Where to look for used tools?

[Alex Zeller]

Alex,

Yep, I have been watching that site as well. I forgot to add it to my list. Thanks!

Just don't forget things like tax, loading fees, and buyer's premium. I did see a 12" Powermatic 3 phase machine on facebook not too long ago.

[Andrew Seemann]

I have been watching online auctions around Minneapolis for some time now. I keep an eye out for things for my hobbies including woodworking.

Power tools have been going for ridiculous prices. Tools seem to be going for about 75% of retail price.

I had been casually watching for an 8" jointer for nearly 10 years in the Mpls area. I never saw one at a reasonable price. Craigslist would have them going for 75% of new or even more, and you maybe saw 3 or 4 a year. I finally gave up and bought a Jet from Acme last spring. I think I got somewhere around $300 for my 15 year old open stand 6" Jet that it replaced, and probably could have held out for more had I not wanted it out of the shop ASAP.

Apparently there are some places in the country with a good local market for used tools, but Minneapolis/St. Paul is definitely not one of them. When you add in the risk of buying used, the hassle of going to look for at it, and the wait to find a decent price, it almost isn't even worth bothering with used around here anymore.

[Will Allen]

I had been casually watching for an 8" jointer for nearly 10 years in the Mpls area. I never saw one at a reasonable price. Craigslist would have them going for 75% of new or even more, and you maybe saw 3 or 4 a year. I finally gave up and bought a Jet from Acme last spring. I think I got somewhere around $300 for my 15 year old open stand 6" Jet that it replaced, and probably could have held out for more had I not wanted it out of the shop ASAP.

Apparently there are some places in the country with a good local market for used tools, but Minneapolis/St. Paul is definitely not one of them. When you add in the risk of buying used, the hassle of going to look for at it, and the wait to find a decent price, it almost isn't even worth bothering with used around here anymore.

Tried and True Tools in Fridley was a good place to go. I understand they closed a few years ago. Seven Corners was the ultimate place for tools. I'm close to Acme but not a fan of the place.

[David Miller]

Hi Patrick,

Actually, I started looking in earnest just after the York auction closed. I'm very frustrated that I just missed the SCM 12" jointer!

The 17" is just a bit too big for my shop. And that 24" is maybe a bit too much.

I saw the 12" Zefam(?) for sale. I was put off by the fake Martin sign. I may have to give it another look.

Stephen is right, the hand tool market right now is nuts.

I feel like you werent paying too close attention to IRS, because they just had a consolidated auction in York around the first of the year, and i swear it included a 12" jointer. Maybe it sold higher than you wanted? I watched that auction for the Martin t75 that was missing its rip fence. Still, solid deal on that slider for $375. In my opinion/experience of watching the used market the last 6ish years, 12ers should pop up every other month within a 50-100 mile radius of most metro areas, but 16"+ might be only a couple each year. It took me 8-12 months to find a 20" with tersa head, and in that time frame i only saw two other machines listed. One was a Kolle in California(wrong coast for me) for $7500, and another was a near new Martin T54 on woodweb for $11,000. I believe there is a T53 or T54 on woodweb currently, if you are into that sort of thing.

How about this machine? Bigger than you want, but a heavy build and good make. Single owner, so you know it hasnt seen too much use.
Jointer Griggio 17'' - tools - by owner - sale (craigslist.org)

This one might be a better fit given its size and price
12" Industrial Woodworking Jointer - tools - by owner - sale (craigslist.org)

Or, you can just get your last machine first with this 24"er. I havent seen one this wide in about a year.
Jointer - tools - by owner - sale (craigslist.org)

[David Miller]

Pete and Bill, thanks for the Craigslist tricks. I'll be using them!

[David Miller]

Jared,

Put it this way, I can purchase a new Grizzly 12" if it comes to it. But I'd rather pay that for a used SCM or equivalent. Facebook Marketplace is frustrating. I feel it shows me only what Facebook thinks I want to see. For example, I seem to get different posts depending on if I sort by 'recommended' vs 'newly listed'. My search radius includes your area so it bugs me that I haven't seen much lately.

How cheap are you trying to find? There have been a bunch lately on marketplace and I'm looking for equipment in your same general area.

The small pm/delta/grizzly stuff is not lasting very long. The larger industrial sized equipment doesn't seem to be selling as fast or high as the hobby level stuff(relatively speaking)

Imho id get that 24 Patrick posted.

[Jared Sankovich]

Jared,

Put it this way, I can purchase a new Grizzly 12" if it comes to it. But I'd rather pay that for a used SCM or equivalent. Facebook Marketplace is frustrating. I feel it shows me only what Facebook thinks I want to see. For example, I seem to get different posts depending on if I sort by 'recommended' vs 'newly listed'. My search radius includes your area so it bugs me that I haven't seen much lately.

The griggio is likely smaller (in width) than a 12" American made jointer. My 16" newman has 23" wide tables, and a dd motor that makes it almost 4' wide. Not sure what you are looking for "new-ish" euro or older US.

Quick fb market check has a 16" L-power, 16" clement, 12" Northfield (med duty) and a 16" Bentel. Also a overpriced 12" powermatic and a crazy high 12" crescent, and a ok/high 12" HD northfield.

[David Miller]

Jared,

I think at this point I'm leaning towards newish-Euro. While I like the older iron, and will happily purchase one in good condition, I also don't want to get into restoring machines.

I just checked FB marketplace, with my location set to my home and Reston, VA, and I don't see any of the jointers you saw. Very frustrating! I'm searching for 'jointer'.

[Marc Fenneuff]

Pete and Bill, thanks for the Craigslist tricks. I'll be using them!

Craigslist alerts are really helpful. After missing out on several 8" jointers I setup an alert last month and successfully nabbed a Delta/Rockwell. When I met the seller a few hours later he'd had 3 more calls on it.

[Patrick Kane]

Hi Patrick,

Actually, I started looking in earnest just after the York auction closed. I'm very frustrated that I just missed the SCM 12" jointer!

The 17" is just a bit too big for my shop. And that 24" is maybe a bit too much.

I saw the 12" Zefam(?) for sale. I was put off by the fake Martin sign. I may have to give it another look.

Ah, that sucks. What did the SCM sell for? I think i remember under a grand.

Here is my opinion after owning a 6" import, 8" USA delta, 12" grizzly(taiwan and better 'quality' than the base 609), and now a 500mm Griggio. I dont know your situation--budget, size, workload--but the 12" to 24" machines are another world from 4-8" machines. The beds are almost always ground to better tolerances. They hold tight settings through the decades. Extremely robust castings. Better designs in fences. Better cutterhead geometry. On and on and on. I think a good jointer is such a critical tool in the shop, and because of that, i would encourage you to hone in on 12-16". I think 16" is a great size because I almost never need the capacity of 20-24", but i somewhat frequently exceeded 12" capacity. Nothing against old iron, but im with you 110%. For me, it was only contemporary european design.

I sent the 24" as a joke. Also, to share because they are semi-rare machines. I think the Zefam would be a fantastic machine. They arent well known, but the polish factories put out good machines. Stuff like EMA, Gomad, Zefam, etc. are heavy builds and generally compared to the top shelf of the time such as Martin. Very strange that someone replaced the switch panel with a Martin one--and i admit, i saw that moments after it was posted and almost fell out of my chair thinking i could purchase a Martin T53 misidentified as 12" for $2400--but that jointer is very solid. Ive seen a few posts of guys with the 16" version of that Zefam design and they were thrilled with it. Should be planed beds, the fence design is good, and it has one of the best guard designs of the bigger jointers. I would love a segmented porkchop guard on my current machine.

The Griggio would be your last machine. Its a touch high on price--just my opinion--but thats about as good as it gets and just a step below a Martin. I cant see the cutterhead, but if its Tersa, then that only cements my praise. I really really like my tersa cutterhead.

[David Miller]

Yeah, that SCM went for $1200!

I sent a message to the 17" Griggio listing. It's from 1992 so I doubt that it has the Tersa head. But it does have four knives. I initially passes on it because of the length thinking it would be too big for my shop. But I think I can make it work with out too much of an issue. I agree on the price. But it has been listed for a while so I imagine they will deal a bit if it is still available.

Thanks.

[Bill Dufour]

Use joiner and plane or planer as search terms.
Bill D.

[Alex Zeller]

Fackbook is weird. I got my 8" Powermatic jointer from FB but since I don't have a FB account I had my wife send the owner a message. I had problems finding the post to send her a link. At first I assumed it was sold and the owner took it down (wish everyone would remove listings once it's sold) since I couldn't find it. I remembered where it was located and after using that as my location it finally showed up. FB also picks unrelated things to show you thinking they know what you want.

Don't worry about the York auction. IRS I think is based in that area and has auctions all the time in York. They seam to have at least one a month there. It's one of the locations where they move a lot of equipment to be sold. If it's a number of items they will do it on-site but if it's just one or two items they bring it to one of several locations to be sold. Just north of Boston is another popular one. I'm sure if you just keep watching you'll find something that will fit your needs. Whether or not the price is right is the question.

[Christopher Herzog]

Agree on the LN prices! They should never make a tool again for their site and just list on eBay. Way crazy prices....

[Patrick Kane]

Yeah, that SCM went for $1200!

I sent a message to the 17" Griggio listing. It's from 1992 so I doubt that it has the Tersa head. But it does have four knives. I initially passes on it because of the length thinking it would be too big for my shop. But I think I can make it work with out too much of an issue. I agree on the price. But it has been listed for a while so I imagine they will deal a bit if it is still available.

Thanks.

Not necessarily, my machine is 4 knife and while I can’t date it precisely, I’d say it’s no younger than the late 80s. I think Tersa debuted in ‘83-84.

If you can get a look at the cutterhead, it’s pretty easy to identify. The body of the cutterhead almost always has very distinct striations. Also, you will notice a lack of gib screws etc.