Woodwise Bandsaws

[skylark]

Hello,
I'm looking for a quality woodworking bandsaw for a small workshop and I've seen 'Woodwise' models appear a few times on ebay etc. I can find nothing about this brand, apart from it seems to have been linked to Poole Wood Machinery. Can anyone enlighten me? Are they well regarded?
Thanks

 

[katellwood]

They are Taiwanese clone of the American Delta, I had one in the eighties and now own a the same model under the name Naerok which I use as a backup and for use on site. The chances are the original rubber tyres will be perished and the guides are made of a poor grade aluminium which can break if overtightened. that being said on the Naerok I replaced the tyres with these
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELTA-14-INCH ... 4aa9fdd6d7

and replaced the guides with these http://www.axminster.co.uk/axminster-ba ... prod21586/

Its now a handy backup to my main saw, and transportable enough to take on site

Beware though as there are no extraction facilities on the model I owned (14") they also did a 16" and an 18"

If you know anyone who has any late eighties early nineties copies of The Woodworker or Practical Woodworking Poolewood always used to advertise on the back cover.

PS I also brought a mortiser from Poolewood in the same era and its one of the best bits of kit I have owned (and still used regularly)

 

[Steve Maskery]

Blimey! A happy Poolewood customer, I'm impressed!

Whether the Woodwise is a good buy or not will depend on how much you pay for it. If you have to renew the tyres and the guides you simply need to take that into account.

Other small machines you should look out for are the Inca small but superb built quility - its main quirk being that it is a left-hander), a genuine Delta and the little Elu/DeWalt (401/402, IIRC). The last was my first bandsaw and it is still going strong in my bro's garage. Just make sure it has alloy wheels and not the polypropylene ones, although I don't suppose any poly ones have actually survived this long - mine lasted a couple of hours before starting to fracture around the bearing. Reverting to alloys they became nice little machines again (although there is no adjustment in the rip fence, so you have to set them up perfectly for drift - you can't be lazy and skew the fence).
S

 

[katellwood]

Blimey! A happy Poolewood customer, I'm impressed!

Steve

The Mortiser's been excellent, cast Iron with gibs to manage wear. In addition the bed lifts up and down then locks by a locking screw directly onto the gib, This facilitates the mortising of a 9" bottom rail for door muntins etc. Will push a 1" chisel through softwood and a 3/4 through hardwood

I've also got a 28 - 40 lathe (2 actually one for £35 off ebay) and again completely happy with its performance since I've had it

They had a showroom near Nottingham Midland Station then I think moved to the Chilwell area