Anyone buy anything from Belsaw.com?

[SteveFF]

So after years of sitting I'm getting my Foley Belsaw 910 wood planer back in action. The rubber on the feed rollers is hardened and doesn't grip at all, plus the centers have shrunk. Tried a couple of things and no joy. Found Belsaw.com and they have new feed rollers for about $45 each so I'm just going to get two new ones. I called and the phone was promptly answered by Jim who quickly gave me the part number but told him I wanted to check the machine and see if I needed anything else. - All good there.

Here's the problem.
1 - The web site is old and very poorly done. Not something you would do if you want to have a successful business in this day and age.
2 - The PDF with the drawings and part numbers is from 2004.
3 - Foley/Belsaw per Vintage Machinery last existed in Wisconsin. This address is in Santa Clara CA.
4 - Pull up the address on Google Maps and it shows a different company and "Closed" at that address.
5 - Search on the CA Secretary of State website and it finds no business in CA with "Belsaw" in the name.
6 - Belsaw.com does not appear to sell on either eBay or Amazon. With the cost of selling there that is understandable but disconcerting.
7 - The company that handles the credit card processing is a tiny company located on the Isle of Mann.

I hate to be cynical but that is what age and experience will do to you. This could very easily be some old guy who bought up all the parts inventory from Foley Belsaw and is making a business selling those parts off and is a great person to do business with.

Has anyone bought anything from this company? I just hate to send off $110 and then spend a bunch of time dealing with a dishonest person trying to get my money back.

Thanks.

 

[zdorsch]

I haven’t ordered from belsaw but it looks like the domain has been registered since 1998 and is up to date (per godaddy)

WHOIS search results
Domain Name: BELSAW.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1060686_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: The World's First Domain Provider | Network Solutions
Updated Date: 2019-01-31T08:05:53Z
Creation Date: 1998-04-02T05:00:00Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2021-04-01T04:00:00Z
Registrar: Network Solutions, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8003337680
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited EPP Status Codes | What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know? - ICANN
Name Server: NS1.VERIO.COM
Name Server: NS2.VERIO.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form | ICANN
>>> Last update of whois database: 2020-05-02T14:00:32Z <<<

edit: a little more digging and “Jim Delzer” is the owner and appears to be in his 70’s.

Have you posed the same question on OWWM? They may have more folks active with the belsaw planets than here.

Did you try mineral spirits or acetone in the feed rollers and waxing the bed very well? That worked on my 9103 belsaw and saved me from ordering new. The other option was typewriter roller rejuvenator but I haven’t needed it yet.

 

[sawman101]

For many years I dealt with Foley, and Belsaw, then they merged and it became Foley-Belsaw. There primary offerings were sharpening equipment for the 1 man shop, as well as their line of saw mills, which at one time was very extensive. With the mass production of carbide toothed saw blades dominating the market place, the steel saw blades faded into near oblivion, thus rendering their top product, the Sharp-All defunct, as well as their other product leader, the Saw Filer for hand saws and fine toothed circular blades. They introduced a heavier carbide saw grinder, the 357 Carbide Saw Grinder, follower by the improved version, the 367 Carbide Saw Grinder, and then an automatic carbide saw grinder adding components to the 367. The cost of the #367 Grinder was around $6000 back in 1995 as I recall. I bought one used and drove 500 miles to get it. There were a host of other machines for sharpening saws and tools, and I at one time owned most of them, and did a good business in carbide saw re-toothing and sharpening, as well as sharpening the saw bands for the band saw mills, receiving work from many states. Although I was doing a good business in sharpening nearly everything in cutting tools, it was never quite enough to reach the point of relying solely on the business for my income, and continued to drive truck by day and grind by night until 2003 when I inured my right knee in a fall from the back of the trailer because of snow and ice. I ended up having surgery on the knee, and was laid up for about 4 weeks, just enough time to lose my major commercial carbide saw accounts, and some big saw milling customers as well; the curse of a one horse team. So why this story? Because what I was experiencing was similar to what Foley Belsaw was experiencing; the introduction to the market of disposable carbide saw blades hurt the market substantially for the small sharpening shop operators--there just wasn't enough other areas of tool sharpening to keep the small operator in business. The saw mill end was sold out to another company, and the circular mill business also faded away, and this was primarily all due to the same cause, bigger, computer assisted machinery was demanded, and there were companies well established to manufacture and meet that demand, and 2 grand old companies rode off into the sunset. I believe what Steve said is the situation now, an individual purchased what was the ashes of the former F-B Company, with a hope of continuing to manufacture some products, but now just has a warehouse of pieces and parts he is trying to liquidate. The kicker here is, even if the part is available there are none other being made, and many once great machines for the small operator will be relegated to the scrap pile. Technology is always advancing, but at the same time, it often plows under the smaller manufacturers as well as the small, very skilled operators who no longer can compete in the marketplace.

 

[ezd1023]

I haven’t ordered from belsaw but it looks like the domain has been registered since 1998 and is up to date (per godaddy)

WHOIS search results
Domain Name: BELSAW.COM
Registry Domain ID: 1060686_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: The World's First Domain Provider | Network Solutions
Updated Date: 2019-01-31T08:05:53Z
Creation Date: 1998-04-02T05:00:00Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2021-04-01T04:00:00Z
Registrar: Network Solutions, LLC
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@web.com
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.8003337680
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited EPP Status Codes | What Do They Mean, and Why Should I Know? - ICANN
Name Server: NS1.VERIO.COM
Name Server: NS2.VERIO.COM
DNSSEC: unsigned
URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form | ICANN
>>> Last update of whois database: 2020-05-02T14:00:32Z <<<

edit: a little more digging and “Jim Delzer” is the owner and appears to be in his 70’s.

Have you posed the same question on OWWM? They may have more folks active with the belsaw planets than here.

Did you try mineral spirits or acetone in the feed rollers and waxing the bed very well? That worked on my 9103 belsaw and saved me from ordering new. The other option was typewriter roller rejuvenator but I haven’t needed it yet.

I have been slowly updating the Belsaw.com website. We are still here for Replacement Feed Rollers, knives, and some of the other replacement parts. Thank You, Take Care.

 

[Dee2]

Thank you Elizabeth.

 

[bob vaughan]

I've rebuilt several of those planers over the years and there isn't much that can go wrong. The feed roller replacement is routine after a dacade or two of use. Once I got one of those planers for cheap because it didn't feed well. The rollers looked fairly good so I couldn't see the problem. After a little digging the problem was discovered. Sawdust and shavings had compacted under the feed roller bearings raising the feed rollers up too high for satisfactory feeding. My point is that this area should be checked from time to time. Its not a common problem but it can happen.

There are several rebuild articles over at owwm.org