Was visiting the in-laws in Dayton over the holidays and I made time to visit WoodWerks on your recommendation. What a great store! I told them you had sent me and they said quite a few folks had come by on your recommendation. I will make it a regular stop whenever we are up there.

I haven’t actually gotten to Marc’s video yet, but I loved the story it prompted :)

This store looks great and you looked like the little kid in the candy shop, but what really got my attention was the solid cast iron top on the saw. Boy did that bring back memories…………………… . .. .
About twenty years ago plus a couple I was ready to make the big jump, you know the jump, that one where you finally decided to quit screwing around and make a go of this wood working thing, well that was me. I decided it was time to retire the trusty 10 inch Crapsman and that, to this day f_ _ _…P.O.S fence, and buy me a real cabinet saw. I looked at both the Unisaw and the 66. I liked the 66, I could afford the Unisaw. Well really I lusted after the Model 66. The Unisaw is a good saw, really it is. The 66 is just better, sorry to all you Delta owners. If you don’t believe me ask Marc. And it’s nothing you can put your hand s on, both saws will cut stuff perfectly well long after you or I am cold and buried twenty years in the ground. Anyways I figured I’d be buying a Unisaw. I looked around here in Cleveland, not many woodworking stores and no deals to be found. But there were these traveling wood working shows, missed the Columbus show but there was going to be one in Pittsburg,PA. in a couple of weeks, I’ll go to that.
The weekend of the show I had to meet with a client about building cabinets for a library in his new house. I was shaking; this guy had no idea how important it was for me to get this job, this was the job that was going launch my career. Well I got the job and I timidly asked the guy for some money, you know, to a ….. guarantee a date in my busy calendar, and a ……drawing got to have drawings. I asked for $1500.00 and he gave TWO GRAND (those were the days).Woke up Sunday to a blizzard. Only briefly did I even consider not going, what’s a little snow. An hour and a half trip took almost four hours. The Convention Center was pretty empty and I got a knot in my stomach for just a minute thinking it was closed, but it wasn’t, just nobody there. There was three hours left of the show. On the drive out I was making a mental list of the things I needed to look at. I had also convinced myself of the need to get a Shaper (for all the raised panel doors in the library) .I made a beeline for the Delta Dealer.” What do you mean you don’t sell saws, you’re a dealer?””We are hear from the factory, just to display the tool line, you got to go see them as he pointed down two isles one flanking each side of his display”. I was a man on a mission. Working the booths I was looking for a deal and I had money to spend.
It’s hard to remember exactly but I think the best deal was about seventeen or eighteen hundred for a Unisaw and a shaper, I remember thinking I can do this. Then it happened! Half way up the second isle in the middle of a both that took up three stalls. A Powermatic Model66 the color of GOLD and a gold Bismayer Fence and a full cast iron top 28 inches deep by 72 inches wide polished to a mirror’s finish. The booth was pretty much empty. I casually walked over to the Unisaw on display and fussed around with it until the guy came over, I went thru my routine about thinking about a new saw and what kind of deal do you have for the show and mentioned that Joe Blow wood work Supply had for this much and could you do better. And he could. Great, Hey what about that Powermatic? OH THAT!, that’s special, ordered it special from the factory just for the show, thought we would sell it for sure , tuned –up special and comes with a Forrest blade, thing weights a ton don’t really want to load it back up on the truck tonight.”Really”, I said so how much? I think he said about sixteen hundred my heart sank I can’t afford that for a saw, I thought. And then I hear myself ask the guy how much for the saw and the Model27 Shaper, I think he said twenty six or twenty seven hundred bucks. I think I mumbled something like Wow, that’s a lot of money or that’s a lot more than the Delta stuff. I kinda wandered off and as I was leaving the booth he said “It’s a better machine”.
I went to find a cup of coffee, have a smoke and clear my head I had a big decision to make. Time was short, less than thirty minutes, I really did not have more than the two thousand, a little more maybe, but I had to buy wood and stuff with that money. My wife would kill me if I went into the savings, maybe I could take a little bit. I went back and asked the guy if he thought he might be able to sell the saw and the shaper for twenty five hundred. He looked around, up and down the empty isle, looked at me and said “YES, yes I think I can”.
I have never ever regretted buying my saw.