Are there any good American made big iron?

[dirk martin]

These threads are just full of discussions on whether to go with European made saws, or saws from Taiwan, or whatever.

Look at all the big iron you and me and everyone else has in their shops. Heck, if 1/2 that stuff was made in the good 'ol USA, we'd be 1/2 way out of our ressession. Just ticks me off that America just can't seem to make much of anything right.

So, are there any good American made Lathe's, Tablesaws, bandsaws, or planers?

[scott vroom]

Heck, if 1/2 that stuff was made in the good 'ol USA, we'd be 1/2 way out of our ressession. Just ticks me off that America just can't seem to make much of anything right.

You can say that about MANY products. Your house is full of products no longer manufactured in the United States. At the top of that list are televisions and cell phones. Political discussions are not allowed here so I won't comment further....but I think we all know the reason. It's complicated.

Let me ask you this: if you could buy a television made in Asia for five hundred dollars or a comparable quality TV made in the US for $1,000 which would you buy? Be honest.

[James Boster]

Yes but not in the home shop price range. You can still buy Northfield, Tannawitz,State,Central Machinery(used to be Wysong Miles). Most any machine from this manufactures will run into 4 or 5 digits, but they are made here. If you want to go rebuilt you can still get some of the old Olivers rebuilt by Eagle Machinery who owns the rights to the old Oliver stuff.



On a differnet note I seen on the evening news the other night that if every american would spend a very small amount ( it was less than a dollar a day) to buy American it would create over 200,000 jobs in a year.

[dirk martin]

You can say that about MANY products. Your house is full of products no longer manufactured in the United States. At the top of that list are televisions and cell phones. Political discussions are not allowed here so I won't comment further....but I think we all know the reason. It's complicated.

Let me ask you this: if you could buy a television made in Asia for five hundred dollars or a comparable quality TV made in the US for $1,000 which would you buy? Be honest.

Sure, I'll be honest. I'd buy Asian.
We American's are just too fat and over paid.
I'm way over paid at my job. We need an adjustment back to reality.

Whatever...yes, we can't get political here...so it looks like when it comes to buying hardware for my shop, I'm pretty much left with going foreign.

[Cary Falk]

I just find it funny that nobody cries "buy American" when sombody want to buy some Euro machine like a bandsaw or slider. They come out of the woodwork when sombody mentions Asian manchinery.

[Rick Thom]

General equipment is made in Quebec, Canada. Their General International equipment is off-shore stuff. http://www.general.ca/index_en.html

[Kent A Bathurst]

See if you can raise Chip Lindley. He's pretty knowledgeable on USA Big Iron - not the new stuff, AFAIK, but the golden-age "can't kill it" gear.

[Myk Rian]

I buy the old stuff and restore it. Anything new these days is just plain cheap, no matter where it's made.

[Rod Sheridan]

I just find it funny that nobody cries "buy American" when sombody want to buy some Euro machine like a bandsaw or slider. They come out of the woodwork when sombody mentions Asian manchinery.

Hi Cary, that's true however I have three comments on that;

1) Most of the Euro machinery isn't available from a North American producer.

2) Most of my shop equipment was made in North America (General), and I replaced 4 pieces with 2 pieces of Hammer equipment that gave me more capability, capacity and shop space.

3) The Euro equipment is made in countries with good environmental practices which can also be a sales feature.

Regards, Rod.

[Frank Drew]

We American's are just too fat and over paid.

Well, I'm not the slim, trim demi-god I'd like to be, but I'm sure not overpaid. Grossly underpaid for what I do is more like it.

[Salvatore Buscemi]

I buy the old stuff and restore it. Anything new these days is just plain cheap, no matter where it's made.

Are you saying the new stuff made by Northfield and Tannewitz is cheap, or cheaply made?

Sal

[Doug Colombo]

The Delta Unisaw is made here in the US and is a great piece of equipment !!

[Neil Brooks]

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/tools.html

[Ryan Hellmer]

I have gone on a mission of replacing all my machines with american made. I have gone the "buy old and restore" route. Actually, most of my machines haven't needed restoration. I do have at least one euro machine, but I view western europe (and Canada) in about the same light at US Made. My beef is the exploitation of workers and currency. No one can say German workers are mistreated (well, any worse than Americans). There are some great resources out there including the OWWM group online. The American market long ago went almost exclusively to producing production type equipment, so plan on it being bigger and heavier. I have a 16" jointer, 18" planer 2-10" and 2-12" tablesaws, 16" radial arm saw plus others. All of it is about twice my age and all of it will outlast me by 2 times.

I do have to say though, that my pursuit of American made machines is doing absolutely nothing for the economy. I'm buying used for a fraction of the retail prices of even Aisian made equivalents. I also try to buy American whenever possible. We have noone to blame but ourselves.

Ryan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

A little friendly reminder.


Political comments and discussions violate the TOSs and will not be allowed.