This will be kind of a “Duel” review….One over the G0513X2 17” Bandsaw, and one over Grizzly’s customer service. I received the Bandsaw several weeks ago, but because I had been so busy….I did not have time to even un-crate it. It stood in the corner of my shop for about a week and a half before I could even open it up and start to put it together. I opened up the saw, looked it all over….no scratches,dents,blems etc..so we’re off to a good start. As I looked through the directions to make sure I had everything….I noticed I could not find...

Well, I’m not as good a writer as Publisher’s Weekly so I’m going to defer to them for this description of this book. Also there’s a review of it in the June 22, 2009 issue of the New Yorker magazine. “Philosopher and motorcycle repair-shop owner Crawford extols the value of making and fixing things in this masterful paean to what he calls “manual competence,” the ability to work with one’s hands. According to the author, our alienation from how our possessions are made and how they work takes many forms: the decline of shop class, the design of goods whose...

The 22-44 Oscillating Sander was a Luxury on my wish list. But I have no regrets at all. It does everything it claims it will do and then some.It comes in three boxes, the base, sander head, feed table. Make sure you have some muscle on hand to assemble this monster. To save on a hernia repair it wouldn’t hurt to have a chain fall, come along to lift the sander head. Besides being very heavy due to the solid cast iron construction, it is a off balanced lift. 90% of the weight is at on end of the machine, the motor end.The directions are well written so assembly went well. I was really impressed...

I came into a little money horse trading some rough oak, so I decided to spend it picking up a couple of much needed tools. The first one is a Rikon 6”x48” Belt / 10” Disc sander. It was on sale at Woodcraft, $50 off. Even though Springfield is a bit of a hike, this weighs a ton, so shipping would have been eye-wateringly expensive. This tool filled a gap in my lineup. Previously I had a little Delta 1”x42” Belt / 6” Disc sander that was just this side of useless for furniture making. About the most important thing it did in the last couple years was clean up some pegs for the...

As I blogged yesterday my old PC 333 ROS went to the great tool yard in the sky in the middle of my project. I needed something quick so I could finish the project. After looking through the reviews here at LJ’s this was the one my mind was set on. It was $70 at Lowe’s but I got them to honor a coupon from the BORG and got $5 off. PRO’s - Very little vibration, unlike the old PC- Dust Collection was very effective as previously noted- Nice long power cord – seems to be a Bosch trait as it’s the same for my Jig Saw- Nice cushiony grip – see Cons though- The...

I do 99% of my projects alone. Believe me this one is a Lifesaver! I’m always a bit skeptical of infomercials and typically believe gimmicky tools are much more trouble than they are worth. But, thinking about all the times I’ve risked cutting boards that were unstable and chasing odd shaped items across my bench with my surface grinder, I kept thinking this thing might just be worth a try so I finally decided to order one. In the closed position the unit stores easily and takes up little floor space. Its clever folding design sets up and breaks down in a matter of seconds. Its first...

I had looked at the Fein Multimaster, but couldn’t justify the price. I bought the Sonicrafter specifically to sand between the rails of a baby crib I built for my daughter. This tool will see as much use as my random orbital sander! It’s very well made, and does a superb job. A couple of experiential comments: 1. The tool is a fast worker, let IT do the work for you. 2. The dust collection attachment gets in the way, and is useless. 3. I haven’t found a source for sanding pads that fit, except Rockwell, and they’re relatively expensive. Overall in terms of price and quality,...

DisclaimerI’ll preface my review with a warning to prospective readers that I can be obsessive about details and my day job entails finding design flaws. This review will be long. If you’re interested in purchasing this saw, you may find value in pouring over the details. Otherwise, you’ll likely be bored out of your mind. In the beginning it was the 50100…The bandsaw buying process was a very long and arduous one for me. I’ve always felt that the newer European-style saws to be superior yet the choice of saws with both big resaw capacity (>10”) and a small...

I recently broke down and dropped some cash ($180) for this new product from Rockler. My shop space is limited and I have little space to move around my table saw. The parts are gigantic, and almost over the top, but in a good way. The wheels, thickness of steel and bolts are all over-sized. Assebly was so easy, there were no instructions…It can accommodate for just about any standard sized piece of small shop equipment, but it offers some extension sets (longer metal bars) to allow for larger pieces. The hardest part of the whole process is coming up with a strategy to assemble it under...

From what Dennis at Woodcraft said I’m the first one to get the new Unisaw in this area. I just hope they have all the bugs worked out of it. He gave me a DVD on how to put it together. It all looks pretty straight forward. I’ll just need a extra body to help with the cast iron wing though. That looks like it takes three people to do, two holding it in position and one body below bolting it together. The new Delta Unisaw is packed into 5 boxes. The saw body, fence, drawer, side table and fence rails. And a huge pile of other heavy boxes for everything else.BUT one of the items I need...