8" jointer but very high shipping costs

[Jim Dory]

I'm wanting an 8" jointer and live up in rural Alaska where shipping is by jet or by barge in summertime. If I want to buy a 500 lb. jointer, say from Seattle and ship to here in Nome, then a rough Alaska Air calculator gives something like $650 for shipping. Barge would be somewhat cheaper but it is a 3 week journey and first barge won't leave for a few months yet. I doubt I could get it much below $1/pound.. even shipping from Anchorage.

So curious what kind of jointer people might try to get based on weight. I've looked at Matthias's homemade jointer using an old planer (I have an old Ryobi 10" that snipes so bad I want to get rid of it) and could try that, but that is a lot of work for questionable results (in my hands). Or I've seen other cutterheads advertised here and there. I've seen that little $350 (or whatever) Jet benchtop unit but it doesn't look all that practical for my needs. I do like to do a bit of boat building and being able to joint longer pieces would be beneficial.

I've googled around a lot looking at weights of various brands but curious if anyone here has ideas?

cheers, Jim

[Jim Andrew]

Not a lot of help here, but my opinion is that Grizzly's G0609 is a great jointer for the money, although it weighs about 900 lbs. Can't imagine building a jointer myself. Like mine with the helical cutterhead. You can buy more expensive jointers than Grizzly's but can't imagine they are a lot better. Mine cuts perfectly with no snipe. If you add 900 to the price of a grizzly for shipping, you would be about where other brand jointers start. Just don't buy a small one because of cost, because you will be wishing you had a bigger one as soon as you start using it.

[Jim Dory]

Not a lot of help here, but my opinion is that Grizzly's G0609 is a great jointer for the money, although it weighs about 900 lbs.

That looks like a great thing for a shop of my dreams all right. Perhaps a bit out of budget though. And I would be a bit worried about my wood floor construction.. built up on blocks/beams off the permafrost. But might handle it - I've parked my CJ5 Jeep in there before.

I vacillate between helix/straight and parallelogram/other after doing a bunch of reading here.. got a lot to spend money on so if I go high on something, I have to cut others. But right now it is basically a jointer and good dust collection I'm trying to put together. thanks for reply and data points. cheers, Jim

[Tai Fu]

I think for sea shipping its more about volume than weight... so if you find a jointer that is heavier than bulky then the cost may not be as much.

[joe milana]

Damn..If I was thirty years younger, and gas was cheap, I'd drive it up to you...always wanted to drive to Alaska...

[david brum]

Would it be cheaper to have a dealer disassemble a jointer and ship it in smaller pieces, or are you just charged by weight?

Another idea would be to get a competent planer, say a Dewalt 735, and make a planer sled. There are several good plans and people seem to like them, although I'm not sure if they work for edges.

[Jim Dory]

Damn..If I was thirty years younger, and gas was cheap, I'd drive it up to you...always wanted to drive to Alaska...

That would be quite a trip... don't think anyone has driven here before, not counting dogsled. Unless you're talking sno-go. But then you would have a hell of a time with a 400 - 900 lb. load in your sled.

[Jim Dory]

I think for sea shipping its more about volume than weight... so if you find a jointer that is heavier than bulky then the cost may not be as much.

Yes, some shippers like to "cube" the item, which is sometimes multiplying out the dimensions of freight and somehow figuring in the weight as well. So compact and heavy is better than long and heavy. But these barge companies coming to Nome like to ding you for poundage.

[Jim Dory]

David, it pretty much is by poundage, but for something like a long planer they may well want to add in cubed weight. So it might be cheaper if the tables were disassembled. That Jim Andrew went and put that 12" in my mind now so maybe the freight on an 8" isn't seeming so bad now.. since I'm actually considering the larger one. I'll have to get some freight quotes from the various companies. It sort of boggles my mind.. lots of calls or emails to figure it out. There's Northland barge service out of Tacoma, Alaska Logistics too. And there's freight consolidators that can barge or truck from Seattle area to Anchorage then either fly on choice of airline - Everts, Northern Air Cargo, Lyndens, maybe a few others, or wait til the sea unfreezes and barge with one of those two barge companies.

The Dewalt idea could work perhaps if I had a 6" planer (easier on the shipping) for edge joining. Perhaps I'll kick that idea around.

[John C Bush]

Hi Jim, Try calling freight brokers(Forwarders??? not sure of exact nomenclature) and see if you can share space for your new G0609ZX!!!!! in a container heading up north. I know some guys in the fishing business here in Seattle that are about to head up for the season. Maybe you could hitch a ride. JCB.

[Jamie Buxton]

Inca, a Swiss company which is now gone, used to make a 10" jointer/planer that was quite light. It was mostly aluminum. I occasionally see them on the used market. Here's an old review ---http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/inca_570.shtml

[Bernie Kopfer]

A question I would be asking is - is there rust problem, if you ship by boat, on a big chunk of iron like that? And if you have a good planer you could make a sled for that and use that to flatten one face. And a router table could be set up as a edge jointer.

[Jim Dory]

I used to lust after those Inca tools from the old Garrett Wade tool catalogs. I'm keeping an eye out.

Bernie: not much of a rust problem for most shippers since they coat the tools in oil or something. They are usually plastic wrapped and stuffed into shipping containers. In the past we've ordered food up on barges - the dry goods or canned - with no problem.

The planer/sled option may be something to try - if not just for the short term. Definitely be affordable.

[Richard Coers]

Makita makes a 6 3/4" power hand planer, less than 20 pounds, 21" long. Not a replacement for the 8", but something you might consider. It's made for taking it to timbers.
http://www.amazon.com/Makita-1806B-1.../dp/B00004YOD2

[Joe Angrisani]

Jim,

Just thinking out loud. Google says Nome has 3700 people. That's small enough that practically everyone knows everyone. Have you tried getting word out that you're looking for woodworking equipment? Maybe someone brought one up years ago for any one of a number of reasons that would lead to it sitting around depreciating ever since. For all you know, Larry's friend Steve knows a guy who's Dad has a.....

Craigslist, no. But you might be able to use the small town thing to your advantage.