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Ready to buy one. It seems the previous advice I got will not work . Have so far not found a good 8 in jointer that can be rerofited for a decent price including the shellix cutterhead ,The online reviews of the grizz are a mixed bag . The drive from here to spgfld mo is 5 hr drive with the trailer to look at their 8 in models . Does anyone out there have an 8 in grizz helical head ? , and if so what has been your experience ??? TNX

It's been a few years since I bought a Grizzly tool, and I never will again. I bought a 16" drill press, one of their better models, and kept it for a week before selling it at a loss. Way too much plastic parts. I also bought a 10" helical head jointer. It arrived with a twisted fence and that cost me an additional $400 to get a surface that could be bolted to the original fence and then machined flat. That jointer is now long gone and I have replaced it with a great old Northfield that I retrofitted with a helical head. Being in Hawaii, I can't return anything, but since you are able to go and look at what you are buying just be careful.--Bob

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Thanks for the warning, BOB I do not own any grizzly power tools. There is not much for sale around here . Will extend my search, DFW is 3 hrs from here KC 4and wichita 2 , there are other cities as well . I very much appreciate you sharing your experience with their power tools Thank you !!!

ernie, buy used if you can. I will probably be selling a very nice Oliver 8" with spiral cutterhead in the next couple years to go to a larger size. But you can find dozens of them on eBay or craigslist (use SearchTempest). The old stuff is always WAY better than the new stuff coming out of Asia. You can also buy the spiral cutterhead and install yourself very easily. Spend a couple months and try and find something in your area - you will be glad you did rather than buy a new machine. By the way, the new Oliver is very nice if you want to go that route -- but you will still get a much better deal used.

Also, if you have the space don't let 3phase scare you -- you can get a VFD for a couple hundred dollars that will run the machine quite easily.

Have heard of oliver but not seen one . Is search tempest an app for finding used machinery?. I will take your suggestions and start looking to see whats available..,, and concerning the vfd . where do you buy one ?Some guy was selling a old PM thickness sander that had 3 phase , but wasnt sure where to get a VFD, Thank you very much for all the suggestions

Grizzly has its fans and its detractors. I had one of their cheezier 6x48 belt sanders that I got rid of, but some of their products may be of better quality

Last year, Fine Woodworking gave a good rating to a Grizzly 8" jointer. I tried to attach a PDF of the review but the file size was too big. PM me with your email and I can send it to you.

I seem to recall one of the other woodworking mags testing 6" jointers recently, and the Grizzly with a different type of cutter head (I think the cutters were in some kind of v pattern, not helical) did not give as smooth a cut as others.

I have the Byrd Shelix cutter head in my 10" Inca, and I am quite happy with it.

Hi mark ,shop in CA in the 90/s .. , for 4 yrs . We had bought the 6 by 48 grizz sander . It is not a pro tool . IMHO I had to send the front an rear rollers back twice to bellingham for replacement . both did not last long . Perhaps their quality has improved. Idont know ? I used to follow FW religously for almost 40 yrs. I quit subscribing 10 yrs ago . A lot of folks read their magazine but . IMHO they have a conflict of interest when Grizz takes out full page ads in their magazine, So thank you for your offer to send the PDF. I still have my Taiwan chiu ting 8 in jointer I bought in Van. BC in 1987.Its a real workhorse. I replaced the motor 15 yrs ago , but it has the the HSS blades . and I would like something that can tackle vy hard woods e,g, rosewoods ebonies etc and spalted wood, and woods with interlocked grain that are a true PITA both on the jointer and using hand tools. I/m aiming to find an older american or european jointer that can take the shellix. Once again tnx . PS I found a PM in columbia mo with a 8 in shellix for $1500. Even there I am reluctant as PM is made in china.. Checking reviews online there are some complaints . Currently 2800 plus on amazon

Ernie

Since you have the Taiwan 8" and it's a workhorse, have you given Byrd Tool Co, Shelix a call and asked about availability or a custom cutter head.

https://www.byrdtool.com/shelix

They say they will make about anything. They may just need to turn the ends of the shaft to fit your bearings.

They sold me a new head for my old Delta and sent a set of bearings.

The machine you have, at least what came up in a search looks basically like a delta knockoff. Never know, they may have copied a common machine right down to some US mfg specs.

Worth a call if you haven't.

edit, Also, I have a Powermatic 15" planer and a VRSP drill press, both newer and Taiwan. My experience there is no comparison to Grizzly in quality. Powermatic must have way better quality control

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Hi Ernie,
Have you though about buying some carbide tipped knives for the jointer you have? Although carbide doesn't get as sharp as HSS it does stay service-ably sharp considerably longer. Carbide might not solve tear out problems with some woods, but may help for the hard hardwoods in the interim until you find the right deal.

I have a 6" grizzly jointer that I keep in the shop to remind me to never buy anything from them ever again.

Bad cutter head pulley, junk belt, pork chop guard spindle wouldn't fit in the casting and a warped fence. Took months to resolve the issues and they were never in a hurry to do anything to help. Apparently they have gotten better at customer service but I was fooled once and that was enough.

It can take a long time for the right piece of old quality shelix-retrofittable machinery to turn up for sale. If you can hold out, I think that is a good way to go.
But rbuddy's suggestion makes a lot of sense to me.

Do you need the 8" capacity? I just picked up a Powermatic 6" jointer with Helical head.I love ot. Grizzly makes crappy cheap tools. One step up from Harbor freight

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Some Grizzly stuff is great - some is okay - and a lot of it is junk. I have a Grizzly Wide-belt and it is a very nice and well-made machine. The larger Grizzly bandsaws also seem like they are pretty nice too. You just have to do your due diligence with Grizzly and make sure the specific machine is a good one.

Most of these machines are coming out of the exact same factory - China builds to the customers specs and some companies like Jet and Powermatic have tighter QC over what they accept. Oliver used to be an old American company but now the current stuff is Asian import - but I think it is one of the better importers and I'd put them maybe between Jet and Powermatic in terms of quality.

Search Tempest is a search engine for Craigslist. Also, check out IRS Auctions.

You have to get the proper VFD for the size motor you want to run. You'll spend a couple hours figuring out how to set it up but they are awesome and open up a lot of possibilities in terms of using industrial 3-phase motors.

To answer the retrofitting of the CT jointer . Dont think its worth the $$ I bought it in87 for $600 cdn used. It now has a baldor 2 hp motor. But shelling out $500 for a shellix . just does not make any financial sense. If I could I would prefer an even larger 10 in jointer , if I can find one . I have been scouring CL and FB , have not checked IRS auctions, e vil bay has jointers but they are all too far to drive with a trailer . The closest big population is next door in TX. assuming I can find something.. Is the 8in PM with shellix made in taiwan ? If so does anyone out there own one , and could you comment on its performance etc ?? tnx

You might also try OfferUp. I don't know about your area, but it seems just about as popular as Craigslist here. Way more smartphone-friendly.

Pat

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Pat

Checked offer up, here in the okc metro area, Been here 18 mo , and it is very difficult to find anything used at a reasonable price . My next door neighbour and others have confirmed this . Offer up , here in the okc metroplex has little to offer . FB marketplace seems to be the most popular !!! CL has few ads here.

Here is an off the wall thought -
Has anyone tried "toothing" the blades on a jointer to reduce tearout? I toothed the blade on an extra #4 plane with a dremel tool with the cut off wheel - which worked great. I'm sure it wouldn't work as nicely as a helical head (and I'm not certain it would work at all). If you have a spare set of blades and are willing to risk them it might be something to try.

Hi clay . I have an OLD ECE primus jack plane. as you described .its a toothing plane used for cutting grooves in veneer , which were glued with hide glue. Yes I have a spare set of knives, I prefer a 5 deg back bevel an a 35 deg angle. Think the best course of action is either to find an retrofit a older PM delta oliver etc , or buy a new PM laguna scmi etc.

If your Taiwanese jointer is model CT-200 or CT204L, Byrd has a cutter head that will fit it already. I know you're set on getting a new one, but if all the castings on your CT are nice and flat with no warping, I think the $500 is well worth the upgrade. The machines that came out of Taiwan in the 80s were pretty decent with a few exceptions. And you have a Baldor on that thing!

For new stuff, you basically have two manufacturing choices when buying East Asian made machines - Taiwan and China. The general rule of thumb is to always get the Taiwanese models. For Grizzly, country of origin information is found in the specs document, which is available for every model on the Grizzly site. The one nice thing (perhaps the only nice thing) I will say about Grizzly is that they don't hide country of origin information unlike virtually every other woodworking machine manufacturer.

As far as I know, the only US manufacturer of woodworking machines left is Northfield. Some day I will own a Northfield jointer, planer or table saw. I just need to sell my first $20,000 guitar to do that....and of course build my first guitar. I'm working on it!

This might be worth the risk - 220 three phase and already setup with a spiral cutterhead:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Powermatic-Mod ... SwND5evI4w

You would just need to find a shipping service.
Disclaimer: I don't know anything other than what I read in the add

I have been inquiring locally. Someone had a Northfield for $700, but needed much work , same with a 85 delta that looked pretty beat up, I will be 73 in nov, and so, dont really relish the thought of spending a lot of time fixing machinery , not really my forte. But if i find something reasonable I will proceed. or buy new? There are other 8in helical head jointers fox, jet etc, Do any of you own one?

We had the parallelogram GO-490 with the Byrd helical head and one of the one-time students had the GO-656 with the Grizzly spiral. Both performed well and have required just the usual preventative maintenance that any stationary tool needs, despite a steady diet of highly figured, abrasive tropical, and difficult-to-surface timbers. With Grizzly and other Asian-sourcing manufacturers, assume that the first generation of a new tool costs 1/2 of competing tools & looks like the thing it purports to, be but is in fact crap. The second gen is an 85% solution for 75% of the cost, and the third is on par with other offerings in that price range from other global sources at about 85% of the cost. With Griz, don't buy the bottom of the line or the smallest size available and NO BENCHTOP VERSIONS (e.g., no 6" anything, and no economy 6" or 8" model).

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