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Hi All. I am buying a new bandsaw and jointer and wanted to get something from the local lowes or home depot. Well, of course I settle on the Jet 6" jointer and 14" bandsaw. Of course lowes does not carry it and home depot only does online but shipping is almost 400 bucks! Amazon has free shipping on them but would be a pain if anything was wrong. What to do! Or do I just settle for the delta jointer and bandsaw from lowes? Also, to save a few bucks, would getting a benchtop jointer be acceptable or better to go for the floor standing? (I think I already know the answer to that question)

I have the Ridgid jointer and 14" bandsaw from Home Depot and think they're great. I think Ridgid makes really good tools for the money, and they do everything I will ever need for guitar building.

Good Luck!

John

You know, I never even looked at them. Maybe I will check them out tomorrow! Thanks John.

I have both, and they are both well made home shop ( as opposed to industrial grade) tools. I would avoid the smaller benchtop planer, they are just too small. A 6" planer is about right untill your opperation justifies larger.BTW I also have one of their planers, and one of their laminate trimmers...all good tools.

Al

I think you could have the Jet shipped to your local store on their standard shipment for free and pick it up locally, just a thought. Jeremy!

Frank, the RIDGID 14" bandsaw from Home depot has a limited life warranty and is pretty silent, here's mine that i bought last saturday, it works just great and is easy to assemble, great price too in Canada so the USD priceshould even be better

How much was that in Canada? if you dont mind me asking?
   Thats one thing I wish I never parted with - My wife had a client whose ex husband used to be the local butcher on the island we lived on - she had an old Hobart meat saw in the barn - so I bought it for $100. It had a 3ph/220v, 3hp{frozen bones and meat?} motor and was 14", perfect for what I needed it for, it was stainless from the table up,{which had a sliding 1/16" measure/push guide/sliding tray built in, I guess so blood and guts wouldnt stain the cast iron.
It had a cast iron base and the rest was aluminum. It was pretty sweet, but I sold it during my physical rehabilitation. Thats the one thingI wish I had kept.
**** - now I will have to lay out big$$$ for another Im betting.
Cheers
CharlieLanceK38849.3097569444

Can you put a riser block in the Ridgid? That's something to consider if you think you might want to do some of your own resawing at some point.

One thing to think about is how you will handle upgrades and other service/repairs, replacement of parts if necessary, etc. For example, if you buy a Jet machine from Amazon, as I did (several machines), and you have a problem with it, Jet tech support will be only minimally helpful. It's not that they don't try, or that they're not plenty generous with sending replacement parts, but they aren't very knowledgable (in my experience), and ultimately the diagnosis and fixing of the problem will be up to you. You're not likely to be taking a big, heavy machine to any repair shop or anything. So, you become your own mechanic, and that can involve a learning curve, unless you're already very good with machinery. I don't know about Ridgid, whether you might get service assistance through your local Home Depot or what, but you might want to look into that.

You will almost certainly have some problems with a machine and/or want to make some improvements on it. I don't think I have a single machine in my shop that I'm using "out of the box". Think of a new machine as sort of a kit that is not complete until you've tinkered with it, upgraded some parts, etc. You'll probably have another $100 at least, and a fair amount of time, into each machine before you're really up and running smoothly.

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

I just bought a Jet 16" bandsaw. Amazon didn't offer free shipping on it, to heavy I guess. I waited for Rockler to have a sale and sure enough, got 10% off. It worked out fine.

I have bought tools from Amazon with great sucess, including a 16-32 preformax drum sander. I didn't have any problems so my story may be different if I did.

Good luck!

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

If I can make a suggestion, I would look at Grizzly before buying from home depot or lowes, I know some people use their tools and are fine with them but buying large power tools is an investment and it should be made with caution.

I have Jet, Delta and Grizzly tools in the shop, the Grizzly was the most cost effective. But I've had my jet table saw for 10 years now and it's still in great shape, I would honestly steer away from the depot stores. Nothing against them (I keep them in business with all the junk I buy) but I never buy large power tools there...

Just my $.02

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Charlie and Todd, the RIDGID 14" was $498.00 CAD at home depot and i registered my new acquisition online and by mail, it also has a limited lifetime warranty, the riser block was $165.00 and will allow 12" of resaw capacity.

Serge

[QUOTE=Sprockett] I would honestly steer away from the depot stores. Nothing against them...but I never buy large power tools there...

Just my $.02

-Paul-[/QUOTE]

I'm curious, what don't you like about Ridgid (or Home Depot) power tools? Did you have a bad experience? It's much easier running to HD (although I've never had to) than working issues through the mail like Grizzly. I've had my table saw for over 10 and have never had an issue.

Cheers!

John

I have the jet lathe, jet table saw, 14" jet bandsaw, and 6" jet jointer. Had them all for 5 years with nary a problem. Love them all.

I ordered all mine from "Seven Corners Hardware", somewhere up north. They had free shipping at the time. They have a website, I think.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Rigid power tools are fine, but both chains are home improvement stores. Not woodworking stores so they only carry the very bottom level large power tools, on the other hand I think WoodCraft overprices their stuff so I don't really shop there for large tools either unless shipping prices force me too. Anymore I do my research online and then just have the items shipped when possible, I did buy my jointer and bandsaw from a local Rockler but they had good competitive prices and working knowledge of the tools and offered some good setup advice.

There are a couple of tools in the shop that I would not skimp on, and those are the Jointer, Table Saw, Planer and Bandsaw, those are the core tools of any shop and you should be looking at making at least a 10 year investment in each. I have a Jet 10" contractor table saw that I have built into a large cutting/routing workstation, it was $600 when we bought it but it's paid me back in that ten fold and never given me ANY problems over all this time...

Now for hand power tools, I'm all over Home Depot, they seem here locally to have a better selection than Lowes does. I was down there this morning in fact looking for a pockethole jig, the guy sent me to Woodcraft... hehehe...

[QUOTE=John Elshaw] [QUOTE=Sprockett] I would honestly steer away from the depot stores. Nothing against them...but I never buy large power tools there...

Just my $.02

-Paul-[/QUOTE]

I'm curious, what don't you like about Ridgid (or Home Depot) power tools? Did you have a bad experience? It's much easier running to HD (although I've never had to) than working issues through the mail like Grizzly. I've had my table saw for over 10 and have never had an issue.

Cheers!

John [/QUOTE]

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

I've been tooliing up for a few months and have looked at the JET JWBS-14CS 14" band saw. Woodcraft seems to have a reasonable price on it and their shipping isn't too bad. You also get a rebate of $50 dollars through April. You can also buy the riser block kit w/it also. So many different band saws, so many choices! Does anyone have the Grizzly GO555 14" band saw? That seems to have a lot that goes with it such as, a fence & miter gauge. Riser blocks are sold for it also. The price doesn't seem to far out of line but the shipping is up there!
Frank, hope I didn't intrude to much w/my questions. I too, am hunting for a band saw.
David

I bought a Rigid 14" bandsaw about a year ago, and I've been very happy with it. Immediately after buying the saw I ordered the riser block kit. It does a decent job of resawing, as the occasional need arises.

My saw is quiet and the vibration is low. The adjustments are more than adequate. It doesn't come with a fence, but I just made my own. I have not found the small motor to be an issue, even when resawing cocobolo.

I also own a Rigid 10" compound mitre saw that I bought six years ago. Hasn't missed a lick -- a good tool. I wouldn't hesitate buying another Rigid power tool based on my own experiences.

Oh, btw, a friend of mine who used to work there told me that Rigid is now a Home Depot subsidiary, which probably explains why you see it there and nowhere else.

Best,

MichaelMichael McBroom38817.8998726852

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Well, I purchased the Ridgid Bandsaw and Jointer. I had a friend give me a hand carrying them. I was going down the outside cement steps first (backwards) when all of a sudden my friend starts really pushing and practically running. He was losing his grip. As you can imagine, down I go flat on my back. Well, those of you that know physics, the 300 pound box wasn't far behind. Amazingly, nothing broke on me or the saw. Once this soreness and the massive elbow bruise goes away, i need to remember to kill him. I guess all the weight lifting and being 6'4, 240 pounds paid off.    I won't lie, it did hurt

Oh yeah, lesson learned...Delivery is much better

Frank, you are very lucky. Thank goodness you're okay. There's gotta be a safer way to get that stuff down your stairs!

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Todd Rose
Ithaca, NY

https://www.dreamingrosesecobnb.com/todds-art-music

https://www.facebook.com/ToddRoseGuitars/

we got the jointer down no problem. next time...DELIVERY!

[QUOTE=old man] ...

I ordered all mine from "Seven Corners Hardware", somewhere up north. They had free shipping at the time. They have a website, I think.[/QUOTE]

That would be Seven Corners Hardware in St. Paul, MN. Great store. Their Web site is here. My nephew bought me a gift certificat there for my last birthday. He said, "You have to put on your manly had when you go in there." The ground floor is just stuffed with every miscellaneous hardware item you can think of, with the power tools upstairs.

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Seven Corners other than I want them to stay in business so I can shop there.

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John Cavanaugh
Saint Paul, MN
"What could possibly go wrong?"

Thanks Serge - thats not as bad as I thought - I will be looking for any dicontentedness comin from you concerning this tool - but Im hoping its just the ticket for you.
Mabye I will pick one up.
Cheers
charliewood

i'll keep you updated Charlie, i just went and got my riser block last night, occasional resaw shouldn't be a problem with their bandsaw, seems pretty sturdy!