6" Jointer /Delta/Steel City/General INT/ your reviews please

[Graham Skinner]

Hi Again guys.

In a couple of weeks I am planing to buy a 6" Jointer.
I have three earmarked at the moment, as they are in my local tool store and the guy there says he will do a FREE DELIVERY as I live very close.

1) Is the 37-275X 6" Delta X5. $599.00 cnd after mail in rebait.

2) Is the Steel City 6" Deluxe model. $729.00 cnd after mail in rebait.

3) Is the General INT 80-100 M1 6" jointer, on sale at $799.00 cnd.

So what I want to know is that if you guys have one of these jointers, please could you write a quick review of it, to help me decide who to go with.

At the momment I am leaning towards the Delta X5 due to the price but the Guy at the store says the base is not as stable as the others when jointing heavy stock, and I would find it very helpfull if the X5 owners would let me know if this is correct on not.

Thanks For Reading This...Regards ...Graham....

[Tony De Masi]

Graham,

I don't own either of the three you have indicated, PM54A here, but I find it quite interesting that the SALESMAN is trying to steer you away from the least expensive of the three:confused: I just have to wonder why.

Tony

[Graham Skinner]

Tony, Do you know I never even thought about that:eek: (this would make sense if the sales guy was payed by commision).

By the way I would love a powermatic 6" jointer of any other of thier tools, but the fact is they are not sold in Canada:mad: .

Thanks for that thought anyhow, and it will be intresting to see what the other forum users think about it.

Regards....Graham....

[scott spencer]

Any of those should serve you well. FWIW, I had the same thought that Tony did about the salesperson's comment. That jointer always seemed pretty stable to me.

Have you considered stepping up to an 8" jointer?

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I have the X5. It's plenty stable. Consider Scott's suggestion & look at the 8"ers. Not sure what the deal is with getting them to Canada but Grizzly should be worth a look.

The only reason I got the X5 was because I got an incredible deal on Amazon. Otherwise I would have gone with an 8". It is a solid jointer, though.

[Lewis Cobb]

Tony, Do you know I never even thought about that:eek: (this would make sense if the sales guy was payed by commision).

By the way I would love a powermatic 6" jointer of any other of thier tools, but the fact is they are not sold in Canada:mad: .

Thanks for that thought anyhow, and it will be intresting to see what the other forum users think about it.

Regards....Graham....


Graham - I've got some good news for you - you CAN get Powermatic in Canada - with full warranty service and support. I got this from the Canada rep a few days ago when he sent me a mail after he discovered I was shopping a large purchase (jointer, planer, and PM2000 all at the same time) in the US. He claims they will work directly off the US price, and you will only pay for duties and taxes like you normally would if you bought the gear in the US and brought it up yourself. They are going to be in Canada officially in Jan 08 but they have the dealers, service centers etc. all set up now from what I hear.

He quoted me some attractive info on shipping and he's checking for me right now to find me a dealer that will work with me on price and service in my area - I told him to make sure the dealer will deal in US currency cause I already have the money exchanged and sitting in my US account as I am that close to pulling the trigger. PM me with your e-mail address and I will keep you abrest of info and give you his contact info if you are interested in this.

Lewis

[John Hain]

Every one of those are over-priced.

I bought the Delta X5 on amazon for $300 something a couple years ago. I would recommend saving a bit more and getting the Grizzly 0490 (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0490). (http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0490) That jointer is better, wider, beefier.

A six inch jointer isn't the smart buy, especially at those prices.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

I bought the Delta X5 on amazon for $300 something a couple years ago.

Would that be $335 with a free mobile base & free shipping (after rebates)?

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[John Hain]

Would that be $335 with a free mobile base & free shipping (after rebates)?

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Indeed :D. They regularly drop to $399 at least a couple times per year.

[Graham Skinner]

Thanks for the replys Guys.

The reason I am looking for a 6" and not a "8 jointer is because I just do not have the space for it in my shop, and I need to be able to move it around easily when I need to do something else.(please see my post and pics of my shop posted yesterday).
Also I only have 120v at this time and I do not want to upgrade at the momment in case i decide to move next year.

The price's that I gave you are correct for "CANADA" as we always have to pay more for things up here :confused: .

As far as I know Grizzly will not ship to Canada as is the same with Amazon.

So that kind of narrows it to the three jointers that I mentioned.

Thanks again...Graham...

[Graham Skinner]

Hi Lewis.

Thanks for that info, it will be great to have another brand tool to choose from, lets hope they get them in to the Canadian stores soon:).

By the way, I am in North York, Ontario, are you living close to me?

Thanks again...Graham...

[Lewis Cobb]

Hi Lewis.

Thanks for that info, it will be great to have another brand tool to choose from, lets hope they get them in to the Canadian stores soon:).

Thanks again...Graham...


No problem.

Good luck in your search for the ideal jointer for your shop.

[Andrew Thuswaldner]

I'm also in Canada but I'm not going to pay the higher prices anymore. A little trick I've learned is that we can ship to the UPS store in Ogdensburg NY and then go and pick up the goods within a few days. My friend saved $100's of dollars on car tires for a 2 hour drive. He's tells me he's going to save $600-700 on a snow blower if he buys from Lowe's. If you are in North York it takes you forever to get anywhere by car anyway so why not look at Buffalo NY?
How bad are the prices up here in Canada, some of our US brethren might be asking? Well, that Bosch 1590 jigsaw that some of you own costs us (with tax) about $260! That's $100 more than what you guys are paying! Don't mind the currency exchange, it's pretty much the same thing today.
When I look at the Grizzly website and the prices, and from what I hear from the US folks the quality is great, I feel very envious. I'm thinking about getting a jointer myself and that Grizzly stuff looks pretty sweet.

Who has anything bad to say about Grizzly? I just keep hearing good things.

Andrew

[Lewis Cobb]

I'm also in Canada but I'm not going to pay the higher prices anymore. A little trick I've learned is that we can ship to the UPS store in Ogdensburg NY and then go and pick up the goods within a few days. My friend saved $100's of dollars on car tires for a 2 hour drive. He's tells me he's going to save $600-700 on a snow blower if he buys from Lowe's. If you are in North York it takes you forever to get anywhere by car anyway so why not look at Buffalo NY?
How bad are the prices up here in Canada, some of our US brethren might be asking? Well, that Bosch 1590 jigsaw that some of you own costs us (with tax) about $260! That's $100 more than what you guys are paying! Don't mind the currency exchange, it's pretty much the same thing today.
When I look at the Grizzly website and the prices, and from what I hear from the US folks the quality is great, I feel very envious. I'm thinking about getting a jointer myself and that Grizzly stuff looks pretty sweet.

Who has anything bad to say about Grizzly? I just keep hearing good things.

Andrew

Hi Andrew - There's an even better way to beat the gouging going on up here in Canada - find a drop ship location in a border town. Here in New Brunswick, there's a bunch of fellows on the American side that are accepting parcels and shipments for Canadians for a small fee (a few dollars per parcel). I went to see one of them a few weeks back and the place was floor to ceiling with winter tires - in fact, there was one shipment that was for a tire DEALER here in NB even. I asked the fellow what the biggest item he has received and it was a boat - haha.

He pointed out many things people are using this technique for - all legal - as they are just clearing the stuff back across themselves and paying the taxes -
- US rebate cheques for offers only good in the US
- Good old Amazon tool purchases
- Yes - even grizzly tools on a regular basis
- Magazine subscriptions
- the list went on and on.

Obviously some of the stuff does not make sense unless you are very close, but for a large item like jointers, planers, tablesaws it's a no brainer. I was looking at the Grizzly stuff myself until I got interested in Powermatic - now I am studying their website on a daily basis :D

I'm ordering myself up one of those BOsch jigsaw as well in the next little while.

Ask around - you may find an even better place to ship to than UPS. Many things are shipping free in the US and these drop points can accept parcels unlike a post office box.

Good Luck,
Lewis

[Andrew Thuswaldner]

Hi Lewis,

The UPS in Ogdensburg NY is about as close to Ottawa as you can find.
On the jointer question, do you think the Powermatic will be better than Grizzly for the same price? Or do you think it will be a better quality tool? There may be some good reasons but if I can get an 8" Grizzly for $200 less than a 6" Powermatic then, space considerations aside, why would I buy the Powermatic?

Andrew

[Graham Skinner]

Hi Andrew.

Thanks for stepping in, I would also like to know if the powermatic tools are so much better than Grizzly to warrant such a large price difference, and what about the JET range of power tools "are they any good?.
maybe the owners of these tools in the USA would let us know what they think of them (please).
I for one think that the Powermatic stuff looks like the ROLLS ROYCE of the tool world, but haveing never seen one "let alone use one" would not want to say for sure.
I understand that Jet shop tools were once sold in Canada (what happened to them:confused:).

Thanks again...Graham...

[Rick Thom]

Who has anything bad to say about Grizzly? I just keep hearing good things.

Andrew

Bad...They won't ship to Canada.
I live in Pickering.

[Graham Skinner]

Bad...They won't ship to Canada.
I live in Pickering.


Hi Rick nice to meet you.

I see your in Pickering, that is very close to me by Canadian standards ;), I have not been in Canada for long so don't know many of the local tool store's (the only two I have been to are Markham Indusrtial and Busy Bee)
do you know for any others in the area.

Regards...Graham...

[Rod Sheridan]

I've owned a General International 6 inch jointer for aproximately 6 years. It is the long bed version, with the handwheels for bed height adjustment.

The jointer is well machined and works very well indeed. The fence is fairly long, and accurate, the knives are as easy to adjust as any cutterhead with jackscrews.

Most of the suppliers I talk to tell me that the GI equipment is at the high end of the made in Taiwan stuff due to their specifications and quality control.

Regards, Rod.

[Graham Skinner]

Thanks Rod

I think you have the same model as I was looking at, it's a very nice machine and in fact the only thing that puts me off getting it, is because that the other two jointers are on sale, (with the rebait the Delta is $200 less :eek:), so it seems like a better deal, and I just cant make my mind up.

Thanks again...Graham...

[Pete Clifford]

Graham, I have the Delta X5. I was considering the GI, which was my initial preference. However, the Delta was Cdn $200 cheaper AND included a free mobile base, so I ended up getting it. And, the Delta comes with a 5 year warranty. Happy with it so far, although the table is shorter than the General International that I looked at.

I couldn't justify the extra $$ for an 8" jointer, when I considered all the other things that I wanted to purchase - planer, dust collector, router + table, some hand tools, etc etc etc. The Delta X5 6" gets me into the WW game, and maybe if/when I outgrow it after a few years then I will consider upgrading. Then again, maybe I'll just get a really long hand plane :D.

[Fred Chan]

Take a look at the King Industrial KC70-FX 6 in. parallelogram jointer. It can be found for about the same price as the Delta X5. The only thing I don't like about mine is that it's not 8 inchs.


http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=113

[Trevor Zimmermann]

I find this kind of ironic.
I purchased the General jointer about a year ago from Canada and you're trying to get a grizzly up to Canada.

I went with the General jointer because it had the longes table, and I could upgrade the knives through grizzly to the carbide set. I also wanted to buy it from a local dealer. At that time, ordering large equipment and having it delivered didn't sit well. In hindsight, I should have gone and bought the Grizzly for about the same price. The Griz has been rated very high in countless comparisons and I've never read a bad reveiw on them. At some point in time, I'll probably sell my General and move up to a Griz, just not yet.

Trevor

[JayStPeter]

I'd get the cheapest on your list. Jointers are pretty simple and all do the job. Plus, you'll want to upgrade to an 8" a couple weeks after you get it. Best bet is to find someone doing just that and pick up a used one.

Jay

[Jim Becker]

Graham, you also have some 2nd tier brands available in Canada that are very similar to the Jet and Grizzly offerings. Jointers are very simple machines and I cannot see the need to spend more than you need to for a 6" unit, especially if you think you may upgrade in the future should you move, etc. The Ridgid from Home Depot may also available in Canada if you have a store in your area. Folks speak highly of it. Consider used, too... ;)