Grizzly Table Saw Polished

[John M Bailey]

During the tent sale, I had a chance to look the Grizzly table saws over good, and I was extremely impressed with the polished surface of the table. It seemed to me that they have some of the best surface of any saw I have ever looked at, including the Unisaw, PM, and General. In the showroom, this seemed to carry over to every power tool with a cast top, planers, bandsaws, jointers.
This is the first time I looked at a Grizzly up close, I was just not expecting the glass smooth surface.

[Chuck Saunders]

I was thinking the same thing while I was cleaning up the tablesaw I bought at the tent sale. It used to be that Powermatic always had the best finish and Delta had a much coarser Blanchard grind.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I have noticed that cast iron with a more highly polished surface appears to be less slippery than a coarser ground. It's kind of the opposite of what I would imagine.

With my 20+ year old Unisaw, I could actually put my fingernail in the machined scratches.

Some European machines use a 'cordouroy-like' grind as can be seen on the new Jet 12" jointer/planer combo. The claim is that it is more slippery because there is no created suction between the board and surface as with a finely ground surface finish.

I imagine that a fine ground looks better in the showroom. However, like white lawnmower bags, they quickly become tarnished and stained in use.

-Jeff :)

[Matt Tawes]

I like the looks of the polished tops and they're slick when waxed but its true that a slight texture or grind to the tops reduces surface tension and static friction that actually makes slick tops kinda grippy unless kept polished/waxed.

[Paul Ryan]

I seem to remember a powermatic that was made years ago I think it was a 66 with a real highly polished table. Some say it almost looked like it was crome. If I remember correctly the compaint about that saw was the "suction" created when pushing a large board. The drag between the table and wood was more than other grinds so the saw sold poorly. If you want a table saw that is as slick as ice almost, try a waxed grainte saw!

[glenn bradley]

The Griz surfaces I have are indeed pretty. The (Orion/SC) top and wings of my TS are also very smooth. The tops of my 1940's Delta DP and 1950's C-man secondary TS are quite nice as well. +1 on waxing; it ain't that hard and don't take that long. Do it ;-)