Steelex by Shopfox...??

[SARGE..g-47]

Morning again...

Has anyone purchased.. seen or have knowlegde of Steelex by Shopfox WW tools? I found out that Steelex is owned by Shopfox and is carried by The Utter Guys down in Fl., which are the largest SF dealer distributor in the U.S. Many forms of google have come up with no reviews or nothing mentioned by anyone that might own any Steelex equipment.

I have never seen any Steelex machines personally, but have been in the market for a floor morticer. They offer one for $599 plus $99 shipping that looks to be from the same manufacturer as the Yorkcraft which Curt Wilke has dis-continued at Wilke Machinery. I would prefer not to buy sight unseen.

I am also eyeing a Power-matic floor mortiser on E-Bay used at a school that dropped their WW class at an out-right price of $750 but no bidders with the bids starting at $650. It looks very lightly used, but does not have the tilt table. I personally think $750 is a bit much for the older straight table model used, but $650 is fair considering it is PM which carries good re-sale value.

Anyone....... ??

Regards...

[Knottscott]

Hey ya Sarge - I recall Steelex making some basic router bits and saw blades, but machinery is fairly new AFAIK....

[SARGE..g-47]

Afternoon Dustmight...

I have a feeling that you are dead right, DM. And I'm not sure I want to be the test guinea pig in this case.

Regards...

[messmaker]

I think Steelex is another part of the Grizzly family. I have seen it in the Grizzly catalog as well as WW supply stores.

[cabinetman]

Morning again...

Has anyone purchased.. seen or have knowlegde of Steelex by Shopfox
I have never seen any Steelex machines personally, but have been in the market for a floor morticer.

Is this the tool you're looking for?
.

[Knottscott]

Afternoon Dustmight...

I have a feeling that you are dead right, DM. And I'm not sure I want to be the test guinea pig in this case.

Regards...

Ah...it's just a name tag. I'd trust your judgement to find out who makes it, and how well built it is. If Papa Griz is behind it, it may very well have some blood ties to the Griz/SF line.

That said, there's no way I'd drop $700 on a floor mortiser with the Steelex name tag unless it had some significant advantages. That PM has an excellent reputation AFAIK.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I have never seen any Steelex machines personally, but have been in the market for a floor morticer. They offer one for $599 plus $99 shipping that looks to be from the same manufacturer as the Yorkcraft which Curt Wilke has dis-continued at Wilke Machinery. I would prefer not to buy sight unseen.

Shop Fox is owned by Grizzly and Steelex is owned by Shop Fox. Grizzly sells Grizzly stuff directly from Grizzly only. Shop Fox stuff is usually almost identical to Grizzly, except sporting 2 year warranty versus 1 year for Grizzly. Shop Fox is sold through retailers other than Grizzly. Steelex is a new line from Shop Fox/Grizzly that is "value based". The items are identical to others manufacturers and are not in the Grizzly/Shop Fox line. I guess Grizzly/Shop Fox wants equipment original to their company only, ie no rebadged brands of competitors. The Steelex line seems to be exactly that. The mortiser in question is identical to the Chinese made Yorkcraft mortiser. The Steelex jointer is a rebadged Delta. Etc.

The Yorkcraft floor standing mortiser is ok. For $600 it represents a good value. The leverage arm seems cheap and flimsy, though if it failed it could be easily replaced. The X-Y adjustment works well. The fence on the floor model is much better than the bench model.
I used the YC model to mortise about 30 3/8" mortises back earlier this year at a friends shop. I liked it and think its a decent value at $600.

I don't know if you get to PA, but I know someone who had the YC for sale at around $500. Maybe less, also include chisels.

[SARGE..g-47]

Is this the tool you're looking for?
.

Thats the one Cabinetman.. It sure looks like the Yorkcraft and Curt Wilke told me the Yorkcraft was made at a differenct facility than the other Yorkcraft machines before they were discontinued. Could be one reason pulled the plug on the Yorkie line as the STEELEX's seem to be similar and Shopfox owns STEELEX. And of course the same gentlement owns both along with Grizzly, so who gets the upper hand in a competitors race on that front!

You guessed correct.... ha.. ha....

Regards...

[SARGE..g-47]

Shop Fox is owned by Grizzly and Steelex is owned by Shop Fox. Grizzly sells Grizzly stuff directly from Grizzly only. Shop Fox stuff is usually almost identical to Grizzly, except sporting 2 year warranty versus 1 year for Grizzly. Shop Fox is sold through retailers other than Grizzly. Steelex is a new line from Shop Fox/Grizzly that is "value based". The items are identical to others manufacturers and are not in the Grizzly/Shop Fox line. I guess Grizzly/Shop Fox wants equipment original to their company only, ie no rebadged brands of competitors. The Steelex line seems to be exactly that. The mortiser in question is identical to the Chinese made Yorkcraft mortiser. The Steelex jointer is a rebadged Delta. Etc.

The Yorkcraft floor standing mortiser is ok. For $600 it represents a good value. The leverage arm seems cheap and flimsy, though if it failed it could be easily replaced. The X-Y adjustment works well. The fence on the floor model is much better than the bench model.
I used the YC model to mortise about 30 3/8" mortises back earlier this year at a friends shop. I liked it and think its a decent value at $600.

I don't know if you get to PA, but I know someone who had the YC for sale at around $500. Maybe less, also include chisels.

Afternoon DM...

I had already figured out the STEELEX is owned by Shopfox by going to the SF web-site and clicking on Brands at the bottom left. And you are so correct about SF being owned by the same gentleman that owns Grizzly even though he runs Woodstock International with a different format by local distributor giving hands on as opposed to mail order direct with Griz.

Thanks for the info on using the Steelex FM. I will hold off on pursuit and keep in the chase for a used mortiser. The Sunhill is on sale for $785 at the moment and it looks to be the same as the Bridgewood. Very close with the same basic specs. May check it out as those are two lines along with Grizzly I can't see local here in Atlanta.

What I'm really hoping for is a used PM local with no sales tax and I can pick it up to save shipping. Being as I have an excellent BT mortiser, there is no real hurry or even major need for that matter. The BT performs well, I would just like to have a X-Y table and may just tinker around with building my own as I so often do the remedy these wants I have. ha.. ha...

Regards my friend...

[LCHIEN]

steelex owned by shopfox which is owned by Grizzly. Wonder why they need to hide behind all these front companies.

[Uncle Cracker]

May have something to do with distribution politics. It's hard to get distributors to sign on and inventory your product when you are already selling the exact same product, name and color directly to the consumer. Starting a second or third product line is usually an attempt to burn the candle at both ends.

[SARGE..g-47]

Evening Unc..

And you are correct as they are not actually hiding anything as it is all a matter of public knowledge. Griz is mail direct and serves out of 3 warehouses. Over-head cut to the bone.

Shopfox is local distributor for those that want to see what they get and have assistance from the person doing the selling. One of my local SF distributors will actually load it on his hydrualic lift truck and deliver to a 50 mile radius. Some like that and are willing to pay a bit more to get it.

Steelex was bought as a smaller concern to supply a good, but much cheaper to manufacture product to those that can't afford the above. Go the Woodstock International web-site and click on Brands at the bottom left. You will see many brands you recognize that Woodstock has purchased to give the line flex both at the distribution level and manufacturers level. Board Buddy is just one you will find there.

The guy that owns all these has covered a broad base of both product and consumer and I consider him very clever businessman... very clever indeed.

Regards...

[Uncle Cracker]

You're right, Sarge. The owner has not hidden anything (although he isn't exactly shouting out the connection from the highest mountain, either). This seems to be all about perception. Distributors need to feel as though they are getting some kind of exclusivity in return for their loyalties.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

It sure looks like the Yorkcraft and Curt Wilke told me the Yorkcraft was made at a differenct facility than the other Yorkcraft machines before they were discontinued. Could be one reason pulled the plug on the Yorkie line as the STEELEX's seem to be similar and Shopfox owns STEELEX. And of course the same gentlement owns both along with Grizzly, so who gets the upper hand in a competitors race on that front!

Ummm. Hmmmm. When did you speak with Curt? Did he tell you that Wilke is out business for sales? They didn't pull the plug on the Yorkcraft line, they pulled the plug on sales of machines period. They are a service center only for now . . . I imagine that model will only last a year or so before they shut down.

[SARGE..g-47]

Ummm. Hmmmm. When did you speak with Curt? Did he tell you that Wilke is out business for sales? They didn't pull the plug on the Yorkcraft line, they pulled the plug on sales of machines period. They are a service center only for now . . . I imagine that model will only last a year or so before they shut down.

Evening Jeff..

The last time I spoke with Curt was about a week after the word got out that he was not going to handle Yorkie (or any machine as you mentioned as I have a vested interest in the Yorkcraft with the Yorkie 20" planer). I called to see if he had a Yorkcraft or Bridgewood mortiser on hand that he wanted to dump immediately and was prepared to make a offer that would be fair to him and sweet for me under the given circumstances.

He did not have one, but did have a Bridgewood on auction at Amazon. I watched it for several days but bids went higher than I was willing to go. I don't need one with a SF BT, but woudln't hesitate to pull the trigger on a X-Y floor if the price is right. Really right...

I suspect you may be right with your guess on a year in the service industry. That's a tough road to navigate with no flexibiliity. He told me he had grown weary of dealing with his "go between" on the Pacific Rim as they were a PITA and he never had a clue when he would recieve Conex containers with merchandise from them.

That's what he said. Maybe and maybe not as it might have been convenient at the moment to cover what really happened? I hate to see Curt go down as he has provided years of dependable sales and service. But as with the local home-town hardware in most cases ( a few exceptions), when the Big Box Stores come to town, mom and pop might as well start packing to leave town.

Sad.. but reality is reality and things take a twist! Whatever happened to my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun and the Captain America Secret De-coder Ring I kept on a leather cord around my neck? Never knew "when" you might have to "de-code" something. Life used to be simple!

Regards...