POLL: If you had to choose just one brand of woodworking power tools . . .

[Tom Dworzanski]

I know this is ridiculous and probably not constructive at all. But just for fun, I want to ask the question:

If money was not an issue, and you had no limitations on space/power/time/etc, and you had to buy a shop full of new woodworking stationary power tools, and you could choose only one brand, which brand would you choose?

[Marc Jeske]

To make this more accurate, you need to specify handheld... OR stationary.

ALSO, you CANNOT for an accurate result picture just say "Delta", or "Powermatic" ,.........you need to differentiate between Old Iron USA made, and current relative offshore Asian.

That would include Canadian General vs foreign General and any other brand also.

USA made vs. offshore, (meaning specifically Asian, NOT including Italian, German, generally "European" made, Canadian, etc) two VERY VERY Different animals.

This isn't a Flag waving thing, It is a quality, longevity,sturdiness, quality of build thing.

So, again... myself, cannot vote w/o that info.

Just my thoughts. Marc

[Marc Jeske]

Reading your OP again, I guess you did use the word "New".

I myself have little interest in that, For most tools anyway, especially stationary, when USA made Old Iron is available.

Certainly some European made is very good, but virtually NOTHING Chinese or anywhere near there. (A few exceptions possibly, but very few) Marc

[Rick Fisher]

Only one brand I would choose Felder .. SCM doesn't have dust collection. My favorite brand is Martin but they have 4 tools plus a bunch of Griggio stuff which is also very good.

Felder because I would have great quality and dust collection ..

[Tom Dworzanski]

Reading your OP again, I guess you did use the word "New".

Yeah, I guess I'm curious to know who people thing is making the best tools overall now. So one requirement in my question (in the original post) is that the tools have to be new. I def respect what you're saying about Asian and how current tools often can't compare.

[Chris Parks]

Felder.......

[Mike Manning]

To make this more accurate, you need to specify handheld... OR stationary.

ALSO, you CANNOT for an accurate result picture just say "Delta", or "Powermatic" ,.........you need to differentiate between Old Iron USA made, and current relative offshore Asian.

That would include Canadian General vs foreign General and any other brand also.

USA made vs. offshore, (meaning specifically Asian, NOT including Italian, German, generally "European" made, Canadian, etc) two VERY VERY Different animals.

This isn't a Flag waving thing, It is a quality, longevity,sturdiness, quality of build thing.

So, again... myself, cannot vote w/o that info.

Just my thoughts. Marc

You nailed it Marc.

[John Piwaron]

I marked Delta. Because that's what I did. All my big tools (3 of them) are Delta. But today Delta isn't making all the big stuff I use.

So today, money and space being no object - Felder or Hammer. For the floor standing stuff.

Hand held/small stuff like a miter saw - that depends.

[James Zhu]

I would buy European brands for stationary machines, just look at Martin USA website http://www.martin-usa.com/

For portable tools, I would buy Festool, Mafell (http://www.mafelltoolstore.com/), and Lamello (http://www.lamello.com/en/home/machi...ntex-ergo.html)

For hand tools, certainly Lie-Nielsen or Veritas.

James

[andy bessette]

It is really a silly premise for anyone with a "money-is-no-object" budget to handicap himself to only one brand of new machine. And, for the rest of us, not only does cost matter, but each set of personal machine parameters favor a certain few makers and eras.

[Charles Lent]

I don't stick to one brand at all. When buying a power tool of any size I look at all that I believe might be good candidates for the application in my shop and then pick the one that seems to be the best fit for the need and most likely to be easy to get replacement parts and service for. A great high dollar tool that you can't get parts and service for is not a good deal at any price.

When buying smaller hand held power tools I do similar, but look for reputable brand names and then compare features and ease of use. As a result I have many different brands of hand held power tools. One brand may be best for their drills, but not so great with their routers, etc. so I buy based on who makes the best that also fits my needs best. With these, if you can get 5 or so years of use out of them, it doesn't matter so much if replacement parts become un-available. There are likely better designs available by then, so I just replace with the best available when the old one is no longer serviceable, sometimes staying with the same brand, but sometimes switching brands. For me, it always depends on who of the better brands is making the tool that best fits my needs and is the most reliable. I don't ever buy the most expensive, unless it offers something that is so much better that the others that makes it worth buying. I have Leigh Dovetail and FMT jigs for this reason, but I don't own any "Green Kool-Aid".

Others may not agree with me and that's OK with me, but this is how I do my woodworking. Please don't try to change me.

Charley

[Brian Henderson]

There are all the problems that others have mentioned, plus I don't think it's even possible to buy all tools from the same manufacturer because most manufacturers don't make all the tools I would want to buy. I couldn't do it if I wanted to.

[Rod Sheridan]

There are all the problems that others have mentioned, plus I don't think it's even possible to buy all tools from the same manufacturer because most manufacturers don't make all the tools I would want to buy. I couldn't do it if I wanted to.

Brian, if I picked Felder I could get the saw/shaper/jointer/planer/morticer/bandsaw/dust extractor. That only leaves the drill press for me.......Rod.

[Brian Henderson]

Brian, if I picked Felder I could get the saw/shaper/jointer/planer/morticer/bandsaw/dust extractor. That only leaves the drill press for me.......Rod.

But of course that doesn't include all the other tools that get used in the shop either. This wasn't specifically big stationary tools, but *ALL* tools. It just can't be done.

[Andrew J. Coholic]

Ive got about $70,000+ worth of Cantek machinery in my shop, made in (gulp!) Taiwan. Wow, I didnt know that it was total garbage and I should have bought something else that was made as far away from China as possible (insert rolling eyes here, lol)

Its funny (but not really) that in the past 6 1/2 years Ive been running our new facility, the only machinery I have had to do some repairs on were both made in Italy and from pretty respected companies. One was a set of plastic guide rollers that started cracking off the bearings (they changed to a new type of plastic supposedly better) and one was a pneumatic issue. I had to pay for the new parts since it was past the 1 yr warranty.

My Cantek stuff (widebelt sander, 20" planer, 16" jointer, dovetailer, 7.5HP tilting arbor shaper, edge bander) has run pretty much daily since purchased and besides regular lubrication and cleaning, has proven to be very good equipment.