MJ80":110bu56o said:
The cut your nose off to spite your face business philosophy here certainly takes some getting used to. If I need spares I always order them from the UK. SCM in Germany are so unhelpful and insanely expensive, call the UK, no problem parts on the way.
It has taken years to get relationships with sawmills and timber yards to get materials at a proper price, but consumables can be problematic.
My opinion is based solely on my observations and conversations with others from the U.S. military who were unsuccessful in trying to continue their hobby while stationed here. Woodworking here, as well as other trades, tends to be reserved for those who complete the lengthy training program that starts in school and continues after being taken on as an apprentice under the wings of a Meister.
Several men in my neighborhood are convinced that I am running a home-based Schreinerei (joinery or cabinet shop) because there is no reason for anyone to own professional equipment and not make money with it. If you want bookshelves, go to the furniture store and wait 20 weeks for the order to arrive, or contact the local Schreinerei for custom shelves.
This observed mentality extends to the availability of equipment when visiting the big box stores with respect to tools and lumber. The largest saw I can find in Bauhaus, Hornbach, Obi, or Toom (all similar to B&Q), are small contractor saws, which are suitable for cutting bracing for formwork or maybe ripping sheetgoods, but nothing requiring precision or repeatability.
Sourcing a decent table saw, band saw, or P/T, requires talking to the larger manufacturers like Felder/Hammer, SCM, or any of the mass-produced offshore clones such as Bernardo or Holzmann. I originally wanted a Hammer K3 Basic and started the lengthy discussions with the salesman on options. In the end, I abandoned this option because the lead time was 90-120 days and I had to make my own arrangements for shipping, delivery to my shop, and commissioning. And then I stumbled on a store in Mannheim (30 minutes from my house) that is a distributor for Martin, Altendorf, SCM, and Festool. In addition, they buy used equipment, recondition it, and sell it to shops who can't afford the latest Martin saw.
As I walked through the showroom drooling, I came upon the SCM Minimax SC2 Classic on display. I asked the salesman, who spoke fluent English, how long it would take to have one of these delivered. He told me the earliest I could have it was two or three days, because their technician was on leave. We shook hands on the deal and I had it in my garage the following Monday. The purchase price included delivery, setup, and commissioning, and the technician lives two towns away from me (about five miles).
Lumber is another issue, and I finally found a great source of kiln-dried lumber about ten miles from my house. The business caters mainly to large businesses who buy pallets at a time, but will tolerate the small-time buyer who wants one or two sheets or one slab of lumber. This shop has American walnut, American cherry, mahogany (no idea of the species), American maple, English walnut, beech, white oak, red oak, ash, and a couple other types.
All of the lumber is slabbed and stickered, with thicknesses ranging from 50mm to 70mm, widths from 25cm to 60cm, and lengths between 2.5 and 4 meters. As is typical here, lumber is priced by the cubic meter, and any major defects in the slab are deducted from the measurement.
