hi:

I have three questions I'd much appreciate getting answers to - but first, some background.

I live in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. I'm a retired management consultant (IT/Business strategies), not a woodworker. I'm learning how to do basic wood stuff because our house needs lots of work, I have more time than cash, and it's fun.

Several weeks ago I decided my next project would justify buying a jointer and planer purely on lumber savings. I started out thinking I needed benchtop tools because I have limited space, but quickly learned these would not be adequate and started looking at larger machines.

After I did, I concluded that:

1- Among 10" combined jointer-planers the Hammer A3-260 seems to stand out for quality but there are none now available in Canada and they're quite expensive. The last record I can find of a used one being sold in Canada is from January of this year, and I found none currently on offer. The 12" models seem to trade regularly, but they're absurd overkill for a guy who really wants an 8" combined jointer-planer with about a 60" bed.

2 - The Rikon 10" (model 25-010) is available (new, $1,099 cdn ) in Calgary (2 hours away) but appears to be at the low end in the category.

3 - The Grizzly G0675 looks like a pretty good choice - I'm guessing that it is much better than the Rikon but not as good as the Hammer. It's $1,150 USD plus $149 USD shipping plus whatever UPS demands on delivery, but when I tried to order it, we went through several iterations on their policy on UPS brokerage and related charges (basically: their way or the highway) before finding out that it's out of stock until the week of July 23rd. At a guess, that means mid to late August delivery - and, of course, I want it yesterday.

And that leaves me with some questions I'm hoping the people here can help me with:

1 - What's really better? Wait, pay UPS whatever they demand, and get the grizzly? Get a used 8" jointer (both General and Powermatic come up a lot) and a new DeWalt 735? Get the Rikon on the grounds that I can have it tomorrow and it's more machine than I know how to use anyway?

2 - Grizzly flat out refuses to accept responsibility for UPS fees other than freight - although their customer service rep, who at first kept trying to explain their policy (their way, or Rikon?), eventually agreed that they would take up any overages with UPS - but then followed up with an email saying they would not.

Am I the only Canadian customer who's unhappy about having to pay UPS whatever they ask for on delivery?

(Note that this problem, to the extent it is one, should be trivial for Grizzly to fix - I offered to show them how, but hit a wall.)

3 - Grizzly has been around for something like 30 years and they look pretty good on web review - but there's no real used market. Craigslist in the US and kijiji in Canada carry offers on hundreds of machines from Sears, from Rockwell/Delta, from General, Laguna, -even Foley-Belsaw - but almost no Grizzly products. Anyone have any idea why not? Are these things heirlooms? too easily broken to resell? or is there an active used market I haven't found?