For Canada - check out General. Machinery sold by Jet, Grizzly, Delta, Fox, and Powermatic you name it are all made In China. In most cases, the same foundry - casting the same parts… only difference are the tolerances, fit, finish or - some patent or copyright design tweak by the brand or company to avoid infringement issues.
Back in the early 80’s Grizzly and Jet were crap. Since that time - each has stepped up to be much better quality.
I would not be surprised if General (almost certain) has also moved their castings and parts offshore and I don’t recall them offering portable planers. But, I have owned a couple General machines over the years - and was pleased with quality.
I would say John, that finding an American cast and assembled machine will be a challenge unless you go to an industrial machinery seller, CL or similar, or eBay and find the old Rockwell, Powermatic, Parks, or Delta brands prior to the late 70’s. … but not portable…these table top planers are relatively new. The lighter, more mobile planers came on to the market, back in the late 70's and the rest of the manufacturers followed this design offered originally by Rockwell (some other Industrial American made machines would be Parks Machine Co. that lasted almost 100 years folding in 1989, Yates American that produced probably one of the finest planers for its time in the 20's through early 30's but dissolved, and Oliver that fell into bankruptcy in the late 80's or early 90's).
During the 70’s the woodworking hobby accelerated as these machines became more affordable and available. Demand was increasing and profit margins could be increased by moving offshore and wanting more of a market share in the the growing and increasingly competitive home woodworking markets (think about the burgeoning TV programs such as This Old House, and the New Yankee Workshop as making popular and perpetuating the idea of DIY projects and home woodshops at that same time) .
It was during this time that Rockwell and Delta merged (eventually becoming Delta) and others started manufacturing and foundry work in China when US labor and labor laws demanded better benefits, higher wages, controlled working hours and employment rights, working condition standards, and living standards increased. Raw material extraction was cheaper in other lands, and oil prices increased or supplies became limited, and environmental controls were tightening in North America...(now please let's keep a lid on this can... LOL!). It became too expensive to produce the same machine in North America vs the same machine and shipping it back from China, India and other economies wanting to become established when there was the growing awareness of globalization and linked economies.
We are a hungry society and reckoning with the realization that 'we cant have it both ways..' in spite of our protestations. I would say there may be a return to American/North American shores in some sectors - but those will be pendulum swings both short and longer term. Demand, availability of resources and supplies, price of labor, environmental clean air and water costs (or not) and access will drive where manufacturing will occur.
Holding true to buying American may be changing to buying a foundry workers' labor from country A so he can make rent, buying the labor and raw materials from yet different country B to pay for his children's shoes, shipping from Port W to Port A and funding a longshoreman's family groceries, paying a truck drivers wage for trucking the machine to our garage doors to make loan payments on a RV, or save up to remodel the kitchen; and funding corporate offices and a cocktail party in a city far from where the original company was founded in country Z.
This path was no different than automobile, appliance, agriculture implements, truck parts, luxury and entertainment goods and any high volume high demand manufacturing need.
The North American standards back in the 60-70’s were Rockwell, Delta, Powermatic, and General. Not to mention Dewalt Radial Arm saws in the 40’s and 50's but they were sold off to AMF and eventually Black and Decker and soon lost quality…as some manufacturers strategy was to employ a high volume production, pay low production costs and pricing that traded quality for a disappointing reputation (and RAS’s became obsolete for the most part). (It didn’t help that a live Tv commercial - a marketing strategy in the late 50’s, introduced the Dewalt Radial Arm saws to the general homeowner market and the fella promptly cut off his fingers…on live TV...viewing fun for the whole family!)
Note - I could share the long and interesting story about the Sears Craftsman line starting in the 30's to today - but for the most part the reference to the standard companies above were producing machinery for the massively increasing DIY market and higher end or more discerning hobbyist/craftsman/ DIY'er that became more sophisticated.
What with TV programming, better standards of living, lower production costs for tools and available machines, and recently the internet, this sophistication demanded improved tolerances and accuracy while demand for industrial machinery peaked or stalled in comparison after the post-WWII building boom started to fall off. These companies merely adapted to the changing market in order to survive (and some companies did not adapt and lost the competitive edge, yet produced some of the finest machines ever but were swallowed up, folded or dissolved).
Last edited by tom moore; 03/27/2022 2:48 PM.
