In a few short days I should have all of RJ's plans back up on the site, and from there, will continue adding to the collection. In time I hope to be able to have AwlFreePlans.com serve as a repository for plan submissions from the woodworking community en masse. So please continue to check out the site and it’s progress as it begins it’s transformation.

-Mark D.

I called a local vendor here in Vegas to see if they could match the pricing… First I spoke with a customer care rep who said “Well, we don’t have the 708674PK… but we do have the 708675PK, let me see if we have any of those in stock… Oh, wow, we have plenty of those in stock!” Which to me sounds like they have a pretty big inventory… one they might want to shrink ;-) So I then called Woodcraft to have them fax me the invoice(knowing that pricing on the website has changed because the sale’s over… I knew I needed proof from Woodcraft of the pricing.) The owner of the store is out of town and the sales person I was dealing with by this point asked if I could fax the invoice over so he could e-mail it to his boss who is on vacation and out of town till tomorrow evening…(I already like this place, the boss is working even when he’s on vacation!)

So, I e-mail it to the sales rep to forward on to his boss… 15 minutes later I get a call… To make a long story slightly shorter… They can’t go as low on the pricing, BUT, their delivery charge is only $60.00 even for both the dust collector and the table saw… Woodcraft charges 125.00 excess weight fee + 80.00 for lift-gat/rsidential for the tablesaw alone, + an additional 55.00 excess weight fee for the dust collector… that’s 260.00 in fees alone!

So for 2139.55 I can get the tablesaw with the 50” instead of the 30” fence, and the dust collector delivered tomorrow… Through Woodcraft I would get the 30” rip saw and dust collector delivered sometime in June(maybe?) for 2040.00… so for 100.00 more I get an additional 20” cutting capacity and immediate delivery… Does that sound like a good deal? Please comment…

Being low on funds and “in the right place at the right time” I was given an old and very poorly maintained Delta Contractor saw from a friend who’s father recently passed away. In my excitement to get it back to the house and clean it up(the table was in sad shape) I neglected to notice the absence of a motor… Also missing but easily replaceable was the fence(the rails probably need replacing) and the miter gauge(which I’m sure was nothing special to begin with.)

So, after some research I found a guy who restored this exact same model of saw he had purchased for 50 bucks in slightly better condition than the one I now had in my possession. On starting the task of cleaning up the table and the innards, I got a close look at the motor mount and trunnions… apparently the motor mount had cracked at one point and had been welded(again, very poorly.) When this was done, they welded the huge nuts holding the trunnions in place to the mount… Things aren’t looking good at this point… by the time I start looking at what it would cost to fix this saw up the dollars just kept adding up till it seemed it would cost more to fix than to replace with the newer identical model.

Then I get a call from my CPA. As it turns out, I was able to recoup a substantial amount of money paid in taxes due to a business loss several years ago… So I started looking around and decided on the new Jet Deluxe XACTA Saw… I was doing my usual research before making a large purchase and found that Jet was offering a $100.00 rebate on the saw and $25.00 rebate on their 1100CFM dust collector… I thought “wow, that’s a pretty good deal.. they’re basically throwing in a Forest WWII” Then I notice they’re also offering a free pair of their 31” parallel clamps with the Deluxe XACTA Saw… “even better I thought” so I went to a few online retailers to check pricing and found out that WoodCraft had a 10% off sale on Jet/Powermatic for one day only on Saturday 4-14… That’s when I decided I probably wouldn’t find a better deal any where else… this is almost 20% off the going street price… So, I bit… I sprung for the 708674PK and the 708639. It’s a huge step for me and a lot of money, but I think it will be well worth the investment, and something I will have for many years to come.

Look for a full review and lots of pictures of it’s arrival, un-crating, set-up etc. when it comes, followed by many many projects :-D