Delta 8 inch Jointer advice and value

[Michael Shoffner]

Hey crew. I'm looking to upgrade from my 6" jointer to an 8 inch. I've been stalking the Grizzly jointers online, but they are on back order and won't be into the warehouse until May 17 per the sales lady at Grizzly. I may still go that route, but in the mean time, I have found a fella selling his 8" Delta Professional jointer. It looks to be very well kept from the pictures. He's a few hours away from me, so I have not seen it in person.
He's asking $800 for it. I'm wondering what you guys think about this price?
357251 357252

[Cary Falk]

It is Delta so I would say too much. You probably already know that the G0656 is $895 with free shipping when they arrive.

[Andrew Hughes]

If I needed a 8 I would go inspect it if everything checked out to my liking I'd buy it.
Its better to inspect a jointer before you buy it.New jointers come with too much + or minus tolerances fro my liking.
Also try to haggle the price.

[Michael Shoffner]

Yes I saw that and mentioned that to the owner as well. His comment back was that this was "American iron" and a far superior machine to the Grizzly. I'm not so sure about that. The Griz has a 3hp motor and runs on 220. His Delta is a 1.5hp and wired for 110v. The 110v is appealing since I won't have to run a 220 line in my shop. I have not seen any online comments about it being underpowered.

[Michael Shoffner]

If I needed a 8 I would go inspect it if everything checked out to my liking I'd buy it.
Its better to inspect a jointer before you buy it.New jointers come with too much + or minus tolerances fro my liking.
Also try to haggle the price.

Agreed on going to inspect it first.. It's just 3.5 hours away from me, so that's a big commitment just to go kick the tires. I offered him $500, but he says he won't budge on price.

[Adam Merritt]

I almost pulled the trigger on a Grizzly G1018 with a brand new (Still in the box Byrd head) last Friday. The guy was moving and had an Industrial SawStop with 52'' fence for $3k (my new SawStop was delivered 2 weeks prior or I would have jumped on it), the jointer, a G0453 planer with helical head that I did buy, and a band saw. He was asking $875 for the jointer with the Byrd head, but I didn't like that it was only a 110v 1.5HP (all my other stuff is 220v) and a little rusty (not beyond repair). When I turned it down, he offered it at $675. On-site, he even offered to throw in a harbor freight dust collector to get it all out of his garage ($150 estimated value from him). Probably a great deal considering the price of the Byrd head alone, but I couldn't shake the feeling in my gut to not buy it, so I left it there. I've been curious if I made the right decision since. In the end, I like the ideal of a parallelogram jointer, and larger 3hp motor; knowing myself, if I didn't get exactly what I wanted, I would regret it for years to come until I finally bought the one I wanted in the beginning.

[Chris Hachet]

Yes I saw that and mentioned that to the owner as well. His comment back was that this was "American iron" and a far superior machine to the Grizzly. I'm not so sure about that. The Griz has a 3hp motor and runs on 220. His Delta is a 1.5hp and wired for 110v. The 110v is appealing since I won't have to run a 220 line in my shop. I have not seen any online comments about it being underpowered.Either the Grizzly or the Delta will work. Older American iron is not always better than Asian imported iron. Grizzly joiners are used in professional and commercial cabinet shops, often for several hours a day.

Running a 220 line to the shop is fairly simple, and will allow you to run more machines in the future. I like the way more powerful 220 machines run personally.

To me, I would take the opposite approach-find an older 3 phase machine and run a VFD. I just happen to have a thing for 3 phase motors, and I like the aesthetic of Iron older than the Delta in question.

Not sure why waiting a month or so to buy a jointer is a bad thing. Do you have several projects that need done over the next month where you will use it? the big cost here is fuel, food, vehicle wear and tear, and time for an 8 hour trip. That easily adds a chunk...figure your time is probably worth $20 an hour, 400 miles is easily a hundred dollars of vehicle cost, food is another 25, and you only have so much free time.

Food $25, fuel $35, Wear and tear $100, your time $160-You have just added $320 to your quest on a machine that might be a complete bust.

Just my two cents.

[Cary Falk]

His comment back was that this was "American iron" and a far superior machine to the Grizzly.

Maybe 20 years ago. So many jointer options out there to go with Delta at that price. Delta is dead. The seller must not have gotten the memo. You have to hunt for parts. Nothing wrong with old iron if it is at the right price.

[Chris Hachet]

I almost pulled the trigger on a Grizzly G1018 with a brand new (Still in the box Byrd head) last Friday. The guy was moving and had an Industrial SawStop with 52'' fence for $3k (my new SawStop was delivered 2 weeks prior or I would have jumped on it), the jointer, a G0453 planer with helical head that I did buy, and a band saw. He was asking $875 for the jointer with the Byrd head, but I didn't like that it was only a 110v 1.5HP (all my other stuff is 220v) and a little rusty (not beyond repair). When I turned it down, he offered it at $675. On-site, he even offered to throw in a harbor freight dust collector to get it all out of his garage ($150 estimated value from him). Probably a great deal considering the price of the Byrd head alone, but I couldn't shake the feeling in my gut to not buy it, so I left it there. I've been curious if I made the right decision since. In the end, I like the ideal of a parallelogram jointer, and larger 3hp motor; knowing myself, if I didn't get exactly what I wanted, I would regret it for years to come until I finally bought the one I wanted in the beginning.This is actually amazingly good and clear thinking IMHO. Thank you for a very rational and thoughtful post. Every dime or every minute you spend working towards what you don't want pushes you further away from what you do. So many people loose sight of this. There is actually a formal philosophical title for the fallacy of sunk costs...as humans we justify bad decisions because we already have time and money invested in them.

The easiest and clearest solution is not to make a sub optimal decision in the first place.

[Chris Hachet]

Maybe 20 years ago. So many jointer options out there to go with Delta at that price. Delta is dead. The seller must not have gotten the memo. You have to hunt for parts. Nothing wrong with old iron if it is at the right price.By Comparison at the OWWM site a restored Oliver 144 was up a few weeks ago for a grand. if you wanted vintage American iron there are MUCH more interesting options than a run of the mill Delta...

[Chris Hachet]

If I needed a 8 I would go inspect it if everything checked out to my liking I'd buy it.
Its better to inspect a jointer before you buy it.New jointers come with too much + or minus tolerances fro my liking.
Also try to haggle the price.Often once something has been on Craiglist for awhile people become very willing to negotiate. Time is in the OP's favor, not the sellers at this point.

[andrew whicker]

The roll around stand looks nice. I don't know as much as others here, but in Utah that's not a bad price.

I didn't know people considered delta old American iron?

East Coasters seem to have their pick. Mountain states kind of have to pay premiums.

Also not included in that Oliver cost is shipment. Plus if you're converting to single phase, that's a cost.

Running 220v wasn't easy for me. I had the electricians give me an extra 100 amps at the meter with a separate 100 amp breaker. I then dug a 20 ft trench and laid electrical to my garage. Installed sub panel, etc. Not always easy.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Myself, I would stay away from the Delta. It's a dead company. Consider Grizzly's 8" long bed jointer with the spiral head if you like. I have it and wouldn't trade it for anything. A great machine.

Red

[Chris Hachet]

Myself, I would stay away from the Delta. It's a dead company. Consider Grizzly's 8" long bed jointer with the spiral head if you like. I have it and wouldn't trade it for anything. A great machine.

RedParts are available used, but why put yourself through that for a plain Jaine 8 inch jointer? Why pay nearly new prices for a 25 year old machine when you can buy a nice machine new?

Personally, I like Grizzly's current line of jointers quite well. Getting a nice 3 HP motor is a nice bonus also.

[Nick Stokes]

I have a DJ-20. I run it with the original strait knives on 110v power. Works great. However, I got it for an almost free price. 800 is close to what it would sell for around here though. Not that that's a good deal... i'm just saying thats what someone would buy it for.

[Matt Day]

Where are you located? An Enco 8" popped up here for $400 or so.

I'd pass at $800 since it's got a smaller motor. I sold my Shop Fox 8" parallelogram (White Grizzly) for $70" IIRC.

[Michael Shoffner]

Asheville NC....so that Enco is a long way from me

[Michael Shoffner]

Well gang, you pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. That price is too high.
Thanks for all your advice!
I'm most likely sprial head bound at Grizzly.

[Chris Hachet]

The roll around stand looks nice. I don't know as much as others here, but in Utah that's not a bad price.

I didn't know people considered delta old American iron?

East Coasters seem to have their pick. Mountain states kind of have to pay premiums.

Also not included in that Oliver cost is shipment. Plus if you're converting to single phase, that's a cost.

Running 220v wasn't easy for me. I had the electricians give me an extra 100 amps at the meter with a separate 100 amp breaker. I then dug a 20 ft trench and laid electrical to my garage. Installed sub panel, etc. Not always easy.All extremely valid points, my thought was that if you were going to pay a premium for used equipment it ought to be interesting used equipment.

Dollar for Dollar, the Griz is a better use of money in terms of woodworking. If one wanted to avoid Chinese equipment for political reasons or wanted to have an all Delta work shop or something, there are plenty of rational reasons for buying the Delta the OP posted up.

However best use of woodworking $ is not one of them IMHO.

[Chris Hachet]

Well gang, you pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. That price is too high.
Thanks for all your advice!
I'm most likely sprial head bound at Grizzly.I think that's a really, really good decision. You will really enjoy your new jointer, good luck!

[john hejmanowski]

I had that delta. It was made in China. Bought it for $300. Sold it for $500 and I was glad to be rid of it. I also had a 1970s Delta. It was much better.

[lawrence dosson]

Yep I have that model jointer as said jointer itself is made in China bottom half is usa that is why the tag shown (on the bottom cabinet )says usa the jointer tag says China
That machine has two I'd tags
The one I have works fine I have had it for years never has been a problem
Not much to go wrong on a jointer but I would not pay more than 5 or 6 hundred for it

[Erik Manchester]

I have a Brazilian Invicta (Delta) DJ20 from the 80's that is perfectly true and I have 4 sets of 18% tungsten knives so I won't be going with a spiral head anytime soon. While I am not averse to a bigger old iron jointer, nothing like that is commonly found in my neck of the woods. The DJ20 will never need anything but belts, bearings and blades so the lack of Delta spares is not a concern. The most important thing with any jointer is the flatness of the tables and whether they are coplanar. The parallelogram adjustment is easy and simple. Lots of decent Asian jointers available but I would be concerned with cast iron moving a bit when new. If it is a few years old and true then it likely isn't going to move. The old iron often had highly desirable meehanite cast iron but it isn't commonly found in new tools aimed at the hobby woodworker.