Need objective opinion on Shop Fox equipment

[Mike Brady]

I'm a long time member from downstairs in Hand Tools. My neighbor is disposing of a shop full of some almost-unused Shop Fox machinery. Shop Fox is a brand I have not known, but it appears to be heavy-duty, almost pro-shop quality. How does it rate with Powermatic, Laguna, Delta, Jet? A little guidance would be appreciated.

[JGrout]

Grizzly products in ivory instead of green

The two pieces I have are workhorses ( drum sander and molder) but they have their issues

mostly I would say the machinery is fine.

Joe

[Bill_de]

ShopFox is Grizzly's brand that is sold through retail dealers. There may be some minor differences, but mostly color. It has been quite a few years since Grizzly was considered a junk brand. I've had a jointer for 7 or 8 years with no issues.

[live4ever]

JGrout said:

---

Grizzly products in ivory instead of green

The two pieces I have are workhorses ( drum sander and molder) but they have their issues

mostly I would say the machinery is fine.

Joe

---

Would really love to hear your thoughts on the molder, perhaps over PM so as not to hijack this thread. I've been eyeing it for some time.

[Richard D.]

Welcome to the dark side!

Shop Fox is worth owning and parts should be available from several companies. From your list, they are closest to Jet.

[daveferg]

A few years ago, I bought the SF 6" Jointer with spiral head. It replaced a Delta with regular knives whose adjustment was always giving me fits. When assembling the SF---right off the bat I noticed small quality efforts, like threaded inserts and machine screws to assemble the cabinet instead of sheet metal screws----no fear of loosening up holes over the years.

Fit and finish were on par with Powermatic, and loved the built in rolling mobile base.

BTW---this wasn't just a Griz' painted cream---For example, the cabinet holding the tables, was much wider, allowing easy storage of push sticks right in front of where you were standing. The Griz' model didn't have that.

[Anthony W]

If you rank your list

Jet/Delta
Powermatic
Laguna

Grizzly/ShopFox used to be considered equal to or just above Harbor Freight. I think they are now ranked with, sometimes even above, Jet and Delta. As noted in the Grizzly Power Feeder thread, many machines are clones and many of the Jet/Delta/Grizzly/ShopFox products fall into this category. Check out some past tool reviews in the WWing magazines and decide for yourself.

[Mike Brady]

Thanks, guys. That was just the information that I hoped to find from you good folks. There is a much broader spectrum of power tool products than there is in the hand tool category. On top of that fact, consider than hand tools more than fifty years old are still the go-to category for many of our enthusiasts. Woodnet somehow makes all of us feel comfortable here.

[daveferg]

Mike---as time goes on, even for those of us who pretty much use power tools, with a bit of effort, we've finding hand tools can have a big place in our shop----particularly in that many power tools require time to set up to do a task we can start right in on with hand tools.

I do think it's sad that there are fewer and fewer places/mfgs. of hand tools we can trust to have the quality they did 50 years ago. Back then, we could rely on Sears and Stanley to put out a decent hand tool. Now, I've have my best luck with Lee Valley across the board.

[Rick F]

I would place Shop Fox / Grizzly equal with any of the other Asian brands. I own two of them right now, but have owned others.

I had 4 General International machines, the Shop Fox are definitely equal to those.