Busy Bee Tools and Craftex?

we’ve made a lot of purchases at Busy Bee.
Our bandsaw is an Craftex as is our jointer.
We don’t give them a real workout but as it stands we are very pleased with the equipment.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (https://www.facebook.com/DebbiePribele, Young Living Wellness )

I’ve had one round about dealing with Busy Bee buy way of having a fellow woodworker from Canada send me a Craftex Blue Tornado blade across the border. The blade was obviously defective from the get go, so I contacted a Busy Bee rep, who put me in touch with the folks who could arrange for me to send the defective blade back, and get a replacement shipped to me in the US. Consider that they don’t typically deal with the US market, and the chances of getting more sales from me were very slim, I was totally impressed with how well they handled the situation. The new blade worked pretty well as far as inexpensive Asian import blades go.

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

My Busy Bee 14” bandsaw, though 20 yrs old, hums along nicely with no problems whatsoever! I’d buy more from them, when I have a new requirement.

-- Einstein: "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." I'm Poopiekat!!

I have a Craftex 3Hp DC from Busy Bee. I think for the price that it was a steal. I’ve had it for five years and it hasn’t missed a beat. It did seem a little sluggish recently so I cleaned the fillter bag. Now it almost sucks the paint off the floor.

-- Paul M ..............the early bird may get the worm but it’s the second mouse that gets the cheese! http://thecanadianschooloffrenchmarquetry.com/

I am Extremely happy with Busy Bee tools ;-)
You can,t beat the prices either !

-- John in Belgrave (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com , https://www.facebook.com/groups/extremebirdhouses/

I’ve bought a fair amount from Busy Bee over the years and nothings actualy disapointed
Not high quality in some cases, but the price is right, (except for shipping ;-( ..) And they do have a wide variety..

-- Glen, B.C. Canada

Thanks for all the comments :D I think Ill have to try them next time I get a chance to buy something. I have to agree their prices seem pretty good.

Busy Bee’s kinda Canada’s Harbor Freight.. I actualy brought out a mini plane set of theirs yesterday, 2 and a half inch long guys, brass sides, Indian Rosewood infill.. Blades are not great, but for rounding the handles on a couple of purpleheart tools the scraper plane actualy blew me away..woorked great..first time I’d actualy used it.. If memory serves right it was about 20 bucks for the set included a mini square and bevel guage, also brass and rosewood..
Lots of that sort of thing there..

-- Glen, B.C. Canada

A lot of times they have free shipping like this week for example ;-)

-- John in Belgrave (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com , https://www.facebook.com/groups/extremebirdhouses/

Busy Bee has some great deals. I plan on getting a DC from them soon. I have not purchased any large tools from them but as soon as I have the space I will. For us Canadians there are not a lot of choice. Lee Valley is another great source for woodworking stuff you will not find anywhere else here. I thinik some US (Grizzly, Rockler, etc.) companies are now shipping to Canada but I am not sure I would purchase a large item from them for fear of support issues.
They have a range of very good products to dollar store quality products. Common sense will tell you the difference between them. Personally I give BusyBee 2 thumbs up.

-- If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!

If you look at Busy Bee products and Grizzly…...

-- DonH Orleans Ontario

I know that this is an old thread, but it is related to a couple of questions that I have about Craftex.

I have a Grizzly model G1028Z2 1-1/2 hp dust collector with an upper cloth bag. (The unit is 19 1/2” across.) I am looking at replacing the bag with a 1 micron canister.

The questions that I have are:
Are the Craftex canisters as good a quality as the Grizzly canisters?
Also, does anyone know if they will fit the Grizzly machines?

Thanks
Randy

-- Randy & Corinne, R&C Creations, British Columbia, https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/RccreationsCanada

I had heard some time ago that the owners of Grizzly and Bust Bee were brothers, so there will be some cross over of products? Just call Busy Bee and have them measure it?
I replaced my filter bag with a cannister from Canadian Woodworker few years back on my General D.C. and also picked up a canvas bag to replace plastic on the bottom.
I see the prices have gone up slightly!

-- Lifting one end of the plank.

Andre:
Thanks for your reply. That is a good idea about contacting them for measurements.
Do you think that most of the canisters are the same quality? Or would one brand be better than another.
I am starting to wonder if they are all made in the same place and just have different names stamped on them.

Interesting about the price. I had priced them out several years ago and thought I would hold off until I had a little more cash. Bad mistake as they have gone up quite a bit.

-- Randy & Corinne, R&C Creations, British Columbia, https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/RccreationsCanada

Randy, most of these are made in a few factories in Taiwan. They’re pretty much the same quality and have almost the exact same designs.