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a brief visit at Grizzly

Frank Fusco

Frank Fusco

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Mountain Home, Arkansas
As you know, I met up with Jay at the Grizzly store in Springfield, MO the other day.
I hadn't been there in several months and noticed some changes. Wish I had more time to browse but wife was waiting and pocketbook was screaming in fear. They had a lot of specials on table all over the place, spending lots and lots of money would have been very easy.
I got out of there for under $40.00 for a few needed small items.
The new white Polar Bear line was quite prominent. A salesman said it was simply a new marketing strategy. Oh, he also said to expect price increases come Jan. 1, 2011. Need to save up and get that belt sander I need ASAP.
On the machine tool side I saw large machines with South Bend brand on them. I dunno if that is a Grizzly brand or if they are simply selling that brand from another manufacturer.
I was kinda majorly irked when I saw the new G0698 lathe.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/18-X-47-Wood-Lathe/G0698
This is a really powerful, heavy duty and heavy machine with several well thought out features. It is larger, stouter and heavier, more powerful than my G0632.
But the "irk" part is that it costs almost $200.00 LESS than the G0632. Go figger. :huh:
As always, the people I dealt with were friendly and very efficient.
It is definitely a boys toys playground.
 
C'mon Carol. We all know you're a lady through and through, but you're still one of 'the boys' in our hearts and minds. :D

Sounds like a good visit, Frank. One of these days I hope to see a Grizzly showroom in person.
 
I hope I don't change the subject of this thread too much and if I do then Frank please tell me to go take a hike. But.....I was in a local Woodcraft store recently and the person behind the counter was telling another customer that ALL Grizzly tools are factory "seconds" from either Jet or Powermatic. He was claiming that Grizzly does not make any machines. They simply buy machines that did not meet Jet or Powermatics standards and have them repainted and re badged. I was kind of thrown by this so after that customer left I asked the sale person again about it and he repeated his claim. Does anyone have any thought on this? Is it true?

Tom


BTW....I own a Grizzly 0555X bandsaw.....and love it
 
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Tom Baugues said:
Grizzly does not make any machines. They simply buy machines that did not meet Jet or Pneumatics standards and have them repainted and re badged. I was kind of thrown by this so after that customer left I asked the sale person again about it and he repeated his claim. Does anyone have any thought on this? Is it true?
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I live about an hour and a half from a Grizzly showroom. I have visited it a few times, but have never purchased any of their large machines. I just have not been impressed by their 'fit and finish'. I *have* purchased many smaller items there.

I don't think there is any truth to this statement, however, as their machines are not enough like any of the larger name brand machines. Magazines have reviewed Grizzly tools right next to a large group of the other major manufacturers, and they have found many differences between them.
 
Tom Baugues said:
I hope I don't change the subject of this thread too much and if I do then Frank please tell me to go take a hike. But.....I was in a local Woodcraft store recently and the person behind the counter was telling another customer that ALL Grizzly tools are factory "seconds" from either Jet or Pneumatic. He was claiming that Grizzly does not make any machines. They simply buy machines that did not meet Jet or Pneumatics standards and have them repainted and re badged. I was kind of thrown by this so after that customer left I asked the sale person again about it and he repeated his claim. Does anyone have any thought on this? Is it true?

Tom


BTW....I own a Grizzly 0555X bandsaw.....and love it
Click to expand...

Hey Tom,

You just saw some sour grapes salesmanship. Grizzly is a very large outfit and has plenty of muscle to get their machines designed and built the way they want. That kind of salesmanship would really burn me if I was trying to make an informed decision at a store. I would even consider talking to the manager of the store about what you observed and why you should ever consider buying equipment from that type of sleazy sales tactics.

And I don't even have a single piece of Grizzly machinery!
 
Tom Baugues said:
I hope I don't change the subject of this thread too much and if I do then Frank please tell me to go take a hike. But.....I was in a local Woodcraft store recently and the person behind the counter was telling another customer that ALL Grizzly tools are factory "seconds" from either Jet or Pneumatic. He was claiming that Grizzly does not make any machines. They simply buy machines that did not meet Jet or Pneumatics standards and have them repainted and re badged. I was kind of thrown by this so after that customer left I asked the sale person again about it and he repeated his claim. Does anyone have any thought on this? Is it true?

Tom


BTW....I own a Grizzly 0555X bandsaw.....and love it
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This is about as much fact as WD-40 being made from Martian fish oil. Yes, I have heard that claim.
Same thing is said about products sold by Wal-Mart. To be all seconds the factories would have to build additional factories just to produce 'seconds'. Grizzly stands behind it's products. I know if I were going into business selling products that were seconds I sure wouldn't promise to stand behind them with guarantees. They do come from the same factory as Jet and many others. That does not make them seconds. Maybe PowerMatics are Grizzly's 'seconds'. :eek: They come from the same factory. (maybe I shouldn't have said that. someone will start a rumor. ;) )
 
Frank Fusco said:
This is about as much fact as WD-40 being made from Martian fish oil. Yes, I have heard that claim.
Same thing is said about products sold by Wal-Mart. To be all seconds the factories would have to build additional factories just to produce 'seconds'. Grizzly stands behind it's products. I know if I were going into business selling products that were seconds I sure wouldn't promise to stand behind them with guarantees. They do come from the same factory as Jet and many others. That does not make them seconds. Maybe PowerMatics are Grizzly's 'seconds'. :eek: They come from the same factory. (maybe I shouldn't have said that. someone will start a rumor. ;) )
Click to expand...

This is about as much fact as WD-40 being made from Martian fish oil. Say it ain't so Frank... Another rumor about WD-40... it was the 40th attempt at the formula... real truth is the chemist or company guru who named the product just liked the name... WD supposedly stands for "Water displacement" and the number 40 was an arbitrary.

As for tools coming from same factories... very common... there are only so many factories, but lots of logos and company names.... I worked as traffic manager for a company in California that built telephone switching gear... we made four different brands of the gear... one under our name and three were under contract names... primary difference in each switchboard... the color of the tape across the front with the company name printed on it.

Same color cabinets, same computer boards, same configuration etc... just a different strip of plastic tape across the front.
 
Chuck Ellis said:
This is about as much fact as WD-40 being made from Martian fish oil. Say it ain't so Frank... Another rumor about WD-40... it was the 40th attempt at the formula... real truth is the chemist or company guru who named the product just liked the name... WD supposedly stands for "Water displacement" and the number 40 was an arbitrary.

As for tools coming from same factories... very common... there are only so many factories, but lots of logos and company names.... I worked as traffic manager for a company in California that built telephone switching gear... we made four different brands of the gear... one under our name and three were under contract names... primary difference in each switchboard... the color of the tape across the front with the company name printed on it.

Same color cabinets, same computer boards, same configuration etc... just a different strip of plastic tape across the front.
Click to expand...


About WD-40, most of what you have is correct. But the number 40 was far from arbitrary. I once met Norm Larsen, the inventor. He told me he developed it to lubricate certain high voltage switches that were in a very humid environment. As a scientist he manipulated petroleum molecules until he got what he was after. After 39 tries, the 40th was a success. He said it, I believe it.
Be that as it may......I really prefer the Martian fish oil version. ;)
 
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