I was cleaning out an old bookshelf and came across this 2003 Grizzly catalog. Coincidentally, I’d just received a 2023 mailer. I was shocked by the increases in price.
Some highlights:
Standard 14" band saw: $375 vs. $800
Standard 6" jointer: $400 vs. $900
4-piece Bessey K-body clamp set: $150 vs. $350
I know nothing about how inflation works, so I’m not sure whether this tracks with the price of bread or whatever, but it was eye-opening.
At those prices, shop-built bandsaws and clamps may come back into fashion (I can’t recall ever seeing a recipe for a shop-built jointer, though).
Mattias Wandel has homemade jointer plans, and a lot more.
He was the one I was thinking of with the bandsaws. I’d forgotten he’d done a jointer.