Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Feb 17, 2007 08:45am | #1

   If you do an "Advanced Search" for steel city you'll find lots of good info here.  Sarge did two long posts on their bandsaws, with plenty of detailed info, and followed up all questions.  Seems like at least two other Knots members have bought the saw since then.  I have their mortiser, but haven't had the right project to get going with it.  The design is tops in its class, IMHO. 

   Steel City was founded by a bunch of guys from Delta and WMH (Jet, Powermatic) who decided they could give us high quality, respond to the customers' pleas for better designs, and a great warrantee without charging all that much more than anyone else does.  Near as I can tell, they're doing a bang-up job!

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   

1. 
   slo | Feb 17, 2007 09:06am | #2

   Sadly they don’t have a dealer near by and I think there only available through there dealer network do you know if they have a method for dealing with people not near there dealers

2. 
   MoWWorker | Feb 17, 2007 08:59pm | #3

   Seiggy,

   I think they are definitely worth a look for any type of tool.  I researched 18" bandsaws for a very long time before ordering one from them last week.  As Forestgirl mentioned, you will see many posts regarding their products and everything I read from owners of their products was favorable.  I did a lot a technical comparison of published specs and also performed some of my own measurements as to deflection, etc and their saw came out very well.

   I corresponded with their customer service people a few times on various questions and my emails were answered very promptly by Jim Box, who I believe is one of their principals.  I sent emails to some of their competitiors and never got a response.

   Now if the snow would only melt so that I can get my new saw into my workshop...

   Hope this helps.

   MoWWorker

3. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Feb 17, 2007 11:59pm | #4

   Afternoon seiggy..

   To answer your original question about the Craftsman Hybrid being produced by Steel City... Yes and No!

   The Craftsman hybrid was principally designed by one of Steel City's owners, Mark Strahler when he was with Orion. He broke off Orion and he and Scott Box (formerly of Delta) formed Steel City. His design stayed with Orion, but as of a few months ago Steel City bought Orion so you might say the SC hybrid and the Craftsman zip code hybrid are being made by Steel City. But Orion is still a separate company that provides private label to Sears and several others.

   I have the Steel City 18" Bandsaw and the SC 8" jointer. If they weren't good design and quality in it's price range... frankly I wouldn't have the SC BS and jointer. ha ha...

   The drill press, mortiser and their TS's are all made to hang around a while. A slight dimple on the SC spindle sander as a lot was shipped to the distributors that the factory did not apply the silicone adhesive around the tip sight window and the 90 weight. oil leaked out. SC had it corrected at factory level and notified all distributors of the problem. Sent them the necessary repair silicone and for anyone that had already had the sander... call their tech line and the repair is on the way as soon as the phone is put back on the hook.

   Hope that helps...

   Sarge.. jt

    

1. 
   forestgirl | Feb 18, 2007 10:06am | #5

   "The Craftsman hybrid was principally designed by one of Steel City's owners, Mark Strahler when he was with Orion. He broke off Orion and he and Scott Box (formerly of Delta) formed Steel City. His design stayed with Orion, but as of a few months ago Steel City bought Orion...."  How in the world do you get all this info, Sarge?  Thanks!!!! 

   Now, can you confirm or deny that Shop Fox is made by Grizzly??  hah hah hahforestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

1. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Feb 18, 2007 12:54pm | #6

   Morning again Jamie...

   "How in the world do you get all this info, Sarge?  Thanks!!!! 

   Now, can you confirm or deny that Shop Fox is made by Grizzly??  hah hah hah" ... FG

   I dropped by to say hello to the Steel City guys at the Atlanta WW show two week-ends ago. They were in town working the show with their distributor here in Atlanta (Redmond & Son Machinery). I had gotten to know Scott and his brother Jim over the phone as I had called severa; times with some questions before I purchased the SC 18" BS. I was also looking at the SC 8" jointer which I purchased a week ago.

   When I dropped by the Redmond Booth.. Scott Box greeted me as Holly Stevenson (SC advertising mgr. and forums monitor) told him I would be dropping by. Things evolved after saying hello, and it turned into a 4 hour marathon demo-ing SC Band-saws as I got elected to be the BS go-to man. The ballot seemed to be rigged if you ask me, but a good time was had by all and I came cheap.. real cheap..   ha.. ha...  

   Those four hours with Scott.. Mike Box (Scott's son) and Stacy Davis (former Delta rep and now SE SC rep) carried a lot of excellent tool  conversation and ideas along with personal conversation about the tool market in general. Scott and SC had monitored the "Steel City Smear" thread here I participated in, so he kind of knows my style of approaching things.

   I happened to call Friday to ask Jim Box (Scott's brother and the head Tech man for SC) a question on the SC 8". Within minutes I was on conference call to Scott Box.. Jim Box.. and Tom Guertin (head designer at SC) making a recommendation wtih the BS and they replace the set screw that locks the lower eccentric guide bearing in place to a thumb or knurl screw as it needs to be. They ask me to hold as they went to the BS on the Show-room and tried to find it without a flash-light and insert the allen head wrench it takes.

   They came back after crawling under and en-countering the PITA I had told them about. A call will be made to the manufacturer on Monday to replace the set screw and erase fumbling with a flash-light to find access to that screw. A small flaw that was listened too and changed by corporate management that are willing to crawl under a machine and see what the problem is. I"m beggining to like those guys as they do listen on the rare occasion they did over-look something in their quest to initally go to market.

   One thing lead to another and they asked if they could e-mail the new set of detailed instructions for fine adjusting the various points on the Band-saw to me for me to look over and make any recommendations of clarity for we consumers. They know I know every inch of their saw and have experience in the trench with it. I found them extremely clear and well done as they were.. only needing graphics to throw in a few arrows that pointed specifically to relate to the printed word. I e-mailed my reply back and they e-mailed their thanks. Jim did an excellent job of putting it together. It should appear in the newer owners manuals and can be accessed next week on the SC web-site.

   So.... that's kinda how I get all this information I guess?...  :>) 

   I can't confirm Shop-fox is made by Grizzly. I can tell you that it is owned by the same gentleman and he chooses to market the Fox in an alternative way. With Grizzly, he has eliminated the middle-man by putting everything under 3 roofs (WA.- Mo.- Pa.) and selling and shipping direct. The Shop-fox is sold and handled by distributors on the local level which has a higher over-all operating cost even though more hands-on. Therefore the cost is slightly higher on the Fox even though being generated from the same sources.

   That's about all I know about the Fox as the story seems to be the same with the several SF dealers I have questioned about the matter.

   Regards...

   Sarge.. jt

   Edited 2/18/2007 12:01 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47