New Toy Time

[Ken Garlock]

Yesterday I ventured over to a new-to-me woodworking store, Woodworks Supply Inc. (http://www.woodworkssupply.com/) It is located about 5 miles west of DFW airport. My reason for going 53 miles to the store is that they are just about the only General brand store in Texas. My real reason was to look at the General Mortiser offerings.

So I came away with a good size dent in the old credit card and this little gem. Note the speed square for size comparison:


43586

And another view.

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It is nearly all cast iron and weighs in at about 80 lbs. Now to build a stand/cabinet for the beast.

[Ken Garlock]

Well, the first try at posting this ended up in the off topic forum. (pay attention ken.) So, here goes again.

Yesterday I ventured over to a new-to-me woodworking store, Woodworks Supply Inc. It is located about 5 miles west of DFW airport. My reason for going 53 miles to the store is that they are just about the only General (http://www.general.ca/#) brand store in Texas. My real reason was to look at the General Mortiser offerings.

So I came away with a good size dent in the old credit card and this little gem, a 75-050T. Note the 8" speed square for size comparison:

43586

And another view.

43587

The head can rotate around the support post, and the support post with head will tilt 30 deg. left and right.

It is nearly all cast iron and weighs in at about 80 lbs. Now to build a stand/cabinet for the beast.

[Dennis Peacock]

Looks real nice Ken. Congrats on the new toy....errrrr, tool. :D

[Jim O'Dell]

Ken, nice toy..er...tool!! Yeah, that's it, tool!
I haven't been to their store yet, but I did talk to them at the Woodworking show last Dec. I'm hoping to stop by there one of these days, but my plastic will have to stay at home. :eek: Jim.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

I've heard good things about this one Ken.:cool: Let us know what you think of it.

[Corey Hallagan]

Congrats Ken! I have used Woodworkers Supply as a mail order store for quite a few years. This looks like a nice edition to the shop. Congrats and enjoy!

Corey

[Allen Bookout]

That's great Ken! I think that you are going to really like that machine from what I could find out in my research. I would consider buying that unit but when I look for dealers in Florida all that is listed is Woodcraft and Utter Guys and nither one shows any General products on their websites. I know that Woodcraft in Clearwater handles General but I was going to buy a General cabinetsaw from then last year and was told that I would have to wait until they had a load for Florida as they would not ship individual units so I bought a Unisaw from Woodworker's Supply and they shipped it right out to me. So for me, even if I could buy one here I would worry about parts and support. At least you have the dealer that actually has the procuct less than an hour away which would be a huge plus.

I think that I am going to buy a Woodtek 1HP from Woodworker's Supply. It has one half of a HP more than the General Int'l, which may or may not be an issue, but it does not have the ability to slant the head to drill angled mortises as does the General Int'l which I would like to have even if I never use it since I will be spending about seventy five percent of the price anyway. I understand that the General Int'l at the standard price also comes with a bit and chisel set which the Woodtek does not. Is this true? If so the price comes even closer togeather.

Anyway, I am still kind of on the fence and would be interested to hear what you have to say after you have run it through some test cuts.

Allen

[Frank Fusco]

Interesting. Seem to have good features. Their site doesn't give prices. Any idea what the 25-650 lathe costs?

[Allen Bookout]

Interesting. Seem to have good features. Their site doesn't give prices. Any idea what the 25-650 lathe costs?

Good luck Frank! I have not had much luck in finding out prices or places to buy any of their stuff. Exasperating for me.

Exasperate - "to irritate or annoy very much; make angry"

That is why I am looking elsewhere ---- again.

Allen

[Ken Garlock]

If you go to the Woodworks Supply website (http://www.woodworkssupply.com/), you can download a "promo flyer" that gives prices on a large subset of the General product line.

The 50T I bought was just $399 plus tax. The top of the line 1" mortiser was $899 as I recall.

While I was there, I looked around of course. The General International 3hp cabinet saw was IDENTICAL to my Bridgewood 10LTS. From what I have seen, many, not all, of their products can be purchased cheaper under different brand names.

[Allen Bookout]

That did it. Thanks Ken!

[Frank Fusco]

Good luck Frank! I have not had much luck in finding out prices or places to buy any of their stuff. Exasperating for me.

Exasperate - "to irritate or annoy very much; make angry"

That is why I am looking elsewhere ---- again.

Allen

Strange way to do business. The general (no pun intended) rule when selling anything is to give price up front. That way the potential customer pre-qualifies himself. Without prices there are often many frivolous inquiries. Oh, well, it's their biznezz.

[Marlow Wilson]

This is off on a bit of a tangent but the woodworking circle is perhaps the only one where in the purchasing of equipment I have been a HAPPY canadian. Usually I face constant exposure to more variety and better prices from American dealers but with the main Lee Valley (Veritas) distribution center in Ottawa and Lots of General dealers I've been very happy. The only thing I've gone to the states for is an Oneida (Sp?) dust collector in Syracuse.

Nice Toy Ken. Two thirds of the equipment in my shop in General (international) and it has all been great. Keep us up to date on how the tool works for you.

Cheers,

Marlow