We are in the process of looking for a new heavy duty 20″ planer with a spiral cutter. Just looking for any feedback on Bridgewood or Grizzly products. I am not very familiar with either of them as I can only see them on the web or in the magazine ads. Any information on the quality and finish of either company’s machines would be excellent as well as any problems that you have encountered. If you have used, seen or heard of anything regarding their planers, (or if you can point me to any reviews), your feed back would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Ryan
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I own and/or have used these Grizzley powertools:
* tablesaw (the modest cabinet saw),
* dust collector,
* wet grinder.
All were first rate.
The only thing I found lacking was the tool rest on the grinder but the "upgraded" one was cheap and that is fine.
I have a BW 200P that I purchased last fall. The fit and finish are excellent. It has a 5HP Baldor motor and it will cut through anything.
It came fully crated in a 2x4 and 1x4 frame with what looked like 3/8 plywood all around, and bolted to a heavy pallet. I think the driver could have dropped it off the back of the truck without doing any damage - it was that well packed.
I found Wilke Machinery superb to deal with. I emailed a question about my order and had a response within 45 minutes. They called to alert me when the order shipped and did not charge my credit card until the shipping date.
An all around excellent experience - I would do business with them any time.
Disclaimer - I don't own any Bridgewood or Grizzly products.
Disclaimer 2 - I think it's really hard to tell how good a machine is by looking at it but like everyone else I formed an impression from looking and and here it is.
About a year or so ago I was in the market for a new 1HP mortising machine. I had an opportunity to see a General International and Powermatic and my local dealer and when a family trip can up I noticed I could hit Grizzly on the way out and by changing my return route I could see Wilke(Bridgewood) on the way back. Grizzly seems to be a much larger operation but in looking over their products it varied from pretty good to Harbor Freight looks better. Overall I wasn't impressed but considering the price some of the products looked serviceable.
On my return trip to Bridgewood I noticed they seemed to be a more laid back and smaller operation bit the machinery I saw all looked pretty decent. Much of the larger machinery band saws, Jointers, table saws, Shapers looked much better the the Grizzly stuff I saw. The less expensive Yorkcraft also look better then most of the equivalent Grizzly.
They did have a tablesaw area set up where they had removed the tables from a number of cabinet saw (Powermatic, Delta, Bridgewood, General) and it was very informative to see the different design approaches taken to mounting the trunion assembly on these saws. They were all well built and finished but the Bridgewood seemed to encompass the best of all of them. I wasn't in the market for a tablesaw but I might have bought the Bridgewood right there based on what I saw.
In the end I bought the Powermatic Mortiser mainly because the Bridgewood was a 220 Volt only unit and with 1 hp motor I didn't want to deal with 220.
It's always difficult to buy something substantial by mail-order or Internet where you don't have an opportunity to actually see the product. Based on my trip with Grizzly I may or may not wind up with a decent product but I won't really know until I get it and then it's to late. If I were to buy a Grizzly I would have go and see the product before I purchased it. I would feel comfortable enough with Bridgewood that I would order a machine I haven't seen although I would also feel better if I had a chance to see the product first. If I remember correctly I was impressed with the Bridgewood planers.
You probably can consider the Grizzly but I would take a trip to see it first. It might save you some unexpected suprises. Good luck, Hope this is some help.
I have a Yorkcraft 15" planner and Grizzly TS and band saw. Both companies have been good to work with and the products have performed exactly as expected. The planner blades were set +/- .002 and all of the remaining settings well within spec. Some are surprised at the higher freight cost for Wilke but they do not subsidize the cost of shipping by hiding it in the price of the machinery. Grizzly tech and customer service was very responsive when a bad design on the TS balde dust deflector caused my Forrest II blade to eat itself: they paid for the blade. The Wilke crating was far more substantal than that of the Grizzly products I received. Damaged Grizzly goods is a not uncommon complaint by other Knoters.
I happen to live within easy driving distance of both Wilke/Bridgewood and Grizzly. I own a Bridgewood jointer, shaper, and their 20 inch Italian made professional bandsaw. Also some smaller table top stuff. My cabinet saw happens to be a General, but I bought it from Wilke.
Although I know you can find people who have had both good and bad experiences with any manufacturer or importer, I have been impressed by the number of Bridgewood machines I see in the cabinet shops, Amish shops, the Shaker style shops, etc. across Pennsylvania. As someone said, they are laid back in that they don't come on real strong in a sales sort of way. The quality of their machines, and their customer service, does their selling and talking.
Yorkcraft is basically Delta machines with a different color paint and Wilke's Yorkcraft sticker on them. --- at about 60 to 70 percent of the price of Delta.
My experience has been great with Wilke.
Alan - planesaw
power tools in Amish shops?The things I thought I KNEW and was wrong about will be the death of me.
Absolutely!!!!! All power is not electricity. They take off the electric motor and might convert the tool to air power (pneumatic) or direct current. It is not a doctrinal issue, it is a lifestyle choice. They use almost all of the same woodworking equipment we would use, just power it differently.
Alan planesaw
wow. The depths of my ignorance...I can see this winning me a bet at some point in my near future. (I will give you silent thanks when I do.)
FWW did an article on this very subject. Seems they can use DC power to start a diesel motor which in turn runs a hydraulic pump. The machines are run with hydraulic motors. The article goes back but I'm prerry sure it was after they went "color".
Granted,I still think NYC is the center of the universe and all like any good NYer. But I must admit, there are some interesting folks out there in the rest of the world.Sounds like a clss trip is in order.
I lived in NYC 35 years ago. Can't imagine ever moving back.
Alan - planesaw
Where do you live now? We might even be neighbors. I live south of Pittsburgh in WV but I have considered a trip to Wilke.
But don't the Amish vary in their work habits in different parts of the country? Some more strict that others?
Yes, Amish practice varies somewhat from community to community, just like the Mennonites, the Baptists, the Catholics, the atheists, and even woodworkers.
I live in Harrisburg.
Alan - planesaw
Planesaw, I live just across the river from you in Camp Hill and have similar Bridgewood equipment to what you have. I agree with you that their quality is superb. The fact that they put Baldor motors on their machinary is just one more plus. I have the Bridgewood 240P 24" planer and have put many miles on it in the past 7 years. My next purchase will be a replacement Byrd spiral cutter head for the planer, Wilke has them now for all their planers. I've owned several Grizzly machines and while they have been adequate IMHO they don't measure up to BW even though the price is usually close. Grizzly machines also have Taiwanese motors. Steve
Steve,
Are you a member of SAW-PA? Susquehanna Area Woodworkers-Pennsylvania.
Meet at Woodcraft on Eisenhower, 6:30 p.m., 4th tuesday of the month.
Alan - planesaw
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