Any opinions on Steelex? 12" Jointer? - Printable Version +- Woodnet Forums (https://www.forums.woodnet.net) +-- Thread: Any opinions on Steelex? 12" Jointer? (/showthread.php?tid=7346185) Pages:
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RE: Any opinions on Steelex? 12" Jointer? - Tapper - 12-26-2019 (12-25-2019, 01:41 PM)Wild Turkey Wrote: I live about 20 minutes from Byrd Tools so a few years ago I went by to get a head for an 8" vintage jointer; I forget exactly how much it was but it was affordable for both head and bearings. Dittos! Huge difference in performance, noise reduction and maintenance; no comparison to knives IMO. Doug Byrd on Shop Fox 8" jointer Griz on Shop Fox 15" planer RE: Any opinions on Steelex? 12" Jointer? - Bit_Fiddler - 12-28-2019 Hello Everyone - Just an update on the Jointer questions... First off, thanks to Wild Turkey for keeping me in mind and making what I think was a very generous offer. This community is amazing. I just finished setting up a Shop Fox 1744S 12" jointer in my shop tonight. Grizzly delayed the delivery of the Steelex unit I had on order several times and then cancelled the order, but did not notify me. I found out by calling in after the latest delivery date was missed and I had not heard anything. Seems they can't get anything (jointer wise at least) out of China anymore. The new units are coming from Taiwan but are also almost a grand more expensive. I stumbled onto some new, old stock of the 1744S's on EBay and jumped on one of those. It's a beast and I am quite satisfied with the fit and finish. Regarding the cutter segment count, I have a Byrd head on my 8" Grizzly jointer and the Shop Fox has what is called a spiral head. Basically a lower cost segmented cutter head with 4 rows of 15 square carbide cutters wrapped in a fairly tight spiral around the head. From the initial testing tonight, there is *very* little difference in the cut quality compared to the Byrd head. If I push the board across the head fast, I can see the cutter impressions made by the shop fox head, but I can't feel any roughness. It's a bit of a surprise to not see a difference, but time will tell if any difference develops over time. Thanks for the interest and responses here. I will shortly have the 8" Grizzly G0500 with a Byrd head for sale if anyone is interested.... Dave |