Hi Buster,
The major component accounting for the price difference between the 8" GI and
the Canwood is likely the cutter head.

http://www.general.ca

Also, as you and others have noticed the fit and finish of the GI is pretty good
compared to it's competitors.

King like Busy Bee has some good stuff and a few dogs. You are likely to get
more first hand replies if you ask your questions in this forum.

http://www.canadianwoodworking.com/

Cheers, JG
Buster wrote:

General International, Canwood, King Canada, and Busy Bee. These are the
four brands readily available here in Canada. I can find a limited quantity
of Jet tools around as well as some others. The Box stores of course have
some Delta, Rigid, Black and Decker and such.

Now in my experience the General and Canwood tools seem almost identical.
Speaking to the store rep at the House of Tools (where Canwood is the house
brand), the jointers ARE identical with the general having more attention to
detail (tighter specifications, better paint jobs... etc). Now in the case
of the 8" jointer I was looking at I could get the GI for $1800 or the
Canwood for $900 (for those who care I ended up with a 6" GI for $800,
mainly due to space in my shop and resale value). A friend has the 8"
Canwood, and admits that he has to use a little more finesse than he has to
on General tools to get it accurate. I hear similar things about Grizzly.

I have no experience with King, although I see Costco selling them these
days. Lost of people sell them but I don't know anybody (personally) that
owns one. Does anybody have a comment?

Finally Busy Bee. Driven by the store, never stopped in. I get nervous
with tools that are just price too low, there has to be a point where
quality really drops off. But then again all the model above are produced
overseas.

Anyway, just looking for opinions on these brands of tools for the remaining
equipment I need to buy.