Steel City Tool Works

[brent lenthall]

Matt,

I took a close look at their 8" jointer and a quick scan of the other machines. I was lless than ten feet away, but may have suffered from WW machinery overload by the time I went to their booth. After hours of looking at the show the threshold for the "wow" factor was set pretty high. I would say they have solid looking machines, (perhaps they even have some refinements that other's overlook), but at the end of the day It's a toss up between the badged imports. (Delta, Jet, Powermatic, and importers like Extrema, Sunhill, Grizzly, Wilke, etc.).

[Matt Warfield]

Matt,

I took a close look at their 8" jointer and a quick scan of the other machines. I was lless than ten feet away, but may have suffered from WW machinery overload by the time I went to their booth. After hours of looking at the show the threshold for the "wow" factor was set pretty high. I would say they have solid looking machines, (perhaps they even have some refinements that other's overlook), but at the end of the day It's a toss up between the badged imports. (Delta, Jet, Powermatic, and importers like Extrema, Sunhill, Grizzly, Wilke, etc.).

That description brings back memories of some of the CES's I've been to. Overload seems to happen within minutes.

I'm toying around with the idea of purchasing their drill press. I'm a little tired of my tool shop brand xmas present and am in the market. The 6" quill travel is appealing to me as I have a few jigs in mind that would benefit from it.

Thanks for the additional insight!!

[Brian Clevenger]

Only owning one of their products, the "Craftsman" 22124 hybrid saw, I don't have anything negative to say about the fit and finish of their products.

After seeing the low closeout prices on the zip code saws, I wonder if SCTW is going to take them away from Sears. I know they already discontinued the 22014 model, so the other two might be next to move out of the Craftsman line.

OTOH, if I were buying a new DP today, I would want to try the 6" travel on the Steel City.

If prices and quality were equal across the major lines, I would give the new kids a shot. I'm already worn out with Delta's loss of CC. I've been happy with my recent JET purchases, but I was always the one to try to hook up with the new girl at school.

[Mike Cutler]

I've seen the jointer/planer/dual drum sander, and tablesaw at the local Woodcraft. They appear to be nice machines. The price is on par with machines in the same spec range.

I was looking at their Dual drum sander specifically. It appeared to be identical to the General International 24" dual drum sander. Retail pricing was about the same.

[Noah Katz]

"Also, the TS at the show had the titanium coating and it looked as if it was showing wear around the miter gauge."

That's disturbing, along with this statement from the Maintenance section of the product manual:

"The Titanium Nitrite (TiN)coating is designed to be
maintenance free and WILL NOT RUST! While the
distinctive gold color of your Steel City cast-iron top is
an indication that the surface is protected against rust
and corrosion, that protection does not diminish if the
gold color is worn away by abrasion due to normal use
over time."

It certainly doesn't square with this statement from one of the linked articles: "Steel City's first attempt to grab headlines is a rust-free saw table that is coated with titanium-nitrite, the bronze-colored coating seen on some drill bits and saw blades. With a surface hardness greater than carbide and just short of diamond, it is designed to eliminate maintenance, the company said."

Reading it more closely, perhaps the gold color is a dye like anodized aluminum, and not the inherent color of TiN.

If the color is that lacking in durability, I'd just as soon they leave out the dye in the first place.