Woodtek Equipment

[Kevin Herber]

I was looking at a catalog the other day and realized that I never hear anything about Woodtek equipment. Anyone have experience with it? What is it's reputation, quality etc? There must be a reason we don't hear of it here. I'm not looking to buy anything, just curious.

-- Kevin

[Mark Pruitt]

The only Woodtek tool I own is a miter trimmer. I've been happy with it. I've been curious at times as to why Woodtek gets left out of tool reviews constantly, especially when the owner of Woodworkers' Supply speaks so highly of their equipment.
Mark

[Steve Clardy]

Only seen it in their catalog.
I buy supplies, small tools from them.
Good company to deal with.
Haven't ever seen a woodtek in the wild.

[Joe Meazle]

I have had ther 15" $600 planer for a few months. No cmplaints yet. The color scheme is not the best. But seems to work just fine.
Joe

[Kent Fitzgerald]

especially when the owner of Woodworkers' Supply speaks so highly of their equipment.
To paraphrase the old Remington ad, he liked them so much he bought the company!

[Gary Keedwell]

I have their 15 gage angled air nailer. Had it over ten years with no troubles. At the time it was rated best for not marring the wood. I also have their belt and disc sander...which works great.
Gary K.

[Dan Lyman]

For me it's the fact that they look ugly and more antiquated in general, which could just be tied to the colors. I like things that look nice. Now if tehre were lots of reports about how good they were, that might override the the aesthetics, but there is not much feedback on them, so I never really considered them.

[Bill Stoffels]

I have had a 3 hp Woodtek "Chiwaneese" dust collector for about 8 years . It works great to this day.

[Jesse Cloud]

One of Woodworker's Supply three locations is here in Albuquerque, so I see lots of woodtek around. I don't have any myself, but several friends have their jointers and sanders. Haven't heard any complaints. They seem to have good resale value out here, which speaks well of them.

IMHO, their prices are all over the map. Some of their machines are real bargains, while others seem pricey.

In any case, I agree with Steve, the company is a good one and they stand by what they sell.

[Bruce Page]

Woodworkers Supply is a great company to deal with; most of my shop came from the local store here in ABQ. I see the Woodtek line every time I go into the store and like Dan, I think it’s ugly stuff.

[Allen Bookout]

I do not have any Woodtec machines but I did see one test that included a Woodtec. It was in the Fine Woodworking August 2005 issue testing benchtop moritsers and they gave the Woodtec 138-224 the best value award. Had good things to say about it.

I will have to agree that they are not the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. A new paint job would do wonders.

[Dave Bonde]

I have a Woodtek 2 hp dust collector that outperforms my 2 hp delta I have at school by a long ways, I also have a 3 hp shaper and there disc belt sander I have owned all more than 10 years and have never had a problem with any of it. Dave

[Brad Kimbrell]

I have a friend that has very good equipment in his shop and he was very happy to luck into a 3-head shaper from Woodtek. A WW shop was closing and had only built 2 projects so it's almost brand new.

He is very proud of the machine and says it's "the nuts".

[Alan Turner]

I have two Woodtek machines, both for many years. One is the 20", 4 post planer, and the other a 6 x 89 edge sander. Both have been fine. They were what I could afford at the time.

[Mike Leone]

I've had the woodtek 6 inch jointer for 10-12 years never had a problem, works great.

[Kevin Herber]

These responses are very interesting. Aesthetics aside, maybe Woodtek gets the ultimate kudos: "No news is good news." It appears that their stuff does just what it was designed to do, no more, no less... I'll certainly consider them for future purchases.

Thanks for the input -- Kevin

[Kyle Kraft]

Do you suppose a simple change of color/accents could take a sleeper line of machinery and wake it up in the marketplace? Personally I'm drawn to lighter colors, such as off white. If the machinery is all made in the same Taiwanese factory to roughly the same specs (they are all competing with each other in similar markets), I'll take the stuff with the colors I like. I don't think you can save any money by buying low cost machinery and then disassembling/repainting to your liking (unless its old iron and you have it gutted anyway)....just my opinion

[Jim Becker]

Aside from the paint job, many of the Woodtek machines are pretty much the same machines as sold by other private labels and even some of the major labels. (in-factory inspection/specs notwithstanding) They may very well be a practical choice for some folks, especially when the geography is right where for others, another brand like Bridgewood/Yorkcraft might be a better choice due to logistics.

[scott spencer]

Packers fans love Woodtek! :D

[John Wirth]

For me it's the fact that they look ugly and more antiquated in general, which could just be tied to the colors. I like things that look nice. Now if tehre were lots of reports about how good they were, that might override the the aesthetics, but there is not much feedback on them, so I never really considered them.

4/13/2006

We have been importing machinery and marketing it under the Woodtek brand since 1986. Some of the machines we have designed from scratch. Others are existing machines that we have made engineering changes to.

Our overriding objective with the Woodtek equipment is to offer the best VALUE (ratio of what you get to what you pay) of woodworking machinery at affordable prices. The reality today is that virtually all woodworking machinery that satisfy these objectives are made in Taiwan or China. BTW, the US is only about 20% of worldwide ww machinery market served by manufacturers in Taiwan and China.

The colors were chosen years ago by a dear friend of mine, Andrew Bol, who passed away in 1986 at the age of 43 from cancer. He found the colors on a visit to the basement of the Smithsonian where he saw a lot of beautiful turn-of-the century cast iron woodworking machinery restored to their original condition. The machines used the same yellow and green.

They are about the same color that John Deere uses and they have a been pretty successful company. However, I have discovered peoples’ preferences for colors are about as heterogeneous as political views.

We are in the process of changing the Woodtek colors and the Woodtek logo. We are leaning towards a brighter yellow and a lighter green. I like the brighter yellow because we place it in areas of the machine where people should be alert. The name plaque will be cast bronze with raised letters.
<O:p
Any suggestions you may have will be seriously considered.
<O:p
Best regards,
John Wirth, PhD Engg. :)
President, Owner and Founder
Woodworker's Supply, Inc.
john@woodworker.com<O:p></O:p>
<O:p
<O:p

[Alan Turner]

JOhn,
Welcome, old friend, to a very friendly forum. Feel free to hang around a bit.

[tod evans]

john, i think that if a good friend who passed prematurely picked colors for you then to he$$ with the marketing geniuses and designers! stick to your guns and stand by your old friends choice......02 tod

edit; sorry john, welcome!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Welcome to the Creek John! I'm with Tod......if you made those colors Woodtek colors on recommendations from a deceased friend....tell the marketing people to take a hike! Again........Welcome to the Creek!

[John Bailey]

John,

Welcome to the Creek. You'll find some pretty strong opinions here, some about the merits of imports, but it's always pretty civil dialogue. I'm completely with Todd on this one, keep the colours of the old friend. Of course, I like green anything, and John Deer green especially.

Again, welcome to the Creek.

John

[Steve Clardy]

Welcome to the creek John. Glad to see you on board.
I have gotten great service from your company for several years now.

[Mac McAtee]

I have a Woodtek 8" jointer that I bought from Woodworkers Supply here in North Carolina. There is a very large woodworking (furniture oriented) trade show in Greensboro and it was a show special. That was about 3 years ago. It has been trouble free and quite satisfactory. The only change I would make to it is a magnetic switch. I would rather have a start/stop switch that doesn't allow a restart on current failure and restoration. But that is a minor issue and I can fix that anytime I take it more seriously.

I would not hesatate to buy another Woodtek machine if I were in the market for something they sell.

[Bruce Page]

4/13/2006
We are in the process of changing the Woodtek colors and the Woodtek logo. We are leaning towards a brighter yellow and a lighter green. I like the brighter yellow because we place it in areas of the machine where people should be alert. The name plaque will be cast bronze with raised letters.
<O:p
Any suggestions you may have will be seriously considered.
<O:p
Best regards,
John Wirth, PhD Engg. :)
President, Owner and Founder
Woodworker's Supply, Inc.
john@woodworker.com<O:p></O:p>
<O:p
<O:p
Yikes! I probably just lost my VIP status at WWS! :eek:

John, welcome to SMC!

[Allen Bookout]

Thanks for joining in John!

Knowing the story of the colors make the machines look a whole lot better. Sorry that I made my comment. At least I said that the mortiser took an award and I also bought my Unisaw from you so maybe I will be forgiven.

By the way, your personnel were excellent in the way that they handled the sale and delivery of my Uni.

Thanks! Allen

[Jim W. White]

Welcome John,

Hope you stay plugged in here! I just wanted to say that WWS is BY FAR my favorite place to mail order my woodworking supplies from. You guys are the greatest. I also wanted to let you know that I VERY MUCH appreciate your program of knocking off the shipping costs for orders linked through Toolseeker; very cool!

...Jim in Idaho

[Andy Hoyt]

Welcome John. Loyal follower here - been with you since early eighties which means that I used to have to mail you a check to buy something; and in my head I still refer to you as WWS of NM.

Don't fire your marketing arm, just light a fire under 'em; and get those machines some publicity.

[Gary Keedwell]

I may be in the minority, but I have always loved the Woodtec color. I think my two woodtec machines are the cat's meow. Best looking in my shop!! Don't mess with the paint, please.

Gary K.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Welcome to the Creek, John. As others have said, I hope you can stick around and share your experience with us. We're all a pretty civil group of folks, except when the turners get into a bit too much exotics and CA. (Even then, they're civil...just incomprehensible.) :D

If I still lived in Albuquerque, you'd probably know me by now. ;) I remember when you first opened up the store off I-25.

- Vaughn

[Reg Mitchell]

Greeting John
like your stuff. like the colors welcome to the Creek and hang for a bit. Nice guys here and not all of them like the OTHER green machines that appear sometimes......:D

[Bryan Somers]

Kevin Thanks for starting this thread. I am about 15 min from a Woodworkers Supply but like many I have never heard anything good or bad about the line.

John thanks for joining in and giving us insight. Ill look closer at your product being that my wish list is rather long