Looking at Jointers and thicknessers

[Yxoc]

I can't say I fully understand our import tariff structure, but I suspect they are only high on certain categories of items where we attempt protect a local industry such as car manufacturing. Woodworking machinery wouldn't fall into this category and I thought that most other items attracted a simple 10% GST. Nevertheless everything seems much more expensive here than elsewhere. Many Australians purchase items from the US via mail order and even with shipping included it is often significantly cheaper to do so. High incomes that we pay ourselves probably feeds into cost of goods as does our high land costs. Somehow I still feel as if there is some price gouging going on.

[Chris Hall]

Derek,

have you considered importing a used machine from Japan?

Here's a side-by-side jointer-planer unit by Hitachi, with 3-knife heads:

http://www.marushinkiko.com/machine/p0042.html

I'm sure there are plenty of those kind of machines available in Japan.

[Yxoc]

I haven't, I wouldn't know where to start. My Japanese is not so good, so pouring through Japanese websites is not so easy.

But I don't have anything against the idea in principle - guess I would have to look into shipping costs and import duty considerations to see if value for money can be achieved.

[john verge]

What are they asking for this one Chris?

[Chris Hall]

since I posted that, the machine has been marked as 'under sales agreement, so I can't tell you the price.

I'm currently shopping for machines in Japan, so if someone here has a budget in mind and a particular machine they are after, I can look for you.

[john verge]

Thanks for the offer Chris. I for one will definitely keep that in mind. I guess all pricing would be in American $'s ?

[john verge]

Chris, would your japanese machines go to Seattle first then on to the east coast where you are?

[Chris Hall]

Chris, would your japanese machines go to Seattle first then on to the east coast where you are?

Unknown at this point.

[Paul Atzenweiler]

I have the smaller of the Dewalt planers and have found it to be a great planer. I have put miles of boards through it from pine and cedar to oak and ipe. Chris is right about it stuggling on wide boards (especially boards with any hardness). The Ipe I planed really made it work as it is very hard. As much as I like this planer I would get a beefier planer if my space allowed it. I keep 3 extra sets of knives sharpened/ready. I have worn out at least 2 sets of knives - after repeated sharpenings they got too narrow for the setting jig to work. On especilly wonky pieces I either flatten with my hand power planer or hand plane before sending it through the thickness planer. I would trade it to Chris for his planer but portability would be an issue.

Paul A

[Chris Hall]

I would trade it to Chris for his planer but portability would be an issue.

Very generous trade terms Paul

I used to have the older Dewalt 12.5" and thought it was pretty decent. I've also seen a Ryobi portable planer on a job site take years of abuse.

I still use the little Makita in my shop even though the SCMI 25" is great for most things. When it comes to really thin stock, or trying to creep up on a dimension, it is nice to have the rubber infeed and outfeed rollers on the Makita. I've been thinking of swapping out the front roller on the SCMI for a rubber roller to achieve the same capability (to creep up on dimensions without incurring marks from the serrated infeed roller), but even if I did that I would probably keep the Makita for working small pieces of stock. The smaller planer has a smaller cutterhead and smaller infeed/outfeed rollers placed closer together, so pieces of stock as short as 6" can be fed through. Also it is nice to have a portable planer to take to a job site, though it has been a while since I've had any cause to do that.