Why should I NOT buy a woodtek bandsaw?

[Stephen M]

After much reseach I'm about to pull the trigger on the purchase of this bandsaw.

price/specs look look pretty darned good to me. I called them to get additional specs and an owner's manual and their tech answered right away and could answe all of my questions right away... that's a good sign.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to locate any 1st-hand accounts of using this saw.

Does anyone have any hands-on experience with this saw, or support nightmares to relay (like I bought x, the table was not flat and they would not fix it) about they folks at woodworker's supply?

Thanks,

Steve

[B a r r y]

How's Woodtek as a company? History? Do they control the factories, or do they bid out manufacturing lots?

I know some folks with broken Reliant machines who are unable to obtain replacement parts. Woodtek may be good or not so good, but I'd look into it before I bought a machine.

Barry

[Charley]

Woodtek is the "house brand" for Woodworkers Supply out of Casper, Wyoming. Most of the Woodtek tools are made in the Orient, probably at different factories depending on the particular tool.

I can't comment on their bandsaw, but I have one of their 6" joiners (now about 10 years old) that has been well worth the money that I spent on it. However, I bought a Woodtek scroll saw a few years later and returned 6 of them without finding one that didn't have something significant wrong with it. Woodworkers Supply ended up offering me a special deal on a Delta scroll saw, which I still have. At least they stand by what they sell.

If it's possible, I recommend that you go to their store nearest to you and look it over closely before you buy it.

-- Charley

> The price/specs look look pretty darned good to me. I called them to get

[Stephen Meier]

Barry,

I'm with you. I have donesome of that. Woodtek is an oriental-made house brand for woodworkers supply... They have been around for at lease a decade, have 3 bick & morter locations and the names of the principals (ir is that principles?) are listed on their website.

IDAGS and that returned generally favorable reviews on their jointers and shapers... not much else was found. As I said, their tech support, answered my pre-salequestions accurately on the fly.

Visiting a showroom would be great, but I live in uptate NY and I would have to drive for about 6 hours to see ANY of the products which I am considering. 600 miles if driving (which would not be mitigated by reducing shipping costs, because I don't own a truck, really eats into the "value" of a purchase)

Grizz 17 Bridgewood 17 Various Laguna/Minimax

Laguna want: $260 (unless you buy $500 worth of accessories) to ship any of their saws.... That drives up a really hefty price tag further.

So, I have come to the conclusion that I'll be doing this research "remotely".

-Steve