a few spots, but that's about the only thing I could find.

It's the only grizzly tool I have, but I'd buy from them again if I needed another tool. They'll get serious consideration from here on out.

[cachetogo]

>[font size ="7" color ="red"]

Heya Richard!
>http://www.woodhelp.com/welcomePlane.gif
>To The Forum! [/font]

>
>Thanks for filling out a profile.... nice to know who were
>talking to :)
>
>I am curious... why a shaper?
>
>Is this going to be a home/hobby shop?
It's going to be a hobby in that I don't plan to turn it into a business but I plan to get pretty serious about it. I wanted something more than just a router table.

[polyhedron]

Grizzly buys from multiple manufacturers in just about all product fields. Just because shaper "A" is good from Grizzly doesn't mean shaper "B" is also good because they may be coming from different factories (possibly even different countries). The front of the catalog says it just right "Purveyors of fine machinery" and that's that. They just go around buying things from other countries and reselling them, they just repackage them with their name on it.

Grizzly does have some great bargains, and sometimes you are getting what you pay for. Without extensive machinery experience or prior use, you just don't know.

I will Grizzly an A+ on documentation, they do a great job of that.

Although mostly Grizzly's quality/cost ratio is above average, sometimes you can do better. It may make more sense to go to a local machinery dealer and look at other brands of machines if you have a local dealer.

Lastly, Shop Fox is owned by Grizzly but is sold through retailers so you may want to look at those machines also.

[Danford C Jennings]

They just go around buying things from other countries and reselling them...

This is a totally untrue statement. Grizzly, whilst not an OEM, does contract out their equipment to their own specs. What is true, is that like any manufacturer/distributor, they are "stronger" in some areas than others...

Dano

[Cody Colston]

I replaced them with link belts and that completely eliminated any vibration at all.

Mine was the same...more vibration when new than it has now but still some. I think I'll go to the link belts, too.

Cody

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep
for that which he cannot lose.

[Jeffk]

Welcome to the forum Richard. I have Grizzly table saw, (G1023SLX), Band Saw, (G0513), Planer (G1037) and an old 6 inch jointer that I bought used from a friend and really like all of the them. I'm friends with a local custom cabinetmaker and he uses a lot of Grizzly stuff too. The only Grizzly tool that I've heard him speak bad about was an early drum sander that he couldn't keep a piece of sandpaper on no matter what he tried. I'm looking to buy a drill press in hte near future but I may not go with Grizzly because I'd like a little more quill travel than some of their machines offer. As stated above, Shop Fox is made by Grizzly but I don't think the quality is the same. Hope this helps. Jeff

[cachetogo]

Thanks Jeff, that helps a lot. I had been looking at the G1023SL table saw but I have seen a Ridgid with a fence that I really like. How do you feel about the fence on the Grizzly? Unless somebody changes my mind, I think I'm going to go with the Grizzly planer model number G0453. Again, thanks for the help.