Is $1400.00 for a "Bench Top" Planer Justified?

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 6:44 pm

Saturday matinees showing the Dead End Kids was one of the inspirations. Also the books of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn along with the Boy Scouts' handbook had a role in getting ideas.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:32 pm

charlese wrote:Saturday matinees showing the Dead End Kids was one of the inspirations. Also the books of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn along with the Boy Scouts' handbook had a role in getting ideas.

You are right about Boy Scouts and Cub Scout handbooks a treasure trove of ideas. Also I seem to remember a magazine I think it was called Boys Life or something like that. Filled with stories and adventures that we often attempted to reenact.

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:59 pm

Dang, you old guys were some BAAAAD Boys!

And still are apparently, for having totally hijacked this thread.

But who gives a RA on that count, as the OP is none other than "Wild Bad Bob" Bursek himself!

I'm happy to report that by the 1960's, the safety Nazis had made few if any inroads in regulating boys growing up in rural Tennessee. Mercury from broken thermometers was still a favorite childhood toy, to be kept in a glass jar for later use.

I blew up my fair share of stuff as well, having been fortunate enough to score two gross of M80's at the ripe old age of 13. (For you young whippersnappers, a "gross" is an old term for a dozen dozen. i.e. 144.)

Fond memories include flying an old end-of-life control-line airplane with a live and lit M80 aboard. For a full five seconds, that is.

And launching a Cherry Bomb a quarter mile across the lake on an old expendable model rocket, to be ignited by the ejection charge, and explode after landing in the woods on the far bank of the lake.

And melting M80 powder on a Sterno stove (from Boy Scouts), mixing it with molten sulphur, in an attempt to slow down the reaction sufficiently for use in reloading rocket-engine casings. Our best attempt at that one burned for maybe two seconds before exploding. Our worst attempt instantly exploded like a half-stick of dynamite, flattening it's erector-set rocket-sled chassis, and completely shattering the brass-pulley wheels. Fortunately, we were smart enough to dive behind a nearby low concrete wall immediately after lighting the fuse.

That was even more exciting than the time that my Sterno-fueled laundry-bag hot air balloon became becalmed, and alighted on the roof of my own house, while the Sterno was still burning.

But probably my proudest juvenile pyromaniac caper was when a buddy and I managed to violate 8 of the 10 Estes model rocket safety rules in a single launch. The other two were mutually exclusive with various of the eight that we violated. (This launch was very carefully planned and optimized.

Bottom line, the improvised rocket missed the power lines, but fell back to earth in the neighbors field before the M80 exploded. Which then ignited the dry grass. So we had to quickly scramble across the sawbrier covered barbed-wire fence, in shorts, to stomp out the fire. Ouch!

skou · Post by **skou** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:54 pm

My older brother was the KING at destroying Cox PT-19 U-control model airplanes. If I remember correctly, the fuselage always cracked in half, between the engine and the cockpit.

Anyhow, he's pull the engine out, rubber-band a rag to the gas tank, fire it up, ans swing it around in a vertical circle, and let it go, straight up. And, the rag worked just like the stick on a bottle rocket, as far as stability went. Those things would climb, until they ran out of gas. If we were lucky, they wouldn't land in a neighbor's back yard, or, on a roof. (Think 5 or 6, 9 to 14 year old kids, all with catcher's mitts, waiting for the engine to fall out of the sky.)

Other thing we'd do, get Tonka model Jeeps, about 8 inches long. Screw a piece of sheetmetal into the bed, bend it, and mount an engine on that, facing backwards. (Yes, a Cox .049 engine WILL run backwards.) Run them around, in the school's playground area.

steve

skou · Post by **skou** » Thu Sep 04, 2014 11:55 pm

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Dang, you old guys were some BAAAAD Boys! And still are apparently, for having totally hijacked this thread. But who gives a RA on that count, as the OP is none other than "Wild Bad Bob" Bursek himself!

BEST! Statement! EVER!:D

steve

"Wild Bad Bob" · Post by **"Wild Bad Bob"** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:25 am

There is hijacking and then there is subject expansion, I think this is the later.
That was the mix, sulfur and salt peter, made a great smoke bomb.

"Wild Bad Bob" · Post by **"Wild Bad Bob"** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 8:34 am

"Wild Bad Bob"
I like it!!!!!!!!
Just think if we had the net for info as kids!!!!!!!!!!!!

BuckeyeDennis · Post by **BuckeyeDennis** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:25 am

rbursek wrote:"Wild Bad Bob"
I like it!!!!!!!!
Just think if we had the net for info as kids!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought you might.

It was the name of a bad-guy gunslinger on an old Western/comedy movie that I watched many decades ago. Which attests to its sticking power.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:47 am

WmZiggy wrote:I am accused by my wife and child of being stuck in a past era when it comes to spending cash. And I have to admit, $20 isn't what it used to be. I can hear them now when I get upset when breakfast costs $10/person. Ed, could it be you live in a 3 figure era? As I pointed out, $1400 is the $500 bill of another era. Just go price a car today if you question this.

Yes I miss the 3 figure era but $500 planer then does not equal $1400 planer now. Cost of planers have come down. We now can buy superior capacity and superior power, some even have superior cutting surfaces for less money.

Why buy a $1400 SS planer when I can buy a Grizzley 3 hp 15 inch planner for $1200 or the critically acclaimed Dewalt for $400-$600?

Now if we are only talking $150 used then yes it is a deal but I'm talking new.

And not it is not inflation that has the price this high. The SS planer was priced out of the market when if first came out and inflation has only made it worst.

"Wild Bad Bob" · Post by **"Wild Bad Bob"** » Fri Sep 05, 2014 10:17 pm

Now I started this thread, and it has gone everywhere, no problem! Many good things said here. Now my point, I was putting new GY goggled belts on the ER SC, in the process, after the 3rd M, and I said self, time to quite and let it lay till tomorrow, NO, so the motor drops to the cement floor, rips the wires from the original switch, breaks that, to pieces.
Point is, on a Friday night after 3 Ms just go to the 4th and leave the machinery alone!!!
B; of all the SS I have, other then a couple of bearings and belts, they are built like tanks!!!! Over engineered, quality through out, my 3 Ers I think have the original bearings in them and still smooth!!!
Some rust!!! Those tubes are like radium half life, centuries B4 they fail!!!
So I am going to assume, even though the 1400.00 plane it 2-3x too much, it will last forever!!! Then, new discussion. why spend that, when a 500.00 one may last less, BUT then, what will be out there with better features in 5 years for about 500.00, and just for you Ed, we can add an inflation factor in there!!!LOL