Steel city planers

[BARRY RESNICK]

The Steel city planers look like the PM planers yet they have straight knives over the spiral blades.

They also have polyurethane outfeed rollers.

Does anyone have the 15" planer?

What is the quality like?

They now have $100 rebate plus my dealer will give 10% off. Therefore I'll get it for $1130. Is this a good deal?

Should I save my money and get a PM?

[James Williams 007]

I am in the market for a planer and have looked at the powermatic and the Steel City side by side and the quality is the same. As to the spiral cutter head I don't know if I like the flex knife spiral design setup on the powermatic it's easy to change and may give a little better finish in figured stuff but thats arguable. However if you have a nic in a knife I don't think you can shift it to the side. The steel city is what I would go with for the money. Whats up with the rebate?

[Nancy Laird]

The Steel city planers look like the PM planers yet they have straight knives over the spiral blades.

They also have polyurethane outfeed rollers.

Does anyone have the 15" planer?

What is the quality like?

They now have $100 rebate plus my dealer will give 10% off. Therefore I'll get it for $1130. Is this a good deal?

Should I save my money and get a PM?


I am in the market for a planer and have looked at the powermatic and the Steel City side by side and the quality is the same. As to the spiral cutter head I don't know if I like the flex knife spiral design setup on the powermatic it's easy to change and may give a little better finish in figured stuff but thats arguable. However if you have a nic in a knife I don't think you can shift it to the side. The steel city is what I would go with for the money. Whats up with the rebate?

We have the Steel City 15" planer and it is great!!! Fit and finish were flawless. It came out of the crate ready to roll-just had to attach the infeed and outfeed tables. One minor problem: the battery in the digital readout was dead. One call to SCTW and we not only got two new batteries, but also a new readout "just in case." We have over 200 bd/ft of maple to push through it and have already planed some walnut, cherry, and oak with it, and it gives a finish ready for the ROS. We have the straight knives, but intend to buy a helical head for it in the near future...saves on sharpening costs.:D

The Steel City planer has a 5-year warranty, (Yeah, I know, so does PM) and you can reach a live person on the phone, quite unlike PM. SCTW has a company policy that the phone will NOT ring more than 3 times before a live person picks it up--everyone there is on phone duty. No "press 1 for English", no phone tree, just a real person on the other end of the phone. When LOML called SCTW about the battery in our planer, "Scott" answered the phone and handled the call. Scott? Just Scott Box, VP of US Operations for SCTW. When was the last time you were able to reach an executive of PM??

Buy the Steel City--you won't be sorry.

Nancy (96 days)


The $100 mail-in rebate is good until March 31, 2008. If your dealer will give you 10% off, you should jump on it. You won't find a better planer anywhere.

[Dwain Lambrigger]

Wow,

With a policy like that, I am going to invest in Steel City. Are their machines made in Taiwan, or mainland China?

Just curious. I take CS into heavy consideration with every purchase.

Thanks for the info!

[Nancy Laird]

SCTW's manufacturing plant is on mainland China. They own their own manufacturing facility--none of the cookie-cutter plants for them. They do manufacture machines for a couple of other brands, but I'm not sure which ones. They built their own plant because they wanted to have better control over the QA than they could get at a cookie-cutter plant. They also own their own quarry in China where they are quarrying the granite they are using on the cabinet saws, band saws, and jointer fences.

The guys who work there--Scott, Tom, Jim, and Mark--and all the others are straight-up guys. They started the company to "build a better mousetrap" and so far they have succeeded.

Nancy (96 days)

[BARRY RESNICK]

Nancy,

Do you have any close up photos?

The rebate is for some Steel city machine bought from 9/07 to 3/08.

[Dave Laird in NM]

Nancy,

Do you have any close up photos?

The rebate is for some Steel city machine bought from 9/07 to 3/08.

Give me 15 minutes and I will!

N

[Nancy Laird]

Barry, here are the pics I just took (Dave had to blow away the sawdust first!)

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The digital readout

72054

Infeed side

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One of the table trunnions (there are four)

72056

0utfeed side with the DC hood attached

72057

The knob behind the two wires is one of two to lock the table in place

Next....

[Nancy Laird]

Here are more:

72058

On/off box

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72060

72062

Both above are the 15" planer sitting next to the 6" wedge-bed jointer with the 68" bed.

72061

And that gorgeous Steel City logo

Nancy (96 days)

[BARRY RESNICK]

Thanks for the photos. It looks like a tank.

Are the mobility casters good? Is it esy to move around since the wheels don't swivel?

[James Williams 007]

You said that your dealer is giving you 10% off. Why are they doing that and where are they...I am looking at an older powermatic but if that dosent work out I would be interested in the steel city if i could work the deal your getting!

[Nancy Laird]

Barry, we haven't tried to move it since we put it in place. Our DC system is pretty permanent so we don't have a need to move it, but IIRC, it wasn't a bear to move into place.

Nancy (96 days)

[Nancy Laird]

You said that your dealer is giving you 10% off. Why are they doing that and where are they...I am looking at an older powermatic but if that dosent work out I would be interested in the steel city if i could work the deal your getting!

James, PM sent.

Nancy (96 days)

[James Williams 007]

I've moved one at the dealers and it glides really well. Of course it is a hefty machine so don't plan on turning on a dime:)

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Nancy or Barry,
When you take a very light cut on your SCTW planer, do you see any serration marks from the infeed roller? I understand the outfeed roller is made from smooth urethane.
-Jeff :)

[Nancy Laird]

Short answer: No. The infeed roller is steel, not urethane.

Nancy (96 days)

[BARRY RESNICK]

I believe the infeed is the serrated steel roller. The outfeed is urethane.

[Greg Crawford]

This thread has better pics of the machines than the Steel City web site. I've heard so much about how great SCTW is, but I've never seen one in person, and they just haven't done much to show off what they have. If someone from SCTW is reading this, please show us more of what you have!

[Nancy Laird]

Greg,

I've just sent Scott Box a link to this thread in an e-mail--not to brag on my photos, but to relay your suggestion. We'll see what happens.

Nancy (96 days)

[Dick Rowe]

When you take a very light cut on your SCTW planer, do you see any serration marks from the infeed roller? I understand the outfeed roller is made from smooth urethane.
-Jeff :)

Jeff,

I am also the proud owner of a 15" SC planer, and yes, if you take extremely light passes you will see slight serration marks. Easily scraped or sanded off, however.

As far as moving the unit .. it will move forward and backward quite easily on my concrete basement floor with the built-in rubber casters, but it doesn't swivel at all. The unit has handles on both sides so that you can lift it slightly to turn it when needed, but it won't turn in place on it's own casters.

I am completely satisfied with this planer and would buy another just like it if I had to.

["Michael Hinkel"]

I am a hobby woodworker. I have the Planer and 8in. jointer. I agree with Nancy 100%. The only exception is that the people I deal with delivered the machines to my shop, set up, ready to go.

[John Thompson]

I don't have the 15" Steel City planer.. but I almost had it.. I have gone over it and it is solid and well designed. Two days before I was going to puchase it at Redmond and Son Machinery here in Atlanta.. I stumbled into a "close-out" of the Yorkcraft "20" planer for $1200 and couldn't refuse the extra capacity as I use some very wide stock on occasion.

I do have the Steel City 8" jointer and 18" BS and as all Steel City machines... they are solid and extremely well designed as I have come to expect from Steel City. With that in mind and a 5 Year Warranty.. if I were just starting purchasing my shop machines (and that took place beginning 35 years ago), the color of my shop would be about all Steel City grey.

Next up for me is selling my current DP (which has been great but doesn't have 6" quill travel with a split head for adjustment) and getting the Steel City DP which does.

Good luck with your decision...

Sarge..