Grizzly

Stay away from benchtop jointers. I have had a chance to use and test several of them and I even owned one for a little while (until I sent it back) and I haven’t come across one that isn’t junk yet.

The biggest problem with most of them is the fence. If it ain’t cast iron, it’s a joke. Most benchtop jointers have flimsy stamped fences. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.

Think of what a jointer is supposed to do… it’s the first step in getting stock perfectly square. If it isn’t a precision machine, it’s not doing its job and therefore it’s worthless.

Cheap jointers are boat anchors. If you want to save money on a jointer, BUY A GOOD QUALITY USED ONE... it will probably just need new blades. Maybe one of THESE?

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Blake said it all. That being said, I have a Grizzly (benchtop) OSS that works quite well.

-- Maplewood, MN

I buy a lot of Grizz’s stuff, especially since I’m not too far from the Williamsport location and can pick up what I need. From my experience, the smaller tools seem to be a bit on the “lower quality” side, i.e. parts are made from inferior materials, there is less precision built in, etc. etc. Seems like the larger the equipment the better overall the machinery tends to be.

Having said that….... I have a Lean and Mean 12 1/2” planer and I absolutely love it. I have paid for it many times over, even after having to replace some worn height adjustment gears and a frozen bearing.

My Baby Drill Press gave me a lot of problems. The chuck jammed and would not hold bits or wouldn’t hold them straight (wobbles). When removing it to put in a new one, the depth adjustment broke. The replacement adjustment was plastic and the first time I tried to drill stopped holes, it broke right off. Now, the shaft is not straight and the chuck does not turn “in round”.

Maybe just some bad luck….. but to me….. the bigger the better.

If you want a good 4” jointer, look for a old Delta or Rockwell 37-290, Like Blake posted. They don’t build small jointers like this anymore that I know of. I wouldn’t let mine go for any less than $180 if it was up for sale, but it’s not.

-- If you can't find the time to do it properly, how will you find the time to fix it ?