Is Anyone Familiar With Shop Fox/Woodstock International?

[DerbyDad03]

I recently ordered an guide bushing adapter for my router on eBay. The product came from Shop Fox, a "registered trademark of Woodstock International, Inc." and "manufactured in China for Woodstock International, Inc."

Having never heard of Shop Fox, I went to their website and noticed that they carry a wide assortment of woodworking and metalworking machines.

I'm not looking to buy, just curious if anyone knows anything about their equipment. I looked for a local dealer and was surprised to find that their products are supposedly carried at a fancy lumber yard in a "high end" neighborhood as well as a place way out in the middle of farm country.

[dadiOH]

Woodstock has been around for a long time, 25 years at least. They used to sell retail via ads in appropriate magazines and catalogs sent out frequently to customers. My impression was that their things were a cut above those of some other popular retailers - certainly, their prices were - and I occasionally purchased small items from them

Numerous retailers - including importers such as Grizzly - sell their stuff.

[Leon]

With the exception of color it is was almost exactly the same as Grizzly. Shop fox does a lot of advertising with full page adds in woodworking magazines. And they never advertise prices.

If you go to Grizzly's web site and do a search on Shop Fox you will see plenty.

[DerbyDad03]

Yes, I did notice that they retail through many online vendors.

I guess I'm more curious as to the quality, features, etc. I don't see/hear the name come up in this ng (or perhaps I just missed it).

What started me down this "curiosity path" was the fact that the $10 generic router adapter on eBay listed DuroTools as the seller. I just assumed it was a cheap Chinese knock-off. When it came in a Shop Fox package and mentioned Woodstock International, I decided to see what other little do-dads Shop Fox sold. I fully expected to see cheaper versions of Rockler/Woodcraft type items. I was surprised to see they that are part of a company that sells "big machines", not just generic accessories.

[tdacon]

I've had the ShopFox 12" bench-top drill press for a couple years and it's a good little machine. Like any tool inexpensive enough for a non-professional to buy for his own shop you need to tune it up a little when you put it together, but it wasn't much trouble. And you only have to do that once. Like they say about the Grizzly machine tools - "You can make good tools out of them." And it's true, but I've had to work harder on Grizz tools than I did on this little machine.

I measured the runout with a dial indicator and it was just fine - don't remember exactly how many thou but it wasn't enough for me to do anything about.

Tom

[John McCoy]

DerbyDad03 wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I am under the impression that Woodstock International is subsidiary or representative for one of the big Chinese/ Taiwanese machinery makers, and they make & distribute several brands of woodworking tools. Shop Fox is their house brand.

When they first appeared on the scene, many years ago, the Shop Fox brand got relatively poor reviews in the WW press, as did all the other Taiwanese brands (which all came from the same factory, so not surprising). In recent times, the Shop Fox brand has had much more positive reviews in the press. I strongly suspect this reflects more of a decline in review quality and rigor than it does any great improvement in the product.

John

[DerbyDad03]

You can't mean that we, as a society, are settling for less are you?

Say it ain't so! ;-)

[dpb]

Since their home office is also in Bellingham, WA, and they first showed up along with Grizzly, I've always presumed there was a major tie-in there, but that may just be coincidence rather than factual.

AFAIK, Woodstock is just an importer/distributor but overall they've been around 25 yr or so while Shop Fox I don't believe showed up somewhat later than that...

It seems to me they've always rated at about the same quality level as Grizz; a little above the norm of the "lowest-priced spread" but a little behind most Jet, say, and at least until the sell-off of Delta not up to what one would expect from them.

I _think_ but don't know for certain they do spec their own machinery and do some R&D kind of things, particularly in the industrial-grade stuff over on the metal side having some patented items besides just generics.

All in all, I think you can generally count on a serviceable item; I don't know just how well their service/support ranks re: Grizzly that gets good marks if there is a problem.

I've not bought anything new in "since forever"; I'm partial to really old, larger iron at the same or lower price entry point at the cost of some refurb work...but a 1600-lb PM planer or 2000-lb 16" Crescent jointer intrigue me far more than new stuff that's generally much less solid.

[Swingman]

And I would strongly suspect you are correct in that assessment.

[notbob]

I surprised to hear you say this. I thought you were one of the smart one's.

China is gaining in manufacturing prowess. I figure they are currently about where the USA was in the mid-fifties/early-sixties and they are only gonna get better. ;)

nb

[John McCoy]

notbob wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Guess not :-)

That statement is based on my recent re-reading of a stack of American Woodworker magazines from the 90's. Compared to reviews in current FWW or Wood magazine, the older ones are more comprehensive (include a fuller set of the available tools), more detailed (test a greater variety of tool features, test features in more depth), and much more likely to criticize aspects of the tool.

From that I conclude the quality and rigor of the reviews has declined. I suspect there's a certain amount of "don't offend the advertisers" at work.

I have worked with the Chinese for quite a while. In my opinion, the quality you get from the Chinese is the quality you ask for - they are capable of very high quality work, but you have to ask for it, be willing to pay for it, and willing to test and monitor to ensure you're getting it.

There's an old engineering saying: "good, fast, and cheap; you can pick any two". The default from China is fast and cheap. That's what most people want.

John

[Swingman]

Having traveled a bit in China, and having an interest in a company currently using them for manufacturing, it's not the state of their manufacturing prowess, but their propensity for notorious business practices that results in cheapening any product/process to ridiculous extremes.

[graham]

I've just looked at one of their lathes and it appears to be identical to one sold by King, in Canada. Their reputation for quality is questionable, at least I've been told that by several people.

[DerbyDad03]

Whose reputation is questionable...Shop Fox or King?

[graham]

King

[krw]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*That* is the key. You really need someone at the factory to continuously monitor production, though.

Good point. That's what China Inc. wants to supply, too.

[Swingman]

And, for many small companies, who find they must use Chinese manufacturing to be competitive, that is exactly the opening the Chinese are looking for to maximize their profits.

Unless you have constant 'boots on the ground', you will only find out about their shortcuts from your customers.

You, the US consumer, ultimately pays through higher prices, or an inferior product, or both.

[Ralph E Lindberg]

It's all the same ownership

[Ralph E Lindberg]

Most of which are built by the Burt Group of China