Mark Hennebury
As for who buys the Supersurfacers... Not many people. They are incredibly hard to sell, the same as the Maka mortisers. I find it puzzeling that here is some of the finest most efficient machinery that for a business would give them better quality work and save them a ton of time, and yet they wont purchase them. From a hobby standpoint they are very expensive, but if you are a busines doing windows or doors or furniture why would you not want to do it efficiently, " the best that it can be done in the fastest time" Sure these machines are expensive , but so is paying a worker to waste time cutting mortices with a hollow chisel mortiser, or sanding wood by hand or with an expensive wide belt sander. The fact is the supersurfacer do incredible work, and so do the Maka style mortisers. Buying machinery is simple math it should not be anything else, yet I feel that a lack of education, prejudice, fear of the unfamiiar or some such predjudice is at play. In Germany Marunaka have sold over 1000 supersurfacers, they also all use Maka style mortisers extensively, yet in North America, most have never heard of them. This i find puzzling, its not like the machines or information is hidden. This is the first time that I have actually seen Superurfacers even discussed in thirty years since they were first introduced in North America. I have introduced Maka mortisers to a few companies who are just blown away at what a great job they do, They never heard of them or seen them before, yet Makas were first made in the 50's There seems to be something wrong with that. How can you expect to be competetive in some kind of manufacturing or production these days using old inefficient equipment and worse not even knowing what better technology is out there available to you. I remeber a few years back talking to to a rep from a large machine dealership in the US, he had just go back from one of the big machinery shows in Europe and was telling that he saw some incredible high tech machinery while there, but that it wouldnt sell in North America.
Watch the Maka mortiser video and tell why any business would do mortising any other way.